Chapter 122
Calm down, Danae.
This is an illusion. It isn’t real.
As I soothed myself like that and steadied my shaken mind, anger quickly surged up instead.
No, what is this crazy illusion even doing right now?
I had lived a life far removed from romance, but even I knew that what just happened was the kind of kiss lovers shared.
And it was my first…
It wasn’t like I had some grand fantasy about my first kiss.
What was a kiss, really? It wasn’t something that needed to be given special meaning.
But this isn’t something that should be wasted so ridiculously, is it? At the very least, I thought the other party would be a person.
Let’s say I imagined having a negligee party with my friends.
Everyone would be huddled together on the bed, shyly chatting about what their first kiss was like. And then I’d have no choice but to answer like this:
“I kissed an illusion! It was absolutely fantastic. In many ways.”
The friends gathered on the bed would look at me with pitiful eyes, and I’d end up being a miserable girl who kissed an illusion because she had no one else to kiss.
Well… the only friend I’d even tell a story like that to is Miri.
I could already picture Miri clutching her stomach and laughing at my story.
This doesn’t count. It’s invalid.
I’d crush this illusion under my feet and pretend none of this ever happened.
With that thought, I tried to push away the illusion’s hands that were covering my eyes—
But the kiss suddenly deepened, and my breath was completely cut off.
Ugh!
The illusion held my unsteady body even tighter.
Unable to resist, my breathing grew more and more ragged. It felt like I was going to suffocate.
I gathered all my strength and shoved the illusion away.
“Gasp!”
The restraining force vanished, and the breath that had been blocked rushed back all at once. Even so, there still wasn’t enough air, and I couldn’t steady myself properly.
“Haa… haa…”
My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the spot, panting desperately.
Each time I took a deep breath, the foggy haze in my head slowly cleared.
Ugh. This feels awful.
As the memory resurfaced, I roughly rubbed my lips with the back of my hand and lifted my head.
In front of me was the illusion wearing Rienne’s face.
He had one knee on the ground, matching my eye level, his expression full of concern.
Hah. He’s the one who did this, and now he’s worried?
What a ridiculous setting error.
“Hey!”
Burning with anger, I grabbed the illusion by the collar with both hands and shook him violently.
Pulled close without resisting, the illusion’s eyes were filled with obvious confusion.
“You’re dead today. How dare you do something like that to me? Of all things, my first time with some stupid illusion—!”
It was only an illusion anyway, but I felt like I wouldn’t calm down unless I beat it until dust flew.
Normally, an illusion deeply immersed in the role of “the young lady’s lover” would probably respond with shameless flirting to slip out of the situation.
But now that I clearly recognized it as an illusion, there was no reason to be fooled.
Yet the illusion reacted in a way I didn’t expect.
“Danae.”
The calm voice made the rage that had filled me to the top drop away instantly.
“…Rienne?”
“Yes.”
“Are you the real Rienne?”
“I am.”
“Since when?”
“Since the moment you grabbed my collar.”
I didn’t let go of my suspicion and carefully examined Rienne’s face.
He looks real, but…
The illusion from earlier had been far too realistic, making it hard to reach a conclusion.
“If you’re really Rienne, then call me ‘darling’ like you usually do.”
“…Since when have we been the kind of people who do that?”
“You really are Rienne.”
Just in case, I looked toward where Blanche had been.
At some point, he was kneeling quietly in the corner.
Right. When I meet the real Rienne, Blanche always reacts like this.
At his consistent behavior, a small laugh slipped out.
Only then did I finally relax and release Rienne’s collar. I must have grabbed him very tightly—his clothes were badly wrinkled.
“I’m sorry. I just met an illusion of you earlier…”
As I sighed and smoothed out Rienne’s clothes, he narrowed his eyes and asked,
“Did my illusion do something worthy of having its collar grabbed?”
“Um…”
The words wouldn’t come easily.
How was I supposed to say that I met an illusion of Rienne, that it thought I was its lover, and that it kissed me intensely?
“…Did you get rid of the illusion, Rienne?”
I subtly changed the subject. Rienne, still narrowing his eyes, nodded.
“When I broke down the door and came in, a giant snake was coiling around your body. Just in case, I didn’t kill it.”
Following Rienne’s gaze, I saw a huge snake lying limp on the floor.
So the illusion’s true form had been a snake.
Ugh. Now I’m a woman who had her first kiss with a snake instead of an illusion.
Either way, it was just as disgusting.
Now that I knew the illusion had been a snake, I remembered how the sensation inside my mouth had felt strangely damp and cold.
Ughhh. I hate it. I really hate it.
“Why do you keep rubbing your lips?”
It seemed I had unconsciously rubbed them again.
When I came to my senses, Rienne was holding my wrist with a frown, stopping me.
“Your lips are swollen.”
Rienne’s thumb brushed across my lower lip.
It wasn’t even that significant of a touch, but the moment his warmth reached me, the earlier illusion replayed vividly in my mind, and heat rushed to my face.
Without a mirror, I couldn’t see myself properly, but I was sure my face had turned bright red.
“And now your face is red too.”
Rienne looked at me with a strange gaze.
“What exactly did the illusion wearing my face do?”
“…You’ll laugh if I tell you.”
“I won’t laugh.”
“Really? You promise?”
“Really. If the illusion did something strange, it could have affected your body. You need to tell me properly so I can deal with it.”
Well… I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my body.
Scratching my cheek awkwardly, I pouted slightly.
“We kissed.”
“…What?”
“I mean—um—the illusion that looked like you kissed me.”
“…Why?”
Rienne wore a dazed expression, something I rarely saw. His reaction only made me more embarrassed, and I lowered my head deeply.
“Even if you ask why…”
How would I know why an illusion did that?
Still, there was something I could guess, so I explained it to Rienne.
“There’s a weird rumor going around the Winter Estate that you and I are… involved. I guess the one who created the illusion knew about it and tried to deceive me properly… so it did something like that…”
“Lift your head.”
Rienne gave the short command as I rambled.
“Huh?”
“Lift your head and open your mouth.”
I didn’t understand why, but there was a strange force in his voice, and I couldn’t bring myself to argue.
The moment I lifted my head and opened my mouth in a daze, Rienne’s finger slid straight inside.
“Mm?”
The unfamiliar sensation startled me so much that I instinctively shut my mouth.
I ended up biting his finger.
It must have hurt badly, yet Rienne looked at me without a single change in expression.
“Uh… um… what… why…?”
As I mumbled with his finger still in my mouth, Rienne used his other hand to grip my chin and forced my mouth open again.
“It was a venomous snake. If there were wounds inside your mouth, you could have been poisoned.”
Then you could’ve said that first.
When he loosened his grip on my chin, Rienne’s finger began to sweep through my mouth again.
Each time his finger brushed a sensitive spot, an odd feeling made my brow furrow.
“Fortunately, there are no wounds.”
After thoroughly checking my mouth, Rienne withdrew his finger and stood up.
Clear bite marks were left on his finger—marks I had made.
That must have really hurt. What do I do…
Feeling guilty, I looked at Rienne’s face, but he wasn’t looking at me.
His gaze was fixed on the giant snake.
“Rienne?”
I called out to him, wondering what was wrong, but without responding, he walked toward the unconscious snake.
After staring at it with cold eyes for a moment, Rienne moved before anyone could stop him and stomped down hard on the snake’s head.
There was a crushing sound—probably the sound of the snake’s life being extinguished.
“Didn’t you say you left it alive on purpose?”
Shuddering at the chilling sound, I asked. Rienne casually kicked the snake’s corpse aside.
“That was before I knew what it did to you. And…”
Rienne turned his expressionless gaze toward Blanche, who was kneeling on the floor. Blanche’s shoulders flinched under his stare.
“I’d really like to see the demon who pulled a trick like this—soon.”
