Elijah, who had hastily risen, searched the surroundings looking for the key. Once he realized he was isolated, unable to move an inch alone, only then did fear strike him.
He pulled the chain with all his strength. With a rattle, the bed dragged a little, but there was no way Elijah, who usually had almost no strength, could break it.
Once the floodgate opened, the ominous premonition spread uncontrollably in a fearful direction. Elijah was seized by desperation that he had to somehow break the chain, get out of here, and find Rose.
‘I have to get out, please……’
Clang, the chain connected to the bed frame shook here and there, making a loud noise. A green aura appeared between the fingers gripping the chain.
Elijah took a deep breath and released a bit more mana. Naturally, he didn’t remember the formula for cutting magic at all. However, while tied up alone without knowing why, he couldn’t just wait quietly for Rose who might not come.
When he thought he might accidentally break other things too, it was already too late. The dazzling flash that burst from his hand instantly overwhelmed Elijah’s surroundings.
A tremendous noise burst out with a crackling sound. The light that flowed uncontrollably from Elijah’s hand stretched to the bed in an instant, leaving a pure white afterimage. Elijah, startled by that power, was scared in advance and tumbled to the floor.
Old dust floated abundantly in the air around the bed that had been swept by a single roar.
“Huk……”
Elijah looked at the disaster before his eyes with a dismayed face. It was fortunate that he broke the chain, but the problem was that it wasn’t only the chain he broke.
Starting from the direction his hand had extended, everything was smashed as if an explosion had occurred. He blankly tried to stand up the bed that had completely broken and collapsed. Feathers flew from the torn sheets.
“What do I do……”
Even knowing it wouldn’t reattach that way, Elijah groaned while trying to piece the burst sheets back together.
……What to do about this.
It was truly a disaster. This is why he absolutely doesn’t use magic.
He swore he had done nothing just now. He had just gripped the chain and let a little mana flow, yet this result came out. He had nearly collapsed the house trying to break a single chain that could fit in one handful.
If Rose had been around here…… he shuddered just imagining it.
The feeling of deep regret lasted only a moment before he left the cabin searching for Rose. The broken chain dragged on his ankle, making a clattering sound.
Elijah, who had hurriedly run down the three or four porch steps, stopped in place.
“……Elijah?”
Rose looked at Elijah with a slightly surprised face. The load he had been holding in his hands dropped down with a thud.
“Rose!”
Elijah ran over in one bound and embraced him. Because of the height that didn’t quite match even on tiptoes, it was almost like hanging on. Rose habitually bent his waist and embraced his thin body back.
Only then did all the tension in Elijah’s body release. Sweet and warm scent spread into his quickened breath. His body, trembling from the aftermath of being highly tense, burrowed into Rose’s arms.
“Where did you go?”
“……I went to buy ingredients because we ran out.”
“You should have said something before going.”
Rose, who wrapped his dry shoulders with both hands, pulled him slightly away from his embrace.
“What happened? Why are you in such a state……”
He slowly examined Elijah. The gaze filled with puzzlement and concern gradually became tinged with other questions.
“……”
Rose silently removed the feather stuck to Elijah’s head. Elijah became a bit embarrassed. After the urgent situation passed, the disaster he had caused belatedly came to mind.
“You disappeared, so I tried to find you……”
In trying to find you, I broke the bed and almost broke the house too. Though he had no such intention, he was ashamed that he had caused too much trouble. After all, Rose had returned safely like this. And very quickly at that.
Rose, who had been looking down at Elijah’s feet, moved his gaze along the chain. At the point where the chain that continued from his ankle was cut off in the middle, his eyes stopped.
“……You’re barefoot, Elijah.”
He lifted Elijah, supporting his waist and the back of his knees. His body that had momentarily shrunk at being suddenly lifted in the air only lasted briefly before Elijah obediently wrapped his arms around Rose’s neck.
“Let’s go inside first.”
This is troublesome…… An even bigger problem was waiting inside. Elijah bit his lips tightly in embarrassment. If he had been a bit more cautious before acting recklessly, Rose would have come in the meantime. Then this accident wouldn’t have happened.
“……”
Rose, who had entered inside, seemed at a loss for words for a moment.
“I woke up and you weren’t there. But……, the chain was caught, so I couldn’t go outside……”
Thanks to that, only Elijah, who became even more embarrassed, became talkative. Rose, who had put Elijah down on the table, picked up and examined the broken chain pieces.
Elijah could also confirm with his eyes the disaster he had created. Unlike the metal chain being broken by pulling with force, the cut surface was clean. As if sliced piece by piece with a sharp knife.
The broken bed and torn sheets were the same. Feathers still floated around the white sheets that revealed their insides.
“……We’ll have to change the bed.”
Rose, who had been silently examining that scene with his eyes and was wordless for a while, muttered lowly.
“I’m sorry. I’ll help clean it up too. I didn’t mean to make it this messy……”
Elijah, who couldn’t quite face him and looked down, made excuses.
“You couldn’t break the lock with all that overflowing power.”
While fiddling with the small lock fastened to the restraint, Rose smiled slightly. He took out a key from inside his shirt.
Only then did Elijah feel a bit puzzled. Why had Rose fastened such a thing on him? As if reading that thought, Rose explained gently while unlocking the restraint.
“In case Elijah went somewhere while I was gone.”
Soon the metal restraint that had been wrapped around Elijah’s ankle opened its jaws and dropped to the floor with a thud.
“What if you got lost?”
“How could I get lost here?”
It was a forest he had lived in for over 200 years. Elijah laughed in absurdity. Rose had worried needlessly.
“Rather, I thought something had happened to you.”
“What kind of thing?”
Rose asked back with a strange smile. Elijah shrugged and said.
“Someone kidnapped you and locked me here. Or that person had already harmed you……”
It seemed like he had said something unnecessary. Sure enough, Rose chuckled and kissed his cheek.
“Who would harm me?”
It was a statement filled with the arrogance and certainty of one who knew exactly what kind of being he was.
A cold chill touched Elijah’s nape that had momentarily turned cold. A grip as soft as silk yet firm completely wrapped around his slender neck. It was a hand that seemed capable of easily breaking everything in an instant if he set his mind to it.
Elijah swallowed slightly. Rose, who had been caressing the bobbing Adam’s apple with his fingertip, tilted his head. When he raised his gaze, he saw a face smiling cheerfully.
“Were you very worried? Enough to break the bed like that and run out barefoot?”
He couldn’t find the shoes in the first place because Rose had hidden them, and if it weren’t for this restraint, there would have been no reason to turn the bed into that state. Elijah felt a bit wronged, but somehow Rose looked too happy, so he just nodded.
Suddenly the hand that had been gripping his neck fell away. The airway that had been faintly constricted opened only briefly before his body was abruptly pulled into Rose’s embrace in an instant.
“Urk.”
His body, wrapped in strong arms, was squeezed as if it would be crushed.
“Haah……, Elijah……”
Suddenly so overwhelmed by something that Rose, who tightly embraced him with the momentum to break Elijah’s waist, buried his forehead in his nape.
“What were you going to do if I hadn’t kept coming back?”
Elijah barely drew in breath and replied.
“I would have gone, to find you.”
“Where? How?”
“Anywhere……, somehow.”
Rose laughed out loud in earnest. Though he couldn’t understand why, he truly seemed happy.
“So cute…… How did you even think to make such a mess? I should have seen it directly…… Right?”
The end of his excited voice trembled faintly. More and more strength entered the arms embracing his waist. He couldn’t move at all because his ribs might really break at this rate.
“Elijah.”
Elijah was captivated by the gaze staring down at him piercingly. Elijah’s face formed faintly in the dark red pupils that were gradually increasing in size.
“Whose are you?”
“……Yours.”
“What about me?”
“You’re, mine…… Bu-, t……, Rose, Rose? Ow, wait, ah……, it hurts, gently……”
“What should I do……, Elijah.”
The hand that suddenly dug into his pants, which were large around his thin waist, gripped his buttocks fully. Elijah, whose body was pulled tightly into his arms, twisted his waist here and there.
“You’re so lovable I can’t control myself……”
Because of the hand gripping his buttocks, the area between his legs that was pressed close to him was painfully crushed.
“I want to put you in my mouth from head to toe and crush you.”
“……”
Elijah got goosebumps from head to toe.
“Would you rather come inside my body, Elijah?”
“……”
“If I chew and swallow you all, can we become one?”
The fine hair all over his body stood on end in an instant. Rose often spouted scary words with an affectionate voice.
As if it wasn’t just words, strength entered the arms that strangled Elijah. It was enough pressure that at this rate, his body might be crushed like flour dough and truly merge with him.
“If we merge……, we can’t, have a conversation. We can’t hug like this either……, can’t hold hands……”
Even if you like me, let’s not do that…… Elijah desperately put strength into his hands gathered in front of his chest and resisted, refusing to become dough.
“Any-, way I’m yours, and you’re mine…… There’s no need to, become one, particularly, tha-, t much……”
