Chapter 49 …
Acelia had no idea what exactly was going on.
Until the moment Kalisten arrived, they had clearly just been snakes. But the instant Kalisten showed up, they disappeared from sight. Then, soon after, they transformed into Acelia’s appearance and attacked Kalisten.
“Kal!”
Kalisten seemed to accept it as if he had already resigned himself to the snakes—wearing Acelia’s face—biting him. The Acelias with snake fangs bit wildly at his neck and arms, yet he didn’t resist.
“What are you doing?! Kalisten! Kal! Snap out of it!”
Acelia, horrified, ran toward him. Because she knew those things weren’t actually her but snakes, they looked somewhat snake-like to her.
Meanwhile, Kalisten could smell Acelia’s sweet body scent mixed with his own blood nearby, which made it even harder for him to resist. His head felt blank and his thoughts refused to connect. It was as if the moment he tried to think of something, the thought was cut off.
Blankly, he watched the Acelias biting him. The pain was sharp and vivid, yet even in that moment he could see the real Acelia desperately trying to pull them off to protect him. Though he couldn’t think clearly, one feeling remained certain—he did not want to attack her.
“Don’t do that.”
“Kal! It’s dangerous! These are all snakes!”
Crying, Acelia ran around pulling off the other Acelias that kept lunging at Kalisten. But even when she tore them away, they simply rushed back to attack him again.
Originally, even when Acelia had been in the room earlier, the snakes hadn’t attacked her. They had been trained to attack only the target they were commanded to attack, and now they were all attacking only Kalisten.
“Kal!”
Acelia cried as she pulled the snakes away. Their appearance was an illusion—they were actually snakes—so they did fall from her hands. But there were simply too many. No matter how many she removed, they kept throwing themselves at Kalisten.
“Kal! Snap out of it! Fight back!”
But Kalisten couldn’t.
Watching the snakes wearing Acelia’s face bite and tear into his arms, neck, thighs, and stomach, he said,
“How could I attack you?”
He continued to be attacked as he spoke. He could feel the snake’s neurotoxin spreading through his body, but he still didn’t want to strike back.
Even if it meant dying like this.
“Hic… please…! Kalisten!”
Seeing her cry made Kalisten feel like he might cry too.
“I will never attack you, Acelia. I promised.”
Even as tears streamed down his face from the pain, he endured.
Acelia’s hands were soon covered in his blood, and it took a long time before the snakes finally grew exhausted and stopped rushing at him.
“Ugh…”
The snakes had used up all their venom, and as the drug in Kalisten’s system began to wear off, it became harder for them to bite him. Gradually his mana returned, and he began protecting his body. Soon the snakes’ fangs broke as they tried to bite him.
—Ssss.
At a command, the snakes all retreated at once.
“Waaah…!”
“Acelia.”
Acelia hugged Kalisten and cried bitterly. She thought he was truly a fool. It would have been better if he had just unleashed his mana like last time and attacked.
“I’m okay.”
“You’re not okay! How is this okay?!”
Seeing her cry in anger brought him relief. Then, as he looked at her, he opened his mouth to say the words he had carved deeply into his heart.
“I’m sorry, Acelia. I’m really sorry.”
After saying that, Kalisten fainted.
“Kal!”
Perhaps because of the snake venom, he could no longer remain conscious.
—Crash!
As his body collapsed, Acelia fell with him. Terrified, she cried out.
“Help! Please, help!”
The door opened and researchers rushed inside. Guards dragged Kalisten away, and Acelia—
“Ah…!”
A needle plunged into her neck, injecting a large dose of a sleeping drug.
“Ah… Kal…”
She reached out toward Kalisten as he was taken farther away from her, then lost consciousness.
“Gasp…!”
When Acelia opened her eyes, she found herself in Kalisten’s room. Her chest hurt because Kalisten’s arm was pressing down on her.
It seemed that after knocking them out, someone had simply tossed them inside together. The room was quiet, filled only with the sound of Kalisten’s breathing and her own.
“Kal.”
Kalisten slowly opened his eyes at her voice. She tried to push away his huge arm pressing on her chest. He slowly moved it and attempted to sit up.
“Ugh…”
“Kal!”
As he tried to rise, he slipped and nearly collapsed. The wounds covering his body looked severe. However, it seemed they had at least washed him and treated him roughly—white tape covered all the snakebite marks.
Acelia felt relieved that he had been treated at least a little.
Since he had been bitten by snakes, he must have needed antidotes as well.
“Are you okay?”
Relief welled up in Acelia again, and tears threatened to fall. She could still vividly see the image of him being bitten by snakes wearing her face.
And the reason he couldn’t fight back… was because of her.
“Acelia…”
“Sniff…”
When he called her name, Acelia hugged him tightly.
Then he spoke in a strained voice.
“Are you okay?”
“Idiot! Why are you asking if I’m okay when you’re the one hurt like this?!”
Seeing her cry painfully made his chest ache. But he still felt hazy—there must still be a lot of the drug left in his system.
Which meant the hallucinogen was still affecting him.
“I’m really glad you weren’t hurt.”
As he said that, he removed the necklace behind her neck.
“Idiot… ah…”
Her hair suddenly grew long and spread across the bed. He took in her appearance with his eyes and forced himself upright to meet her gaze.
“Why did you kiss me back then?”
She asked because he was so close that it reminded her of when she had kissed him while disguised as a man. Tears from Kalisten’s eyes fell onto her cheek, feeling as if they were falling directly onto her heart.
“Because it was hard to breathe.”
“That’s all?”
Acelia knew he had been given a truth serum, meaning he would answer honestly.
So she asked.
“Did you want to kiss me?”
“…I’m sorry.”
She understood what he meant.
He hadn’t wanted to kiss her—he had only used her because he couldn’t breathe.
Thinking that way made her sad and angry. She grabbed his shoulders tightly.
Then—
“Ah—what are you…?”
“You did it too. Why can’t I?”
She pulled him by the neck and kissed him.
Kalisten turned his head away, and Acelia felt even more miserable.
“Why? You don’t like it?”
Seeing the hurt in her eyes, he forced his injured arm to move and wrapped it around her.
Then he kissed her.
“Kal—mm…!”
His lips devoured hers fiercely, leaving her breathless. Just the fact that she had touched him first seemed to excite him.
The hazy, painful sensations caused by the drug faded away, replaced with a strange comfort.
He bit lightly at her lips and pressed against her palate with his tongue. She felt his presence invading her mouth as if he were claiming it like its master, making it hard for her to breathe—yet she didn’t want to pull away.
“Ah…”
As Acelia wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, he held her waist. With one hand he pressed the back of her head and deepened the kiss. The intensity felt as if he might swallow her whole.
And yet, seeing the reaction he showed toward her made her feel as though she wouldn’t mind being consumed.
Sometimes he kissed her dominantly, but when their eyes met he softened again. Acelia found him infuriating, yet the way he teased her so gently made her stubbornly try to move more aggressively.
But even when she tried, he easily overpowered her movements.
“Ah… Kal.”
At her voice, he pulled away and stared at her blankly.
“I’m going to do what you did to me.”
“…Acelia.”
“So stay still.”
She wanted to see his reaction—to confirm whether what he showed her was only physical desire.
Because if it was only that, she couldn’t understand why he hadn’t attacked her earlier.
“I… I’m going to touch you too.”
As she spoke tearfully, Kalisten became convinced this was all a hallucination.
After all, Acelia looked exactly like the Selena he had always longed for. She was unbelievably beautiful, and she was saying everything he had wanted to hear.
“Since you couldn’t attack me… I’m going to punish you.”
Even though she thought the words sounded ridiculous, Kalisten gave a faint smile.
Then he obediently stayed still, just as she said.
Acelia pushed him down onto the bed and sat on his waist. She poked his cheek playfully and said,
“I want to kiss you. Look at me, Kali—mm…”
Before she could finish, he immediately lifted his body and kissed her again while stroking her hair.
