Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 328

Chapter 328

Beili spent a long time reading the Magic Book. She experimented with the Teleportation Magic Array several times using a silver spoon, then stood before the floor-to-ceiling window and stared blankly at the snowflakes drifting peacefully down after the storm had passed. Finally, she returned to bed and read the Magic Book for a while longer.

Ashera still didn’t return.

She couldn’t tell whether the flatbread, mallow soup, and camel milk from Tilisha were taking him so long, or whether capturing a hundred dark creature specimens was proving difficult.

As she waited, Beili began to regret asking for all that food.

It wasn’t as though she absolutely had to eat any of it.

With that thought, Beili drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

…

Rarely enough, she had another dream.

Yes, once again, she dreamed of herself. The stronger version of herself.

But this time, she wasn’t the only one in the dream. She also saw someone familiar.

Ashera.

Though his appearance was anything but familiar. In the dream, he had assumed his Demon form.

If Beili hadn’t read the Original Book, she never would have connected the two of them.

They did share the same long silver hair, as though woven from gathered starlight, and the same curved Black Goat Horns.

But the Demon in her dream was much taller, with a body as black as ore and glowing orange-red fissures flowing across his skin like molten lava.

Dense black mist poured from his body.

Several enormous black skulls floated behind him. Whenever he couldn’t be bothered to speak, the skulls spoke in his place.

The dream was fragmented.

It was as if a memory had been torn to pieces, with only a few scraps slipping through someone’s fingers.

Beili’s dream shifted rapidly between those fragments.

She dreamed of Ashera riding an enormous black dragon, appearing behind her again and again.

He brought her strange gifts: a necklace strung with eyeballs of every color, a huge bouquet of roses carved from ninety-nine hearts, and a Scepter fashioned from someone’s skull and spine…

Clearly, Ashera was passionately pursuing that other version of her.

Unfortunately, every gift he presented was casually tossed aside within two seconds.

“Demon, why?”

Beili heard herself speak, her voice filled with unmistakable irritation.

“Because…”

His voice seemed to rise from Hell itself, hoarse as though scorched by raging flames.

In the dream, Beili heard Ashera and the skulls behind him speak in unison.

“During my travels through time, I discovered that you are my wife.”

…

The moment his words faded, Beili opened her eyes.

The large Fluorite Lamp was off. Only tiny lights twinkled like stars across the ceiling.

Ashera’s words from the dream still seemed to echo in her ears.

Yet she couldn’t bring herself to feel happy.

Truthfully, she wasn’t happy at all right now. No, she was decidedly unhappy.

An inexplicable ball of anger was even smoldering inside her chest.

…

The bedroom door was shoved open by an unseen force.

A howling gust of frigid wind swept inside along with a flurry of snow.

Then the door closed again.

A cloud of black mist floated into the room.

It hovered over the table for several seconds. When it drifted away, flatbread, mallow soup, a bottle of camel milk, and several other Tilishan dishes had appeared on the table. Beili watched from where she lay on her side in bed, but she was too far away to make out the rest clearly.

The black mist slipped beneath the covers and transformed into a man in the blink of an eye.

Beili felt someone wrap an arm around her waist from behind and pull her close. Her back pressed against a chest that was almost feverishly warm.

“Perfect timing. You’re awake.”

Ashera gently patted her shoulder, signaling for her to turn around.

Beili didn’t move. She pretended not to hear him.

The man behind her let out a low chuckle. Then one large hand caught her face and turned it toward him. Propping himself up on one arm, he lowered his head and kissed her.

Beili was just about to clamp down and bite him when she suddenly felt an immense amount of Mana flowing into her as their bodies intertwined.

She had no time to count it. All she could feel was the vast, unending surge of Mana filling her Mana Pool.

Through a haze, she saw that the hand caressing Ashera’s face now had fingertips stained with the same black color as his nails.

A layer of black mist seemed to spread around her. As more and more Mana flowed into her, the mist grew increasingly dense.

At last, the flow of Mana stopped.

Ashera’s kisses shifted from her lips to her cheek, then to her earlobe and neck.

At the same time, his hand gently pushed up her nightgown.

Beili thought of that dream. Still sulking, she tugged at the corner of her mouth, activated Beast Transformation, and entered Butterfly Form. In the blink of an eye, she flew over to the chaise longue.

Beneath the scattered starlight of the Fluorite Lamp, the silver-haired, golden-eyed man visibly froze.

“What’s wrong?”

He pushed himself upright on the bed.

His long, straight silver hair spilled around him, its ends curling over the fluffy white covers.

His black robe had slipped halfway off, exposing broad shoulders and, below his collarbones, a pale, sharply defined chest and abdomen.

Beili had to admit that Ashera looked exceptionally tempting right now.

But the anger simmering inside her helped her resist.

On the chaise longue, the shimmering blue-green butterfly silently spread its wings flat and refused to make a sound.
His sculpted face tilted slightly as he sensed her emotions.

Then he raised a hand.

A strand of black ribbon drifted from his palm and coiled around her wings.

Beili’s vision blurred. Forced back into human form, she tumbled into his arms.

“Why are you angry?”

He held her from behind, the pad of his finger gently stroking her cheek, a soft chuckle in his voice.

“I had a dream…”

Beili spoke irritably.

“A dream?”

Ashera chuckled under his breath.

Yes, a dream.

It sounded a little absurd when she put it that way, reminding her of jokes she’d seen before.

The difference was, her dream might very well have been real.

“I dreamed that you were in love with someone.”

His feather-black lashes lowered over his golden eyes.

Ashera considered this in silence, signaling for her to continue.

Beili was starting to lose it. She had no idea what she was saying or how to put it into words… She might actually be jealous.

“I dreamed that you gave her a necklace strung with eyeballs, a rose carved from a heart, and a Skull Scepter…”

She was jealous of herself.

Damn it.

That really did seem to be the case.

But knowing that did nothing to help. The flames of jealousy had consumed her from head to toe.

She hid her tightly clenched hands beneath the covers.

“Was that dream real?”

Pretending it didn’t matter, she asked in an even tone,

“Did those things really happen?”

Ashera’s hand paused. An eerie gleam surfaced in his golden eyes beneath the dim light.

He gently caressed her cheek and answered in a soft, clear voice,

“Yes. And I gave you far more than what you saw in your dream.”

Beili’s throat felt scratchy, as if flames had licked over it, leaving her next words hoarse.

“I also dreamed that you said you traveled through time and discovered she was your wife.”

She tried to make her voice sound casual.

“Did you really say that?”

“I did.”

So the dream really had happened.

“Do you love… the person from my dream?”

“Of course.”

His voice was soft.

Ashera loved the version of her from that dream.

Just as she’d thought.

Beili’s heart plunged into an icy abyss.

The chill spread from her clenched fingertips throughout her body.

Ashera tilted his head slightly. Sensing the shift in her emotions, he curved his cool, thin lips into a faint smile.

“My dear Little Butterfly, the person I love is in my arms right now.”

Even after hearing him say that, the light did not return to her dim red eyes.

Struggling to maintain her composure, she forced a smile.

“I see…”

She casually wriggled free of his embrace, pulled the covers over herself, and lay down with her back to Ashera.

“I want to sleep.” Her voice was muffled.

“Didn’t you just wake up?” Ashera asked with a low chuckle.

“Why are you going back to sleep?”

Beili’s lashes flickered. Wrapping herself in the covers, she scooted all the way to the edge of the bed and snapped, “None of your business.”

Then she ignored him.

Ashera patted her through the covers and reminded her,

“What about the flatbread, mallow soup, and camel milk? Aren’t you going to eat? I had to blow sand for ages before I could buy them.”

Beili fell silent for two seconds. Then she threw off the covers, got out of bed, and walked over to the table, where she stood and began eating.

At some point, Ashera appeared behind her.

“Those dreams are your memories.”

As he spoke, he bent down and kissed her cheek.

Then he wrapped both arms around her from behind, his tall frame enveloping her completely.

“My dear Little Butterfly,” he repeated softly, “the person I love is in my arms right now.”

His blood-soaked scent surrounded her.

Beili paused mid-chew, then resumed eating. She did not push him away.

Nor did she respond.

The aroma of the food calmed her slightly.

It also brought her face-to-face with one undeniable fact.

The person Ashera and Doctor Cassius had fallen in love with was the all-powerful version of her from the dream.

Not the ordinary person she was now, still struggling to accumulate Mana.

That person was her. And yet, she wasn’t.

After all, the body and identity she currently possessed belonged to Bartholomew.

Mrs. Constance cherished Bartholomew. The person Cyril felt guilty toward was the young Bartholomew, while Lance and Clarence only saw Bartholomew’s beauty.

No one liked the person living inside Bartholomew’s body.

Beili had always known that.

Only now was she beginning to face it.

Perhaps…

The only person who had ever loved her… might have been that one person.

Unfortunately, their relationship had already reached its end.