He deliberately turned his head away, his eyes staring fixedly at the spines of the books on the shelf, not even daring to glance out of the corner of his eye.
Yet his ears couldn’t help but burn, and he could clearly hear Lisa’s breathing right next to his ear.
Lisa watched his feigned indifference though he was actually incredibly tense, and the obsession in the depths of her eyes deepened by a few more degrees.
She gently bit her lower lip, her fingertips unconsciously tracing her skirt hem.
She felt that even the tense line of his neck was exceptionally adorable… clearly panicking inside, yet still stubbornly trying to act calm, like a bristling but harmless little beast, making her unable to resist teasing him further just to see him utterly let his guard down.
“Don’t like black tea?
How about some milk?”
Lisa’s voice was soft as cotton.
As soon as she finished speaking, she pulled out a small floral-patterned ceramic jar from behind her, retrieved a clean glass, and poured half a cup of warm milk.
The milk left a faint residue on the sides of the glass, carrying a subtle milky fragrance that dispersed some of the ink smell from the old pages.
She pushed the glass toward Soren, the bottom of the cup scraping against the tabletop with a soft sound, as if urging him to accept it.
Soren’s gaze drifted downward, landing on the steaming cup of milk.
The burning pain in his throat welled up again, so dry that he could barely resist swallowing.
He stole a glance at Lisa, seeing that she was only looking at him with a smile, playing with the empty ceramic jar in her hand, looking quite normal.
Since she’s the one who took it out, it should be fine…
As this thought spun in his mind, Soren’s tense shoulders relaxed a bit.
He hesitated for a few seconds, but slowly reached out, his fingertips first gently touching the glass; the temperature was just right, neither too hot nor too cold.
He took a deep breath and finally grasped the glass.
The warm sensation from his fingertips eased his tense nerves slightly.
Soren held the glass, the warmth from his fingertips easing his tense nerves slightly.
He didn’t dare to look too much at Lisa, lowering his head and taking a sip from the rim; the rich fragrance of the milk spread over his tongue, its temperature perfectly soothing his dry throat, instantly relieving that burning pain.
He unconsciously took another couple of sips.
His cold fingertips were gradually warmed by the glass, and even his heartbeat seemed to steady.
However, before he could even set the cup down, a wave of dizziness suddenly hit him from the top of his head.
The bookshelves in front of him began to blur, Lisa’s figure swayed into double vision, and even the hand holding the cup started to lose its grip.
His eyes snapped wide open.
He tried to support himself on the table to stand up, but found his limbs as heavy as lead, his strength draining from his body bit by bit.
“What’s wrong, cutie?
Why is your face so pale?”
Lisa’s voice rang in his ears, carrying a sweet, triumphant smile.
Soren raised his head with difficulty, seeing her lean down, her emerald eyes filled with obsessive light, her fingertips brushing across his sweat-damp forehead.
“Do you feel dizzy?
It’s okay, you’ll feel better after a nap.”
Soren’s heart suddenly sank–he realized that something had been added to the milk!
He wanted to open his mouth to question her, but his lips felt as if they were glued together, unable to produce even a single syllable.
He could only watch helplessly as Lisa reached out, took the empty cup from his hand, and placed it on the table.
Lisa picked Soren up in a bridal carry, her arms wrapping around his waist, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the fabric of his back.
Perhaps holding him a bit too tightly, her chest rose and fell.
Her warm breath, mixed with the scent of roses, hit Soren’s pale cheek with every breath, carrying a somewhat hurried, burning heat.
Soren’s body was as limp as if he had no bones.
His head slumped against her shoulder, his long eyelashes drooping, powerless to resist.
Lisa looked down at the quiet sleeping face of the person in arms.
In her half-squinted emerald eyes, the light of obsession was nearly overflowing.
The smile at the corners of her mouth stretched wider and wider, and even her voice was tinged with a satisfied, slight tremble.
“Look how good you are like this, no need to be on guard against me anymore~”
She rubbed against the top of Soren’s head, her movements as tender as if treating a rare treasure, yet her arms wrapping around him tightened a bit more, as if afraid the person in her embrace would vanish the next second.
“Big sister will treat you very well.”
Her voice was very low, carrying a paranoia only she could understand.
“I won’t let anyone disturb us, and I won’t let you get hurt ever again.”
With that, she set off toward the deeper parts of the library, her footsteps so light they were almost silent.
As she passed the bookshelves, she did not forget to turn her body, carefully shielding Soren in her arms to prevent him from bumping into the book spines.
“Now the most important thing is to go to big sister’s secret little room first.”
An air of anticipation flashed in the depths of Lisa’s eyes, the smile at the corners of her mouth sickly sweet.
The person in her arms made no response, only the sound of even breathing.
….
The moment Soren’s fingertips touched his temple, a dull ache shot through, as if a thin needle were pricking inside his temple.
Supporting himself on the cold metal edge of the bed, he sat up.
Everything in his vision was still shrouded in a blurry halo, and even his breathing carried a lingering sense of dizziness, as if he had been pulled by an invisible vortex just a second ago.
“Wh…
what happened?
Where is this?”
His voice was as dry as rubbing sandpaper, requiring him to exert effort to swallow saliva with every word he spoke.
In his chaotic consciousness, only fragmented shards of light and shadow remained; what seemed to be a harsh warning light, or perhaps the muffled thud of a heavy object colliding, but they couldn’t be pieced together no matter what.
He slowly turned his neck, his gaze sweeping across the unfamiliar room.
Until his eyes landed on the alchemy crafting bench not far away; Lisa was busy with her back turned to him.
Soren’s fingertips had just gripped the cold bed edge when a sharp fragment suddenly exploded in his mind–the dark gleam that flashed in Lisa’s eyes when she handed him the milk, the strange fragrance lingering at his neck that did not belong to disinfectant, and the heavy dizziness that suddenly struck him right before he lost consciousness.
“This isn’t right…”
He suddenly clenched his fists, his nails almost cutting into his palms as he struggled to rise.
Yet his limbs felt as if their strength had been drained; his upper body, which he had just pushed up, fell heavily back onto the bedboard with a dull thud.
Cold sweat instantly soaked the fabric of his back.
He could clearly feel that there seemed to be an invisible force pulling inside his body, making even raising his arm extraordinarily exhausting.
“Awake, cutie?”
Lisa’s voice came from behind, carrying a sweet, cloying smile like a soft silken thread, yet it caused Soren’s spine to tense up at once.
He turned his head stiffly and saw her standing by the alchemy crafting bench, her fingertips pinching a transparent glass vial.
The purple liquid inside the vial gleamed with an eerie luster under the light, with small bubbles rising from time to time.
She walked toward him with light steps, the “clack, clack” of her high heels striking the floor exceptionally clear in the quiet room, each step seeming to stamp on Soren’s heartbeat.
“Just in time.
Big sister just finished making a curious little potion.”
She lifted the glass vial and shook it against the light.
“As for the effects-”
Her voice suddenly stopped.
Lisa abruptly leaned down, both hands bracing against the sides of the bed, trapping Soren firmly between herself and the bedboard.
Her distance was too close.
Her warm breath, carrying a faint scent of roses, puffed against Soren’s nose and cheeks again and again, making him want to turn his head away, only to have his chin gently pinched by her fingertips and forced to turn back.
“You’ll find out very soon.”
Her voice was very low, the obsession in her eyes mixed with a hint of cruel amusement, like poisoned honey.
“But big sister’s way of playing is a bit strange.”
Her thumb gently rubbed Soren’s lower lip, the pressure carrying an irresistible possessiveness.
“The worst-case scenario…
is that you’ll die…”
She deliberately dragged out the last few words, her tone carrying a trembling sweetness, but to Soren’s ears, it felt as piercing as an icicle.
He could see her fingers holding the glass vial tighten, her knuckles turning white, clearly unable to wait to use that bottle of unknown liquid.
Soren’s back had already pressed against the cold wall, with nowhere left to retreat.
Looking at the potion in Lisa’s hand that glowed with a purple light, his Adam’s apple bobbed unconsciously, and his fingertips dug hard into the cracks of the wall.
He kept his breathing extremely light… he thought that in the next second, that liquid with its unknown dangers would be forcibly poured down his throat.
Abruptly, then, Lisa stood straight, uncapped the glass vial with her fingertips, and without a moment’s hesitation, tilted her head back and drank the entire potion in one gulp.
The purple liquid trickled down the corner of her mouth, leaving an eerie trail on her fair chin.
Soren froze, his tense body even relaxing by half unconsciously, his eyes filled with astonishment.
He watched Lisa take a tissue from her pocket and wipe the corner of her mouth unhurriedly, her actions as elegant as if tasting some exquisite dessert, yet a layer of abnormal red mist gradually rose in her eyes, and even her breathing became a bit heavier than before.
“Why are you staring, cutie?”
Lisa spoke suddenly, the playfulness in her tone like a hook.
She took a step forward, raising her hand to touch Soren’s cheek.
The temperature of her fingertips was actually significantly hotter than before.
“Don’t be in a hurry.
The real show is about to start.”
Soren could clearly see her pupils constrict, a deeper obsession slowly spreading across her originally emerald eyes.
Soren observed her body with difficulty, and quickly discovered something different.
Soren instantly understood something.
He shook his head frantically, using all his strength to retreat backward.
“Don’t worry, big sister will be very gentle.”
Soren opened his mouth, just about to ask further.
“What on earth are you planning to do-”
Before the words could even leave his mouth, Lisa suddenly straightened her body.
Her hands reached past his shoulders, firmly gripping his horns–her fingertips squeezed the edges of the keratin hard, with a force so great that Soren instantly gasped, forced to tilt his neck upward, exposing his vulnerable throat.
“You’ll find out very soon.”
The moment the words fell, Soren saw her tongue gently sweep across her lower lip, wetting the pink, moist flesh until it glistened.
That appearance, like a beast of prey staring at its target, made the hairs on his entire body stand on end.
He instinctively clenched his teeth, closing his lips tightly, terrified that she might suddenly lean in to do something.
But Lisa didn’t care about his defensiveness at all.
Her gaze swept past Soren’s tense jaw, landing on his eyes which were filled with terror, the obsession in her eyes mixing with a trace of madness, growing ever more intense.
Just as Soren was still guessing her next move, a sudden, jarring pain shot from his eyeball; as if a thin needle were pricking his eye, or as if he had been burned by something scalding.
Tears instantly welled up uncontrollably.
Soren violently tried to turn his head to dodge, but his horns were gripped tightly by Lisa, and his head could not move even a fraction.
Only then did he realize, far too late.
Fear, like an icy tide, engulfed every part of his body.
He wanted to scream, but his throat could only emit fragmented whimpers, and even the strength to struggle ebbed away bit by bit amid the pain.
“I told you my way of playing is very strange.”
And Soren could already feel that he had gone blind in one eye, and pain radiated from his brain as his consciousness gradually blurred.
“Ugh…
hrk-cough!”
Soren opened his mouth uncontrollably and began to vomit, waves of helplessness and dizziness continuously crashing over him.