Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - chapter 23

“I’m sorry… I-I didn’t know, I’m sorry…”

He sobbed, burying his head in her neck.

His body was cold, and his tears were cold as well.

“S-sorry, it’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have-have hurt you…”

At this moment, the boy was as fragile as glass, ready to shatter at the slightest disturbance.

Beili was startled, unable to speak for a moment.

She hesitated, then reached out, and after a moment’s thought, still embraced the boy.

He was so thin, it felt like holding a skeleton.

She didn’t even dare to use any strength.

“Don’t talk for now.”

Beili softened her voice.

Her hand gently patted the boy’s back, again and again, helping him calm his crumbling emotions.

Feeling the warmth in front of him, the boy’s sobs turned into choking whimpers, and his breathing gradually steadied.

After the tears stopped, he fell into an uneasy silence like a child who had done something wrong, clutching tightly at the hem of Beili’s dress, waiting for her reproach.

Many questions spun in Beili’s mind, but the first one she asked was:

“You’re too thin… Is this place even stingier than Thorn Prison? Can’t you even eat bread here?”

At her words, the boy lowered his head, his cold forehead pressing into the hollow of her neck.

“After they l-locked me up here… they just… cough… just forgot about me.”

His voice was muffled, and he spoke haltingly.

“We can’t get out for now, but that girl just now said she’ll bring food and warm clothes tomorrow.”

Having changed back from Butterfly Form to human form, Beili’s body was gradually adapting and she was starting to regain her strength.

She let go of Ashera and sat up.

Recalling what had just happened, she groped around on the floor for a while and quickly found the candy Susanna had dropped earlier.

Beili placed the candy in Ashera’s hand.

“Here’s a piece of candy, you eat it.”

After a clinking of chains, the candy was returned to Beili’s hand.

“N-no, it’s fine… I-it doesn’t matter if I eat or not…” he said.

Beili didn’t bother with any polite refusals. She quickly unwrapped the candy, reached out to find the boy’s mouth, and without another word, popped the candy in.

“…”

The boy said nothing, holding the candy in his mouth. The dark cell fell into a brief silence.

Beili didn’t speak either.

She was thinking about how to leave this room, preferably to return to the corridor.

She still wanted to find the door to the ‘third floor of the library’ in the corridor.

When Susanna had illuminated the room with her magic orb earlier, there had been a door right behind her.

So as long as she changed back into Butterfly Form, flew out through the gaps in the silver cage, and passed through that door, she should be able to return to the corridor… right?

Beili wasn’t sure either.

After all, she didn’t even know how to transform into Butterfly Form now.

Beili closed her eyes and silently chanted in her heart, ‘Turn into a butterfly, turn into a butterfly, turn into a butterfly!’ Then she opened her eyes again.

She felt her arm-she was still in human form, nothing had changed.

Beili clenched her fingers in frustration.

Cyril was right about one thing: she didn’t even know how to use or control Mana.

She calmed herself and carefully recalled what had happened earlier.

When she opened the attic door, when she stepped into the corridor, and when she entered Lisa’s dream, she hadn’t been in Butterfly Form.
Only when she entered this underground cell where Ashera was locked away did Beili’s form begin to change uncontrollably.

At this thought, her red eyes slowly turned toward the pitch-black darkness beside her.

This guy definitely knows.

…

The boy next to her seemed to sense Beili’s gaze.

“W-why aren’t you saying anything? W-what are you… thinking about?” he asked nervously.

Chains clattered. Before the boy could reach for her hand, Beili gripped his first.

“Ashera, I’ve decided to forgive you for twisting my neck…”

Beili took a breath and softened her tone. “But before that, you have to teach me how to control Mana and turn into a Butterfly.”

The boy was quiet for a moment, then said, “O-of course, controlling Mana is… ahem… it’s a very, very easy thing.”

“Watch…”

As he spoke, the palm of Ashera’s hand that Beili held grew burning hot.

Then, in the darkness, Beili saw a patch of blue-green light bloom on her chest.

She heard Ashera say:

“Remember… this feeling.”

Beili quickly closed her eyes and focused all her attention.

When she opened her eyes again, she had finally turned into a Butterfly.

Beili immediately fluttered her wings and flew out through the gap in the silver cage.

Behind her came the sound of rattling chains.

“W-where are you… going?”

The boy called after her.

Beili had no time to answer. She beat her wings and, following her memory, flew toward the door Susanna had left through.

A shimmering blue-green glow surrounded her, illuminating a small patch of the darkness.

Then, where there should have been an arched door, Beili saw a seamless wall.

Had she not turned in time, she would have crashed right into it.

Did she go the wrong way?

Unwilling to give up, Beili changed direction and searched again.

A ball of blue-green light circled the wall three times before finally, slowly, returning to the cage.

The glow faded.

Beili’s legs gave out, and she collapsed, pinning the boy beneath her.

She pushed herself up, her tone tinged with annoyance as she demanded, “Where did the door go?”

“I-I don’t know… friend, I’ve n-never… ahem… never left from here.”

The boy beneath her sounded flustered, his words halting.

“…”

This guy definitely knows.

No, it’s this guy who hid the door.

Beili ground her teeth in frustration and simply let her arms go limp, pressing down on him.

Maybe I should just crush him to death.

With that thought, she fell silent.

…

The boy beneath her let out a muffled groan, then fell quiet as well.

Just as Beili began to wonder if she had really crushed Ashera to death, the sound of chains rattled in her ear.

An ice-cold fingertip, as if by accident, gently brushed her lower lip.

“If you want t-to leave here, there’s… ahem… another way.”

Beili’s red eyes snapped open.

“What way?”

“I’ll teach you…”

The boy let out a brief, faint chuckle, then whispered softly:

“But I-I need to take something… ahem… from you.”