Chapter 005
Except for this hill where the Mon Deplano Casino was situated, electricity reached nowhere else in Bluegate.
The existence of a city perpetually illuminated in a region that accepted night as night was something strange and distorted.
In front of the casino lay a plaza with a fountain at its center. Maria walked briefly around the fountain, which was adorned with dazzling party lights.
Benedict, who she thought would be released by dawn even as a punishment, had not emerged. Even after Alexander woke up and headed to his office for casino business, he remained inside.
Since she couldn’t see him come out, Maria finally made up her mind and entered the casino.
Nothing had changed in the casino she was entering after a long absence. Maria quietly opened the staff door on the side of the casino and descended the stairs.
Luca, seeing her come down, asked in a panic, “Why—why have you come here?”
“Where is Benedict? Why haven’t you released him yet?”
“He’s in Room 3 over there. No, the thing is… he caused a scene and said he would never enter the cellar, so… we used some drugs to calm him down. Until the drugs wear off…”
At that moment, the sound of something shattering came from the direction of Room 3.
As Maria looked at him sternly, Luca scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and said, “What else could I do? If we didn’t, who would subdue him? How else were we supposed to get him into the cellar?”
“Even so! You know Benedict can’t stand being in an enclosed space!”
“Miss.”
Luca sighed and said firmly, “That’s because you haven’t seen him this past year. He has become a fully grown man. The President cannot control Ivy in a state like that.”
“……”
“If we didn’t resort to such measures, no one in Bluegate could get near him.”
Maria sighed at Luca’s words. She spoke with a heavy voice, “It’s alright.”
“What do you mean it’s alright, Miss…”
Maria picked up the key to Room 3 hanging on the wall. Luca cut off his sentence in surprise and stood in her way, blocking her with his body.
“If that’s the case, I’ll do it.”
“Luca, it will be truly dangerous if you go in.”
“Even if it’s you, you’ll get hurt just as much!”
Maria silently pushed Luca aside and unlocked the door to Room 3 with the key. The moment the door opened, Maria faced Benedict standing inside the room.
In that instant, Maria recalled her first encounter with the fifteen-year-old Benedict Ivy, when he came to the docks looking for work at the Mon Deplano Casino.
A boy with eyes that feared nothing in the world, as if that place were the beginning and end of his life, and there would be no bottom or sky beyond it.
Standing among the trash gathered at the pier to get a job at Mon Deplano, Benedict had already broken the spirits of all the other applicants and was staring at the casino with a solitary brilliance.
His only weakness—he who had always been superior in both fighting and intellect from the first day to the present—was his severe claustrophobia.
Benedict was capable of doing anything to avoid being left alone in a closed space.
Maria looked at Benedict, who was staring back at her, and thought of the possibility of man-hunting mermaids that the sailors of Bluegate feared. Aggressive, cold, strange, beautiful, and full of hatred for humans.
Benedict did not move because Maria was pointing the muzzle of a pistol at him the moment she opened the door.
A pistol.
Especially one like this, which could fit in a single hand; there were only a few such pieces in all of Bluegate.
Maria had owned one since she was young. It was for self-defense.
Maria said with a trembling voice and hands, “Put your hands behind your head and kneel.”
At her word, Benedict seemed to regain some consciousness and looked toward Maria.
Bang—!
In that moment, she actually fired the gun; the bullet grazed Benedict’s arm.
Benedict showed the palms of his hands to signal he had no intention of resisting, then interlaced his fingers behind his head and knelt on the floor.
Maria approached Benedict with a shaking hand carrying a syringe.
When she finally reached him with difficulty, she plunged the needle into Benedict’s arm while keeping the muzzle of the pistol pressed against his forehead.
In that moment, Benedict raised his head and looked at Maria. She nearly dropped the syringe when their eyes met, but she managed to regain her composure with effort.
Benedict was looking at her with eyes that seemed they could kill her at any moment. They were boiling with hatred and desire simultaneously.
It was a look no one in Bluegate had ever seen, including Maria.
As Maria focused on injecting the Naloxone in that brief moment, she realized too late that the weight of the pistol had become lighter.
When she looked at the gun again, the magazine had fallen to the floor.
When did he move?
Maria froze in confusion, and Benedict stood up slowly, picking up the magazine. He threw it outside.
“Ah, Ivy!”
He looked directly at Luca, who was running toward them, and then slammed the door shut.
Several people threw themselves against it, trying to prevent it from closing, but it was useless against his overwhelming strength.
Benedict clearly locked the door, while there was a frantic pounding from the outside.
“You lunatic! Open the door!”
“Go tell the President immediately!”
Ignoring the chaos outside the door, Benedict simply stood leaning against the door and looked calmly at Maria.
Only then did the fear she had been forcibly suppressing surge up. Maria took short breaths and placed her hand against the wall. But the strength in her legs failed under Benedict’s gaze, and she sank into the corner between the bed and the wall.
“I’m helping you. Just like you helped me a year ago.”
Maria spoke barely audibly, but she couldn’t hope that Benedict was hearing her words.
Her mind was clouded with thoughts of how long she would have to endure until the antidote took effect.
Shortly after, Benedict walked toward her, grabbed Maria’s arm, and pulled her up. He then propped her against the wall and scanned her face and body with his gaze.
Maria closed her eyes. Like an animal reunited with its owner after a long separation, Benedict opened his mouth after exploring her in this way.
“I know.”
Maria’s eyelashes, which were clumped weakly from the moisture that had turned into a sticky sweat, fluttered slightly.
Following this omen, Maria’s beautiful, large eyes looked up at Benedict.
Benedict’s face was one Maria had never seen before. And since she hadn’t seen it, she couldn’t describe it.
Only… a manly face.
It was an extremely masculine face.
Benedict lowered his body deeply and buried his face in Maria’s shoulder.
“I know… that you are helping me.”
“……”
“I’ve regained my senses now.”
Contrary to what he said, there was a fierce strength in Benedict’s hand as he embraced Maria’s waist. Not enough time had passed for the toxin to be completely flushed out.
His instincts, the contents of which she had never known throughout their acquaintance, were exposed. Maria was startled by the hatred within them, but the powerful desire that swept over her along with the hatred overwhelmed both.
Maria had always thought Benedict’s body temperature would be low. But it wasn’t.
The heat in the hand embracing her was clearly desire, and it was so hot it felt as though it might burn her skin.
“Ah, it hurts, Benedict. Loosen your grip.”
Maria pleaded because his body was so tense. But Benedict did not loosen his hold.
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