CH 17

Damn it.

I felt like something was wrong, so I tried to cover my waist, but a soft and firm grip restrained me. The shiver that started from my tailbone struck my brain.

My current state was nothing short of offering myself to a starving predator.

“……what are you doing?”

“You’re bleeding. Do you want to die from excessive bleeding, Lemony?”

Surprisingly, he sat up with a normal-looking face, or rather a pretending-to-be-normal expression. Despite his quick movements, his gaze was still fixed on my waist. I could feel a restrained force holding something back from his awkwardly twisted lips.

I’m going to die.

This man was truly insane.

Before I knew it, he was straddling me.

“Let me go!”

“What are you going to do if I don’t let go, Lemony?”

“Deon!”

I screamed and desperately pushed his face away with my knee. I slapped his thick and rough cheek, but his expression didn’t change.

His insane laughter even seemed to enjoy the struggle, making me wonder what he found so enjoyable.

“Do you know what the golden time is, Lemony?”

I couldn’t die like this. I swore at him.

“Deon! This man is trying to kill me! I’m begging you, please do something…”

“With this level of bleeding, you’ll be dead in 5 minutes.”

What?

As I regained my senses and tried to sit up, a subtle force pressed down on my shoulder.

“If you keep moving like this, you’ll really die. Calm down and lie down.”

Did he not expect me to put up such a fight?

With a perplexed look, he lightly laughed as if he was at a loss. “Lie down quietly. Please.” This time, with a serious tone, his hand that had previously calmed me down now pinned me down. Before I knew it, I was lying on the floor again, feeling the man’s palm on the back of my head.

“Well done.”

It was Ian’s hand. He cautiously removed his hand, which was acting as a cushion in case I felt any pain, and bowed his head carefully like a doctor.

“Excuse me, I need to stop the bleeding.”

“Whether you’re a noble or a prisoner, it seems that being a lowlife in front of a woman is no different.”

At that moment,

A furious tawny hand slipped in between Ian’s hands, who was about to take off my uniform. It was as if someone had hurriedly come running after hearing my screams, and the bandages that had fallen between his feet were spread out like a roll of toilet paper.

Deon raised an eyebrow in disbelief, as if he couldn’t bear to look at it.

“Stop. Don’t kill a woman by sucking blood like a parasite.”

“It seems like it you who’s killing the innocent woman out of jealousy.”

With a small sigh of regret, as if he was disappointed, Ian chewed on his lower lip restlessly, as if he had some unfulfilled desires, and then turned his head toward Deon.

“You know too. I’m a dhampir.”

Dhampir was a half-breed of vampire and human, who had mixed blood of both. As a result, they had the ability to crave blood like vampires while also possessing the ability to heal wounds caused by bloodshed.

Deon seemed to know that fact as well.

However, he still pushed Ian slowly as if he was still dissatisfied with it.

“…then I’ll take it off.”

I screamed again.

“Wait a minute! I never consented to taking off my clothes.”

“Well, you’re injured.”

I couldn’t stop his touch. Suddenly, the jacket of my uniform was unbuttoned, and his thick fingers started undoing the buttons of my shirt near my belly button.

Heat rose to my face and I felt like I was going to burst like a balloon. Desperately, I closed my eyes and tried to cover my body, but someone sighed from above.

“If you cover yourself like that, it’ll make me imagine even more, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

Then don’t take off my clothes.

“Just stay still.”

Mumbling reluctantly, he unbuttoned my shirt a little more. As the wounded area on my waist was exposed, the two men’s gazes were felt piercing through my bare skin.

“…There’s a lot of blood.”

At that moment, a low, strained sound came out as if he was holding something back. It was Ian, who was covering his mouth with his hand. He realized that he was making a strange expression, so he placed his left palm next to my ear. 

Ian, who had been lying down, removed his hand from his face. He wasn’t smiling, or maybe he was. More precisely, the corners of his mouth, which he forced to maintain his usual smile, were trembling.

“Think about it, Lemony.”

“What?”

“Rather than taming that damn dog, wouldn’t it be more comfortable for you to be taken care of by me?”

And something ticklish swept over my sensitive waist.

A surprised moan escaped my lips at the sudden sensation. It was both ticklish and unpleasant, so I lifted my waist to escape, but the man who had shown displeasure with a grunt grabbed my waist firmly.

At the same time, on the other side, there was a displeased sigh from Deon, and a strange, vulgar sound echoed.

Nghh.

“Right?”

When I came to my senses, I was shaking like a fish out of water. I heard a question from above, asking for my permission. When I belatedly opened my eyes, Ian wiped off the blood on his lips like lipstick and grinned.

“You don’t have to know the pain. If you get hurt, I will keep treating you like this…”

However, Ian’s confession was prevented by Deon, who pushed his head down to the ground.

“Officer. Blood?”

Ah, the blood.

As I met his rational, red eyes, I hurriedly touched my waist. It was strange. I didn’t feel any pain, but the area where the thick blood had been flowing had smoothed over.

“…I think I’m okay now.”

“You weren’t lying.”

When Deon grumbled with discomfort, he grabbed Ian’s hair and lifted it up, revealing his handsome face with golden eyes shining like golden eggs. Ian seemed dazed or drunk, and when his gaze met mine, he smiled brightly. Then, he pushed Deon’s head up and started to annoy him.

“Suspicious bastard.”

“Did his brain split in half along with his half-demon body? How dare you try to mess with shinsu…”

“You’re jealous, right? If shinsu sucks woman’s blood…”

Bam. Ian’s head hit the ground again. At this point, his forehead should have cracked, but strangely, no blood came out.

Earlier, he was hit with a frying pan and was perfectly fine. Maybe he had a thick skull.

My careful hypothesis wasn’t entirely implausible, but it was likely that his sturdy skull was due to his half-vampire nature.

They said that as soon as they drink blood, it is immediately absorbed as nutrients, so they don’t have a heart or blood.

“By the way, Deon. She has already used the command magic ten times.”

I looked at Deon, who must have come to us because of my command magic, while watching Ian who had collapsed. From now on, it was a fight with Deon.

“….I’m grateful for saving me, but if you explode walls recklessly like earlier, I’ll have to stop you next time.”

If he got angry, I was thinking of blowing the whistle right away. However, contrary to my expectations, he didn’t get angry or continue with a fierce conversation.

He just stared at me with a thoughtful gaze.

“It seems like you’re feeling better, talking nonsense like that.”

Soon after, he looked away and got up.

“What did you say?”

Then who could have done that?

“I’ll give you 10 seconds, so get up quickly. You too, mosquito larvae.”

Deon forcibly grabbed the tuft of hair on Ian, who was lying unconscious, and slapped his cheek. Slowly, Ian opened his eyelids and looked at Deon’s face filled with anger, furrowing his eyebrows as if he was displeased.

But that wasn’t the problem.

After Deon got up, the faint sounds of someone running began to be heard.

“….What is that sound….”

As I quickly got up and buttoned my shirt and put on my jacket, I muttered while staring at the other side of the broken wall where Deon was looking.

Something’s not right. It feels like more than one person is coming, and their footsteps are becoming irregular, like a stampede of buffaloes.

“Officer, I remember seeing you were good at running away.”

“Yes?”

He appeared calm even during this moment.

“Run.”

“What?”

However.

“Run.”

As the noise spread, he pushed me.

At the same time, a huge shadow behind Deon covered him, and he turned his head to strike the prisoner’s face with his iron-like elbow.

My mouth fell open as I was pushed back behind him.

Through the still lingering gray haze, a large crowd was rushing in our direction. I ran for my life, with Deon’s gaze felt behind me.

He kicked someone’s abdomen with his long legs, seemingly relieved only after seeing me running away. However, it was clear at a glance.

There were at least twenty of them.

“It’s not normal, those people.”

At that moment, Ian was also taken aback.

“Lemony? Where’s Lemony?”

Suddenly, his playful expression turned 180 degrees as he was grabbed by the arm. He drew out a dagger from somewhere unknown and stabbed the prisoner’s throat. Then, he quickly started running, looking around in confusion, faster than anyone else. However, there were too many of them.

The eerie pupils, straight and round like a goat’s, were getting bigger and bigger, as if they were under some kind of mass hypnosis.

At that moment, my sword slipped out of its sheath with a faint sound. Deon, who was still holding his sword, thrust it precisely into the prisoner’s throat. He seemed like someone who was more skilled with punches than swords, but seeing him in action made me think of a knight.

My reverie was interrupted by his question.

“Did you do it?”

I felt rough hatred in the touch that hid me behind his back, even though I was being protected, it felt like I was being threatened.

“No. If it were my doing, wouldn’t I have run away?”

“Then what about me, Lemony? Should I keep running too?”

No, why does he keep asking me amid all this?

His sword shone sharply as if it had found its owner. Although his face was splattered with red blood, his eyes shone brighter than the blood, as if they had found their destiny.

That’s right. The problem was not Deon, it was me.

As I was looking around to check on Deon and Ian, someone unusually fast was reaching out toward me. A rough, dirty hand covered in thick, strange-looking blood touched my nose.

“Fuck, run, run faster!”

There was no more terrible moment than this. As I called out to Deon, cursing him, and swung my pan in a hurry, a purple tongue protruded from the prisoner’s gaping mouth.