Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - chapter 24

“What could I possibly have that’s worth taking from me?”

Beili instinctively propped herself up, putting a bit more distance between herself and Ashera.

Her tone was probing, and she lowered her voice as she spoke:

“If you mean my soul…”

The boy’s breath hitched, and he interrupted her with a tone that was almost amused:

“That’s… not what I mean.”

Then what is it?

Could it be her organs?

After all, in the original book, Ashera was described as having a peculiar fondness for gouging out eyes and hearts.

So if he were to drop his false mask now and say he wanted Bartholomew’s eyes or some other body part… it wouldn’t surprise her at all.

Beili’s brows gradually knitted together. She silently sat up straight, no longer pressing down on Ashera.

The dark cell fell into a momentary, deathly silence once again.

His voice grew faint as the boy added:

“What I want… what I want is in your… cough… attic room.”

“Attic room?”

“Yes… in your a-attic room,” he stammered.

Beili was taken aback for a moment, then began to carefully recall every item in the attic room.

Aside from a luxurious gown she had worn when meeting His Majesty the King, there was a series of matching purple, gray, and black gemstone jewelry.

Other than that, there was nothing else in the entire attic room that she had brought with her.

Those dresses and jewelry had been carelessly rolled up and stuffed into the corner of a cabinet.

Could it be that, besides his fondness for gouging out eyes and hearts, Ashera also had… a penchant for women’s clothing?

At this thought, Beili’s expression grew odd.

“So… what is it?”

She asked tactfully.

The boy was silent for a moment.

He took a gentle breath, and with a hint of a smile in his voice, said:

“It’s… the surprise you brought… for me.”

“The thing you brought me… that caught me so off guard…”

His weak voice, tinged with excitement, grew a little hoarse as he enunciated each word:

“A delicious meal.”

…

Beili was completely lost, unable to make sense of it, but still felt uneasy.

Fragments of images flashed quickly through her mind.

She once again carefully recalled every item in the attic room.

From the dining table to the bed, from the huge windows to the bathroom-after confirming that everything was inconsequential, she finally nodded.

“Alright, I promise you. Now, can you tell me how to get out of here?”

A satisfied sigh seemed to echo in the darkness.

Accompanying it was the clanking sound of chains.

“Alright, then let’s… let’s begin.”

Before he finished speaking, Beili suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder.

The boy’s hands were already cupping her face, and the chains extending from his wrists draped over her body.

“Follow my… my instructions… step by step.”

Their faces were very close, their breaths tangled in a chaotic dance.

Beili couldn’t help but hold her breath, her palms growing slick with sweat.

“Once we start… we… we can’t stop.”

He paused slightly, then said slowly, “I won’t… hurt you… don’t worry.”

As soon as the words left his mouth-

Before she could react, a cold sensation fell upon her lips.

She was kissed.

The boy’s kiss was gentle, like kissing the petal of a flower.

But the kiss was cold.

Beili’s thoughts stalled for a moment, her entire body-from the top of her head to her fingertips-going rigid.
The veins at her temples stood out faintly. She looked like a bristling cat, ready to leap up at any moment.

C…

What kind of method was this kiss?

But before she could bristle, that nightmare-like, familiar suffocating sensation surged up again.

What she saw before her eyes was just like in her nightmares-total darkness.

The boy’s cold lips parted, softly prying open her mouth, bringing with him a chilling coldness that invaded her all at once.

Beili instinctively resisted.

She tried to retreat, tried to raise her hand to push him away.

The hands cupping her cheeks suddenly tightened.

Those cold hands, though trembling slightly, held her with astonishing strength.

Beili was suddenly reminded of the scene when he had twisted her neck that day.

Her heart pounded with fear, her chest heaving violently with each rapid breath.

Then, Beili tasted a metallic tang of blood.

He was feeding her his blood.

Just as this thought surfaced in Beili’s mind, she felt the weight on her face lighten.

Their lips parted. Ashera released her.

From her neck upward, his touch lingered at the corner of her lips, as if reluctant to let go, finally coming to rest over her eyes.

She heard Ashera speak, his tone gentle:

“Like… like just now, feel it… one more time…”

“…Alright.”

Beili cleared her chaotic thoughts, closed her eyes, and focused all her attention on the magic flowing within her body.

It coursed through her veins, gradually gathering at her heart.

In the darkness, she sensed a flash of blue-green light glowing at her chest once again.

But this time, the light was no longer pure and gentle as before.

Because around the glow, a few tiny black specks drifted slowly.

Those black specks appeared around the blue-green light, looking especially jarring.

Like scars burned into a sheet of dreamlike colored paper, or like bloodstains long since dried.

Sensing something was wrong, Beili focused her attention on those strange black specks.

Then, she saw the black specks suddenly shift, transforming into fine black needles that pierced into the light from all directions.

At the same time-

It felt as if thousands of needles stabbed into her heart all at once.

Beili felt her heartbeat pause for a moment, then a sharp, pounding pain struck her, as if her heart had been hammered.

The pain made her see stars, her teeth chattering as she drew a sharp, cold breath.

Stifling a scream of pain, she clenched her fingers, counting silently in her mind from the beginning, waiting it out until the stabbing pain gradually faded.

Her heartbeat slowly returned to a steady rhythm.

The blue-green glow was now threaded with fine, rain-like strands of black mist.

Next, Beili felt her body fill with an astonishing power.

The pitch-black underground cell became as clear as day before her eyes.

She could see, even in the darkness, a depleted oil lamp hanging on the wall.

On both sides of the wall hung rows of knives, some short, some long, sinister-looking hammers stained with blood, and some tools whose purpose she couldn’t even imagine.

Who were these tools meant for?

For Ashera?

…

“Now… use this power to turn this place… cough… turn it into the attic room.”

The boy rested his head on her shoulder, his voice once again weak, even tinged with a hint of pleading.

Beili opened her red eyes and saw a shimmering light drifting around her.

Looking closely, she saw that the shimmering light was a swarm of Morpho Butterflies fluttering with blue-green wings.

Just like when she shifted into her Butterfly Form.

But this time, the butterflies were shrouded in a thin, ominous black mist.