Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 161

Chapter 161

Beili suppressed her urge to smile and patted his head, her tone turning serious.

“I don’t blame you, Ashera. But don’t be so anxious. I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet-the person who wrote that letter is just a friend.”

“A friend?”

“That’s right. Does hearing that make you feel a bit better?”

The corner of the boy’s lips twitched almost imperceptibly, as if he didn’t accept that explanation.

“But we… we are also f-friends.”

He tilted his head slightly.

“Exactly-”

“So, as a friend, you can’t act like this. You can’t make me push my other friends away.”

She couldn’t help but let out a silent laugh.

“There’s something else I should have told you from the start, but it’s not too late now. Aside from Transmission Magic, you are not allowed to kiss me anymore.”

“…”

The boy suddenly turned his head toward her.

“If you ever feel like you have too much Mana and intend to proactively transfer it to me, you have to ask for permission first.”

She acted as if it were nothing, adding, “Normally, we need to maintain the distance appropriate for good friends.”

As the last word fell, she saw from the corner of her eye that the gloom between the boy’s brows had not receded; instead, it grew even heavier.

As if unable to believe what he was hearing, cold mist welled up in his eyes even as the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

She stole a glance at him.

Malevolence, grievance, and a smile appeared simultaneously on the boy’s pale, somber face.

If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, Beili could never have imagined how distorted such an expression could be.

Seeing black veins begin to crawl into his eyes, she spoke again, drawing out the final syllable with meaningful intent.

“Unless…”

Unless he liked her.

Unless their relationship was something more than friendship.

Beili swallowed the rest of the words.

While she knew how to be direct when the timing was right, she wasn’t going to humiliate herself a second time.

So this time, she only gave him the beginning and left it at that.

If he didn’t get it, then so be it.

At worst, they could both just play dumb.

Just as she was thinking this, she saw the boy’s body stiffen slightly beside her.

The gloom on the upper half of his face and the smile on the lower half froze instantly.

The cold mist that was about to overflow from his eyes also came to a standstill.

Even though the girl had laid such a long foundation just to imply those few missing words, he clearly understood her meaning.

But the boy just stayed there, frozen.

His thin, cold lips parted slightly; he seemed to want to say something, yet he seemed to hesitate, caught in uncertainty.

‘If he doesn’t get it, then so be it. At worst, we’ll both just play dumb.’

Beili waited for ten seconds, repeating that thought in her mind, and then stood up.

Ashera instinctively grabbed her hand.

Perhaps he wanted to say something that would make him look weak, helpless, and pitiful.

But she didn’t want to hear it right now.

In short, she shook him off with a sharp tug.

Then, without looking back, she walked toward the door with hurried steps.

Behind her, the boy seemed stunned by the rejection. He stared blankly with his head tilted, his hand still frozen in the position it was in when she shook him off.

Then, the bedroom door closed with a heavy thud.

The room suddenly became terrifyingly quiet, save for the boy’s gradually quickening breath.

…

When Beili hurried downstairs, she saw the coachman waiting on the first floor of the inn.

The Constance Family coachman possessed excellent professional standards; he waited in the lobby every morning on the dot for Miss Bartholomew.

Only if Miss Bartholomew gave him the day off would he wander around the town as he pleased.

“Miss Bartholomew.”

The coachman stepped forward to greet her.

“Let’s go. We’re leaving this place.”

Hearing the command, the coachman responded and turned to walk down the main entrance steps. He intended to bring the carriage from the stable to the front of the inn, but after taking a few steps, he looked back and realized the eldest daughter seemed to be following him directly to the stable.
“Eldest daughter, the stables don’t smell very pleasant. You should just wait in the inn’s lobby.”

Beili was about to speak when someone rushed up and grabbed her hand.

“Wait…”

His voice carried a hint of panic.

Beili had heard the boy’s voice and hadn’t intended to turn around at first, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw his reflection in a nearby glass window. He wasn’t wearing his headscarf or his mask. Surprised, she turned back to look at him.

The boy gripped her hand with great force.

“I…” His pale face was filled with confusion as well as panic. “I… I don’t know how… how to say it.”

The girl looked up at him, her calm gaze holding a faint trace of expectation.

“If you don’t know how to say it, then don’t say anything,”

she said coldly.

“You kno-know…”

The boy pressed her hand against his chest. There was no sound of a heartbeat there; it was silent.

“It’s… it’s empty here.”

The sound of approaching hooves echoed behind them.

The girl pulled her hand back.

“I know, but that’s no excuse for you to play dumb.”

The coachman dismounted and set down the step stool.

At this moment, she should have entered the carriage without looking back, leaving the boy behind.

However, the boy sniffled and swallowed hard. The mist in his eyes quickly condensed into icy rain and fell.

She had no choice but to lean in close to the boy’s ear and whisper, “Come find me when you know how to say it.”

After staying in Rose Town for only two days, Madam Constance urged her to return to Butterfly Valley.

“I’m the only one left in Constance Castle-”

Madam Constance drawled, her tone full of complaint.

“Where are Father and Susanna?”

Beili asked curiously from her side of the Communication Sphere.

“They went to the Swan Family’s cemetery.”

“The Swan Family has a cemetery?”

This news surprised Beili.

“The Swan Family? Oh-of course not!”

Madam Constance denied it ruthlessly before explaining, “The coffins buried under those tombstones are all empty.”

“…Empty?”

“Yes, you heard me right. It was a half-baked idea your father came up with ten years ago. He said it would make Susanna feel better when she missed her biological parents… but the cemetery was built right in the ravine of Butterfly Valley!”

Madam Constance spoke with a tone of utter exasperation, as if she were rolling her eyes.

“Only Susanna would believe your father’s full-of-holes lies.”

Beili didn’t know what to say, so she could only manage a couple of dry laughs.

“I’m getting off track. Luoluo, what we should be discussing is-do you have the heart to leave your mother all alone in the castle? So! Come back!”

Perhaps it was a coincidence that Madam Constance said this to Bartholomew at that moment.

The carriage Beili was riding in was already on its way back to Butterfly Valley.

Beili had been curious about what passersby saw when Ashera took the form of the Horned Man.

Although she hadn’t received an answer from Ashera at the time, she soon got one anyway.

Because the moment the Second Prince of Sainthos and the eldest daughter of the Constance Family kissed under the Rose Wall in Rose Town, the scene had been captured by someone with a Magic Camera.

Perhaps a Noble in Fountain Square had recognized the two of them.

In any case, a few days after leaving Rose Town, the headline of the Royal Post read:

‘Shocking! Royal Family Member and Noble Lady Caught Kissing in Public!’

Madam Constance was screaming with excitement, clutching the Royal Post as she burst into Bartholomew’s room. At that moment, Beili was in the middle of writing a letter to Lance.