Chapter 3

“What, what are you doing!”

“I tried sucking the rag. But I guess this isn’t it either.”

“But to do something like that so suddenly…”

“But I couldn’t possibly ask you to do something like this, Beatrice.”

To put a dirty rag in one’s mouth—such a thing was truly impossible. Beatrice quickly took out a mint-scented candy from her bag and handed it to Julian.

“Ah, thank you.”

Julian brought his lips to Beatrice’s fingers. His soft lips touched her fingertips.

“So now it’s clear that this isn’t the rag the room wants.”

Both rinsing with water and sucking with the mouth had failed to open the door, so the subject itself must have been wrong from the start. Beatrice nodded.

“But now there isn’t a single rag left here…”

It was at that moment.

A thought flashed through Beatrice’s mind.

“Beatrice?”

“Uh, j-just a moment?”

Beatrice buried her face, hiding her embarrassment.

‘Crazy. How could I think of something like that.’

She shook her head as if she could shake off the audacious idea that had just popped into her mind.

“Beatrice?”

He called her name again. Julian bent down to look into Beatrice’s face. His handsome face came so close that Beatrice jumped in surprise.

“Did you think of something?”

“Ah! No! It’s not like that!”

“Anything’s fine. We have to get out of this room, right? We can’t just stay here.”

Julian’s gentle tone made Beatrice hesitate for a moment. She worried that telling him might hurt his feelings.

But as he said, they couldn’t stay here forever. Besides, there was no rag in this room—except for what she had just thought of.

“Well…”

“Yes.”

Unable to put it into words, Beatrice grabbed Julian’s wrist. Then, she led Julian to the sink. Rolling up his shirt sleeves, she washed Julian’s hands.

She didn’t know if washing hands exactly matched the concept of ‘washing’ the rag, but Beatrice carefully washed his hands. She soaped between his fingers and rinsed with water until it squeaked.

Julian eventually burst out laughing at Beatrice’s unexplained actions. Even without hearing, he could clearly see what Beatrice was thinking.

“I see. That’s a plausible deduction.”

After washing, Julian wiped the water from his hands on his shirt. He and Beatrice walked toward the laboratory door. In the tense atmosphere, Beatrice slowly reached for the doorknob.

“Ah…”

But the door did not open.

Beatrice’s vision darkened.

She had endured calling a person a ‘rag’ and washed Julian’s hands, but the situation remained unchanged.

“It won’t open.”

Yet Julian’s voice sounded somehow cheerful. Beatrice sincerely apologized to Julian, feeling truly sorry.

“I’m sorry. I guess this wasn’t it.”

“No.”

“Yes?”

“There’s still something we haven’t tried, isn’t there?”

Slowly, Julian’s fingers brushed over Beatrice’s lips. The scent of soap lingered at the tip of her nose.

Just as Julian had understood Beatrice’s thoughts without explanation, this time Beatrice instinctively realized what Julian meant by ‘something we haven’t tried yet.’

Her lips parted slightly. Julian’s finger slowly entered Beatrice’s mouth, pressing her tongue gently with his thumb. Held by her chin, Beatrice looked up at him.

Julian simply met Beatrice’s gaze calmly, as if the next step was hers alone. Beatrice pursed her lips and took his finger into her mouth. Saliva she couldn’t swallow pooled in her mouth. As Beatrice looked up at Julian, she finally gulped it down.

In that instant, it felt as if time had stopped. To take a man’s finger into her mouth—Beatrice had never imagined such a thing. Her mind went blank as if feverish, and just then, footsteps approached from afar.

Beatrice snapped back to her senses and moved away from Julian. The dreamy, hazy moment vanished in an instant, and reality returned.

Julian walked to the door as if nothing had happened. Then, click—the door, which hadn’t opened before, swung open smoothly.

“Oh? Were you still using the laboratory?”

The owner of the footsteps was the teaching assistant for Potion Making. Expecting that Beatrice and Julian’s experiment as the last reservation for the lab would have finished, he had come to lock up and looked at them curiously.

“Ah. We’ve just finished.”

Luckily, he didn’t doubt Julian’s words. The potion they had submitted was basic level, but since Julian was at the bottom of the Academy’s grades and Beatrice was an exchange student from the Seminary, the assistant assumed even this must have been difficult for them, and waved his hand dismissively.

“If you’re done with your experiment, please head out. I need to lock up.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Julian, who had gathered all of Beatrice’s belongings, spoke to her.

“Let’s go, Beatrice.”

“Ah! Yes, yes.”

Beatrice hurriedly left the laboratory. The assistant looked at her with a strange expression.

The timing of the door opening was as unpredictable as when it had been locked. They said it was a room you couldn’t leave unless you washed the rag, but Julian’s finger… Beatrice gave up on thinking any further. Her face burned hot. The heat rose all the way to her head, making her dizzy.

“Well, I’ll be going now…!”

Having done such a shameless thing, Beatrice didn’t have the courage to face Julian and nearly shouted her goodbye as she ran away. But the difference in height was not something to ignore, and despite her reckless sprint down the corridor, Beatrice was soon caught by Julian.

“Wait a moment! Beatrice?”

Blocked in front, Beatrice couldn’t hide her fluster and rolled her eyes. Julian’s lips curved in amusement at the sight of her.

“Wh-why, what is it!”

“The medicine. You need to take it with you. And your book and bag, too.”

“Ah, ah! Yes! Yes, that’s right! Thank you for carrying them.”

Only then did Beatrice realize that all her belongings were with Julian. Her face, which she thought couldn’t get any redder, now flushed as red as a ripe tomato.

Their fingers touched as Julian handed over her things. It was a minor contact, but each time, it sent a jolt through her fingertips like an electric shock. Julian finally handed over the potion he had kept in his pocket. Beatrice’s gaze lingered on his thumb, unable to look away.

“Beatrice?”

“Ah, yes!”

Barely regaining her senses, Beatrice quickly shoved the medicine into her bag. Then, bowing at a perfect 90 degrees, she dashed down the corridor. She felt that if she stayed by Julian’s side any longer, her heart wouldn’t survive.

[Never be alone with that man, Julian. If you do, you’ll end up regretting it greatly.」

The warning from a female student buzzed in Beatrice’s head. Her words had been true. Truly, Julian was a dangerous person to be near.

Julian watched Beatrice for a long time, until she was no longer in sight. He quietly looked down at his own hand. Today, of all days, his fingertips felt unusually warm.