Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 372

Extra — IF: Cassius (4)

Just as Beili had promised, she finished the coat two days later.

She had even sewn on every button herself.

She emailed Cassius to tell him that the garment was complete and asked for a delivery address.

But Cassius replied that he would collect it in person and invited her to join him for dinner as well.

It was now eight in the evening, London time.

The Ritz Hotel, Piccadilly.

She had heard that it housed the most famous restaurant in London.

Beili surveyed the glittering, extravagantly luxurious decor before her gaze finally settled on Cassius, seated opposite her with his golden hair and emerald eyes.

He had already put on the dark gray coat.

Through several red roses, he watched as she set down her knife and fork, picked up her napkin, and gently dabbed at the corners of her mouth.

Feeling a little self-conscious, Beili lowered her gaze and forced herself to remain composed as she finished the last bite of steak, then drained the red wine from her stemmed glass.

She refused to waste anything. Especially after seeing the outrageously high prices following the little lines on the menu.

“Is the food to your taste?” Cassius asked at just the right moment. Against the elegant music in the restaurant, his voice sounded exceptionally gentle.

“It is delicious. Thank you for dinner, Mr. Cassius.”

Beili’s voice was calm, but inwardly she had wondered more than once whether she was dreaming.

After all, only a few months ago, at this very time of night, she had still been miserably working overtime.

And now there was this lavish restaurant, the splendidly dressed guests around her, and the handsome, flawless man opposite her, wearing the coat she had made with her own hands and looking as though he had stepped out of an oil painting.

Her benefactor.

“You are welcome. Let us go. I will take you back.”

Cassius rose first, came to her side, helped her up, then bent his arm like a gentleman.

Beili reached out and linked her arm through his.

Everything felt like a dream too magnificent to be real.

And she did not want to wake.

The car stopped outside the college.

It had begun to rain.

“The roads are slippery in rain and snow. I have an umbrella in the car, so allow me to escort you to your accommodation.”

Only at Cassius’s gentle reminder did Beili come back to herself.

The cabin was warm, while snowflakes drifted silently beyond the window.

She drew a small breath and asked, “Mr. Cassius, can you tell me why you chose to sponsor me? You have been far too good to me, yet before we met at the department store, we had never even seen each other…”

Cassius had been about to unfasten his seat belt, but her words made him pause.

He looked at her.

His long fingers unconsciously brushed over one of the sewn-on buttons. The movement was very light, filled with a sense of cherishing something precious.

A gentle smile rested in his emerald eyes, as though he were remembering.

His gaze made Beili a little nervous, but she gathered her courage and met it as she waited for an answer.

He leaned slightly closer, narrowing the distance between them. At that moment, the woody fragrance inside the car seemed to grow richer.

“Miss Beili, I have sponsored many people.”

His voice was lower than usual, each word clear and unhurried.

Beili’s eyes widened slightly. In his emerald gaze, she could almost see her own dazed reflection.

“As for treating you well…”

“Ensuring that a valuable seed can sprout and flourish, clearing away the unnecessary weeds and stones around it, and providing the sunlight and nourishment it requires—is that not the duty of a sponsor?”

His explanation was reasonable and logically sound. It even carried a kind of tightly controlled calm.

But Beili was not entirely convinced.

From the time she received her acceptance letter until now, everything he had done had long since exceeded the role of a sponsor.

The snow seemed to be falling harder.

“It is late. You should go back, Miss Beili.”

Cassius spoke with his usual gentleness.

Beili knew that this was all the answer she would receive tonight.

With a tangle of emotions she could not put into words, Beili thanked him softly, opened the door, and got out.

Without waiting for him to fetch the umbrella, she ran into the college.

Back in her accommodation, Beili felt hollow and faintly unwilling to accept his answer.

This must be greed, she thought dully.

She had reached the college of her dreams and begun living a privileged life, yet she was still greedy enough to want the source of that tenderness all to herself.

She craved his thoughtfulness and gentleness, and wanted them to be hers alone.

Beili picked up her phone and began composing an email.

*Mr. Cassius, do you drive your other beneficiaries to and from work?* Delete.

*Mr. Cassius, I would like to take the liberty of asking you a question.* Delete.

*Cassius.* Delete.

She had no idea how many times she wrote and erased her words. In the end, Beili gritted her teeth and jabbed heavily at the screen, typing a single line.

Her email read:

> Would you be willing to become my boyfriend?

Beili did not know what had given her the courage to type such a blunt, reckless, utterly artless question, much less send it.

The moment the notification confirming that the email had been sent popped up, she shoved the phone beneath her pillow.

She buried her burning face deep in the cool pillow as belated panic and shame swallowed her whole.

Would he find it laughable?

Would he think she had ulterior motives? Or would he feel offended, cut off all contact, and take everything back?

The mere thought of his expression turning cold made Beili feel chilled from head to toe.

She did not know how long the torment lasted.

Perhaps only a minute. Perhaps as long as a century.

*Ding.*

An email had arrived.

**From:** C

> With pleasure.

Her blunt question had received an equally blunt reply.

As Beili stared at the two-word sentence, her blood seemed to freeze.

Her breathing stopped, and her mind crashed completely.

Unreal joy and bewilderment intertwined, striking her so hard that she could not think.

Before she could recover, the screen suddenly lit up and an unfamiliar local number appeared.

She drew a deep breath and answered. For one second, there was only silence on the other end.

Then Cassius’s voice traveled clearly through the receiver into her ear.

“May I address you this way now, my dear girlfriend?”

He slowly pronounced those final words in his elegant British accent. They carried a strange, lingering tenderness that struck Beili straight in the heart.

Her entire body felt as though it might burst into flame, and her heart pounded wildly.

“Mr. Cassius, I… I am deeply grateful for your generous sponsorship. You may not believe me, but my feelings for you are not because of your wealth… Wait, does this mean you agree?”

Her English instantly regressed. She stumbled over the words, her mind still completely blank.

A very soft laugh sounded from the other end of the call, indulgent and delighted.

“I have never doubted that.”

There was no question in his voice.

“Yes, I agree,” he said with solemn gentleness. “This is not generosity. It is my personal wish.”

“Now, may I have the honor of hearing my girlfriend say good night to me herself?”

She could not form any other complete sentence.

“Good night!”

She managed to force out the words, then ended the call.

Beili fell backward and sank into the blankets, engulfed by a surging tide of astonished delight and unreality.

In the course of one short holiday, Beili had acquired a boyfriend.

And he was a handsome, wealthy, utterly perfect boyfriend.

Her boyfriend was also her benefactor.

She did not know how to explain the purity of their relationship, so when the spring term began, Beili told no one about it.

Once classes resumed, her workload increased, and there were several group competitions in quick succession.

Any garments that passed would appear in the college fashion show.

Beili remained so busy with her studies that she had almost no time to go on dates with Cassius.

She usually sent him polite text messages reporting little details from her daily life. They were all about designing or making clothes, or amusing things that happened on the way to buy fabric with her group members.

In any case, she was busy.

She had almost no time to rest. Only when she received notice that her garment had passed did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

That evening, at the enthusiastic invitation of her group members, Beili attended a celebration party.

The first step of the party was to lock everyone’s phones inside a box and toss the key into the center of a champagne tower.

No one would get their phone back until the party was nearly over.

Colored lights spun and flashed, and the mood was feverishly festive.

For the first time, Beili truly let herself go and had fun.

Surrounded by her excited group members, she drank glass after glass of sparkling wine.

She drank until all the figures before her eyes began to sway.

Then the world suddenly tilted.

She felt someone lift her into a solid, cold embrace that carried a familiar woody scent.

Away from the noise.

A sharply defined face, so handsome it hardly seemed real, entered her vision.

Golden hair, emerald eyes, thin lips pressed tight… Cassius?

“It appears that you had a wonderful time while I was away. So wonderful that you completely forgot I existed…”

“Am I not allowed to come? As your boyfriend, is there anything wrong with coming to take home a girlfriend who lost track of time and could not even be reached?”

“I know… That is why I came personally.”

Beili could not hear a single word.

All she saw was a pair of beautiful green eyes gazing down at her, filled with emotions she could not understand.

So she smiled, tilted her head back, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

Just as she had always wanted to do.

His lips were indeed as soft as she had imagined, only a little colder.

The arms holding her went rigid.

The next instant, they tightened fiercely around her, squeezing hard enough to hurt.

Then came an even fiercer, burning breath that nearly swallowed her whole.

The kiss ended.

Beili nestled back into his arms. Before her awareness sank into darkness, she seemed to hear a restrained sigh.

“You have no idea what you are doing… my master.”

Beili abruptly regained awareness.

She was in the back seat of a car, her head resting on someone’s lap.

A hand was stroking her hair.

Beili did not need to look to know whose hand it was.

The memory of the kiss had not vanished.

Her mind jammed. Her alcohol-flushed face grew even hotter. Forcing herself to sit up calmly, she managed to say, “Mr. Cassius… My phone is still locked in the box at the party.”

“I have already retrieved it.”

Cassius held the phone out to her. “Next time, perhaps you might choose a form of celebration that makes it easier to remain clearheaded.”

Beili’s eyes curved as she smiled at him. “If you do not like it, I will not go next time.”

There was unmistakable coquettishness in her smile.

She rarely behaved this way. The alcohol had made her do it. That had to be the explanation.

She even reached out to embrace Cassius and buried her face in the crook of his neck, every breath filled with a sense of security. How bold of her.

The hand Cassius had been using to stroke her hair paused slightly when she suddenly sat up.

For an instant, a fierce undercurrent seemed to surge in the depths of his emerald eyes.

Cassius’s Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably.

“It is not that I dislike it.”

Cassius lowered his gaze. The hand that had hung suspended in midair slowly descended and circled her shoulders, drawing her into his arms. “I dislike seeing you lose your clear head and become unable to protect yourself.”

“Occasions like that are not always safe,” he added.

“You will find me, won’t you? Just like you did today,” Beili said with a smile.

Several seconds passed.

Only then did Cassius press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“Yes.”

He promised in a low voice, “No matter where you are, I will find you.”