“Be careful with your teeth. You have a snake in you, so your venom is probably strong.” 

His mumbled reply was muffled by the sound of him sucking on my neck. 

“If you’re willing, I’d like to make a suggestion.” 

He lifted his head and looked down at me. His eyes seemed to say go ahead, so I made my final suggestion. 

“Would you like to put it in?” 

The hands that were unbuttoning my shirt came to an abrupt halt. Judging by the deeply contorted expression on his face, he didn’t seem too keen on the idea. 

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Even if it slips out a lot, I’ll understand.” 

“Often slips out…” 

He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep sigh. For a moment I thought he was muttering a soft curse, but then he firmly refused with a short no. 

“But this could be the last time. Don’t you want to try it at least once?” 

“The last time?”

Zetak froze, looking down at me. Moments ago his eyes had been clouded with lust, but now they were cold and rigid. His expression had become harsh, almost desolate in its coldness.

“The last time. May I ask what you mean by that?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. This will probably be the last time we share intimacy like this.”

“The last time.”

He repeated my words quietly. The hand that brushed my cheek felt cold, and there was an unusual chill in his gaze as well.

“May I ask why you think there won’t be another?”

Where do I start? It’s less than a month until his birthday and the time I have with him is getting very short. I haven’t counted, but I think there are about two weeks left – maybe less.

Zetak has a natural tendency to avoid intimacy with me in this way. Even when we sleep together in the same bed, holding each other, we literally just sleep – there’s no physical intimacy at all. It’s probably because he knows he wouldn’t be able to control himself if he started.

Considering how he turns into a monster, his self-control must be extraordinary. How many more times would he hold me before he left for the Demon Realm? It was quite possible that this time would be the last.

There were things I wanted to say, but hadn’t been able to. Slowly I began to speak.

“After your birthday, I intend to send you to the Demon Realm.”

The words came more easily than I had expected. It was almost unbelievable that I had hesitated for so long. There was no wavering, no trembling. Perhaps it was because the decision had already been made deep inside me.

“You will probably choose this way too. Remember what I said before about moulting?”

I remembered the day he found out about his death, how I’d started to talk about moulting but let my words trail off. I’d avoided saying more, afraid he might decide to go to the demon realm. And yet here I was, the one initiating the conversation to send him away.

Zetak said nothing. He just looked down at me, his gaze urging me to continue.

“If you stay here, you’ll never be able to grow. The monster parts of your body will mature, but the corpse parts will remain as they are. This imbalance will cause your body to twist and deform. To grow properly, you must go to the Demon Realm.”

“…”

“You asked why this would be the last time. You know very well what kind of place the Demon Realm is.”

A place teeming with monsters driven purely by instinct. A place where they devour each other, where the slightest lapse in attention can cost you a limb. Once he’s seen it for himself, he’ll understand how much the books have embellished their descriptions of the Demon Realm.

“It will take a long time to find a gate back…”

I didn’t finish the sentence, but he would have understood. That would be enough time for him to forget me and bury me as a memory of the past. He might even give it all up and decide to settle in the Demon Realm for good. That is, if he survived. 

If he could live, even if he had to stay there forever, wouldn’t that be enough?

Zetak listened to my words in silence. His expression gradually hardened and his eyes grew colder, but he remained attentive until I had finished. 

“Whether you stay here or go to the Demon Realm, the choice is yours. If you choose to go, I’ll explain the details. Either way, I’ll respect your decision.” 

I already knew what he would choose. I would have no choice but to watch him leave for the Demon Realm. I would spend the rest of my life believing he was still alive somewhere, enduring an indefinite wait with no promise of his return. Zetak looked down at me, his gaze calm but heavy. He spoke for the first time. 

“The last time. There won’t be another. You’re sending me to the Demon Realm.” 

He repeated my words slowly, as if reciting them back to me. 

“You say you’ll respect my choice? You already know what I’m going to choose, don’t you? That leaves me no choice.” 

His muttered words were cold, tinged with anger. 

“What change of heart has taken place in you, Your Highness? You used to cling to me, crying, and now you’re telling me to leave.”

Telling him to leave was for his own good. Zetak no doubt understood that. Still, he seemed angry about something.

“After turning my life upside down, you tell me this is the last time? That you’re sending me to the demon realm? Presenting it as a choice, but really just giving me an ultimatum, telling me to disappear from your sight?”

“Who decided that?” he muttered, looking as if he could barely contain his anger. His voice was soft, but it carried a suppressed anger, sharp and cold.

“And you said, since it’s the last time, I should put it in? How considerate of you. Is that your pity? Telling me to try it once before I die?”

His hand reached for the buttons on my shirt and pulled them apart. He didn’t unbutton it – he ripped it open, pulling the fabric apart with force. Buttons popped off and the fabric ripped. His red eyes, still glittering with lust, looked down at me. But unlike before, there was a feral intensity in his gaze, more like the madness of his future self than any hint of affection. 

“Don’t take it so emotionally. Maybe I didn’t explain it properly. When your body turns, you…”

“Shut up.”

He roughly unbuckled my trousers – or rather tore them apart. With an almost violent motion, he removed both my trousers and underwear in one go, leaving me exposed as he stared down at me.

“My body is twisting, you say. That’s my problem. There’s nothing for your highness to worry about.”

I held out a hand to reassure him, but he grabbed it and held on tight. A low growl, almost monstrous, came from his throat. He was extremely agitated, looking like he was about to lose his mind.

“I can tolerate being at Your Highness’s mercy. After all, I know that’s the kind of person you are – you ignore everything and make decisions on your own. But there are limits. Tell me, have you already decided on your own to end things between us?”

Tendrils unfurled from his back, their appearance ominous. They didn’t take the form of s*xual organs, just their standard, basic shape. That made it clear – Zetak had no intention of finding pleasure in this. In other words, these tendrils existed only to inflict pain. 

“I see. Now it makes sense. Was that why you cried so bitterly the other day? Had you already let go of everything? Had you even cut off and thrown away the feelings that were beginning to form?”

“…”

“You said you gave me a choice. But do you know something?”

“…”

“You’re already treating me like I’m dead.”

A tendril lashed out, hitting the bedside table and splitting it in two. It didn’t look like it was meant to threaten me, more like it was lashing out at its surroundings, unable to contain its own rage. Perhaps it was its way of stopping itself from directing that anger at me. Zetak looked down at me, his face frozen in cold rage.

“I am still alive. And yet the expression on Your Highness’s face looks like someone standing in front of a grave.”

“It isn’t. I….”

I had to say something. My lips parted, but no words came out. It was only when I heard his words that I realised – if he went to the Demon Realm, he would die. He wouldn’t be able to come back. The time I had left with him was short. The words I had told myself over and over again now echoed hollowly in my mind. 

Zetak looked down at me with eyes as cold as ice. 

“In Your Highness’s heart, I am already…” 

“I am already a dead man in Your Highness’s heart.”

Hearing those words, I felt as if the air had been sucked out of me. Maybe he was right. Or maybe it was true. Consciously or not, I had based everything on the assumption that he wouldn’t be coming back. I said I would respect his decision, but as he pointed out, it wasn’t really a decision – it was an ultimatum.

It was a statement that I understood that he was going to die. A statement that he was going to be gone soon, so I should let him go and release him. From his point of view, it may have felt no different to being abandoned. 

Tendrils wrapped around my arms, gradually tightening, making me frown. Was he going to break them? In his current state of rage, I wouldn’t be surprised. After all, he had once tried to pin me down with his spider-like legs. But contrary to my thoughts, the tendrils simply lifted my arms and turned my body sideways.