At first, I was too busy thinking about Ruvlian to notice. However, when I resolved to send Ruvlian elsewhere, I realized something was off.
If he looked at me with eyes so intent on killing, why would he give Ruvlian a chance to live? If he could subdue him with force, why did he go through the trouble of using a curse? If there were frequent opportunities to kill him, why didn’t he?
I still couldn’t understand why. But looking at all of that, the conclusion was that he hated Ruvlian but had no intention of killing him.
It was only a hunch, and I was uncertain because those murderous eyes were so vivid, but seeing his reaction made it certain.
The one from the Parallel World had no intention of killing Ruvlian. Despite looking at him with eyes that said he wanted to kill him.
“Right. I thought you wouldn’t notice since you were busy preserving that brat’s life… Is this the power of love?”
He acknowledged this as he pressed his lips against the hand gripping my collar. The sensation of his lips moving and his breath touching me gave me an unpleasant feeling like bugs crawling on me. Just as I tried to release his collar, strength entered the large hands still gripping both my wrists.
This lunatic restrained me even using Magic, and only let go of my hands after pressing his lips against mine several times. As soon as my hands were free, I stepped back and wiped the part where his lips had touched on my clothes.
“Ah, of course I’m talking about you and me.”
As if telling me not to misunderstand, he swept back his blonde hair and said something utterly absurd. It was ridiculous. Who would be in love with you? If such a person existed, they definitely wouldn’t be in their right mind either.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Nonsense, darling? If you’re going to say that, why not call it flirting instead?”
No response is the perfect answer to bullshit. I had nothing to say to this lunatic who smiled bewitchingly, drawing out the corners of his eyes like a snake. I kept my mouth shut.
“You won’t even answer me. I didn’t want to be neglected from our wedding night.”
“Crazy bastard.”
My resolve not to answer crumbled the moment he opened his mouth. Wedding night, neglected. He was a disaster itself that I couldn’t handle once opened.
“Why are you calling me, darling?”
The Parallel World Ruvlian answered obnoxiously. His tone even suggested he was well aware he was a crazy bastard.
For a moment, a memory from my Hero days flashed through my mind. Deadrian had smiled innocently and said this. When you see someone with a handsome face, a nasty personality, foul speech, and a mind that’s completely gone—avoid them. Since it’s too late if you’re already caught, Deadrian had gestured toward Ruvlian with his eyes.
But I think I’m caught by an even worse bastard now. As I muttered to myself indifferently, the imaginary Deadrian shook his head with a benevolent smile, saying it was already over.
“If you called someone in front of you, you should say something.”
The gesture of his thumb slightly pulling down my lower lip seemed to be teaching me how to speak like this, but the reality was different. That was a bit of sarcasm and coercion, demanding an answer.
The words “crazy bastard” had come out like a sigh, and he knew I wasn’t calling him, yet he acted like that. Common sense didn’t exist for this insane lunatic.
“Even though you know why I’m deliberately staying by your side without doing anything, you’re pretending not to know.”
The atmosphere that had relaxed somewhat tightened again. I had expected he would know. This side was also as brilliant as Ruvlian, and seemed to have good intuition.
“You were going to take me to your world anyway. That’s why you told me to come. If you think about it, isn’t this a gain?”
“That’s true, but… I don’t really need to go to my world, darling. It’s romantic enough for this world to be destroyed and for only you and me to remain.”
“Ha. If the world is destroyed, do you think I’ll stay with you?”
“No. You’ll try to die. My darling is really… so consistent.”
A subtle atmosphere formed. When I met his gaze without avoiding it, the Parallel World Ruvlian curved the corners of his eyes as if drawing a thin line.
“I can see right through your head. You don’t want me to ruin this world, you don’t want to kill that brat you cherish, and you want to break the curse.”
He listed the reasons I was trying to follow him slowly and leisurely, then closed the gap that had been slightly open. Walking slowly, he reached me standing still, bent his upper body, and opened his red lips.
“You’re also curious why I’m not coughing up blood, right? I put a curse on myself too. The same one I put on my darling. The closer I am to the designated target Baek Sihyeon…”
No way.
“It steals Baek Sihyeon’s life force.”
“You’re really a crazy bastard…”
I had expected he would have taken some measures. His actions were extremely leisurely, and since he was ‘Ruvlian’ from the Parallel World, I had roughly guessed he wouldn’t do anything that would put him at a disadvantage. However, I never imagined it would be this method.
The curse on me steals ‘Ruvlian’s’ life force the closer we are, and the Parallel World Ruvlian has a curse that steals my—that is, ‘Baek Sihyeon’s’—life force the closer we are, so we’re just exchanging life force with each other.
As long as there’s no loss of life force in the exchange process, it’s plus and minus. In other words, zero.
This curse was perfectly aimed at Ruvlian from the start. Completely eliminating any harm to himself.
“You can’t kill me.”
Behind those confident words, some other emotion could be glimpsed. However, I couldn’t figure out what that emotion was in the end.
Because the Parallel World Ruvlian put me to sleep just like that.
When I opened my eyes, what I saw was an antique ceiling. It was quite unfamiliar.
I got up and tried to use detection Magic like a habit ingrained in my body, but the Mana gathered in my hands and then scattered. It was a phenomenon as if I was wearing a Mana control device. However, my wrists and ankles, where Mana control devices are usually placed, were all fine. Nothing was attached.
Besides, if this was the Parallel World, my power would be stronger. That meant I could easily break something like restraints. I tried to gather Mana again, but far from gathering, it scattered quickly.
It was the same with Divine Power. It seemed to gather as if it would form, then crumbled in an instant. I tried to make it gather, but there was no solution, so I turned my head. The owner of the presence I’d felt since waking up opened his mouth.
“You’re finally looking at me. You weren’t waking up, so I thought maybe you wanted to be a princess. What was it… Sleeping Beauty?”
“Stop talking nonsense. What did you do to me?”
“Nothing much, darling.”
The Parallel World Ruvlian gestured with his eyes. I lowered my gaze.
“…Shoes?”
What caught my eye were not Mana restraints or control devices, but shoes. Not the ones I originally wore, but shoes that probably had various spells thoroughly cast on them, from Mana and Divine Power control to tracking.
Whether it showed on my face that this was unexpected, or whether this lunatic just had good intuition, he spoke with a strange hint of amusement.
“On these feet of yours…”
He grabbed my ankle hard and pulled it to rest on his shoulder. Because of that, my properly sitting posture collapsed, and our equal eye level rose considerably. My back touched the bed sheet where my buttocks had just been.
“Were you hoping I’d put restraints on you?”
The gaze looking down at me was mixed with various emotions. There was only one thing I, who had mastered reading emotions, could recognize.
Possessiveness.
It was a persistent and vivid desire that didn’t match the superstition that giving shoes as a gift means they’ll leave. So thick it could devour all other emotions.
“You’re thinking about something else again. My darling… are you lacking intelligence? I’m pretty sure I’ve said multiple times that I don’t like things that upset me.”
“Ugh.”
He bit down hard on my ankle. Following that, at the sensation of something soft slowly sucking up my flesh, I reflexively tried to use Magic, but with the Mana not gathering, I lifted my upper body. Then I grabbed his blonde hair as if tearing it and pulled it back hard.
“You’re not even a dog that bites… Let go of my ankle.”
“Hmm. So dogs aren’t your type? Earlier that brat was whining like a dog that lost its owner, and you couldn’t take your eyes off him.”
“That’s because it’s him.”
When I looked at him indifferently as if to say, are you the same as Ruvlian?, he raised the corner of his mouth crookedly. I could see his insides twisting.
“Fine, let’s say your type is that whimpering brat, you can go anywhere, but don’t try to take off the shoes. I put quite a bit of effort into those shoes. You can take them off if you want to, but… I don’t recommend it. Your ankles might get cut off nicely.”
The slow voice settled quietly by my ear. I put as much strength into my hands as I could, but even with his hair grabbed, he didn’t lose that uniquely leisurely and aristocratic atmosphere of his.
As if to say I could do anything except take off the shoes, he let go of my ankle—or more precisely, me. I couldn’t gauge his intentions for acting this way, but when had he ever acted in a way I could understand?
Still, if I had to guess, maybe by giving me moderate freedom, he’s making me resist less, and by not preventing me from wandering around, he’s trying to confirm that I can’t escape. I didn’t know where this was, but as if Magic had been cast over the entire place, there wasn’t a spot where unnatural Mana wasn’t distributed.
Even if he confirmed that, nothing would change. It was when I got down from the bed, turned my back to him, and took a step.
Squeak.
A sound that didn’t match the situation rang out.
“…?”
When I moved one more step, the sound rang out again.
Squeak squeak.
that’s one way to trample on someone’s spirit