When did she arrive?

The Princess, staring at me intently from beyond the doorway without making a sound, resembled a still life painting devoid of life. Her unblinking gaze was frighteningly serene.

“Do you need something urgently, Your Highness?”

“What…”

Hmm? Did she just say “what”?

Confused by her puzzling response, I moved toward her, thinking I might have misheard. Before I could reach her, the Princess approached me with long, quick strides. When I stepped back with an odd sense of discomfort, her slender arm shot out and seized my wrist, seemingly unable to tolerate even that small movement.

“Your Highness, wait…”

At that moment, a familiar sweet fruit scent spread through the air as my body tilted forward dramatically. Finding myself suddenly embraced in Princess Kesera’s arms, I could only stare with wide, bewildered eyes.

“Princess Kesera, why are you doing this?”

“…I missed you.”

An unfamiliar voice with a clear tone like a musical melody tickled my earlobe. Delicate fingers repeatedly grasped and released my water-colored hair floating in the air, stroking it endlessly. The hand moved downward, carefully caressing my entire face before gently gripping my chin and lifting it.

“Huh?”

Faced with this increasingly incomprehensible situation, I met the Princess’s gaze with a confused expression. My face flushed innocently at our intimate proximity, close enough to feel each other’s breath.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been searching for you.”

The sorrowful voice seeped into my ears like morning dew. After clinging to my waist for a while, the Princess lowered her head, buried her nose in my neck, and inhaled deeply. The soft, squishy sensation tickling the inside of my neck should have felt pleasant, but instead sent an intense shiver down my spine.

“Lala smells so sweet.”

The Princess released me, turned me around, and embraced me deeply from behind.

“How is our child growing?”

The arms wrapped around my lower abdomen suddenly tightened with force. Immediately after, sharp nails lifted my top and slowly dug into my exposed stomach.

“Ugh!”

When I struggled in shock at the strong grip, the person holding me trembled slightly.

“I’m sorry. I was just too happy.”

“W-who are you?”

This was no longer the familiar build of the Princess I knew. Instead of smooth, elastic limbs, cold, hard muscles pressed against me; instead of protruding, sensual br*asts, a flat, rigid chest covered my back like a cliff face.

Simultaneously, a strange, stimulating coldness that was both sharp and sensual penetrated my entire body.

“Who are you? I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. Let me go or I’ll call the guards!”

When I screamed in terror, the hands clinging to my stomach fell away limply. Seizing the opportunity, I quickly turned around and found myself face-to-face with a boy I had never seen before.

“You seem afraid of me, so I changed my appearance to find you.”

The boy’s appearance, like winter incarnate, exuded an overall cold and dark atmosphere. His eyes were a gloomy blue, but reflected a smooth, transparent light like deep-sea pearls. The beautiful youth with long eyelashes and melancholic eyes wore a somewhat distant expression that seemed perfectly natural on him.

“I’m not Lala.”

“…I’m sorry for calling you that name on my own. But giving a new name to one’s mate is an old custom among demons. Do you not like the name ‘Lala’?”

“W-what is Lala, and who exactly are you?!”

When I shouted with a pale face, long tentacles suddenly emerged from behind the boy’s back, swaying gently like a puppy’s tail. The familiar sight hit me with the impact of a blunt weapon to the head.

[Demons can transform into anything and completely conceal their presence.]

My mind grew hazy as the voice echoed like an auditory hallucination.

“You’re not…”

“I’m glad you finally recognize me. I’m so happy to see Lala again.”

The emotionally moved demon rushed forward, embracing me tightly and nuzzling against my fine hair. His cold hand caressed my belly carrying his seed, while his voice trembled with overflowing joy.

“I want to mate with Lala again. Can we do it again?”

“…”

“I felt like I was flying then, but you looked like you were struggling. Don’t worry. In this form, there won’t be any restrictions, so we can make love for a long time. I want to do it with Lala day and night, every day, over and over.”

I mentally processed the demon’s cheerful chatter, feeling ready to faint. Is this what people mean when they say their soul is leaving their body? My legs trembled uncontrollably beneath me.

What should I say? How should I react? Could I possibly escape safely while my limbs were restrained by the demon? My vision spun wildly, like I had become a massive rotating axis.

“We’re still newlyweds. Do you know how angry I was when those bad humans took Lala away? I wanted to kill them all, but I held back because I thought they might not return you if I did.”

The demon’s tentacle, peeking out from above, danced a strange dance once more, seemingly seeking praise. The pale boy’s skin took on a light flush before he immediately lowered his head and kissed my forehead.

“It might be early to say this, but since we’re already husband and wife… Lala, I love you. I’ve been waiting for the day I could tell you this abundantly.”

Following this, the space torn by the demon’s hand opened into a dark, sparkling void like a micro-universe. A languid laugh full of satisfaction pierced my eardrums. I couldn’t speak, feeling invisible hands firmly covering my mouth.

Was it due to extreme fear? Or some bizarre magic cast by someone waiting for the opportunity to devour me?

The more his limbs without any perceptible temperature bound me, the more I felt mercilessly sucked into a deep, damp swamp. Hot lips pressed against my skin, and sharp teeth bit my neck.

Soon, my body, drained of will, floated weightlessly as my vision went completely black.

* * *

Cold…

What’s this smell?

I slowly lifted my heavy eyelids. My sense of smell, the first to return, carried a strange fragrance deep into my nostrils. It seemed both tangy like green apples and sweet like wild honey… Where was I anyway?

A moist, slippery liquid like peeled aloe flowed across my skin. Clear droplets suspended from the ceiling fell onto my forehead, one by one. Hmm, was this the source of that peculiar scent? When I shifted my body, transparent mucus stuck to me like cobwebs, then gathered and fell away. It wasn’t unpleasant—more like rolling around on a soft jelly bed.

I managed to raise my upper body and looked around. I was in a small, comfortable room shaped like a massive cocoon, which seemed to breathe and move slowly as though the entire space were alive. The transparent, gelatinous inner walls pulsated with a throbbing heartbeat.

Through a split that appeared to be the cocoon’s entrance, dark purple mist spread thickly.

The only thing covering my body was fluid that flowed like water. Though the room maintained a warm temperature overall, I felt cold without clothes.

Plop! Thud!

Just then, the cocoon’s entrance, which had been open about a hand’s width, tore lengthwise, and through that gap appeared the boy.

The beautiful youth with obsidian-black hair looked about my age. He too appeared in a primordial state, having just emerged from the outside world—his completely n*ked state seemed more natural to him.

“Lala, are you awake?”

From his arms, he produced fruits, edible flowers, herbs, and honey, which he began stacking neatly in a corner of the room.

“What are you doing?”

“I brought lots of food that’s good for your body. These are all for Lala to eat. Is the temperature inside comfortable? I heated it urgently since I don’t know when the spawning period will come. Since Lala has human blood flowing through her, I wasn’t sure what temperature to set, so I adjusted it to match the imperial greenhouse.”

“What?”

I asked anxiously. Spawning period? What horrible thing was he talking about…

“I caught many beasts and demons too, but I left them outside for now. Lala seems to have a weak stomach.”

“You’re that demon from the prison…”

“Yes, Lala’s husband. I hear that’s what you call a male in the imperial language?”

The demon, who had been diligently carrying food while sweating, looked up and continued speaking precisely.

“Lala will give birth to my child in six months. Unlike humans, demons conceive life and give birth after half a year. So from now on, you need to eat well and rest thoroughly here. I’ll do all the hunting, and I’ll get you whatever you need, so don’t do anything—just play and rest.”

Without giving me a chance to respond, the boy approached instantly and bent over the jelly bed where I lay. When he entered, my body undulated from the reaction. It felt like floating helplessly in an aquarium filled with white aloe chunks and juice. The surroundings swelled, creating soft, undulating waves.

“Do you know how much effort I put into building this house? Oh, Lala, this place is called the [Northern Misty Forest], the habitat of the Taracan. It’s dozens of kilometers away from the imperial palace.”

“Dozens of kilometers from the capital…?”

“Yes. And this cocoon-shaped house is our bridal chamber, made by carefully extracting thread from red spiders. Red spiders are demons’ favorite food, but I only extracted their thread without eating them. It’s made of nutritious protein, so if Lala gets hungry, you can eat parts of the room anytime. It’s delicious.”

Inside the dark red room, transparent liquid and thin threads were stuck together in geometric patterns.

“So until you give birth to our child, just stay here and eat the food I bring to get proper nutrition.”

The demon whispered in a gentle voice.

“No. Let me go. Send me back to Princess Kesera’s side!”

I begged, trembling with fear.

“I think you’re seriously mistaken about something—I’ve never carried a demon’s offspring!”

“What? But I definitely put it inside Lala…”

The boy asked innocently as he drew closer. As he pressed one corner of the bed with his hand, another part bulged up, causing my body to lurch forward.

“I planted my seed deep inside you.”

We faced each other n*ked, like Adam and Eve at the beginning of time. My heart pounded frantically with distant terror. I tried to organize my thoughts as calmly as possible, struggling not to tremble as I cleared my throat.

My opponent was from the Taracan tribe, known as the most ferocious among demons. Though he looked young, there was no telling when he might suddenly attack me. Moreover, weren’t they known to devour females after mating?

If I provoked his temper, I could die miserably right here.

“When different species mate, the chances of fertilization are extremely slim. So you’d be better off finding another woman… female besides me.”

“I know that.”