[ Chapter 22 ]
“……what?”
I had trouble breathing due to my head being held too high. The middle-aged man, who was no longer pretending, no longer showed any consideration for me in his eyes. As expected, that concern earlier had been conditional.
“You really didn’t know?”
My hand, which was trying to grab his wrist, flinched at Rob’s questioning. I didn’t know. But what was more perplexing was that I couldn’t even guess what he was asking, which made me feel frustrated.
“…This bitch, what should I do? You really didn’t know?”
He seemed to have noticed my expression as his mouth twisted grotesquely.
“I should at least know what I didn’t know…”
“If the whistle had worked properly, why would the prison be in such a mess? It would be easily resolved if they utilized the first-class prisoners.”
What did you say?
At first, I thought I misheard. But as Rob’s lips slowly curved into a smug smile and his eyes blinked, I realized the meaning behind his words.
However, Deon had clearly followed my orders. He must be someone who would rather kill me than deceive me if he had to choose between the two…
“Aah, I see. It was because of this face that you were played with.”
The melancholy was shattered by the confident tone of voice. Greed was brewing in the gaze that was subtly observing my pale face.
“I’ll say it again, Officer Lemony.”
As my hair was pulled harshly, his twisted mouth revealed a strange grin, and I could see the white whiskers on his chin up close. Hot and unpleasant breaths flowed out from between his yellowed teeth and touched my nose and mouth. But I would never let things go as this man wished.
I opened my mouth to bite his nose, but Rob, like a puppeteer, swung my hair around and burst out ridiculous laughter.
“There is no command magic, Lemo…”
“Why are you telling that to her?”
I couldn’t tell which was faster.
My hair, which Rob had grabbed, was released, and my empty chin and cheeks were wrapped in silky gold thread. When I opened my eyes, the man who had an impressive appearance was strangling Rob’s neck with rough curses.
“It was a secret, damn it.”
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Despite being a large figure, Deon seemed even bigger than that huge Rob. As I followed his hand, full of veins, and naturally turned my gaze to his face, my breath seemed to stop without me even realizing it.
It felt like the air in the room had stopped altogether.
His face was so pale that it seemed to have no blood in it, except for the red pupils in his eyes, which were as menacing as a sharpened blade. Just by his gaze alone, it seemed like he could tear Rob apart.
Although I heard the sound of prison officers rushing in from behind, strangely, no one entered the room.
But now was not the time to just stare at Rob, who was becoming lethargic.
Rob had clearly said that command magic didn’t work.
‘Then why did Deon listen to my orders?’
I couldn’t react to his muttered words about it being a secret because I didn’t understand the situation. Okay, let’s assume that command magic doesn’t work. However, he didn’t follow the commands of his own free will. He clearly rebelled and resisted me.
When I told him to sit, stop, and even turn around.
No way.
A terrible thought came to my mind at that moment. What if Lemony’s abuse had taken root in his subconscious?
“Officer.”
As I was frowning in deep thought with my own hypothesis, a chilling low voice woke me up.
“What are you going to do?”
Still, with incomprehensible words, the angry veins in the gripping hand that held Rob’s neck stood out.
“…What?”
“What are you going to do?”
Thud. Rob, whose breath was eventually cut off by Deon’s fierce grip, fell to the ground. Deon’s eerie, crimson eyes glared at me.
Could it be?
As that terrifying gaze turned toward me, my hand, which had been resting on the ground, began to tremble.
Does he respond to Lemony’s voice even without command magic? Is that really the case? Although countless thoughts swirled in my head, I had to say something to the person asking the question.
I managed to open my mouth.
Despite swallowing my dry saliva, my voice still faltered.
“Your body reacts even without command magic?”
“…..Haah.”
Then a burst of laughter escaped him like a gust of wind.
Deon’s mouth twisted and curled upward. He seemed to relish my bewildered expression as if he knew something that I didn’t.
“Thank you for reminding me of the horrible truth.”
With a suppressed voice, he approached me, closer and closer.
“Now that you know, I’ll ask you again, officer. What are you going to do?”
Standing tall in front of me, with dirty bare feet, he tried to calm his shaking eyes and looked up at me amidst the shadows that stained his face. Then, his red pupils flashed.
“You should take responsibility.”
Is it true?
“If you’ve ruined me like this, at least give me a chance for revenge or take responsibility.”
“…Hmph!”
Suddenly, a strong force lifted me up involuntarily. He grabbed my neck harshly.
My vision shook for a moment. Through the blurry image of his face, which was distorted to an unbelievable degree by force, I could feel his shame and contempt in the way he held back something, from his reddened ears and furrowed eyebrows.
I couldn’t tell if Deon was angry at himself for responding to my orders, or just plain angry. His expression was distorted beyond recognition.
For the first time, Deon’s expression collapsed.
Even though it wasn’t in the original, my lips twitched slightly. It must have been much harder than I imagined. Because of Lemony, an extra in this world, someone was suffering this much, I thought.
“…that’s…”
My hand, which was shaking in the air, clenched into a fist.
“Lemony, that bitch… No,”
No.
To Deon, I am Lemony.
So there’s no need to confuse him any further. Although I don’t know what to say, it was the first time I felt such valid resentment and disdain from someone. I could understand his anger and sadness well enough.
“I’m sorry.”
There’s nothing I can say.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. That’s all I can say.”
It was probably a predictable response. His glare, as if he was going to bite me to death, became more intense.
“I’m Lemony right? To you, I’m Lemony.”
I don’t know. I don’t even know what I’m saying.
I don’t have the right to apologize, nor do I deserve to receive an apology. I’d rather you hit me once, but then I’ll just end up giving another order. But you wouldn’t like that, right?”
But one thing I’m sure of is, I sympathize with your anger.
“So let me correct myself.”
And you have the right to be angry with me.
“….Deon. I actually feel the pain.”
At that moment, he paused for a moment, understanding the intention behind my words.
“I don’t like being beaten or being criticized by someone. I hate crying and trembling in fear.”
I could only beg for you to spare me instead of asking you to kill me. Because it’s you.
“But.”
However.
“…I’m struggling too, Deon.”
I struggled to hold back the complex emotions that I had been trying to suppress, and they overflowed out of my mouth. Despite my attempts to endure it, the feelings of sadness, injustice, and a bit of exhaustion piled up on top of each other and trapped me like a strong grip of Deon’s hand. It was too much to contain.
“I’m sure it’s my fault that I ended up possessing the body of a bitch like Lemony, right?Yes, I was wrong. Now, you can punch me in the face or knock me out, do whatever you want. But before that, I’ll give you one order.”
“……”
“Please call me Kim Eun-ji once, Deon.”
The crimson eyes staring at me with intense anger and surprise shook slightly at the unexpected words. A moment of silence passed. The furrowing brows of the man slowly wrinkled, showing his confusion.
“I know I must look crazy, maybe I’ve lost my mind. Just call me Kim Eun-ji, Deon.”
“…Kim Eun-ji. You.”
Through a voice mixed with tears, a low tone that was forced out of him against his will called out my name. A throaty voice mixed with sobs calls out to me against my will, despite my efforts to suppress it. A slight surprise crosses the unfamiliar face as they stutter my unfamiliar name. But it wasn’t because they were surprised by my name. It seemed as if they were taken aback by my expression, which was slightly relieved and smiling.
Stupidly, what I wanted to hear in the end wasn’t an apology, but his voice calling out my real name.
I’d rather he hate the real Kim Eun-ji, so that this death would feel less unjust.
“Thank you. Now, you can hit me or knock me unconscious, do whatever you want.”
I tightly closed my eyes, afraid that he might really hit me. But through the pitch-black darkness, I felt a stillness flowing. My body didn’t shake, nor did I feel anything constricting.
After a moment, I cautiously opened my eyes, feeling curious. Then, his face, frozen as if the time stopped, was revealed to me.
“…Deon?”
Something was off. His frozen state while grabbing my collar made me feel like I was seeing Yvonne before she became a monster.
“Deon?”
I called out with a slightly raised voice, but as he released his grip on my neck, his hand fell limp and he dropped to the ground. Then, as if collapsing together, he bowed his upper body and knelt down. Suddenly, I heard rough breathing as if he couldn’t control his body.
“…order me.”
“What did you say?”
The man who hated my order until just now, asked for orders.
As I faced Deon, my entire body froze like a rock. It was then that I first realized how a person could feel such a sense of terror in a single moment.
The black pupil of the red iris that looked down at me grew unnaturally large. It was like the eyes of a true beast, with nothing but instinct left and no rationality.
“Deon!”
And the hunt began. Startled by the damp mass sweeping around my neck, my waist couldn’t struggle out of the grip of the huge hand that wouldn’t miss a chance.
However, this time, he seemed to have a little bit of sanity left, as he didn’t put much strength to make me bleed out. The problem was that it made him even more insane.
“Deon, snap out of it!”
As I tightly gripped his back, he finally reacted. He wasn’t trying to stop. He was just changing his target.
Out of nowhere, my lips involuntarily pursed, becoming moist and then sticky, as hot breaths escaped through them. When I tried to issue another order and opened my lips, something soft and squishy slipped in.
He looked like a predator craving freshly hunted prey. Restlessly, the lump that had entered roughly scraped against the roof and floor of my mouth, as if in a hurry for something.
“…De, on…”
There was no room to breathe. The only thing I could do was intermittently moan every time he twisted his head.
“De, Deon, sto… Stop!”
As I finally managed to turn my head and scream, the sudden physical contact abruptly stopped. Thick breaths were felt through the slightly parted lips that were gradually separated. I continued to turn away from him without looking straight at him.
“…did you take the berserk potion?”
Gulp. I reluctantly swallowed the remaining saliva in my mouth, and when I asked, I felt him shaking his head from the other side.
“Then why all of a sudden, when you didn’t even drink the potion…”
“You looked like you were feeling good.”
“You looked like you were enjoying it.”
Then it happened. The low-pitched voice that cut through my ears suddenly resounded. The humiliation that I had been holding back surged through my body like a wave. It was the first time I had ever kissed someone on the lips, not only with Deon but also in any romantic relationship.
What made me angry in the meantime was that his words were true—I really did feel good. Even in my moment of madness, kissing him was an act of mockery against me.
“…..Do I look like I was enjoying it?”
I slowly turned my head to face him with courage, but the man didn’t seem pleased as I had expected. He just stared at me with an unreadable expression, trying to decipher the meaning behind my question.
“Ah.”
He then belatedly regained his composure and let out a small chuckle. For a moment, he seemed unable to control his expressions, as he repeatedly grimaced and laughed, but eventually he seemed disappointed and slowly wiped his face with his hand.
“I didn’t like it either.”
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