#92

‘Who? Ella?’

I sent a transmission back, and Taby murmured in a dreamy tone.

—Yeah. Strangely familiar.

A Guardian could only freely read the past and future within the Room of Choices.

Because of that restriction, they couldn’t see a person’s past or future outside unless they were contracted to them.

It was a kind of safeguard—regulations put in place to prevent Guardians from meddling too freely in others’ lives.

‘Could it be because you’re confused after seeing my memories of the original story? She was the heroine of that novel.’

Since Taby had read all of my past in the Room of Choices before our contract, I thought it might be possible.

After all, what Taby called ‘the future’ was really just the ‘book’ I had read.

Seeing a future that hadn’t yet happened could easily cause confusion.

And if Ella were a transmigrator like in the original, Taby would have recognized her instantly.

—Ah, maybe. That makes sense. So she’s that girl.

Taby still sounded doubtful but seemed to accept it.

—Well, I was stuck in that place for a long time before meeting you. I must’ve slept for too long.

After that, Taby fell silent, probably going back to sleep now that their curiosity was satisfied.

Thanks to their unexpected interference, I had cooled down a little.

That was when I finally noticed Ella staring at me.

She looked like a complete mess.

Her hair was all over the place, a clear sign of how desperately she had tried to hold me back.

It had been a long time since I had lost control like that.

Feeling awkward, I averted my gaze—only to meet Zerakiel’s eyes instead.

Rather than stepping in to stop me, he was watching with an amused expression.

Flustered, I looked away again, but Zerakiel teased me with a smirk.

“My Chichi is tougher than I thought.”

“…It’s not like I was angry for your sake.”

“And you get embarrassed easily, too.”

Ugh, this guy—!

The whole situation was getting more embarrassing by the second.

If I kept bantering with Zerakiel, I might lose my temper again, so I quickly turned to Ella, helping her up and smoothing out her disheveled clothes.

“Sorry, I lost my temper without realizing it.”

“N-No, it’s… fine…”

Ella stammered, avoiding my gaze.

Somehow, I had permanently imprinted an irreversible image in the heroine’s mind.

She was looking at me like I was a complete lunatic.

As she visibly took a step back, a wave of realization hit me.

‘Ugh… this is all because of them.’

Flashes of the Jabis members who had tormented me crossed my mind—starting from Ivan and Ayla, all the way to Zakari and Rachel.

There was no doubt that madness was contagious.

I had spent so much time among them that I had become one of them without even realizing it.

At that moment, Zerakiel placed a hand on my head and said,

“Now that we know Orban is involved, there’s no helping it.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll have to go there myself.”

“Ah…”

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t cry because you miss me.”

As if.

I gave him a big, exaggerated smile, making it very clear that I would not be missing him.

Honestly, it made sense for him to go personally. This wasn’t just about Jabis’s madness anymore—it could be an outright rebellion from the Orban family.

I waved him off.

“Yeah, don’t worry and hurry back. I’ll handle things on my end.”

In fact, things would go much smoother without Zerakiel around.

The priests of Hebel were terrified of him, so just having him gone made negotiations easier.

Of course, it was frustrating how much they underestimated me, but in the end, their carelessness made my work easier.

“Make sure you destroy Victor Orban for me!”

I clenched my fists and beamed, ready to send him off with a bang.

Zerakiel’s gaze lowered.

It was that look—the one he made when something didn’t sit right with him.

A low growl rumbled from his throat.

“You’re letting me go too easily. That hurts.”

What was I supposed to do about that?

He never let anything slide. With a sigh, I muttered in an exasperated tone,

“Then should I tell you not to go?”

“That’s fine too, but…”

Zerakiel trailed off as if he were contemplating something.

I narrowed my eyes, silently urging him to continue.

Then, suddenly, he grinned—and before I could react, he leaned down.

A warm sensation touched my cheek.

“…!”

By the time I realized it was his lips, he had already straightened back up.

“W-What was that?!”

Startled, I instinctively leaped back, putting distance between us.

Ella, standing nearby, had turned completely rigid, as if she had turned to stone.

Yet, even in this chaos, Zerakiel remained perfectly composed.

He glanced at the space between us, lazily tilting his head.

“That’s not something to be that shocked about, is it?”

His nonchalant reaction only made me more flustered.

“W-Why—why are you doing something so out of character?!”

I clutched my wildly beating heart, glaring at him.

Having my guard down and getting ambushed with a kiss on the cheek left my mind in complete disarray.

But Zerakiel merely smirked in satisfaction, his voice carrying an almost playful tone.

“What’s the big deal? We’re married anyway.”

The fact that he had a point only made it more infuriating.

“T-That’s—!”

I opened my mouth to argue but immediately found myself at a loss for words.

Because he was right. We were married.

Sooner or later, we’d be doing much more than just a peck on the cheek.

And yet, here I was, utterly flustered over something so small.

As someone who prided herself on being the older one—at least in mental age—this was downright pathetic.

But then, a realization hit me like a brick.

‘No, wait. If he suddenly kisses someone with that face, isn’t it normal to be shocked?!’

Honestly, if you ignored the fact that his brain was completely unhinged, Zerakiel was an incredibly handsome beastman.

His biggest flaw was that he ruined it the moment he spoke—but his face? Perfectly fine.

So, having someone like that kiss you out of nowhere—anyone would be thrown off.

‘Stay calm. This was completely unavoidable.’

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to regain composure.

Then, realizing I had jumped too far back in shock, I hesitantly stepped closer to him again.

Zerakiel, who had been watching me with folded arms, looked amused.

It was as if he was waiting to see my reaction.

‘That smug face…’

Something about it irritated me.

It felt like I was losing, and my pride wouldn’t allow that.

Technically, I didn’t know who was older in this life, but in terms of mental age, I was definitely his senior.

Zerakiel, after all, operated on pure instinct most of the time—his mental maturity was basically stuck in early childhood.

So the fact that he had managed to fluster me was utterly humiliating.

Determined to reclaim my dignity, I planted my hands on my hips and declared,

“E-Even so, doing it out of nowhere is still t-totally inappropriate!”

Unfortunately, my voice didn’t come out nearly as composed as I wanted.

I had tried to sound dignified, but the slight tremor in my tone betrayed me.

That was the moment Zerakiel delivered the final blow.

“Then should I warn you next time?”

“…!”

He definitely did that on purpose.

Zerakiel’s overly innocent expression was way too fake.

For the second time, I was left speechless.

Just moments ago, I had been determined to win—but my confidence crumbled instantly.

‘Why is he so good at talking today?!’

Normally, he couldn’t string together more than two coherent sentences.

But today, he was perfectly articulate, and it was completely throwing me off.

‘This is… really embarrassing.’

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I instinctively took a step back, widening the distance between us.

If I stayed too close, who knew what else might happen?

“If you keep running away, I’ll just want to tease you more.”

“See?! You were planning to tease me!”

“I won’t. Just come here, Chichi.”

Zerakiel stretched out a hand, coaxing me with an innocent expression.

But at this point, I had zero trust left.

“Yeah, right. Liar.”

His smirk widened.

“You caught me?”

This bastard…!

 

 

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