Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 343

Chapter 343

Beili felt that at some point after entering the Far South, she must have inadvertently stumbled into some sort of strange encounter.

She had a vague sense that this was the case.

How else could she hear Ashera’s voice? She could hear both the quiet sobs of his Youth Form and the furious roars of his Adult Form.

It was just like being inside the Dream Cage.

Speaking of the Dream Cage, she thought she could hear rain and hail falling.

That left her with no choice but to suspect that this was around the time the Dream Cage had been completed.

In other words, this was after she had faked her death and left the Dream Cage.

Ashera held her more tightly. Beili could hear hailstones pounding against his body and every step his bare feet took through the mud.

Step after step, he walked for a very long time.

This was probably the farthest he had traveled on foot since reclaiming his body.

That was what Beili thought.

Before this, he had almost always floated.

He did not know that after she left the Dream Cage, the restriction preventing him from absorbing Mana by drinking blood had been lifted.

This dream was his world. He could do anything he wished here.

Of course, first he had to take the heart.

His Mana was already exhausted. He carried her in silence, trudging through the torrential rain and hail.

“Sainthos…”

The boy’s voice was tinged with hope.

“He is her servant.”

“Can he wake her up?”

“No matter the cost.”

“I’m afraid her body will…”

“As long as the heart remains, it won’t disappear.”

…

Their conversation was indistinct.

They walked for one day, then another, drenched by the downpour and battered by hail.

There was so much hail.

Beili could practically imagine his back and head being split open and healing, over and over again.

The man carried her for a long time. Eventually, the rain and hail subsided, and the desert became dry and scorching once more.

“You take over… I can’t maintain this human form any longer.”

The man vanished, and the boy took his place, carrying her on his back.

After several more days of walking, a dense buzzing filled the air.

Locusts.

They blotted out the sky.

Someone screamed, and Beili heard familiar voices speaking in the distance.

“…It’s the Second Prince!”

That was Renee’s voice.

“Renee! Get over here!”

Lance called out to Renee as he ran across the gravel.

Beili felt Ashera’s hands tighten slightly around her, as though he were nervous.

Under normal circumstances, he never would have acted this way.

But now, all his Mana was gone, and he was carrying her “corpse” on his back. Even if it truly was nothing more than a corpse now.

“I knew you’d be here!”

Renee exclaimed excitedly.

“Your Highness, do you still remember me?”

“Your Highness! Your Highness, I’ve come to save you!”

“Oh… God, what happened to you? How did you end up like this?”

Renee’s voice drew closer and closer. Beili could almost feel the quick, ragged breaths she took after running.

“The person on your back… Is that Bartholomew?”

As she spoke, Renee kept swatting at herself, apparently having been bitten several times by the locusts.

Finally, she could not help cursing under her breath.

“Save me?”

Beili felt the boy’s left hand release her.

“Your Highness…”

Renee’s voice became muffled and strained, as though someone had seized her by the throat.

“Your Highness… None of this is real…”

“Renee!”

Lance rushed over.

Beili heard a flurry of chaotic footsteps. Renee must have been freed, because the boy’s left arm wrapped around her once more.

“This is an Illusion Realm Bartholomew created to imprison you, a prison within your mind, or something else… I don’t know exactly. All I know is that none of this is real!”

Renee’s voice trembled with agitation, and she sounded close to tears.

“You have to wake up, mmph-”

Someone clapped a hand over Renee’s mouth.
Lance seemed to drag Renee farther away. Beili heard their footsteps recede, along with the fading sound of sobs.

The boy carrying her suddenly stopped.

“Did you hear that? …It was all a lie…”

The boy gave a muffled chuckle and released her.

Beili felt herself fall onto the loose gravel.

“He said you never loved me…”

“You lied to me…”

“You really don’t love me after all…”

Cold lips sealed over hers, and tears like frost fell upon her face.

“Then let him take you down to Hell… I’ll gladly let you two have each other…”

The boy murmured those words, then left.

Beili was abandoned in the desert.

A dense, droning buzz surrounded her. Locusts crawled all over her body, and she could feel them devouring her face.

She knew what would happen next.

She knew the boy would devour Lance’s soul.

She also knew that escaping the dream had been nothing more than an illusion.

After returning to the Dream Cage, she had never truly escaped it. Not until she took the initiative to break the Dream Cage apart.

But what was the point of this strange encounter forcing her to relive those events?

Was it trying to make her feel guilty?

Though she certainly did feel guilty.

…

The skin and cooling flesh along the side of her face seemed to have been stripped clean by the locusts. Beili could hear them trying to gnaw through her jawbone.

Crunch. Crunch.

Crunch. Crunch.

The sound made her scalp prickle.

She couldn’t focus enough to think.

Ashera… come back… Hurry…

Beili pleaded silently.

Please.

Just then, a mass of clammy liquid rose from beneath the gravel and enveloped her.

At last, the world fell silent.

The liquid carried her down into the dry gravel.

Sinking.

Sinking.

She kept sinking deeper and deeper.

…

A beam of ashen-red light entered her vision.

She opened her eyes and saw a meteor-like flash of silver filling her view.

It was Ashera.

The one in Youth Form.

He was holding her in his arms.

His fingers dug hard into her face as his cold lips crushed against hers. His tongue forced past her teeth and coiled around hers like a constricting snake.

A steady stream of Mana and blood flowed down her throat and into her body.

Beili felt the fingertips clamped against her brow tremble faintly.

His eyelashes were trembling too.

Within his golden eyes, his Crimson Vertical Pupils had contracted into slivers as thin as paper.

Why was he here…?

Right. This was the Illusion Realm.

Just like her dream, none of it was real.

Realizing that, Beili raised a hand and pressed it against Ashera’s chest, intending to push him away.

But the instant she touched him, she felt the violent pounding within.

Thump. Thump.

It was as rapid as a drumbeat and as loud as thunder.

Riddled with tension.

It was a heart…

Beili’s fingertips froze. Stunned, she slowly drew her hand back.

She wanted to place it against her own chest and see whether her heart was still there, but he seized her hand and pressed it against his cheek instead.

She saw that the amber set atop the wooden Amber Ring had cracked open.

As if something had broken free from within.

Through the fractured gap, she could even glimpse the items stored inside. The only thing missing was the rabbit.

An image of that scrawny rabbit flashed through Beili’s mind.

Could Ashera have transformed into the rabbit and followed Susanna to find her…?

Then was this really still the Illusion Realm?

Beili closed her eyes and reached out with her senses.

It felt as though a gaping hole had opened in her chest.

It was hollow, and the scorching wind passed straight through the hole in her chest and out her back.

She finally understood what had happened. The heart had returned to Ashera’s body.

Liar.

That lying bastard.

It obviously hurt this much.