After Serena left, the man, who had efficiently dealt with the anxious shop assistant, returned to his room. The shop rotated assistants frequently, and because their training period was short, mistakes like this sometimes happened.

He erased the assistant’s memories cleanly before sending them away from the shop. In truth, it would have been much easier for him to do the same with Serena, but he had chosen not to.

The teacup Serena never touched still sat alone on the table. He reached out, gently tracing the rim of the cup with his finger.

“I waited so long, and she left without even leaving a trace of warmth. How heartless.”

He sat where she had been, as though searching for some sign she had been there. When he brought the cup to his lips, a black snake that had been hiding atop the bookshelf slithered out.

—Was it a coincidence?

The snake, its scales glossy and black, glided onto the table and fixed him with a piercing gaze. The man only shrugged in response to the snake’s human speech, showing no surprise.

“Well… All coincidences, when gathered together, eventually become inevitable.”

Serena had come to Azure to negotiate a contract with the Duke.

She had visited the jewelry store renowned for its master artisan, a place she would inevitably seek out at least once.

He had arranged for the black snake to signal him whenever she entered his domain.

He had designated the black string bracelet he gifted her as the secret password for the shop.

Each event, taken alone, seemed unrelated and random. Yet, together, they formed a massive trap of fate, drawing Serena to him.

The only thing left to chance had been when Serena would come to him. But as someone who lived eternally, even that “when” was a one-hundred-percent certainty.

—So you’re saying you did it all on purpose. But she seemed different from when I saw her before.

“She used to be softer, but now she’s become completely rigid. Still, all those suppressed things must be boiling even more beneath the surface.”

He leaned back on the sofa, tilting his head toward the ceiling with a distant look in his eyes. The snake, however, shook its scales, mocking him, finding his expression insincere.

—Is she really that sweet to you?

“Shunatz, why are you curious? Everything belongs to me anyway.”

The man rested his chin on his hand, draping an arm over the back of the sofa, and glared at the snake with a crooked smile. Sensing the possessiveness hidden behind his eyes, the black snake, Shunatz, shuddered.

How irritating. How did he end up as the familiar of such an unhinged being? 

He had spent years acting as a lifeless talisman at this creature’s request, yet now that he was awake, the man’s attitude was as insufferable as ever.

—I wouldn’t eat something like that even if you gave it to me. I’d get sick.

“Good. Keep thinking that way.”

Imagining Serena sipping tea, the man pressed his lips repeatedly to the spot where her lips would have touched. 

Desperate for any trace of her, he soon dropped his expression and tossed the empty cup carelessly to the floor.

Crash! The sharp sound of breaking porcelain sliced through the air, but the boredom on his face never faded.

He slipped off his ring and tossed it onto the table. As the spinning ring settled, the man sitting on the sofa changed completely.

His soft, honey-colored hair turned pitch black, and the face that once radiated sanctity grew sharper, with a decadent air mingling with its piety.

“I meant to wait a bit longer. Until she was even more ripe.”

……

“But seeing her in person, my patience is running out.”

—For all that talk, didn’t you charge in like a starving dog?

“Heh, you’re right. I am a hungry, rutting beast.”

He roughly unbuttoned his collar, feeling choked, and admitted it without hesitation. His throat burned. He scratched at his neck until red marks appeared, seeking relief. Only after the stinging pain spread did he finally relax, letting out a languid sigh as he sprawled on the sofa.

<No! I can’t. They’re all people I love!>

That must have been a fragment of a memory from long ago.

The voice echoed in his ears, the one that had coldly shouted at him before she left. Just when he thought he had her in his grasp, she broke his suggestion and tried to escape of her own will.

She dared to break his suggestion. And all for the sake of love, which was nothing but an illusion.

He still remembered the thrill of that moment vividly. It had been a fatal mistake, but the shock of failure only excited him further.

Anyone would feel the same. For centuries, he had fed on the rotting flesh of corpses, day after day. 

To have a living, vibrant creature dancing just out of reach was a temptation that made his mouth water. The shiver of that moment was indescribable.

—So, what now?

“Before long, she’ll come looking for me herself.”

—Didn’t you see her face earlier? She looked at you with pure disgust.

“That’s what makes her so endearing.”

Shunatz gave up arguing with him. Judging by the strange glint in the man’s eyes, nothing would get through to him anyway.

As a mere familiar, Shunatz could only see what was visible on the surface. But this being could read the depths of the human soul, and surely saw a world Shunatz could never comprehend. 

So he decided to stop trying to understand or dissuade him.

“You only see as much as you know.”

He suddenly recalled the words the man had said to Serena. Shunatz wondered, just a little, how Serena appeared in the man’s eyes. But fearing the consequences, he wisely let the curiosity go.

—So, what do you want me to do now?

“Return to her, like before.”

—Return?

“Yes. And when she comes to find me, open the door so I can enter. That’s your job.”

The snake flicked its tongue and sighed, its small triangular head nodding weakly. With a soft hiss, its form melted into the shadows.

After the snake vanished, the man covered his face with a large hand. Even as he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, her image only grew clearer in the darkness, and his breath grew heavier, leaking through his fingers.

“Ahh. I never should have met her.”

He had mastered the art of waiting. Born the moment humanity first appeared, he had endured the tedious, slow history of mankind.

He sowed seeds in their hearts, nurtured them with desire, and elegantly harvested the fruits, consuming them all. That was his reason for existing.

Some called him a demon, others a god. No one knew his true nature. He called himself the embodiment of desire. He lived by parasitizing humans, ruling and conquering them.

He had blended into human society so thoroughly that he no longer devoured people recklessly, as he had in the beginning. Now he savored cooked desires with elegance, suited to their status and dignity.

With one exception.

His hand fumbled at his waistband, clumsy and urgent like a youth in his first rut. His c*ck, already hard and straining against his pants, sprang free.

Thinking of Serena, who had sat here not long ago, he stroked himself faster. He could almost see her sharp, haughty eyes as she warned him not to lay a finger on her.

“Haa, haah. Ahh…”

He panted, desperate not to miss even the faintest trace of her scent lingering in the air. Imagining her soft skin, he gripped his burning length and pumped it feverishly.

The last image of her, once an innocent girl, slowly transformed in his mind into a fully ripened woman, brimming with sweetness. 

Slick, clear fluid oozed from the thick tip, running down between his tightly gripping fingers.