Chapter 11
The hair spread across the bed like delicate embroidery suddenly bothered me.
It wasn’t a pleasant feeling to have someone looking down at me.
Though…
I had to admit, there was something strangely ticklish about it.
He said he’s remained chaste before marriage.
He had probably never even kissed anyone.
Yet the aura around Ahak rivaled mine, even though I had been trained in the art of seduction since childhood.
Is this teasing tension intentional? Or was he simply born this way?
“You say that, but there must be something you want.”
“You want something too.”
When I lazily answered back, Ahak frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“I can see it in your eyes.”
I watched him frown, dissatisfied with my answer, and whispered as if singing.
“You want to fall into corruption.”
“You want to sink into hell.”
“You want to crawl through the very bottom.”
“You want to be thoroughly stained and defiled.”
The next moment—
Just as Ahak looked ready to snap that I was talking nonsense, I grabbed the chain around his neck like a leash and yanked it hard.
Instead of retreating from his sword, I raised my upper body as if doing a sit-up and moved closer to the blade.
Ahak’s eyes widened in shock.
The edge of the sword definitely touched my neck.
Fortunately, it didn’t cut through.
In that brief instant, Ahak instinctively pulled the blade back.
“So you did notice the look of disappointment in my eyes… when you realized I was human.”
He hadn’t withdrawn it fast enough.
A thin line opened across my skin, and blood slowly trickled down.
Even so, I lowered my lashes, smiled gently at him, and never stopped smiling.
Although the bedroom was completely sealed and not even a breeze was blowing, my silver hair swayed.
The fury Ahak had been forcing onto his face suddenly disappeared, replaced by an icy chill.
“You wished I really were a demon.”
I smiled as I spoke.
Slowly.
Clearly.
Letting him know that I had seen through his true nature.
Silence followed.
“…Why?”
At last Ahak spoke, moving his lips slightly as he lowered the sword.
He stepped back.
Only then did I sit up completely and brush my hair behind my ear.
“Why would you think that?”
His voice was low and dry.
I looked up at him while remaining seated on the bed.
“Because people can’t think outside the language they know.”
I slowly released the chain in my hand.
“The first day I found you, you called me a ‘demon’ twice.”
“…”
“You sounded like someone who had tried more than once to summon one.”
He had looked almost… relieved.
That stings.
I touched the drop of blood running down my neck with my index finger.
“You figured that out from just that?”
He sounded as though he were talking to himself, so I didn’t answer.
For an instant, Ahak flinched under my gaze and tightly shut his mouth.
As if I had uncovered a secret he desperately wanted to hide.
What I want…
He was right.
I hadn’t picked him up out of pure kindness.
My true wish had always been to become someone beyond the reach of any law.
Then…
Was what Ahak wanted to become a tyrant?
If I could make you the sky… then perhaps I could become the universe beyond it.
The universe exists outside the sky.
It isn’t bound by what happens beneath it.
A summoned demon always makes a contract.
If I guided things carefully…
Ahak and I might become excellent partners.
But he was far too wary of me right now.
He wasn’t showing me his true self yet.
“So…”
I pretended not to know.
“What was it that made you want to summon a demon and make a contract?”
This was a test.
A psychological battle to learn about each other.
The Ahak I had seen inside his dream was a genius beyond imagination.
He would instantly recognize my intentions and use them against me.
“Tell me.”
I smiled brightly.
“Maybe I really can grant your wish like a demon.”
Instead of lowering his guard, however, he became even more cautious.
Watching him unconsciously take half a step back, I stubbornly continued.
“If you miss this chance…”
“I might refuse to make a contract.”
When I deliberately let the last words linger, Ahak stopped moving.
“Refuse?”
“Are you sure you’re okay with that? You should speak while I still find you interesting.”
“Once I lose interest…”
“It’ll already be too late.”
“Hah.”
He laughed in disbelief.
Of course, I was only testing him.
I wasn’t serious.
But perhaps I had pushed him too far.
He reacted immediately.
“Why are you so confident?”
“Because you’re the owner of the Rose Sword?”
“A legendary sword?”
“I own one too—you’ve seen it.”
“Or is it because you believe you can grant any wish made by the heir of Osbldarun?”
So when his pride is hurt, he lashes out.
Tia didn’t answer.
Ahak looked down at her with cold eyes.
She wore a deep blue dress as brilliant as the universe itself.
Diamond earrings sparkled from her ears, perfectly matching the necklace around her neck.
Golden flecks scattered across her silver hair caught the light.
But Ahak wasn’t staring because he was captivated by her beauty.
What is your true nature?
The House of Sun Stelshanin was infamous for its merciless upbringing.
Even within that family, Retiana’s beauty was said to be unmatched.
Ahak had heard the rumors.
Tia believed he had forgotten their first meeting.
In reality…
He remembered it perfectly.
She killed the Pope.
As a member of the Blood Osbldarun family, Ahak could distinguish the scent of blood with absolute precision.
The blood he had smelled when they brushed past each other at the Holy See…
It had unquestionably belonged to the Pope.
The Pope’s assassination was buried without the culprit ever being found.
Ever since the Holy See abruptly abandoned the investigation, Ahak had begun estimating Tia’s true personality and abilities.
Her recent independence from Stelshanin, together with the assassination of the Katobletta family head, had only deepened his suspicions.
Most likely…
She killed the Katobletta patriarch as well.
The courage to assassinate powerful figures.
Her calm demeanor immediately afterward.
The flawless planning that kept suspicion away from her.
Above all…
The overwhelming swordsmanship needed to accomplish such feats.
“What exactly are you?”
“I don’t know.”
I smiled playfully.
“Maybe I’m your destiny.”
“What?”
“I appeared like a miracle right before you died and saved you.”
“Doesn’t that sound like fate?”
Suddenly, dizziness washed over me.
Perhaps it was because my neck was still bleeding.
Just then—
Knock. Knock.
Someone knocked on the bedroom door.
The EliteNet servants had probably heard the commotion and were worried about me.
“I’ll gladly become your demon.”
I stood up from the bed first.
“So next time…”
“I’d like to hear the terms of your contract.”
“Otherwise, I won’t come looking for you again.”
“Then remove these shackles first.”
“You’ve been infected by the Mist Parasite.”
Without backing down, I met Ahak’s intense gaze.
Why did his pink eyes feel so contradictory at this moment?
His large frame alone felt overwhelming enough to crush my throat.
Even beneath the bright daylight, his black hair seemed to swallow every color around it.
“…”
At the mention of the parasite, Ahak finally seemed to understand.
Leaving him there in silence, I walked out of the bedroom.
Today’s conversation was enough.
Ten Days Later
For the next ten days, I didn’t visit Ahak.
Instead, I focused entirely on identifying spies among the surviving members of the Blood Osbldarun family.
In the end, I succeeded.
“My Lady.”
An EliteNet maid reported.
“The surviving male servant and the two maids were all spies. They died of tetanus. Of the four knights, only one was a spy. He has been imprisoned.”
Well…
Ahak himself had nearly died while escaping.
It had always seemed suspicious that ordinary servants with no combat ability had survived.
The confessions obtained before the spies died had all been carefully organized into reports.
One had been planted by the Emperor’s faction.
The other three came from the Houses of Mist Katobletta, Desert Tekojelton, and Flower Lamborena.
“They really had spies everywhere.”
“Yes. That concludes my report.”
“It’s also time for your pheromone extract.”
“Today’s concentration is seventy-six percent.”
Only then did I realize that the dreadful time had come again.
Pheromones were artificial hormones.
Naturally, they weren’t good for the body.
But the Stelshanin family had forced me to drink them ever since I was a child.
Now I was addicted.
Without regular doses, my life would be in danger.
The concentrated liquid was pink.
It reminded me of Ahak.
“…Pheromones don’t work on him.”
“…Pardon?”
“He’s the first man I’ve ever met like that.”
As I swallowed the extract, I fell into thought.
Ahak was still wearing the collar.
There was no helping it.
He had been infected by the Mist Parasite.
“How is… that man?”
“We have attended to him with the utmost care.”
“And his recovery?”
“He has completely healed.”
Looking at my reflection in the cabinet’s glass, I unconsciously remembered Ahak’s sword.
The wound on my neck had already healed.
Yet every time the skin tingled…
I remembered our conversation.
His frightening touch.
His powerful thigh pinning me down.
The softness of the mattress beneath my back as it sank under our weight.
The strangely sweet scent unique to someone infected by the parasite.
All of it.
“Here.”
“…”
After finishing the pheromone extract, I handed my wine glass to the EliteNet maid.
She stared blankly at me for several seconds.
When I looked at her curiously, she suddenly blushed bright red before hurriedly taking the glass.
“Y-Yes, my Lady.”
“…”
“You’re…”
“So beautiful.”
Her compliment sounded as though she simply couldn’t keep it inside.
Perhaps because I had just taken the pheromone extract, her reaction was even more embarrassed than usual.
“…Thank you.”
I smiled after hearing the compliment.
The maid’s face immediately turned even redder.
As I walked through the hallways after leaving my office, the other servants reacted much the same way.
But…
If Ahak saw me now…
He would probably remain completely expressionless.
Now that I think about it…
Maybe I should go see him again.
After hesitating for a moment…
I started walking.
There was something I wanted to test.
