Chapter: 107
“…Iris?”
“Hmm? Why?”
Iris looked up at me with her bright, sparkling eyes. It was as if the universe was contained within them, shining brightly even in the dark.
“You should go to your own room to sleep.”
“But… I’m scared to sleep alone…”
“Then how about sleeping with Lily? I can go ask her…”
As I quickly tried to get out of bed, Iris grabbed the hem of my clothes. When I turned to look at her, her eyes were filled with tears.
“Can’t I stay here?”
“What’s wrong with families being together? Haha.”
Faced with the tears of a pretty girl, the Gag Resident had no choice but to lie back down.
‘That’s right, Iris and I are family!’
With that thought running around in my head, I turned away from Iris and laid down. Then…
Slap.
Iris snuggled up against my back. Her breath tickled my spine, and a scent similar to but different from Jess’s wafted past my nose. We used the same shower supplies, but somehow our body scents felt different.
“Oppa, I’m cold.”
“Huh? Should I get another blanket?”
“No.”
Iris’s hand slid over my waist, and she hooked her arms around me from behind. As our bodies pressed together, I stiffened involuntarily.
“Let’s sleep like this.”
“…Okay.”
I’m just a regular pillow.
I’m just a pillow that breathes.
I clung tightly to my sanity, afraid I might have inappropriate thoughts about Iris, who was practically like my daughter.
*
If Iris were in high school, the oddly sticky atmosphere might have lingered longer. But since she was just in middle school, Lian dozed off pretty quickly.
It also had to do with the exhaustion from preparing to leave Cardishian.
“…”
“Oppa..?”
Iris listened to Lian’s steady breathing and cautiously called out to him. Lian, deeply asleep, didn’t respond at all.
“…”
Iris pressed her ear against Lian’s back, savoring the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. Since escaping the arena, she had nightmares nearly every night.
In her dreams, her sword pierced Lian’s heart, and he ended up cold and lifeless.
She would stand over his stiff body in a trash-like graveyard, gagging from the putrid odor, crying her heart out.
During such times, Iris obsessively sought out Lian. Her sensitive senses could detect his heartbeat just by being in the same space.
Iris blinked slowly.
With each breath, Lian’s chest and belly rose and fell gently, his slow heartbeat echoing steadily.
She stared blankly, then shifted her gaze to Lian’s neck. Seeing his pale neck exposed through his collar brought back a disturbing image.
‘This feels wrong.’
Cardishian is one of the regions ruled by the Demon King. That basically means all kinds of horrific events go down there.
To survive in a place where unimaginable horrors happen every day, you need to pick up some dirty and cruel knowledge.
Best to know about it so you can dodge it, right?
With their childlike innocence, Jess and Iris took classes with other kids over the past three years and learned a troubling amount of this knowledge.
Including stuff like ‘sex education.’
In a peaceful world, that kind of class might be handled delicately, but in Cardishian, where you could be abducted and treated like livestock at any moment, it was a reality check of a lesson.
Iris didn’t think too deeply about the class at the time. If she thought at all, it was that she felt grossed out.
Most of the content was geared towards preventing crimes, packed with information that significantly violated human rights.
This cruel information she learned to survive in Cardishian suddenly popped into her mind when she remembered the crude sketches from class that bore an uncanny resemblance to Jess and Lian’s scenarios.
The teacher repeatedly stressed that while being the victim of sexual crimes could leave horrible scars, forming a relationship with a loved one could bestow the most precious treasure in the world.
Thus, one would become a true family.
‘…But he’s my oppa.’
If Jess and oppa tied the knot and became family, where would that leave me?
She struggled to comprehend the bubbling discomfort rising from her chest.
Even if Lian and Jess became family, it didn’t mean Iris and Lian would become strangers. Knowing this didn’t stop her from resenting the idea of someone else becoming family with Lian.
Iris hugged Lian’s waist tighter, picturing Jess and Lian.
In the dark room, Lian, sprawled on the bed, got tackled by Jess.
As that thought floated through her mind, the word ‘marking’ danced across her thoughts.
‘Marking…’
A mark left by a beastman on something precious.
Iris had attended a few classes aimed at beastmen. The info from those classes came rushing back to her. She gazed at Lian’s pale neck.
It looked like a pristine snowy field, untouched by footprints.
“…”
Slowly, Iris released her grip on Lian’s waist and began to move closer.
Lian’s soft breaths drew nearer. Iris fluttered her long eyelashes and leaned toward Lian’s neck. And then—
*
“Did I do something wrong?”
[Maybe she was trying to hunt you. The neck is a vital spot.]
“No way… right?”
Lian rubbed the clear bite mark on his neck, looking rather distressed. The bite had been hard enough to leave an obvious mark and probably even draw blood.
Though it would disappear eventually, the pain from the bite was so severe it would likely linger longer than usual.
The cursed sword, feasting on his thigh, spoke with glee.
[The fact that she attacked while you were asleep might mean that! Now even nights aren’t safe. So you should sleep holding me from now on!]
“Why do I have to hold you while sleeping?”
[So if someone attacks at night, I can swoosh in dramatically and protect you!]
“Then there’s no need to hold you, right? I could just slide you under my pillow or something…”
[What if you forget in your sleep? Plus, a sword-wielding warrior looks super cool while sleeping!]
“Yeah, yeah.”
[You should even sit up while sleeping!]
Tuning out the sword’s chatter, Lian left the mirror. Back in his room, he opened the first-aid kit that had confidently taken over one corner. He pulled out a hefty band-aid and slapped it on his neck.
The bite mark was so wide that the band-aid had to be larger than life.
‘I hope it doesn’t hurt when I peel it off later.’
As he rubbed at the site of the band-aid, lost in thought about the pain of removing it, the sword called out urgently.
[Partner! I’ve had a breakthrough!]
“What is it?”
Since Iris was off trying to wrangle the kids, Lian found himself alone in the room. He answered the sword aloud, eager for some excitement.
[Your relatives must be biting your neck… it’s because of teething!]
“Teething…?”
[Absolutely! Remember that time a red-haired beastman was gnawing on bones in the dining hall? They’re likely both in the same teething phase!]
“Uh, dude, you’re talking about three years ago.”
[Three years ago? That’s basically yesterday, buddy.]
Is it just me, or does the sword’s sense of time seem a bit off?
After all this time, it occasionally called three years ago “yesterday,” yet acted like not being fed for a single night was a monster-sized calamity.
‘Honestly, it seems to think whatever it wants.’
Brushing aside the silly thoughts, Lian straightened up.
‘…Is it really teething?’
Sure, he knew Iris was long past the teething phase, but it felt better to think she’d only just started late teething rather than plotting to hunt or assassinate him.
‘Should I go look for teething supplies or something?’
With a mental sigh, Lian drew and re-sheathed the sword. Sure, it whined about wanting more blood, but there was hardly a week left to prepare for the journey, so he didn’t have the luxury of time.
After confirming that his thigh had healed up quick, Lian stepped out of his room.
*
“Is everything going smoothly?”
A heavy, pale voice echoed through the vast hall. A girl with black hair and a white mask lounged on a throne, casting a disinterested gaze on someone below.
A man kneeling with one knee to the ground bowed deeply. A long-haired fellow sporting a monocle spoke softly yet precisely.
“All preparations are flawless. So, corpses will pile up like mountains, rivers will flow with blood, and the continent will fall into the Demon King’s hands.”
He spoke joyfully, almost like he was singing a hymn. His monocle sparkled ominously.
“Errors must be avoided, Erboan.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Erboan, the strongest of the Four Heavenly Kings known as the Demon King’s right hand, smiled like a snake, bowing even deeper.
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