Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 323

Chapter 323

The silver-haired, golden-eyed man stopped in his tracks, his pale face instantly darkening.

The thick stench of blood spread through the air.

Gloom gathered between his brows. He lowered his eyes to her with a smile, but his entire face, from forehead to chin, had turned ashen.

Beili’s eyelids grew heavy. It felt as though a leaden cap had been placed on her head, weighing it down so much she could barely lift it.

And this was only as bearable as it was because she had absorbed a considerable amount of Mana.

Had this happened before, she would probably already be suffocating, unable to draw breath.

“He… is still at Holy Island Academy.”

She didn’t know whether he was currently possessing Lance or hiding inside Lance’s body, waiting to seize control whenever Lance’s consciousness weakened.

Either way, now that the boy who had escaped the Dream Cage knew everything in the dream was fake, she had to stop whatever he intended to do.

Meanwhile, Ashera’s expression returned to normal in the blink of an eye when he heard her explanation.

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

He started walking again.

“He returned when you dissolved the dream and has since fallen into a deep sleep. He can’t come out unless I wake him.”

That was Ashera’s explanation.

“Oh. Really?”

It sounded too good to be true. Beili could hardly believe it. After a few seconds, she asked again for confirmation.

“He really came back?”

If the boy was trapped here in the Far North with her, none of the things that followed would happen.

“If you’d like to see him…”

Ashera drew out the words, his meaning unclear.

Beili immediately shook her head.

“No. I don’t want to see him.”

The smile on Ashera’s lips abruptly deepened.

“Why not? Wouldn’t seeing him let you confirm it for yourself?” he drawled, the corner of his mouth lifting. “Or is it because, after everything that happened, you no longer know how to face him…?”

“No. I just don’t want to see him.”

Beili stared at him, turbulent emotion churning in the depths of her red eyes as she enunciated every word.

His dark, featherlike lashes trembled faintly.

Beili had already lowered her gaze, contemplating Ashera’s proposal.

Seventy years.

Seventy years in this frozen wasteland.

They would be cut off from the rest of the world, but at least everyone else would be safe and sound.

“All right-”

Beili agreed.

Ashera knew her far too well. A faint smile tugged at his lips as he supplied what would inevitably follow her answer.

“But…”

He drew out the final syllable.

“But I need to absorb Mana,” Beili continued, following his lead. “The Far North has a large dark creature population, so I need to patrol the surrounding area every day.”

Seventy years was far too long. She intended to clear the Far North of its large dark creature population within a year.

“Absorbing Mana. That’s your only condition?”

Beili nodded.

She clung to the hope that if she could one day become as powerful as the person she had dreamed of, she would be able to break the curse that person had cast in Tilisha.

Then Lance could return.

Ashera pondered this, the curve of his lips becoming more pronounced.

He seemed rather pleased.

Beili couldn’t tell whether he was happy because her condition was so simple or because she had agreed so readily to be shut away in his little ice house.

“You don’t need to leave. Just wait at the door every day. I’ll bring the Mana back to you.”

In his delight, he made that grand promise.

Beili assumed he was merely saying it on a whim.

…

Ashera’s little ice house was nothing like the mud house in the Dream Cage. It required no blueprints and no painstaking construction.

Ashera merely raised a hand and traced a line through the air with one fingertip. In an instant, a pitch-black house appeared beneath the curtain of falling snow.

“That house certainly stands out.”

Beili had barely finished speaking when Ashera swept her into his arms and carried her toward the house.

The door opened on its own.

Beili’s attention was immediately drawn to an enormous floor-to-ceiling window that looked out upon the pure white world beyond.

Only then did she notice that the room’s layout was identical to the attic room at Holy Island Academy.

“Do you like it?”

Confused, Beili looked up and caught a faint glimmer of anticipation in Ashera’s golden eyes.

She nodded in answer to his question, then hesitantly asked, “But why does it look like the attic room?”

A smile spilled across Ashera’s lips.

“Because that was where we first met.”

Beili: …?

Beili immediately rolled her eyes inwardly, then reminded him in a soft, delicate voice, “Honorable… Mr. Ashera, have you forgotten that we met in the Thorn Game house? In the study on the second floor?”

“Besides, less than ten seconds after we first met, you mercilessly snapped my neck.”
Ashera seemed to have only just recalled that memory. His steps paused, and he set her down before explaining.

“That time, he forced me to appear.”

He spoke slowly.

“But I don’t consider that our first meeting. The first time we met was in a house exactly like this one.”

Ashera raised a hand and brushed his cold lower lip, his tone almost nostalgic.

“That was when you kissed me first.”

Oh… That had merely been the best option at the time.

Beili said it silently to herself.

Of course, when she spoke aloud, she had to put it differently.

“It’s freezing outside. Shouldn’t a house like this at least have a fireplace?”

She protested under her breath, changing the subject at the same time.

The silver-haired, golden-eyed man paused.

His fingertip moved from his lower lip to his chin as he considered it for two seconds.

Then he lightly traced a finger through the air, and a fireplace appeared against the wall opposite the floor-to-ceiling window.

Inside, a bundle of firewood crackled merrily, the leaping flames illuminating the room.

It was probably fake, but the warm orange glow at least made the room look a little cozier.

“What else?” Ashera asked.

He made it sound as though she could have anything she wanted.

“You clearly still have plenty of Mana…” Beili muttered.

Ashera’s lips curved in a quiet chuckle as he repeated in his unhurried voice, “What else?”

Beili had no choice but to let the subject drop for now. She raised a hand and pointed at the bed.

“I want fresh bedding. Make it white, and since it’s snowing outside, the fabric should be soft and fluffy.”

The moment she finished speaking, fluffy white sheets, blankets, and pillows appeared on the bed, all as soft as clouds.

Beili pointed at the floor next.

“What about a rug?”

A thick, perfectly even rug instantly covered the floor.

“Maybe a chaise lounge over here?”

A chaise lounge immediately appeared where she had indicated.

Growing more enthusiastic with every request, Beili walked over to the wardrobe and pointed at its empty interior.

“Fill this with beautiful black dresses. Winter dresses, of course.”

The wardrobe was instantly filled with black dresses, each one trailing wisps of black mist.

As Beili stared at the dark mist drifting from them, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

“These were all made from your Mana. If there comes a day when you can’t use your Mana, and I just happen to be wearing one of these dresses… wouldn’t I end up like the emperor with his new clothes?”

Ashera did not seem to understand what she meant, and his handsome brows drew together slightly.

But he must have inferred her meaning from the context, because they soon relaxed again.

“Yes.”

His eyes crinkled with amusement as he nodded honestly.

Beili let out two awkward, dry laughs and quietly closed the wardrobe. She instinctively reached for the Spatial Bracelet on her wrist, only to feel nothing there.

“My Bracelet…”

Then she remembered. When she had broken with Madam Constance, she had already sent the Bracelet back.

Now, the only thing on her hand was a wooden Amber Ring.

“Hm?”

Ashera looked over at her.

“So when we returned to the past, we didn’t wake up inside our past bodies. We replaced them instead?”

Beili was not sure whether Ashera would understand her explanation.

Truthfully, she did not even know what she was worried about.

But as she stared at her bare wrist, she could not shake the feeling that certain things had already happened and had not simply disappeared.

“What do you want? A bracelet?” Ashera asked.

Beili shook her head.

Unease.

Deep down, she was still uneasy.

She needed to absorb Mana as quickly as possible, constantly expanding and replenishing her Mana Pool.

With that thought, she took a cold-weather cloak from her wooden Amber Ring and draped it around her shoulders.

Then she activated Beast Transformation and flew toward the door, calling back, “It’s still early. I’m going to look around and see whether there is a dark creature nearby.”

The butterfly shimmering with blue-green light spoke in a young woman’s voice.

But just as she flew past Ashera, her vision suddenly blurred.

She was forced out of Beast Form and transformed back into a human.

“I don’t recall giving you permission to leave this house,” Ashera said leisurely.

Then he picked her up and dropped her onto the bed covered in fluffy white blankets.

Beili felt as though she were about to drown in all that softness. The next second, a flash of silver fell before her eyes and nestled into the hollow of her neck.

Then a figure in black pressed down over her, wrapping her in his arms and pinning her beneath them.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he said.