The devil’s lips were too hot. It felt like she was pressing her skin with a hot iron. Lillian thought with a blank head that he was branding her.
She didn’t guess wrong. In fact, Saleos was branding his contractor. A red mark was placed on the back of Lillian’s white ears where his lips had touched. At first glance, it was a small sign that looked like a rose. As soon as it settled behind her ear, Lillian felt her consciousness slowly blur.
‘Ah… I can’t stand it anymore.’
Her weary body fell into a deep sleep, her aches complaining of exhaustion. It was definitely an intense day. She had murdered Lillian’s father, Herbert, and had summoned a demon to sign a contract. On top of that, she had even slept with a beautiful man that bit and sucked her until she was dizzy.
The terrible fatigue of Lillian’s body and Chae Soo-Yeon’s soul accumulated and overwhelmed her all at once. She took a deep breath and fell asleep at the same time.
“Hey. Did you fall asleep?”
Somewhere, a low voice clouded with desire called her. But Lillian was too overpowered by her drowsiness.
The dream after her first murder was terrifying. The dead Herbert grabbed her ankle and screamed. No, he was trying to— but his broken head couldn’t make noise properly.
Lillian tried to grab her leg back while shaking off a bleeding Herbert–but her body wasn’t obeying her will.
Lillian lost her balance and fell. Herbert crawled onto her as his stiff limbs shook. Climbing on top of her, he started to strangle her.
“No…! Let go… Ah…!!
As Lillian struggled desperately to shake him off as he choked her, she saw Enrique’s face from the corner of her eye—her vision shaky. He looked down at Lillian with his arms crossed, with a stern look as he condemned her,
“I’m disappointed in you, Dame Lillian! I could have never imagined you were the murderer of your own father!”
No, it was an accident! Lillian reached for Enrique.
She wanted to ask for help but couldn’t because she was being strangled. Between her barely open lips, only the sound of stuffy harsh hot wind leaked as she wheezed.
She groaned in her nightmare— At the same time, she felt as if she could suddenly breathe, and her body awoke.
“Haaa, hic! Uhhhnn!”
She was breathing hard, tears running down her face. Someone patted her on the back and held her trembling hand. The hands that held her were a little hotter than a normal body temperature—registering the fact brought her to reality.
Only then did Lillian realize that she had woken up from a nightmare. She looked at the owner of the hand. Expecting it was Saléos, but surprisingly, it was someone else’s face that came into view. It was Enrique.
“Commander Evans, Head Knight?”
asked Lillian, whose nightmare lingered, looking at his shining silver hair with dazed eyes. Then Enrique lowered his head and kissed her eyelids affectionately.
“Yes, Soo-Yeon. It’s me, so relax. You just had a bad dream.”
Enrique, who finished speaking, comforted her with a worried look.
Still half-awake, Lillian stared vacantly at Enrique, who held her hand. Unlike in her dreams where he blamed her—now he was so affectionate.
‘What? Why is he here?’
Is this another dream? Lillian couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. Her eyes, puzzled for a moment, grew sharp. Lillian, who was staring at Enrique through her lashes, spat out.
“Aren’t you Mr. Saléos?”
“Oh, my. Did you notice?”
Enrique’s well-groomed and proper face suddenly grinned sarcastically. Simultaneously, the brilliant silver hair changed to red, and the prim straight features changed to his seductive face. His blinking purple eyes had already been stained with gold until it overtook the color of his eyes. Saleos, who smiled with his sights on Lillian, asked:
“How did you know? My transformation should have been perfect.”
When Lillian saw this, she was less surprised. She answered as she looked at Saleos with dull eyes.
“You called me Soo-Yeon. Only Mr. Saléos knows my real name here.”
It’s not a lie, but it’s not the truth either. Soo-Yeon already knew that demons had transformation abilities. It was because Ifos, the devil who signed a contract with Aleyna in the original film, had transformed several times. Hence Saléos, a devil, would, too.
Ifos was so proud of his beauty that he didn’t use his transformational abilities well. He was a demon who was narcissistic to the bone. Fortunately, Saléos didn’t seem to be that type.
***