Barmas, who had laid his head on the pillow, seemed to feel Romei’s gaze and looked up at her. She stood blankly in the middle of the bedroom, staring at him with the face of a mathematician confronted with an incomprehensible problem.

Barmas asked, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“…I should.”

“Lie down beside me.”

“Am I allowed to lie beside you?”

Romei questioned his command that wasn’t quite a command. Despite firmly holding the front of her cloak to keep her n*ked body hidden underneath, her gaze as she stared at him was so impudent that it irritated him.

Barmas intimidated her with an annoyed voice.

“Would you prefer to sleep on the floor like a dog? If you want to be treated like one, I’d be happy to oblige.”

“No. I don’t want that.”

Romei answered in a whisper and finally moved toward the bed where Barmas was lying. She carefully climbed onto the bed and settled into the empty space beside him.

Even after lying down, Romei continued to stare at Barmas. She looked intently at his face as he tried to fall asleep, with eyes that suggested something didn’t make sense to her.

Unable to bear it any longer, Barmas glared with his bright red eyes and asked:

“Why are you staring like that?”

“…”

“First you found a drunk devil fascinating, and now you find a sleeping one interesting too?”

At his continued mockery, Romei hesitantly replied before denying it.

“That’s not it.”

“Then why are you staring so intently? Didn’t we agree to forget what happened today and start fresh tomorrow? Oh, on second thought, did you decide you liked the strategy of getting what you want through tears and want to withdraw from our agreement?”

While he spewed out sarcastic and accusatory words that came to mind, Romei slowly moved her long eyelashes. Even in the dim light, her golden eyelashes shone elegantly like the breath of the sun.

Her blue eyes, alternately hidden and revealed with each movement of her eyelashes, were carefully choosing her words.

Just as Barmas thought that only Romei could remain so calm in his presence, she finally spoke after hesitating.

“That’s not it at all. I was actually grateful that you agreed to forget about today.”

“…”

“I was looking at you because you’re really going to sleep without demanding anything from me.”

“…What kind of payment?”

Barmas’s voice was filled with confusion, as if pronouncing a word he’d never heard before. Romei calmly continued her explanation.

“Even if I accept that you gave me the cloak because it’s old, like giving charity to a beggar, don’t I need to serve you?”

“…”

Barmas momentarily lost his words and stared at the woman. There wasn’t a hint of humor in Romei’s expression. She genuinely seemed to believe that he would demand something from her.

She had no idea what emotional turmoil he had experienced throughout the day, nor why he had drunk himself into a stupor and come to the bedroom so late.

He had much to say, but confronting her would be pointless and would only damage his image.

Instead of cursing the unnecessarily honest Romei, Barmas let out a short sigh and spoke.

“I’m not in the mood to torment you today.”

“But you tormented me well enough this afternoon.”

“That was then, this is now.”

Barmas added, addressing Romei who still couldn’t hide her puzzlement:

“Think of it as me conserving energy to torment you mercilessly starting tomorrow. Today slipped by ambiguously, but from tomorrow there will be no mercy.”

“…”

“Well, if you really want, I could torment you thoroughly every night.”

Barmas smiled crookedly and wrapped his arm around Romei’s waist. Startled by the sudden warmth of Barmas’s skin against hers, Romei twisted her body but couldn’t escape.

Meanwhile, Barmas reached for Romei’s groin, fondling her private parts while breathing sinister words into her ear.

“It wouldn’t be bad at all to put a toy as thick as my forearm in here and watch you cry prettily all night long.”

“…Huh.”

“Your hole would stretch to its limit, and despite the pain, you’d be so aroused that your lower parts would be soaking wet with love juices. The thought of you waking up from sleep and moaning spasmodically each time the toy presses against your inner walls is quite appealing.”

“Ah…”

“If you want to be toyed with like that every night, you should tell me now. I can do that for you right away, free of charge.”

The vulgar yet chilling threat that entered her ears momentarily drained the blood from Romei’s face. Above all else, his mention of ‘a toy as thick as his forearm’ particularly evoked fear.

With their bodies pressed completely together, she couldn’t visually confirm how thick his forearm was, but she could estimate by touch.

‘It would surely tear me apart.’

It was thick enough that she might die from her lower body splitting open before she could even return to where she belonged. Just imagining such a thing inside her sent chills down her spine.

Romei pushed away Barmas’s arm that was fondling between her legs and said:

“I think I was mistaken. Let’s just… sleep tonight. Let’s postpone the tormenting until tomorrow.”

“Good idea. You have excellent judgment.”

Hearing the answer he wanted from Romei, Barmas smiled with satisfaction and withdrew his hands from her. Both the hand that had been at her private parts and the arm that had been wrapped around her waist returned to their places.

As Romei was inwardly sighing with slight relief, Barmas held his hand in front of her eyes and said, “But how strange. You clearly said you were mistaken, yet why is my hand so wet?”

“…”

“Do you actually want to serve me, but you’re too shy to express your feelings directly?”

His bright red eyes looked quite amused as he held up his glistening wet fingers and deliberately misinterpreted her feelings. His crimson eyes gleamed with delight, as if framing someone falsely was the happiest thing in the world.

Unable to face his wet hand thr*st before her eyes, Romei averted her gaze and bit her lip tightly.

After drinking the aphrodisiac and being violated by the familiar, her body had completely changed. This too was because of falling into the trap; Romei swore she had absolutely no desire to serve him.

So with a face reddened by the rising shame, she refuted:

“That’s not it. I only said that because I thought it might make you feel better after being flustered by my crying, not because I wanted it.”

“Of course, the noble holy knight couldn’t possibly ask a devil to take her.”

Barmas retorted and laughed heartily, as if a decade-old indigestion had finally cleared. Though it was closer to mockery, Romei understood what this laughter meant. He was making fun of her and enjoying her reactions.

Romei gripped her cloak with her hands to suppress her emotions, reminding herself that this was just one of the humiliations she had to endure to return to where she belonged.

Seeing the emotions in Romei’s blue eyes subside, Barmas suddenly put his glistening fingers, which had been held in front of her, into his own mouth.

“…!”

At that moment, Romei’s eyes widened in shock, and she looked at him with a startled gaze. Her expression showed she hadn’t expected Barmas to do such a thing.

Barmas chuckled softly, then pulled his fingers out of his mouth and demonstratively licked them with his tongue. Romei felt overcome with shame in a different way.

She released the cloak she had been holding and reached out to grasp his fingers. Barmas’s red tongue playfully licked the back of her hand, seemingly disappointed.

Unable to hide her shock, Romei asked, “What are you doing?”

“Do you really need to ask? I’m sucking my fingers.”

“But why are you…”

Romei couldn’t finish her sentence. In fact, what he had licked was her own love juices. She couldn’t bring herself to ask why he had put that in his mouth.

As her trembling lips firmly pressed into a straight line, Barmas said with a sneer:

“Why so shy? You showed me your climaxing face this afternoon without a problem, but now you’re embarrassed to see me lick your p*ssy juice?”

“…”

Romei slightly furrowed her brow at the vulgar choice of words that invaded her ears again. She couldn’t understand Barmas, who spoke such shameful words with such a nonchalant face.

She had much to say, but Romei was in the position of interesting prey captured by him. This too was something she had to endure to survive.

After a brief silence, Romei retorted, “…Didn’t we agree to forget what happened today?”

“But it’s the truth.”

“By that logic, it’s also true that you were flustered when I cried.”

“…”

“If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to nullify my promise not to cry in front of you.”

At Romei’s firm response, Barmas, who had been relentlessly insulting her, finally shut up.

In his mind, he vividly pictured Romei’s crying face that he couldn’t forget even after drinking. The sharp pain, like being stabbed in the chest with an iron skewer, also resurfaced.

While Barmas focused on the pain he felt in his solar plexus, Romei continued:

“I think you now understand well enough that neither of us benefits from bringing up today’s events.”

“…”

“Didn’t we agree that you would conserve energy for tomorrow’s tormenting? You said you weren’t in the mood to torment me. So let’s just sleep now.”

“…Fine.”

At Romei’s words, Barmas obediently replied, withdrew his hand from her, and turned over onto his back.

Romei couldn’t understand why he was being so compliant, but she closed her eyes, thinking it was fortunate that she no longer had to witness the terrible scene that had unfolded before her eyes just moments ago.