“Come here, let me take care of it.”

Leon moved to switch their positions as he always had, but Lisette shook her head and settled herself between his legs.

Then she ran the tip of her tongue lightly over his length, the way one might lick a sweet sorbet.

“Ha.”

Leon twisted his head to the side as though in agony, but unlike the obscene things he had said while tasting her below, she could not detect any particular flavor.

‘He said it was delicious.’

Was that the difference between a man and a woman? Honestly, she tasted nothing at all.

Perhaps it was because this was a dream, but something about it felt slightly off, and she moved to touch her tongue to him again when…

“!”

Something transparent began to bead at his tip. It welled up and spilled over, and she blinked in surprise. His face flushed red and he shook his head.

“Not yet.”

“Oh.”

Not yet.

With a strange sense of relief, Lisette looked at him and wet her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. She wanted to take him into her mouth, the way he had done to her.

Maybe it would feel different that way. The thought made her draw in a breath and open her mouth. And the moment her lips touched him…

“Oh.”

She woke up to the cool touch of the night air.

Nothing remained, not a trace of his presence. She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again, staring up at the empty space above her, then turned her head. Outside the window, without moonlight, the darkness held. The trees blanketing the forest swayed and rustled in the wind.

The sky showed no sign of dawn breaking. Lisette looked out at the forest, truly deep in the middle of the night, and slowly sat up.

The hour hand on the clock above the fireplace pointed to four.

‘Right on time.’

A hollow laugh rose at the precision of the sleeping pill’s effect. She got out of bed, changed into the hooded outfit she had prepared in advance, and slipped quietly out of her bedroom.

She walked down the corridor, descended the stairs, and made her way through the back door toward the forest without running into a single person. Was it because it was not yet the hazy predawn hour? 

There’s no one around. There’s a bit of wind, though. Thoughts like these, light and unremarkable, passed through her mind as she walked slowly, keeping an eye out for stones that might catch her foot.

She made a conscious effort to keep her mind clear of everything else as she walked. Nothing would stop her steps, not Leon’s words telling her never to come back, not the wolf pack that had made her tremble with fear that night.

And.

‘The gardener said the wolves had all been driven off. I don’t need to worry about that.’

She breathed steadily, trying not to let any of the things that frightened her rise to the surface. Right now she could only think about what was in front of her.

The marks she had left on Leon’s body.

And his condition after waking from the dreams.

If he truly had been caught up in the incubus curse alongside her and was suffering for it, then he was in pain too.

In that case, it would be better to just.

‘Right, better to just. Following the demon’s words is one way.’

She would deal with what came after when the time came. With that thought settled, she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, walked into the forest, and soon a small dot of a cabin came into view.

“Oh.”

Without the fog, the cabin in the forest felt strangely closer than before. And with each step that brought it nearer, her heart beat faster. Fast enough that her fingertips felt tight with nerves.

She pressed her left hand over her right and lifted her head.

Now that the cabin was actually drawing closer before her eyes, she felt two things at once: the urge to go in quickly and see what she would find, and the urge to turn around and pretend she had never come.

She had made it this far, but honestly, she was afraid.

Whatever happened, there would be no going back.

‘Like that day three years ago.’

If she could not save him, if she ended up hurting him again…

‘Would she ever be able to face him again?’

She bit her lip.

She was afraid.

But at the same time, if he truly was under the curse, then this was the only way to resolve it.

The curse would only disappear with one night spent with him.

‘Back then I wondered why it had to be him specifically.’

It was because they had been caught in the same curse.

So it was only right that she be the one to see it through to the end.

‘Right.’

She drew a deep breath, clenched her fist, and walked toward the cabin again. The moment she crossed the boundary of the wooden fence surrounding it…

“Ngh.”

Every sound that had filled the air fell away, and in its place a low, muffled groan reached her ears with startling clarity. It sounded almost like an animal in pain, and goosebumps rose across her entire body. She faltered and stopped in her tracks, and then…

Crash!

Something hit the floor and shattered. The noise came unmistakably from inside the cabin. Lisette’s eyes went wide and she rushed inside, then covered her mouth with both hands at the sight of the wreckage.

“What…”

There was no trace of the interior she had seen a few days ago. Furniture lay broken and scattered, and fragments littered the floor. The state of the place made even walking through it dangerous. Lisette bit her lip and turned her head.

“Ngh…”

Another low groan came from deeper inside.

The sound was smothered and full of suffering. Lisette curled her trembling fingers into fists and stepped carefully toward it. Dark reddish stains that looked like blood were scattered across the floor.

‘What on earth?’

What had happened here?

Her whole body trembled as she swallowed and followed the sound forward, and then…

“!”

In the darkness, leaning against the bathroom wall where not a single ray of light reached, sat Leon. One leg stretched out, the other bent, his head resting back against the wall. He looked like a man who had lost his mind.

His hair was a mess. His bare chest bore vivid marks. And in his right hand, hanging loose at his side, was a small dagger.

“Leon, you…”

Lisette pressed her hand over her mouth at the sight of the bleeding wounds. Leon slowly opened his eyes and turned his head toward her.

“……”

Through the tangle of his hair, his eyes were clouded, sunken, like something had gone out of them. Her face reflected in his gaze, which held no feeling at all, and then…

“Seems I’m seeing things.”

He let out a short, bitter laugh and turned his head away.

“Or perhaps you’ve taken a different form today. Isn’t once enough to torment me?”

“……”

“Once already feels like it might kill me.”

“……”

“If you don’t actually want me dead, then twice is too…”

He raised the dagger. Lisette lurched forward in alarm and pulled Leon into her arms. The moment his slight body came into her embrace, his hands froze in midair and his eyes trembled faintly.

‘Is this a dream?’

He let out a slow breath and lowered his head.

A small, frail body, thin and delicate as a young bird, was truly in his arms. She was trembling against his chest, her shoulders shaking, just like when she was young. For a moment he could not tell whether this was a dream or reality.

“Mi… ss?”

“Yes.”

“……”

“It’s me.”

With those words she pulled him a little closer, and lifted her head. With that movement, a familiar scent drifted past the tip of his nose, the way it always did. He exhaled at the scent he had missed so much, and in that same instant felt himself harden below. He came back to himself and pushed her away in a rush.

“Why have you come here? I told you never to…”

“Because I missed you.”

“……”

Unlike before, she spoke before he could get the words out that would have hurt her, and she looked at Leon as he pushed her back.

“I missed you, Leon.”

She returned to him the very words he had whispered to her in the dream just moments ago. Leon’s face hardened at her voice, and his eyes trembled faintly. That reaction told her he had no idea. She took advantage of his brief hesitation and looked over his body, and there she found them.

‘These are the marks I left.’

She reached out and touched his body, covered in marks she had left over the past several days.

From his neck down to his collarbone and the chest below.

She traced her fingertips along the marks she had just been sucking into his skin moments ago in the dream, then looked up.

“When did this start?”

“…I don’t know what you mean. Please go back…”

“It started that day. The day I came and went.”

She held his gaze, paying no attention to Leon shaking his head and trying to send her away. His eyes wavered, and she could see him biting his lip, trying to swallow back an answer he was holding in. She reached up and placed her hand against his cheek.

“Leon Hart. Answer me.”

“……”

She held his eyes and pressed him. Leon shook his head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss…”

Rip!

He turned his head away entirely. In response, Lisette tore away the cloth covering her neck.

To show him the mark he had left there.

“Do you still not know what I’m talking about?”

His eyes trembled at the faint but unmistakable flush of red still on her skin. Not just his eyes, his lips parted and stilled, parted and stilled, over and over, and he stared at her and then at her neck with an expression of pure disbelief.