107 – Has the teething period passed?
“…Iris?”
“Yeah? Why?”
Iris looked at me with sparkling eyes. Like if the universe was contained in them, Iris’ pupils sparkled even in the darkness.
“You should go to your own room and sleep.”
“But… I’m scared to sleep alone…”
“Then how about sleeping with Lily? I’ll go and ask…”
As I tried to quickly get out of bed, Iris grabbed onto my clothes. I turned my head and looked at Iris.
“No…?”
Iris looked at me with teary eyes.
“There’s nowhere that family can’t work. hahahaha.”
The resident with a weak sense of humor, who was devastatingly weak in the face of the girl’s tears, eventually had no choice but to lie in bed.
“Yeah, Iris and I are family!”
In his mind, he turned the happiness circuit around and showed his back to Iris before lying down. And then…
Pat.
Iris pressed tightly against his back. A ticklish breath scattered behind his back, and although she resembled Jess, a different scent brushed against his nose. They used the same shower supplies when they washed, but their fragrances seemed different when he smelled them.
“Oppa, I’m cold.”
“Huh? Should I get another blanket?”
“No.”
Swoosh, Iris’s hand lightly brushed his waist and passed by, then she hugged him from behind. As our bodies pressed together, I stiffened without realizing it.
“Let’s sleep like this.”
“…Okay.”
I am just an ordinary pillow.
I am nothing more than a pillow that breathes.
I held on tightly to my sanity, afraid that I might have strange thoughts even about Iris, who is practically my daughter.
***
If Iris had been in high school, the strangely sticky atmosphere would have lasted longer. But Iris was only in middle school, so Lian fell into a sleep-like state before long, as if he had fainted.
It was also thanks to being exhausted from the preparations to leave Cardisian.
“…”
“Oppa…?”
Iris listened carefully to the soft, rhythmic sound of breathing and cautiously called out to Lian. Lian, deeply asleep, didn’t react at all.
“…”
Iris pressed her ear against Lian’s back, savoring the steady thumping sound of his beating heart. Ever since she had escaped the arena, she had been having nightmares almost every day.
A dream where her sword pierced Lian’s heart, and his body grew cold.
The scene of looking down at Lian, stiff and rigid like a corpse in a garbage-like disposal site, and the stench of decay that made her feel like she would vomit, haunted her.
In those moments, Iris obsessively sought out Lian. Her sensitive senses allowed her to feel the sound of Lian’s heartbeat just by being in the same space.
Iris blinked slowly.
With each breath Lian took, his chest and stomach gently rose and fell, and the slow heartbeat echoed in a steady rhythm.
She absentmindedly blinked her eyes and then rolled her gaze slightly upward, looking at the back of Lian’s neck. The image she had just seen a moment ago flashed before her eyes—the sight of his white neck exposed between the collars.
“It feels bad.”
Cardishan is one of the territories ruled by a demon king. That means all sorts of cruel things happen there.
To survive in a place where terrible things happen every day, people who have lived normal lives need to learn dirty and brutal knowledge.
Because you need to know to avoid it.
Jesse and Iris, who had attended classes with children despite their young age and lack of common sense, learned such knowledge countless times over three years.
Among them was “s*x education.”
If it were a peaceful world, it would have been a cautious class, but in Cardishan, where you never knew when or where you would be kidnapped and treated like livestock, it was a class that needed to be learned logically.
When Iris took that class, she had no particular thoughts. If she had to pick one thought, it was that she felt bad.
Most of the content she learned during s*x education was about preparing for crimes, so it was filled with information that seriously violated human rights.
The information that suddenly came to mind was just one of the cruel knowledge she had learned to survive in Cardishan, but it was because the roughly drawn picture she had seen during class was strikingly similar to the appearance of Jesse and Lian.
The teacher emphasized it several times during class. If someone is forced into s*xual crime, it can be a terrible wound, but if it happens with someone you love, it can become the most precious treasure in the world.
And so, I heard the words that they would become a true family.
“…my older brother.”
If Jess and my brother become a family, what about me?
She couldn’t understand the uncomfortable feeling bubbling up from her chest.
Even if Lianne and Jess got married and became a family, it didn’t mean Iris and Lianne would become strangers. Despite knowing that, Iris found it unpleasant that someone other than herself could become family with Lianne.
Iris tightened her grip around Lianne’s waist, picturing the scene of Jess and Lianne in her mind.
In a dimly lit room, her brother lying on the bed with Jess on top of him.
As she thought about it, the word “marking” suddenly crossed her mind.
“Marking…”
Leaving a trace on something precious to a werewolf.
Iris had attended several werewolf lessons for the sake of her werewolf children. The information she had learned at that time came to her mind. Iris gazed silently at the white nape of Lianne’s neck.
It felt like looking at a snowfield where no one’s footprints were left.
“…”
Slowly, Iris released her grip on Lianne’s waist and lifted herself up.
Lianne’s soft breathing became closer. Iris fluttered her long eyelashes and lowered her head towards Lianne’s neck. And–
From Noble mtl dot com
***
“Did… I do something wrong?”
[ Maybe he’s trying to hunt you. The neck is a vulnerable spot. ]
“Oh… it couldn’t be, right?”
Lianne rubbed the clear bite mark left on his neck with his fingertips, his face filled with distress. The bite mark was distinct, as if bitten deeply by a gust of wind that poured out blood.
It would probably disappear quickly with time, but the wound that was inflicted so painfully seemed like it would last longer than usual.
The Marrowblade, stuck in Lian’s thigh, spoke with an excited voice as it sucked the blood greedily.
[Isn’t it because I aimed for when you were sleeping? heheheheh, now even the night isn’t safe. So from now on, sleep while embracing me!]
“Why do I have to sleep while embracing you?”
[So that when someone attacks at night, I can make a grand entrance with a swoosh!]
“Well, you don’t really have to sleep while embracing me, right? You could just put me under the pillow…”
[What if your partner forgets in their drowsiness? Besides, I am a detective who sleeps while holding a sword… It’s quite cool, isn’t it?]
“Okay, okay.”
[Then, let’s sleep sitting down!]
Ignoring the nonsense of the Marrowblade with one ear and letting it flow out with the other, Lian moved away from the mirror. Returning to the room, she opened the first-aid kit that confidently occupied one side of the room. She took out a wide bandage and firmly attached it to her neck.
The wound was so big that the bandage was also large.
“I hope it doesn’t hurt when I peel it off later.”
While gently stroking the place where the bandage was attached, recalling the pain of removing the gauze, the Marrowblade urgently called out.
[Partner! I finally remembered!]
“What is it?”
Thanks to Iris leaving to take charge of the children, Lian was alone in the room. Responding to the Marrowblade without hesitation, a voice mixed with arrogance could be heard.
[It’s because of your bloodline… It must be the molting!]
“Molting…?”
[Yes. Remember when the red-haired werewolf was molting at the restaurant? Since your ages are similar, both of you must be in the same molting period!]
“But the incident you’re talking about happened three years ago.”
[It’s no different if it was three years ago or yesterday.]
Perhaps because I’ve lived for so long?
The concept of time with the Shadowblade was twisted somewhere. Sometimes, I would say that three years ago is no different from yesterday, and at other times, I would rampage as if I hadn’t been given a single meal for ten years.
“It’s like she just thinks for herself.”
Having such futile thoughts, I brushed off my seat and stood up.
“…Is this really molting?”
I knew that Iris had long passed the time for molting, but it was more comforting to think that she had started a molting that was long overdue, rather than thinking that she asked because she wanted to hunt me down or assassinate me.
“Should I look for molting supplies?”
Muttering to myself, Lian pulled out the Shadowblade with a familiar touch and performed a reverse summoning. The Shadowblade whimpered, saying it wanted to eat more, but there was no time to finish preparations for the journey in less than a week.
Lian confirmed that her thighs had healed in an instant and quickly left the room.
***
“Is everything going well with the preparations?”
A heavy and pale voice echoed through the large hall. A girl with black hair wearing a white mask sat on the throne, looking down at someone with an indifferent face.
A man kneeling on one knee in the middle of the hall bowed deeply. A man with short hair wearing a monocle spoke in a calm yet neat voice.
“All preparations are perfect. Therefore, the mountains will be made of corpses, the rivers will be made of blood, and the continent will fall into the hands of the Demon Lord.”
The man spoke with a triumphant tone as if he were singing a hymn. His monocle glimmered eerily.
“There must be no mistakes, Ervorn.”
“Yes, Demon Lord.”
Ervorn, the strongest of the Four Heavenly Kings known as the Demon Lord’s right arm, smiled like a snake and bowed even deeper.