The Heat of the Curse
“Belloc Professor, are you alright?”
The instant Hendrick approached Lisbel, the heat that had been sweeping through her body intensified even further.
“...It's fine. Just step back a bit.”
“I know you've endured this before. It won't resolve by just enduring it.”
“I've prepared another way. This is what we'll use.”
Lisbel rummaged through her bag and pulled out a silver vial and a golden rosary.
Hendrick's gaze fixed on the two items.
The vial bore the seal of the temple's gate, and the rosary was consecrated by a high priest. It wasn't hard to guess whose hands had touched them.
“...That priest?”
The voice that flowed out low made Lisbel blink.
“Eh?”
“...Isaac Czesław.”
Instead of answering, Lisbel opened the vial's cap, downed its contents, and pulled the rosary close to her chest, as if it were the last hope that could save her.
Watching her, Hendrick said nothing. He simply stared at the tips of her fingers clutching the rosary for a moment before averting his gaze.
“Just rest a little. I need to watch to see if it works.”
Lisbel moved away from the mosaic inscription on the wall and leaned her back against it.
Hendrick sat a short distance away.
“Does it have to be you watching?”
“It didn't help even with the holy relic consecrated by a high priest. Why would this be different?”
Instead of answering the question, Lisbel bit her lip and pulled it away.
“Still, I have to try something. I can't keep doing this with you every time.”
At Lisbel's words, Hendrick was silent for a moment. When the silence felt too heavy, he spoke again.
“What did you say to the priest?”
“Eh?”
“What exactly did you say while receiving this?”
The voice was low and heavy.
Hendrick's expression was quite cold.
“Well, I just... I only said that I needed help because of the curse...”
Lisbel trailed off, startled by the unexpected question.
Why is he asking this?
The thought crossed her mind, and without realizing, she looked at Hendrick.
The thought that it was impossible crossed her mind for a moment, but it was immediately concluded as nonsense.
As proof, he had already turned his gaze away.
But contrary to Lisbel's guess, Hendrick was barely suppressing the impulse to grab her and interrogate her right then.
Did that priest know what curse she was under?
How lewdly she would break down every time the curse arrived.
The fact that she had clung to him in desperation after failing to endure the heat, begging for pleasure.
A scene too unbearable flashed through his mind.
Lisbel standing before Isaac, trembling as she spilled everything.
That she had no choice but to mix with the betrayer who had thrown her into the mud because she couldn't endure the heat.
It was too horrifying, too humiliating.
The image of her tearing at her chest and screaming vividly came to mind, and a hot surge rose up his throat.
It was only natural.
If he thought about what he had done to her until now, hearing such words wouldn't be strange at all.
Even though he knew that fact better than anyone, his heart was in turmoil.
“Huu...”
Even after exhaling long, it was useless.
At the moment Lisbel, who had been hugging the rosary after turning her gaze away, came in, the suppressed emotions surged again.
It was absurd to believe that such a trivial holy water and rosary could block ancient sorcery.
Even the holy relic consecrated by a high priest who had handled divine power for much longer than Isaac Czesław was useless.
Yet she was relying on such things.
No, the thing she couldn't endure was something else entirely.
The fact that she had gone to another man instead of him.
That she had sought help, believed, and hoped.
Just that fact alone made the reason he had painstakingly built up collapse easily.
He wanted to grab her right then and ask.
How much did that priest know?
How much had she revealed?
What kind of relationship did they have?
He wanted to reveal his ugly jealousy, and now pour out all the interference and obsession that was not permitted to him.
But he couldn't.
As always, he swallowed all impulses with gritted teeth.
“...Does it work?”
“Eh?”
“Does the curse seem to be subsiding?”
Only after hearing that did Lisbel check her body's condition.
The heat that had been stirring inside her body was still there, but the impulse that had risen while reading the inscription had clearly subsided.
“It seems to be working. Priest Isaac said he had put a lot of holy power into it. Maybe because of that?”
Lisbel's slightly excited words made Hendrick not answer. With his familiar silence, Lisbel let out a sigh of relief and pulled the rosary closer to her heart.
Was it really working?
With this much...
“Haah...!”
Suddenly, the heat surged from deep inside her body like an explosion.
Lisbel let out a groan and curled her body. The recoil caused her strength to leave her hands, and the rosary fell to the floor with a clack, a low sound.
“Belloc Professor!”
“Uh, haaah...”
The calm she thought she had reached was purely her illusion.
The heat, incomparable to before, enveloped her body in an instant. Below became wet, a scorching heat spread as if her left wing joint was on fire. The heat climbed up her spine to the top of her head, making the world before her eyes turn white.
“Belloc Professor, pull yourself together!”
Hendrick rushed to the curled Lisbel and supported her. Just the red-hot face from sweat pouring down and heat was enough to know how serious the situation was.
“Belloc Professor? Lisbel Belloc!”
Hendrick grabbed her shoulder as she was losing consciousness and called her name repeatedly.
But no answer came.
“...Lisbel, can you hear me? Lisbel!”
When he called her by the nickname like before, Lisbel's eyes, which had been breathing heavily, slightly opened, and her trembling lips faintly moved.
“Hick... huu, me...”
“Pull yourself together. Is the holy water the priest gave all you drank?”
Instead of answering, Lisbel nodded her head with difficulty. The fact that nothing was left to rely on pushed in like despair.
The heat that was swallowing her body grew fiercer, and the more she tried to hold on to her reason, the deeper the excitement dug in.
“Uh... Hick. My body is too hot...”
“Damn it. I should have calmed you down earlier. Why now...”
His words, about to explode in frustration, couldn't continue.
It was because Lisbel had suddenly covered his lips.
“Haa... Lisbel, you...”
Hendrick's body froze instantly.
Lisbel, hugging his neck, continued the kiss without hesitation. As their hot, trembling lips met repeatedly, Hendrick couldn't push her away nor return the kiss, and he froze, forgetting to breathe.
This is dangerous.
Hendrick tried to pull Lisbel away as much as possible from the violently ringing danger signal. But instead, he lost the center of his body and tilted, ending up under her.
“Ha, Hendrick. Haa...”
The heat symptoms, which were on a different level from what he had experienced before, made Hendrick feel like he would go crazy too.
After realizing that Lisbel was suffering from the heat curse, Hendrick had made a rule. That was, he would never do kissing and insertion to the same extent.
He thought it was good for her and for him to only provide pleasure with caresses and calm the heat.
“Kuh, wait. Lisbel...”
But Lisbel, who had completely been invaded by the heat curse, became more bold and lewd than ever.
Without hesitation, she pulled down the underwear she was wearing and undid the zipper of Hendrick's pants. Because of that, Lisbel plopped down on top of the exposed genitals. Since it happened so suddenly, Hendrick couldn't react in time.
“Ah, huu. Hick... It's too good...”
Squish, squish. The two wing joints, soaked with fluid, rubbing against the erect penis was so stimulating it could drive one crazy.
Lisbel's face, sitting on him, rubbing the penis with her waist and making a lewd expression, was so lewd it made one turn away.
“Hendrick, huu... This isn't enough...”
But since the action wasn't nearly enough, Lisbel made a frustrated face.
She pulled Hendrick's hand to her cheek, rubbed it, kissed the inside of her palm, or licked it with her tongue. Not stopping there, after the lips moved to the fingers, she sucked them, nibbling at the tips. That series of actions was extremely lewd.
“Damn it...”
He tried to hold back.
The hellish time Lisbel had endured, the cruel battlefield he had to endure after sending her to that fate.
It was a trial he had to endure to prevent the tragedy that would come someday.
He couldn't let all that time be wasted by being swept up in such lust.
He repeated it over and over.
“Lisbel, you always make me not like myself.”
But that vow always collapsed in front of her.
From the very distant past to now when he met her again.
The only person who could shake Hendrick von Hautman was always Lisbel.