Episode 32
While sipping freshly brewed tea, Bella looked at the black sphere resting on the table.
She set the teacup down and took the sphere into her hand.
“Hm……”
What she had thought was a solid black sphere began to move. It turned into black smoke, creeping like an insect.
The pitch-dark smoke, which had been moving at an agonizingly slow pace, came to a halt. In between it, empty gaps were visible.
A sigh slipped from Bella’s red lips as she stared at those spaces.
“Not yet.”
With lingering regret, she took another sip of the cooling tea.
Even so, she never once took her eyes off the sphere—afraid that, in the blink of an eye, it might turn completely black.
“I underestimated it.”
Just as Bella muttered with a sigh—
“I suppose I underestimated you as well.”
“What do you—”
Gasp. Bella’s mouth snapped shut. At the same time, a long, slender arm suddenly reached out from behind her.
“So what you gave me was a curse.”
Frozen with fear, Bella couldn’t bring herself to turn around. Her body trembled violently from instinctive terror.
Behind her, Cain—who had heard every word of her muttering—wore a cold sneer.
“A curse delivered along with nightmares.”
“C-C-Cain, my lord… W-when did you—”
“Does that really matter?”
Though Cain had clearly been standing behind her, he was now somehow across the table.
After examining the sphere from different angles, he placed it back in front of Bella.
“What’s the curse?”
“……”
“Are you planning to keep your mouth shut now?”
“N-no, sir.”
Her fear sealed her lips. Cain knew that—and pretended not to.
“As you know, my patience is rather limited.”
“I-I’ll tell you the truth.”
Bella’s eyes shook violently with terror. With trembling lips, she finally spoke.
“When one becomes trapped in a nightmare… the curse forces them to destroy themselves.”
“Destroy themselves.”
“In their agony, they struggle… and then suddenly take their own life.”
“A most humiliating death for someone as proud as Mel.”
“……”
Cain gestured toward the sphere with his chin.
“Lift the curse.”
“……”
“You’re taking your time answering.”
Cain stared at Bella steadily. That alone made her tremble even harder.
It felt as though an invisible serpent had wrapped itself around her, squeezing tighter and tighter. Fear surged so intensely her knees nearly gave out.
Bella couldn’t answer. The curse she had cast—
“It’s… a curse I cannot undo.”
“So you can cast it, but there’s no way to lift it.”
“…Yes.”
“And you dared to give that to me, calling it an antidote.”
“I-I’m sorry. I just—urk!”
She didn’t know when it appeared. A snake with bright red scales, as thick as a grown man’s arm, coiled around Bella’s neck and tightened.
“Shall I give you a chance to live?”
The red snake paused. Slowly, it loosened its coils, allowing Bella to breathe again.
Gasping for air, Bella raised her tear-streaked face.
“Tell me how to wake from the nightmare.”
Cain realized immediately.
There was a way to force nightmares in—but no way to pull them out.
Bella’s legs gave out, and she slipped from her chair onto the floor. Beside her, the snake coiled again, raising its head.
Following its gaze, Bella found Cain standing right in front of her in the blink of an eye.
“Unlike Kinaz, Kay is very much like me. Impatient. Violent.”
As if agreeing, the red snake—called Kay—flicked its tongue.
“Speak. This is the third time I’m asking.”
“…Why are you protecting that hunter?”
“……”
“I hated that hunter. How dare a lowly hunter put such a filthy restraint on—!”
Clutching her skirt, Bella slammed her fist into the floor. The impact was strong enough to make it shake.
Cain looked down at her with emotionless eyes.
“…On such a noble being.”
“……”
“That’s why I wanted to kill her. In the most miserable way possible.”
A strange light flickered in Bella’s eyes.
She had been one of the bishops whose loyalty bordered on fanaticism even back in the age of vampires.
Nothing had changed.
“But.”
Cain, who had been listening in silence, finally spoke, his expression unreadable.
“You disobeyed my orders.”
“…Yes.”
Having given up everything, Bella lowered her head.
“There is only one way to wake from the nightmare. The dreamer must realize, within the nightmare, that it is a dream.”
“And?”
“And… they must end the nightmare themselves.”
“Be specific.”
“They must defeat the source of the nightmare with their own hands inside the dream.”
It sounded simple—yet impossibly difficult.
After all, a nightmare is a nightmare because it’s hard to escape.
Cain scoffed inwardly and ran a hand through his hair in irritation.
“Any last words?”
Bella hurriedly looked up.
“P-please spare me. I—I was wrong.”
At Cain’s silent command, the red snake tightened its grip around Bella’s neck. Unable to breathe, she clamped her mouth shut.
Soon, she was gasping.
Cain looked down at her with cold, emotionless eyes.
“I clearly warned you not to touch her. You were the fool who ignored that warning.”
“Ugh… ngh…!”
“If you wanted to live, you shouldn’t have ignored my warning and touched what’s mine.”
“Ghk…!”
Her face grew paler as her breathing became more and more labored. Cain, unmoved, flicked his index finger through the air.
Understanding the signal, Kay loosened its grip.
Bella collapsed onto the floor, coughing violently as air rushed back into her lungs.
“Please! Please spare me!”
Still gasping, Bella rubbed her hands together in desperate supplication.
Cain listened quietly—then curled his lips into a smile.
“I swear I’ll never touch that hunter again! Please, mercy—mercy!”
But Bella never got to say another word.
The red snake lunged at her, wrapping tightly around her body.
And—
“Ghk!”
Bella’s heart was pierced through.
It would take about five more days of steady walking to reach Clovis Headquarters.
Meloni, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped. She spun around and locked eyes with Glen.
“What. Why.”
“H-huh?”
“If you’ve got something to say, say it. Stop staring holes through me. You’re annoying.”
“I didn’t say anything……”
“Your eyes are noisy. It’s irritating.”
She hated that hesitant look—it was obvious he had something to say. Frustrated, Meloni spoke first.
Glen was grateful. He hadn’t known how to bring it up.
“Meloni. That mark on your neck… maybe—”
Reaching up, Meloni touched the spot he meant. There, clearly visible, were fang marks.
It had already been two days since Cain had bitten her neck before leaving.
‘They’re still there.’
The memory resurfaced vividly—how freely he had bitten, how much blood he had taken.
Frowning, Meloni let out a sigh.
“So what?”
“Did you… give that bastard your blood?”
“It just happened.”
‘It just happened?’ Explain.”
“It’s not important.”
As Meloni tried to walk away, Glen grabbed her wrist. She was forced to stop after only a few steps.
She had been hiding it with her hair—
But the wind betrayed her.
“So that’s why you left your hair down? When you always tie it up?”
“It’s karma. I made a mistake and ended up becoming ‘food.’”
“…Food? Hey, wait. You.”
“My blood got mixed into the restraint.”
Smack—
Meloni slapped his hand away and rolled her wrist.
“That’s all.”
She glanced at the stunned Glen and gave a short laugh.
“Why that face, senior?”
“…Take the restraint off. Right now.”
“Then things get harder for me.”
As Meloni started walking again, Glen hurried to her side.
He knew enough about restraints to understand—mixing blood into them was part of their original use.
“I’ll—no, Clovis will figure something out. So please!”
“I told you—it’s the only lead we have. Until we find the king, I’m not taking it off.”
At her casual tone, Glen fell silent.
Even though everything had been exposed, Meloni kept her hair loose. The fang marks were too obvious—better to hide them for now.
“So just keep your mouth shut.”
Turning to Glen, Meloni looked almost desperate.
“Until I finish everything myself.”
