What Was Happening? I Couldn't Tell

Irene could not understand what had become of everything.

What she remembered clearly was only one thing: that she had unknowingly nodded her head at his request.

The next instant, her body fell backward.

Thinking she was about to drop, she panicked and hurriedly grabbed his neck with her arms, and it seemed a low laugh escaped him.

However, unlike Irene's concern, her body was gently lowered onto the carpet.

His hands had wrapped firmly around the back of her head, as if to prevent any impact.

The next instant, Michael covered her body.

Of course, the word "covered" didn't quite fit; "trapped" would have been more accurate. Michael was renowned among knights for his exceptional build.

His towering height and physique, forged through extreme combat into perfectly muscled perfection, meant Irene's frame couldn't possibly bear such weight.

Yet she found his weight surprisingly light.

While still in a hurry, he sandwiched her body between his two thighs, then supported himself with one arm and ensured she wasn't being pinned beneath him.

Even if he was addicted to demonic energy and not entirely in his right mind, he wouldn't let his partner's safety slip away just because of that.

He quickly lowered his upper body, bringing his face close to hers.

Before Irene could say anything, a soft, wet sensation touched her lips.

"...!"

She couldn't help but know what it was.

The moment it connected, his tongue pushed madly into her mouth.

"Mmph...!"

Shocked by the sudden kiss, Irene shook her head. Michael lifted his face at her resistance, then cupped her cheeks with his hands.

Her face trapped in his large hands could no longer escape him. Irene's body stiffened from tension and fear.

She had never experienced a proper kiss in her entire life.

According to her memories, the only time she had done so was during their week together in her previous life, when he had mindlessly pressed his lips against hers and she had endured it with great difficulty.

It wasn't a kiss at all; it was a violent, predatory breath meant to devour.

Because he had clung to her madly, her lips had swollen and puffed up, and the edges of her mouth had split open every single time.

That was the kiss Irene remembered.

Now Michael was about to repeat it.

*This... this is the purifier's duty.*

Irene thought this and tried to accept it as calmly as possible, but the memory of the rough, painful past made her body tighten with every passing second.

That alone would have been fine, but when her lips parted slightly, the sound of their teeth clashing echoed out.

Without realizing it, Irene's body had reacted to the horror of her previous life.

Perhaps because he heard the sound, Michael stopped his movement, which had been about to repeat the kiss.

Still thinking he would approach again, Irene kept her body tense but shrank back.

Yet no matter how much time passed, he never brought his lips close again.

Instead, his thumb slowly stroked her cheek while he held her other cheek.

As if soothing her, Irene's body, which had been locked tight from the awkward, gentle touch, finally relaxed.

The trembling had stopped. Soon he would kiss her again.

But Michael showed no sign of moving.

The gaze from above, looking down at her, felt clear and sharp even with his eyes closed.

He kept watching... why wasn't he coming closer?

Eventually, Irene's patience ran out, and she opened her eyes.

There he was, still staring at her with those deep, crimson eyes.

Swallowing, the dry lump in her throat went down again.

*This... is this tension different from before?*

"How... are you doing? The demonic energy still seems to be there..."

How on earth was he maintaining his composure?

It couldn't be because he was a paladin. Otherwise, the him from her previous life should have been this calm too.

But back then, he had simply plunged madly between her legs, his every bit of her body pierced with his teeth as if he would devour her right then and there.

His lips, and even more obsessively his chest, had caused her to swell so badly that she couldn't wear clothes properly.

So why wasn't he acting like he had back then? The Michael in front of her remained perfectly calm.

"Am... I looking all right?"

His answer to Irene's question sounded strangely hollow.

He gave a bitter smile and answered quietly.

"It seems I've gotten used to this after a long time."

A long time? That didn't make any sense at all.

Michael's condition had clearly been fine all this while.

If the signs of demonic energy pollution had been this severe, turning his eyes red, Irene and everyone else would have noticed.

Even during the auction yesterday, he hadn't looked healthy at all.

So how could this change have happened? It couldn't have taken more than a few hours at most.

Yet his answer carried the fatigue of someone who had lived through an immeasurable amount of demonic energy for far too long.

"Irene."

Michael called her name quietly.

Even though the name was spoken to her dozens, even hundreds of times a day by others, only his voice from Michael held such weight and resonance.

"If you don't want this, I won't do it."

Even as he said that, his hands never stopped stroking her face.

As if trying to feel even a little more warmth, Irene unconsciously leaned her face into his palm.

Because he had accepted the demonic energy he had sent her, Irene knew exactly how painful addiction to demonic energy felt.

She remembered the pain like her blood vessels were burning and the deep thirst she couldn't figure out how to quench.

Now Michael held an amount of demonic energy far greater than anything she had ever taken in.

So why would he refuse to relieve it, saying he wouldn't do it if she didn't want?

After a moment's hesitation, Irene slowly reached out and gently stroked his cheeks in the same way he had done for her.

"I'm... all right."

Not long ago, she would never have said that.

The day she returned to this fortress, where the only memories were terrifying ones, Irene had made a decision.

She wouldn't get entangled with Michael again.

So she would head down the path she should have always walked: as the lowest-ranked purifier, and as a knight who was never respected by anyone.

But even in this unchanged fortress, his behavior changed first.

Still, Irene didn't give up.

At first she had rushed to find a purifier, but since she knew he didn't need her, she believed he would eventually distance himself like before.

But contrary to her thoughts, Michael kept searching for Irene and asking for purification.

While seeing her more often, talking to her more, and holding her hand more.

Irene realized her fear was growing.

Fear came in many forms.

One was the fear of dying the same death as in her previous life.

The other fear...

*Being drawn to this person again.*

In her previous life, even though Michael had kept his distance, Irene had thought of him as her savior.

No matter what, thanks to him maintaining the pair contract, she hadn't been dragged off by the count, and little by little she had saved up enough money to dream of freedom.

Even if he didn't come to find her, Irene's eyes always followed him.

She didn't know how many times she had secretly watched him having peaceful conversations with others.

When their eyes met, and he quickly looked away and avoided her, her chest would throb deeply.

It wasn't just because the paladin everyone praised was disliked by her.

She liked him.

Even if he kept his distance, the person who had saved her.

When the fear of death terrified her, the feeling toward Michael made her miserable.

So in this life, she had promised she would never experience that fear or that misery again...

Yet here she was, still feeling the demonic energy bubbling inside him, and she repeated her words as if to confirm.

"I'm fine. So... please purify me."

As she said that, Irene pulled Michael's face close to hers.

The knight's body, as solid and firm as a mountain, easily came down into her hands.

*Smack.*

A light kiss, as gentle as the beaks of birds, touched his lips.

Michael's face looked dazed.

But that lasted only a moment.

Once permission was granted, he smiled with immeasurable satisfaction and began to dive into the place where he had found rest.