Zetak tensed, his eyes flashing with dangerous intensity. 

“Now? You want to do this now? That’s a risky thing to say so casually. Do you understand the consequences?” 

I did understand. There was a real chance that Zetak would kill me if he lost control of his desires.

Perhaps that was the price I had to pay for lying to him, for watching his body twist and change without intervening.

I offered him what he wanted, and in return I would continue to hide the truth, to make sure he couldn’t make the journey to the demon realm alone.

“I know it’s risky. But if you want to…”

“Don’t use me as an excuse.”

“…”

“Are you aware that what you’re doing is like being a male concubine? This transactional nature – offering your body in exchange for something.”

He wasn’t wrong. Even I couldn’t quite understand why I was doing it. I just wanted to give him something.

“If there was a way for you to grow, would you take it?”

“Of course.”

“Even if it meant risking your life?”

Going into the demon realm itself was an act of risking his life. There was no guarantee that he would survive to find a gate back to the human world. Although only a small part had changed, the future was no longer the same. Unlike what I had seen, he could die trying to travel to the demon realm. Despite his near immortality, demons were not invincible.

“You know something, don’t you?”

Zetak looked at me, suspicion in his eyes.

“Not at all.”

The answer may have come too soon. I was afraid I’d made a mistake, the way he was eyeing me sceptically. But to my relief, Zetak backed away without pressing further.

“You’ve said something like that before, Your Highness,” he said with a sigh. “It’s clear you’re hiding something from me.”

“…”

“When you’re ready to talk, tell me. I’ve told you before – I’ll wait.”

Even if he waited, the day I told him the truth would probably never come.

He had to know that too. So why did he withdraw?

“I admit that I’ve been hiding something. I also admit that I offered myself in exchange. But since you don’t like it, I won’t bring it up again. So let go of your tendrils.”

“What…”

Zetak’s expression twisted in an unusual way.

“I feel like I just heard something completely contradictory.”

“I said nothing contradictory. I’m no longer making an offer of exchange. But I still want it, so you should bring out the tendrils.”

“What kind of…”

Zetak looked at me with an expression that words could not describe. After a long moment he sighed softly.

“Sometimes I really can’t follow your thoughts.”

Without answering, I placed his hand on my chest, feeling his fingers twitch slightly. Slowly I slid his hand down. Even in the brief moment it touched my stomach, his breath seemed to catch a little.

“Seriously… where did you learn that?”

Now, without my guidance, he moved on his own. I leaned back against the bath and watched him touch me. When I brushed his wet hair back, it no longer fell in his face, revealing the scarred side, damaged by my actions, and the snake-like scales on the other half.

He no longer asked if his face disgusted me. Although he still hated himself, he seemed less reluctant to show it to me. I traced the scar I had left on him. A mark I had made – a testament to my emotional numbness. A dull pain welled up in my chest, but though I wanted to say something, no words came. Zetak lowered his head.

“I didn’t mean to, but…….”

“I’d like to erase the scars,” he muttered languidly.

What Zetak said was contrary to the future I’d seen. In the future, he could have removed the scar, but he chose to keep it. To remind me of my hatred. But now he says he wants to erase it. Clearly, the future is changing.

“No, that’s the right behavior. I don’t know what you think, though.”

He nudged my shoulder.

“Don’t think about it. Your Highness should just gasp with pleasure and enjoy it.”

“…….”

“I know you’re keeping something from me. But not pursuing it is also my choice, and that’s fine.”

Sometimes I think I’m good, sometimes I think I’m not. I feel like I’m fast on my feet, but then I find myself taking a step back. It was a strange thing.

His path must have been one of pain and resentment. I gently stroked his cheek, wondering how he could have such a soft heart. I know what they say about children like Zetak. A child too good to be true, too foolish and naive.

“You really are…”

His face turned into a grimace.

“What the hell do you think I am, a radish, a sweet potato, yes. You pretended not to, but you called me a pupa before. Are you a f*cking hogu this time?”

“I didn’t mean anything bad. I just said what I felt.”

“Ha……. There you go again, trying to make excuses.”

I could go on and on. I don’t know what the big deal is. Instead of saying more, I pulled the back of his head and kissed him. He paused like he was embarrassed, but then he bit my lips like he’d done it before. His lips felt so good against mine, still wet from the bath. Soft and smooth. My lips brushed his lower lip and then pulled away.

“I know you care about me. I know I’m cheating on you, but I’ll let that go. I know I wouldn’t be here if you treated me as greedily as you do. You give me the opportunity to trample you, and then you back down. If that’s not a trick, I don’t know what is.”

“…… You pretend to be impressed, but you’re just beating me up again.”

He grumbled, but he wasn’t as angry as before. Instead, he groped my br*asts. He bit my ear. He nibbled my earlobe and then kissed the neck underneath, more like a child’s urge than anything s*xual. I stroked his hair and opened my mouth.

“Do you mind if I touch you?”

Of course I still touched him, but not in a s*xual way. I asked him if he wanted me to prepare myself out of respect for him. He didn’t answer, but I’m sure it was an affirmative.

I grabbed his t*sticles under the water and he paused for a moment.

“There?”

He said in a low, confused voice. Where else did he expect me to touch his shoulder, leg or something?

Surprisingly, his p*nis was soft, not bumpy with scars or riddled with snake scales. If this place had been built on charcoal, it would have lost its function long ago. I rolled my fingers over the flaccid t*sticles and found that I liked the feel of them. After playing with them, I stroked the column. As my fingers pressed and rubbed against the tip, Zetak grabbed my wrist, and I noticed that his breathing had become quite ragged.

“……that’s enough, I can’t do it.”

“Are you ashamed or something?”

The words were barely out of my mouth. Zetak’s head was on my shoulder, breathing heavily. His red eyes stared up at me, an eerie glow in them. This is dangerous. I know what it’s like now.

The moment before the beast stopped my libido. The look in his eyes, the one he gives during mating season. Here I had a premonition that if he really let go of the leash of reason, he’d pull out all his tentacles, and when he came to, my body would be a bill with holes all over it.

And Zetak would put my tentacles on that bill.

It’s a little ridiculous. I don’t know if I did anything spectacular. All I did was touch him, and that’s all it took to get him excited.

I moved my hand away from his. Zetak let go of my hand, but the look in his eyes didn’t return easily. I grabbed Zetak’s shoulders and pushed him away, and he obeyed. His chest was puffed out and he was breathing heavily, but he never took his eyes off me.

“I think we should stop now.”

“No.”

His deep, cracked voice was unyielding.

“I started it, Your Grace, and I’m the one who ends it, so it wouldn’t be fair, would it? I’m the one who ends it.”

He calmed down a bit and approached me, but his hand was timid for a bold one. He stroked my ear and took a deep breath. His hand moved slowly down from my auricle. It paused for a moment on my sternum.

Zetak held his palm to his heart as if checking for a heartbeat, and I knew why. He had almost killed me a moment ago. Reason had indeed been overcome by the demon’s lust.

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he placed his hand on my chest. I’m sure this has happened before… ……. Yes, it has. I’m sure it did, in the future I saw. A similar but different situation. Different eyes. Opposite intentions.

In the future he put his hand on my br*ast, just like now. And then he stabbed me. The last touch he ever made. Unlike in the future, he touched me now to check the sound of my heart. There was affection in his eyes as he looked at me, and relief washed over me. Maybe that’s why they call him a poor child, because he’s been thrown and still looks at me.

Maybe it was the result of his abnormal upbringing, an over-attachment to the warmth of the first human being he’d ever felt in his life, a meaningless attachment. Had he been brought up in a perfect environment, loved and nurtured, he might not have had these feelings. He wouldn’t have risked his life to meet me in the first place.

He would have returned to his own life and we would have gone our separate ways. We would have forgotten each other in time, never to meet again for the rest of our lives. I would have been a benefactor to Zetak, but that would have been the end of it – nothing more. “There was someone who saved me once,” I would have remained just such a memory.