Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 337

Chapter 337

On the third day of the funeral, the crystal coffin containing Mrs. Constance’s body was to be lowered into the ground.

The sky remained overcast.

The clouds hung low over Butterfly Valley, like a thick layer of dust settled upon velvet.

Shovelful after shovelful of black earth was tossed onto the crystal coffin, landing with a soft rustle.

As the eldest daughter of the Constance Family, Beili stood at the front of the crowd.

Her eyes were lowered, fixed on Mrs. Constance’s face as it gradually disappeared beneath the soil covering the coffin lid.

Her face was still caked in thick powder, and the vivid red of her lips only made the deathly gray skin beneath her ears look even more pallid.

Beili no longer felt any grief at all.

And yet, she could not look away.

She could feel several gazes resting on her, studying her.

Perhaps they came from the distant relatives dressed in black mourning clothes. Perhaps one of them belonged to Cyril.

She did not look up. She simply stood there in silence.

She remained until the last handful of earth had covered the coffin and the priest had finished reciting the final prayer.

The funeral was over.

The crowd that death had brought together began to disperse, everyone heading toward their respective carriages.

The disorderly footsteps grew muted against the damp grass.

Beili walked over to Susanna and lowered her voice.

“Pack your things. We’ll leave as soon as it gets dark.”

Susanna froze for a moment. Glancing at the crowd nearby, she also lowered her voice and asked, “Does Father… know we’re leaving?”

“Not unless you told him.”

Beili’s answer was concise, her tone calm.

“…Can I tell him?”

Susanna’s voice dropped even lower, carrying a trace of apprehension.

Beili gave a quiet hum of assent. After two seconds of silence, she added a warning.

“Come up with an excuse. Otherwise, Father won’t let us leave.”

Susanna nodded, her fingers unconsciously clutching the black skirt of her mourning dress.

A moment later, she asked again, “Sister, should we go say goodbye to Father together? After all, we’ll be gone for some time…”

Beili raised her head and looked at the Duke walking ahead of them.

His back was straight, and he carried himself with the bearing typical of a Sainthos Noble.

Yet there was no concealing the desolation surrounding him.

Her gaze lingered on him for a second before moving away.

“You can tell him yourself.”

Beili’s tone was indifferent.

Even with the Duke still here, and even with distant relatives who carried the Butterfly Family’s blood, she had no family left.

No.

After Ashera had taken her on that journey into the future, she should have understood the truth.

She had never had a family to begin with.

The wind swept fallen leaves from the ground, carrying the scent of earth toward the neatly pleated hem of her black dress.

She looked up at the sky and brushed the loose strands of hair from her face, her fingertips wiping away a trace of cold moisture in passing.

The dark clouds remained heavy, as though they would never disperse.

…

“Since Winnie Constance isn’t your family, why are you doing this for her?”

A Demon-like whisper seemed to rise from the darkness.

“Maybe it’s because… I’m angry.”

She heard herself reply.

The deep night, accompanied by cold moonlight, seeped into the room.

Beili woke to find that she had fallen asleep at the table without realizing it.

Rubbing her slightly sore eyes, she looked at the rose-patterned clock on the wall.

Its gilded hands rested between nine and ten. The time she and Susanna had agreed upon had long since passed.

Beili’s brows drew together slightly. She raised a hand and summoned one of her Morpho Butterflies, ordering it to find Susanna, then left the room.

She waited in the carriage for a while.

When she heard approaching footsteps, she opened the carriage door and found herself facing the Duke’s stern expression.

Her uneasy premonition became reality.

“Bartholomew, get out of the carriage and return to your room.”

The Duke’s command was severe.

It seemed that after speaking with the Duke, Susanna had chosen between seeing an apparition of her birth mother and playing the part of the Constance Family’s proper second young Noble lady.

She had chosen the latter.

What a shame. But this was not something Beili could force her to do.
“Father, I need to leave.”

The girl’s voice was distant.

“It’s dangerous outside right now. Relations between the three kingdoms have reached a breaking point, and war could erupt at any moment-”

He continued, “Without my order, this carriage will not leave the castle.”

Beili remained seated inside the dimly lit carriage.

After several tense seconds, the Duke sighed. His rigid voice softened slightly.

“Whatever it is, wait until this turmoil has passed before you go.”

“I’m not your daughter.”

Moonlight filtered through the carriage’s latticed window, dividing her cold, beautiful profile between light and shadow.

After a moment of silence, he said quietly, “Bartholomew, please. Your father is begging you.”

The girl leaned back, her pale face disappearing into the darkness, leaving the Duke unable to see her expression.

“You’re not my father either.”

Gazing at the red eyes outside the carriage that looked exactly like her own, she slowly continued, “Bartholomew died a long time ago… I’m merely a ghost inhabiting this body.”

“Perhaps you don’t believe me, but I don’t have time to prove it to you, Duke.”

As she spoke, the girl kept her eyes on him.

Bartholomew had inherited most of the Duke’s features: red eyes, silver-gray hair, and the same stern contours of his face.

Cold moonlight illuminated the man’s stunned expression, as though his face had frozen in place.

Only after a long moment did he seem to awaken from a dream. Shock and anguish filled his voice as he asked, “Now that Winnie is gone, you don’t want to be my daughter anymore?”

The girl instantly used Beast Transformation, turning into a butterfly and flying out of the carriage. She hovered in the air, her wings beating for a moment.

“I’m sorry…”

Her emotionless voice came from the butterfly.

“Right now, I have something more important to do than play the part of your daughter.”

With that, she flapped her wings and flew beyond the castle grounds.

“You truly are nothing like Bartholomew!” a harsh voice called from behind her.

“Before Bartholomew went missing, she may have spent only a few years with us, but she was nothing like you…”

“Were you a member of the Snake Family in your former life?”

“Of all the families I’ve encountered, only members of the Snake Family could be as cold-blooded as you!”

“The way you behave makes it difficult not to wonder whether there’s even a heart inside your chest…”

As if venting all the emotions he had suppressed over the past few days, the Duke deliberately hurled hurtful words after her as she flew away.

She could hear him.

Her wings faltered only at his final sentence.

Beili glanced back and saw the Duke standing where she had left him.

Beneath the moonlight, his figure looked lonely and desolate. He seemed to have aged many years in an instant.

…

Alone.

In her original world, she had long since grown accustomed to being on her own.

She might not have a carriage, but her wings allowed her to travel even faster.

After leaving Constance Castle, Beili flew for a while before reaching the only Teleportation Array leading out of Butterfly Valley.

There, however, she saw someone she had not expected.

“Miss Bartholomew-”

When he saw her approaching the Teleportation Array, the person raised a hand, waved to her, and called out her name.

Surprise instantly appeared on her cold, masklike face.

Still beating her wings, she fixed her gaze on the tall young man standing beside the Teleportation Array.

He was still dressed in black mourning clothes, with a hat pressed over his short, curly brown hair.

His bright blue eyes appeared dark beneath the night sky.

She glanced around at their empty surroundings.

“Were you waiting… for me?” the girl’s uncertain voice came from the butterfly.

“Yes.”

Clarence nodded.

The butterfly landed lightly and transformed into a gray-haired, red-eyed girl.

“Say what you need to say. I have urgent business somewhere far away.”

Beili’s voice was cold, and her face betrayed no unnecessary emotion.

Clarence drew a deep breath, summoned his courage, and said, “Please take me with you-“