Chapter 75
‘Right? But seriously, how can I not laugh? I’m literally inside a game right now! Wow, how did I even manage to hold back until now? I’ve reincarnated and regressed inside a game! This is insane. Too funny.’
I let out a goofy chuckle, and from somewhere above my head I heard a voice like an echo in my ear:
“She’s completely drunk.”
“I never thought a face so full of mischief would look this good in formal wear… but you look really handsome.”
Wait—am I just spilling words out of my mouth? Why can’t I hold them in? My lips won’t stay shut.
…I shouldn’t be drunk yet. I’m perfectly sober…
Hmm. I might regret this later, so I should keep everything inside my head. No speaking out loud.
“Mischief? Me?”
“You didn’t know? You’ve got a total thug face. When your wanted poster went up, I bet everyone was shocked. ‘Wow, that’s the perfect face for a criminal poster,’ they probably thought.”
“Oh, come on. Who carried you to the palace doctor when you collapsed? And now you’re calling your savior a thug?”
“Please. You weren’t a savior. You just wanted a better view of me fainting, so you dragged me along.”
“…Ha. Unreal.”
“Want me to call you a savior? Wow… You’re shameless and have no conscience.”
Thank god. I wasn’t so drunk that I actually responded. I just argued back in my head and stayed silent.
Though somehow it felt like Viktor was answering my thoughts directly. But then again, that guy always had sharp instincts… probably mind-reading. That’s what transcendents are—monsters… damn bastards.
“Shameless? Me?”
“But you know, I get it. If I were you, I would’ve wished misery on me too. Probably prayed thousands of times for Odette to just die…”
For a second it seemed like Viktor’s hand flinched at my last thought, but maybe it was just the alcohol messing with me.
“Sorry… for wanting to live… when I’m someone like this…”
Mm… am I sleepy?
I leaned into Viktor, my knees suddenly giving way.
“Hey, hey?”
Viktor caught her with one arm before she collapsed completely, his voice panicked as he shook her.
“Really? You say stuff like that and then fall asleep?”
“……”
“She’s a total drunk, huh?”
Yeah. She had been giggling like a lunatic earlier. No doubt she was plastered. Which explained why she was now asleep in an instant.
Viktor stared down at her sleeping face, his expression tangled with conflicting emotions.
“I never met you before. So I didn’t know what kind of person you were.”
He murmured quietly, unlike his usual self.
“If I had known… I wouldn’t have cursed you.”
He should’ve hated her. For a whole year, in his most desperate and fragile state, he was ignored, trampled, and left in misery. He had craved her desperately, and in equal measure, he had hated her.
But if he had known she was this kind of person, he might have hated her and still understood her. If he had realized her life was just as fierce as his own.
He had thought she was the same as those other noblewomen. That she’d mock him, scorn him, play with him, and crush him.
“Talking to a drunk… pathetic.”
Viktor sighed and looked around the hunting grounds. Luckily, he spotted aqua mint.
With its sharp scent and spicy bite, it could sober up anyone for about an hour, no matter how drunk they were.
He held her in one arm and plucked the herb with the other.
‘She never ceases to surprise me. Every time we meet, it’s like getting punched in the face with something unexpected.’
Ever since they first met, she’d been nothing but shocking, nothing but unpredictable. That must be why he couldn’t stop being curious about her, why she was always on his mind.
“Hey. Open your mouth, drunkard.”
He tried slipping the mint into her mouth, but she didn’t swallow.
“Tch.”
Viktor popped the mint into his own mouth, chewed, then pressed his lips lightly to hers.
Not because of any ulterior motive—definitely not.
She’d said she wanted to hurry back, and she’d even clung to him despite hating it. Helping her sober up was the least he could do.
And yet, when his lips brushed hers, his heart pounded wildly.
“……!”
Ecstasy shot through him.
Inside him lived a beast—the phoenix. Since that cursed creature had nested within him, he had lived with the agony of his nerves constantly burning.
Fire clashed horribly with Viktor’s nature. Even the slightest corruption made him feel like he was about to lose control, wracked with unbearable pain.
His life had been nothing but the torment of burning alive.
But now… all that cursed agony melted away in a single breath, drowned in the fragrance of peach blossoms.
The monstrous inferno, the eternal hellfire bird, turned meek in an instant. Like a tame little canary.
He felt like he was standing in a torrential downpour. His brain was about to burst, his soul about to leave his body.
The peak of euphoria. No drug, no alcohol, no killing had ever given him this kind of bliss.
His pupils unfocused, he nearly lost himself in her lips—but barely managed to pull away.
“Hah…”
That, too, was unlike him. Normally he would’ve been consumed, unable to stop himself.
But the phoenix stopped him. Screaming in his head, thrashing violently, insisting he let go immediately.
That damned bird, with its rotten temper, actually panicked at the thought of her hating them.
“Cough.”
Just then, she swallowed the aqua mint and woke with a cough.
Her trembling eyelashes fluttered open, revealing her beautiful turquoise eyes.
“You awake, drunkard?”
“Ah…”
Odette looked around in confusion.
“Let go of me, please.”
The moment she realized she was in Viktor’s arms, her face drained of color.
“What time is it now, Colonel?”
“Midnight.”
“Everything’s dry now, so I’ll head back. Please take me to the banquet hall quickly.”
She pulled away from him with an anxious expression. Outwardly, Viktor looked relaxed, but inside he was irritated.
‘Where did that calmness from earlier go? Why the sudden nerves?’
“Why the rush to the banquet hall? Got a handsome lover waiting for you?”
He sneered, thinking of Johan.
“Don’t joke. I need to see my mother.”
“Your mother? Then of course, I’ll do whatever you ask.”
He smiled slyly and lifted her again—this time not like a sack of potatoes, but in a proper princess carry.
“Faster.”
But Odette showed no sign of being swayed by his theatrics.
‘What, this face doesn’t work on her?’
Viktor felt his pride sting as he started walking.
‘Fine. You’re right.’
For the first time ever, he agreed with the damned phoenix.
She had turned pale just from being held briefly. If he’d actually indulged in her lips, she would’ve despised him.
‘Hah. So the birdbrain isn’t completely useless? Living this long, I guess it knows women better than me?’
He had always seen the phoenix as an enemy. But with Odette as their shared goal, maybe the stupid creature wasn’t so bad.
‘This kind of purity isn’t something I’ll share with anyone else.’
Viktor wanted her for himself. How could he win her over?
‘She danced with the crown prince. So maybe she likes high-ranking men?’
It wasn’t like him to set goals, but he could.
‘If it’s wealth and power she wants, I can give her that.’
His free-spirited nature didn’t suit such ambitions, but if Odette wanted it, he could even stage a coup to make her empress.
Viktor’s mind raced with plans to seduce Odette—plans that didn’t include her opinion at all.
