Chapter: 192
“Stay still.”
Jess’s usually bouncy voice had taken on a heavy tone, drilling into Lian’s ears. As he trembled with a chill, her hands that pulled him close gently patted his back like one would soothe a child. The tender gesture eased his tension completely.
His head felt too sluggish to respond sharply. Lian slowly closed his eyelids, which felt even heavier than before, and after a few seconds, he managed to open them again.
Clinging to the fading threads of his thoughts, he finally blurted out the words he couldn’t let go of.
“Jess… I’m really… okay… it’s fine…”
The words mingled with the sound of the falling snow and the howling wind, slipping weakly from between his lips.
‘Jess, you really should take better care of yourself.’
While Lian pushed Jess away partly because he saw her as a child, there was a significant worry that drove him too.
This level of pain wasn’t unusual for Lian. Even if the Gag Filter was malfunctioning and he was feeling several times the pain, that thought didn’t change.
Even if the sharp pain felt like it was numbed, and his joints didn’t move well as if they were broken, he didn’t think he was in any immediate danger. That’s why Jess’s actions made him feel like she wasn’t taking care of herself.
Did she really have to put up with the embarrassment for such a ‘small’ amount of pain?
Lian could firmly say no. As a result, all his words that slipped out were just nagging. Jess’s eyes narrowed the more Lian tried to continue.
“So, then…”
“I…”
Her unusually low voice cut through Lian’s attempt to speak.
“I would give my heart for you, Lian.”
The name she called him instead of the usual “pup” was oddly jarring and stimulating, leaving him flustered. The shock echoed in his head like a loud clap, just like when Jess had showed a more mature side that went beyond her childish demeanor.
Lian’s stunned ears caught her quiet voice next.
“I can do even more than this.”
For some reason, he felt a warm heat from where she had nibbled at his ear. Like the sun melting snow, the warmth started to thaw his frozen face. His breathing, which had been slow, regained its original pace, and his heavy eyelids felt much lighter.
An inexplicable blush and tension flowed through his body. Lian kept trying to form words with his lips, but they wouldn’t come out easily.
Ever since peering into the Demon King’s inner world or perhaps since finding himself in this foreign body, Jess’s emotions felt distinctly clear, as if he could grasp them.
Just like the weight of words differs from person to person, the weight of Jess’s words was so heavy that he couldn’t easily respond.
“Why…?”
After biting his tongue multiple times, that question slipped out, reflecting the chaos in his head. Unorganized thoughts swam around inside his lips that slowly began to warm back up and, in the end, formed something coherent.
“Do I have… value… to you?”
That sounded like a line someone with low self-esteem might say, but Lian was genuinely curious.
Could he really, for someone so precious, assertively give his heart?
Jess was different from him. She had lived in a world where life and death blended seamlessly without valuing death the same way he did. Therefore, her values must have been entirely different.
In a world where the value of ‘death’ was heavy and closely tied to ‘despair,’ could he, who hardly ever died, truly hold the same value as Jess’s life?
If Jess saw him as someone who could die easily like an ordinary person, he could somewhat understand her words now, but she had seen him getting bloodied multiple times only to recover.
He had often recounted his tales of surviving near-death experiences to escape her overprotection.
Quick-witted Jess had figured out he wasn’t lying the previous evening. The reason she was less overprotective compared to Noah or Iris was because of that realization.
‘Why?’
It was incomprehensible to him that she would weigh her precious life on the same scale knowing he wasn’t someone who died easily.
As his thoughts deepened, his head began to throb. Lian furrowed his brows lightly as he contemplated.
‘…Is it because the Gag Filter isn’t working properly? My thoughts are too complicated.’
Simplicity was a fundamental trait of Gag dwellers. The fact that his usually clear and simple thoughts had become complex was all due to the malfunctioning Gag Filter. Lian simultaneously thought he needed to find his body soon, and just then, Jess spoke.
“Lian, you’re my everything, the most valuable and precious thing to me.”
If he were to reflect on the past, he might have brushed off the statement with a thought like, “She must feel familial affection since we’ve been together since childhood.” But now, the clear shape of her words slammed right into his heart.
The overwhelming emotion was so vast that it nearly took his breath away.
“Lian, you do cherish Jess, right?”
In her voice, mixed with laughter, he sensed anticipation and a hint of anxiety. Lian blinked slowly and answered.
“…Yeah.”
“Then, pet me.”
Jess rested her chin on Lian’s shoulder, letting her ears droop. Maybe it was the partially functioning Gag Filter, or maybe it was the warmth Jess shared, but his gradually returning senses moved his hand to her silky red hair.
As his hand moved slowly over her head, her tail that covered his lower body fanned out like a peacock’s tail. The chilly breeze made it twitch, and it froze momentarily, before it picked up again, in defiance of the cold.
No more conversations were exchanged between them. They simply waited for the snow to ease up, sharing warmth instead. As time passed, Lian’s cheeks began to flush pleasantly.
I like you, I really like you.
Pet me some more, love me more.
The vivid affection that didn’t need to be spoken felt like a confession, and Lian’s eyes wandered aimlessly.
‘Does the more contact there is, the more… I can feel it vividly?’
He tried to turn his attention away from the intense feelings that were clearer and more concrete than before, focusing instead on other thoughts. But whether it was because his efforts were working or because his tired body hit its limit, it wasn’t long before Lian fell into a deep sleep.
Watching Lian sleep, Jess licked her lips. If Lian had his original body, she would have had to take some pleasurable responsibility, but the deeply sleeping Lian had no way of knowing this.
*
The seemingly ceaseless snowstorm finally stopped, blanketing the snowy mountain in a pristine white. Wrapped tightly in their clothes, Lian and Jess commenced their trek across the snowy terrain.
“Jess, are you really okay?”
“Yep!”
Jess swayed her tail while wearing a dress that was open from the mid-thigh to the ankle. With her long sleeves half rolled up, she didn’t seem cold at all.
‘Could it be because Beastmen are generally warm-blooded?’
There were generally two types of Beastmen: those who resembled animals completely and those who only shared characteristic traits like ears, tails, or skin. Jess belonged to the latter category.
With her large red ears, fluffy tail, beast-like eyes, and sensuous body, she mostly looked like an ordinary human.
Though her curvy physique could be considered human, Jess’s body was more aligned to that of a ‘female’ than just a ‘woman.’
This wasn’t meant to be derogatory; it just meant she had the optimal form for birthing children.
Her pelvis, a symbol of fertility, was well-developed, and her lower body was sturdy while her chest was quite large. As powerful as she was, her entire musculature was also developed for hunting. If she were to bear children, she wouldn’t have to worry about feeding them.
Her body exceeded the typical size a human could naturally possess, making it hard to see it as purely human.
In any case, Jess’s body was made up of soft skin and didn’t seem to have thick fur like animals to shield against the cold. Her exposed legs and arms looked cold just to look at, and Lian couldn’t help but constantly worry about her.
Just as he was thinking about offering her an outer layer of clothing.
“Commander!”
A foreign voice rang out from afar. Turning towards the sound, he saw two Beastmen staring at them.
“The Commander has returned!”
One of them yelled loudly and immediately pulled out a horn.
Blowing a horn on the snowy mountains was akin to playing with fire in an avalanche-prone area—a kind of new suicide method. Jess was on the verge of a curse at the stupidity of the Beastman.
“Y-you idiot!”
Even though the curse that slipped out felt trivial, her voice was terrifying, as if it had come straight from hell. Lian shivered, coming to his senses, but by then, all that remained was evidence of Jess sprinting off.
Booom..! Hee… hee…
The grand sound of the horn was reduced to that of a helpless mosquito in front of Jess’s fist. As Lian moved closer to the Beastman Jess was shaking by the collar, he pondered.
‘…Has she made a lot of friends among the Beastmen?’
The thought suddenly popped into his head, and his steps stopped abruptly.
‘It’s a good thing Jess made new friends, but… why does it feel so unpleasant?’
A strange discomfort, akin to splinters forming at his fingertips, furrowed his brows. Lian’s gaze shifted to the Beastmen who were being dragged around by Jess.
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