[Chapter 26]
Transparent bubbles rise through the nostrils. The sound of gurgling water shakes and echoes in the ears. As I struggle to open my eyes, I see hands moving through the iron bars swaying in the water. They must be the hands that have caught me.
Uupph. Mph.
Struggling through the heavy current, I managed to free my hand, but then I felt a strong vibration on the top of my head. Soon, a hand much larger and stronger than that of the prisoners broke the wrist.
Ah, it’s Deon.
As I lifted my head, I saw a man coming out of the black shadows, struggling against the current. His black hair was freely floating in the water. I noticed his naturally exposed forehead frown as if he was trying to catch me.
Reach out your hand.
The shape of his mouth in front of my eyes said so.
Trapped between iron bars in the water, I raised my arms towards his small face. Is this what it feels like to be bewitched by a siren that lures people? It was strange. The man who hated me the most in this world was the one who always saved me until I died. Is it because we are in the water?
In the terrifying silence where no sound could pass through, I suddenly felt sympathy for him. Maybe the reason why I was possessed by Lemony was to relieve his hatred.
Then, if we were to escape, would I be willing to die for him? I wouldn’t need to make an effort. Deon would kill me on his own.
Thank you.
Anyway, I was grateful that he jumped in the water for me. So when I muttered, he raised one eyebrow as if he was asking what I meant by it.
Our hands touched each other. As bubbles rose up between us, Deon’s arm sliced through the water again, and at that moment, something strong grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.
Damn it. Lemony. Lemony!
It was like a snake, moving at lightning speed. I stared at Deon as I drifted further away and closed my eyes.
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And the moment I opened my eyes.
“Lemony, breathe.”
The gentle low-pitched voice that resonated in my ear made my upper body jump like a spring. Haa. Haah. The air filled with my lungs flowed in and out of my mouth.
This was not underwater. And yet, it wasn’t Deon who had pulled me out.
I felt like a lost child. In my confusion, I looked around, and a man sitting at the edge of the bed caught my eye. He leaned forward, gently asking about my well-being, and a cool, handsome man with perfect features smiled at me through his silver hair.
“Is it time to go on a date with me now?”
It was Ian.
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For a moment, my thought process stopped.
“Yes, Lemony.”
A leisurely laugh was directed toward me. What kind of reaction should I show when the man I thought was dead casually throws flirts in front of me?
“…you are alive?”
I was supposed to be happy that someone was alive, but I couldn’t help but ask a somewhat impolite question since I didn’t understand the situation. However, Ian just chuckled lowly as if he found it amusing.
“So you don’t like it?”
“No, it’s not that. I’m relieved that you’re okay.”
Oh my gosh.
I shook my head in a hurry.
“I’m really glad you’re okay. Where have you been all this time? And where are we now….”
As I continued talking, I realized that this place was not underwater, nor was it Building C. Looking around, I saw walls made of iron amidst the damp and humid air. It looked like a bomb shelter or something similar.
Behind the man’s shoulder, I could see shackles, whips, unknown torture devices, and other terrifying instruments used to punish prisoners.
This was the torture chamber.
It was a place for prisoners attempting to escape through the river to reflect on their crimes.
“Why are we here?”
The torture chamber was connected to the basement of Building B. Did this man who came out of Building C go to the basement of Building B, assuming that I would go towards the river? Really? As I started to have a bad feeling, the color drained from my face.
I glared at the man, who only responded with a smirk, and became increasingly uneasy. Then I felt something soft on the back of my hand. It was Ian’s hand.
“I saved you when you were drowning in the river.”
“….you pulled my ankle, to be exact. What was that about?”
“Hmm.”
Ian paused for a moment, and instead, he gently stroked the back of my hand with his long, straight thumb, as if to comfort me.
“I just wanted to see it.”
At the belated response, my face froze in an instant. Ian rested his chin on his hand and murmured, as if he liked the sight of me.
“It looks nice, though.”
“…..”
“So in the end, you are looking at me, right?”
The shiver that started from my lower back spread throughout my body. In a split second, a panorama of the moments I spent with Ian flashed through my mind as I desperately tried to figure out what I did to provoke him in any way. I knew he had wanted to drink my blood for a while now, but I thought it was just a vampire’s curiosity, not something that would lead to such obsession.
However, Ian’s suspicious behavior wasn’t limited to one or two things.
The first encounter with him was in the form of his disguise as a man named Day. However, Ian did not wear a prison officer uniform in the original story. Someone might have changed from the original because of me, but this man’s behavior had already been different before he met me.
Ah, the same goes for Yvonne.
I want to live. I want to live. But in a state where my heart was pounding, I couldn’t make a clear judgment as I turned my head.
“….Are you going to kill me?”
In the end, all I could do was talk to him. I was so scared that I was clutching the blanket on the bed until the moment I cautiously asked, and he silently watched me with an inexplicable gaze from across the bed.
“It depends on what you do.”
There was no emotion in his curved lips. Ian wasn’t looking at me right now, he was taking stock of his own emotions while watching me.
“…are you going to kill me if you don’t like it?”
I should have asked him what he wanted from me instead of asking like that. I bit my lower lip in regret. It’s scary to say even a word. Unlike Deon, who always acted as if he wanted to kill me, Ian could become a murderer or a gentleman, depending on my actions.
“But that’s not possible. You’re just my type.”
Fortunately, Ian seemed to be ignoring my words.
“I don’t have any part I don’t like, from your face to your veins.”
His thumb, which had been fidgeting on the back of my hand, slowly moved. A warm, flickering sensation seemed to leave a trace wherever it passed. The subtle warmth gradually moved up my hand, descended onto my palm, and stopped at my wrist.
“Are you scared? You don’t have to be.”
Ian’s eyes narrowed as he listened to my heartbeat.
“I wouldn’t do anything to a pretty woman like Lomeny. I just want to be with you…”
While he was talking, he suddenly let out a displeased laugh.
“Ah, but have I already missed the opportunity?”
“What do you mean?”
“What you’re wearing right now. Isn’t it a damn bastard thing?”
A sharp and piercing gaze was fixed on the hem of my clothes. As I frantically tried to cover the number tag, I suddenly couldn’t understand why I had to hide it in the first place. But one thing was for sure—the moment I showed the man the tag with the number 1001 on it, it didn’t seem like anything good would happen.
“This is unavoidable…..”
“Are you making excuses now?”
Ian, who had been smiling as if amused, got up from the bed.
“Then does that mean Lemony also felt something for me? You think that you need to make excuses.
“That’s not it…”
“Then will you give me a chance too?”
As he lowered his upper body again, I was overwhelmed by his enchanting and sweet golden eyes, enough to nod my head unconsciously. Trying to regain my composure, I furrowed my eyebrows, refusing to be bewitched by those golden irises.
“….what chance?”
I tried to speak as dryly as possible, but my voice cracked. He seemed to notice that I was nervous, so his thumb, which was holding my wrist, gently moved and swept over the back of my hand.
“A chance to prove that I’m better than that bastard.”
Well, I never had a liking for that bastard from the beginning. But to survive here, it was better to follow Ian’s intentions. As I barely nodded my head, his persistent gaze brightened.
“Um, I understand. Then…. can you let go of my hand?”
“Why?”
At his words, his grip on my wrist subtly tightened. I tightly closed my eyes.
“…I’m sweating.”
Before I knew it, we were so close that even whispering would be heard in each other’s ears. I felt like the words we were exchanging were the kind that we would be embarrassed if someone else heard, but the man seemed to feel the same way, and he chuckled cutely and pulled away from me.
As I was about to say “thank you,”…
“If you’re going to give me an opportunity, I should probably change out of these dirty prisoner clothes first, right?”
Before I knew it, the man had come closer to me again and my vision turned black. He forcibly raised both of my arms and stripped off the Deon prisoner’s uniform that I was wearing.
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Thank you for reading!
