Chapter 10

With a bewildered expression, Beatrice shook the door. 

She had definitely sucked his finger. She had done exactly as instructed. 

Regrettably, the door to the ancient book storage still showed no intention of opening. 

Julian, who had been following behind her, asked a question. Beatrice turned around with a tearful face.

“How do we do this, Julian? The door just won’t open…!” 

“What?” 

Julian, surprised, hurried over. But no matter how much he turned the doorknob, it was pointless. 

“Why, why is this happening? Last time, the door opened when we did this.” 

“No. It was the same last time.” 

“What?” 

“When you worked so hard sucking the rag, the door didn’t open then, either, Beatrice. It’s the same thing. What you just did isn’t the key to opening the door.” 

“T-that can’t be…” 

Beatrice’s lips parted in confusion. Julian’s expression was just as serious.

“Give me a moment. Let me think about it.” 

Julian, looking exhausted, leaned against the door and sat down. Beatrice, who had been in a panic, finally came to her senses.

“You’re really struggling, Julian.” 

Julian, who hadn’t been able to rest or eat properly and had said he was dizzy, looked extremely tired at a glance. And now, he was facing another extreme situation.

At Beatrice’s worried words, Julian gave a faint smile. 

“It’s fine. More than that, I’m worried about getting out quickly. There isn’t much time left.” 

“Ah…!” 

That’s right. 

She had briefly forgotten that they needed to prepare an assignment for the professor. Beatrice’s face turned pale.

“What do we do? When I checked the time at the clock tower, it was already past three. We have to open the door quickly.” 

She couldn’t tell how much time had passed since coming here, but it felt like at least an hour had gone by. 

Besides, there was quite a distance from the library to the laboratory. She had thought three hours would be plenty, but not knowing when they’d escape this place made Beatrice more and more anxious.

‘A room you can’t leave unless you suck the rag…’ 

Beatrice’s gaze turned to the ceiling. The letters remained vivid, as if indifferent to her anxious heart. It was a bit different from the laboratory, where the letters had faded over time.

Similar, yet somewhat different. Back then, she could hear some noise from outside, but now it felt as if the space itself was completely isolated from the outside world—there was no sound at all.

It was as if only Julian and Beatrice were left in this world. 

‘If you don’t suck, you can’t get out.’ 

Now that it was the second time, Beatrice understood. The sentence might be ambiguous, but the answer was clear. Whatever it was, if she wanted to leave, she had to suck some part of Julian’s body with her mouth.

Beatrice glanced at Julian from the side. Julian, seemingly unaware of her gaze, kept his eyes closed. He appeared to be lost in thought, but it also looked as if he might have fallen asleep. His face, more tired than usual, pricked Beatrice’s heart.

The more she agonized, the longer it would take to find an answer. And Beatrice and Julian didn’t have enough time to hesitate.

But no matter how determined she was, for Beatrice, who had lived devoutly all her life, imagining herself sucking Julian’s body was difficult. She had gotten the idea for the finger from Julian’s previous hint, but still.

Ear, eye, cheek, neck… If she just tried, there were plenty of places she could put her mouth. But to suck such places felt utterly unacceptable to Beatrice.

Since Julian hadn’t noticed her gaze, Beatrice’s eyes grew bolder as she looked him over. Suddenly, her eyes stopped at one spot.

‘Lips…’ 

No matter how innocent she was, she wasn’t so naïve as to not know what a kiss was.

Beatrice swallowed hard. For some reason, she couldn’t take her eyes off Julian’s plump lips.

‘Somehow, this feels like the answer.’ 

She couldn’t explain exactly why. She just had a vague sense of certainty.

Beatrice swallowed again. Nervous, she slowly walked over to Julian.

Tap, tap. At the sound of Beatrice’s footsteps in heels, Julian frowned slightly and then opened his eyes. The violet eyes behind his glasses looked more vacant than usual.

Beatrice crouched down in front of Julian. After hesitating, she took off his glasses. It was better without them for what she was about to do.

“Beatrice? Why are you taking off my glasses?” 

Julian’s question came a beat late. Beatrice set his silver glasses down somewhere safe and moved closer to him.

“Beatrice?” 

“Um… I thought about it, Julian.” 

By now, Beatrice’s face was bright red, but she didn’t stop speaking.

“The phrase about not being able to leave unless you suck the rag is just the same as last time… I think it means I have to use my mouth on some part of your body, Julian.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say the words ‘have to suck’, so Beatrice mumbled vaguely. Julian looked quite shocked by Beatrice’s words.

“Wait, Beatrice. Don’t jump to conclusions. I may be tired and not thinking straight right now, but there must be another way.”

“Another way?”

“There’s no magic in this world that can’t be solved. If we think about it more, surely, we can get out of here without resorting to something like that…”

“But if we do that, it’ll take too long.”

Julian had no energy left, and the assignment needed to be submitted within the next three hours.

“Still, it’s not right.”

Julian, rarely, showed a firm side. His eyes looked straight at Beatrice.

“Last time, I thought it would only happen once, and the price to leave the room wasn’t too high. But now, it’s different. I can’t force you to do something unreasonable, Beatrice.”

“Unreasonable? Please don’t think that way.”

Beatrice shook her head.

“It’s just a means to get out of the room. You’re very tired, Julian. We need to get out quickly, finish the experiment, and you should have a meal.”

“But…”

“I told you, I’m fine, Julian. Really, I’m fine.”

Beatrice spoke firmly; afraid Julian might refuse again. At her insistence, Julian was silent for a long time before letting out a deep sigh.

“If that’s how you feel, Beatrice, then I can’t say anything more.”

“Thank you, Julian.”

Beatrice said it with genuine sincerity.

“So, what are you going to do, Beatrice?”

“Well…”

Beatrice hesitated at Julian’s question and covered his eyes.

“Beatrice?”

“Could you close your eyes, Julian?”

No matter how much she steeled herself, it was still a bit embarrassing to look straight into Julian’s beautiful violet eyes. She could feel his eyelashes tickling her palm. Beatrice removed her hand from his face. As she’d asked, Julian had his eyes closed.

“Whatever you do, don’t open your eyes.”

“All right.”

There was a faint hint of a smile in his reply. Julian’s question about what she was trying to do was cut off.

Beatrice’s lips touched his dry lips.

Though clumsy, Beatrice’s action was full of clear intent. She caught Julian’s lower lip and began to suck. Rather than sucking, it was more like a gentle lick, so cautious was her approach.

Julian opened his eyes. Their gazes met, just a finger’s length apart.

“I told you not to open your eyes, Julian.”