"'Once this contract is established, you will be able to use my power.'"
"'Then I will be able to take my revenge immediately. Should I thank you in advance?'"
"'There is no need. That depends entirely on what you are capable of.'"
"'What do you mean by that?'"
"'Do you think it is easy to contain a demon’s power in the body of a frail human?'"
"'Ah…'"
"'If you cannot fully receive my power, you will suffer merely from remaining alive, let alone take revenge. Your body will be unable to die, yet you will feel pain all the same.'"
"'…'"
"'Oh? That expression suddenly looks frightened. Shall we not do it?'"
"'No. Not at all. I only needed a moment to prepare myself.'"
"'Good. Then the deadline will be your younger sister’s debutante. If you still cannot control my power by then, that will simply be your fate. Just think of it as proof that you are nothing but worthless trash.'"
A demon had no mercy.
He had no interest in Velkirei’s circumstances and treated everything as if it were nothing more than a game.
In the midst of all that, the Eliana he encountered came to hold great meaning for Velkirei.
Eliana Mushe.
She was a strange woman. From time to time she looked at his face in a peculiar way, and that bothered him.
Her gaze felt unpleasant, as if she saw straight through him, as though she already knew everything.
Even though she clearly knew that he was supposed to be blind, she always met his gaze whenever she spoke to him.
Others simply did what they needed to do and left, but she did not.
She treated him with friendliness, like someone trying to win his favor.
Whenever he had the opportunity, Velkirei used the excuse of his blindness to hold Eliana’s hand.
Whenever she placed his hand against her forehead, he felt good.
Who would have thought that the court etiquette he once found so bothersome would prove useful like this.
Thanks to it, he could touch her without suspicion.
When the clear sensation lingered and then faded, he felt regret.
He wanted to keep touching her, but he could not.
Because of that, his thirst only grew stronger.
It was also strange that she spoke to him so freely even though he was the Emperor.
Despite the fact that many people pointed fingers at him and called him a puppet emperor, she approached him without prejudice.
Sometimes it was obvious that she feared him, and because he could not understand the source of that fear, his gaze kept returning to her.
She seemed frightened, yet she continued to talk to him, which he found rather endearing.
What was the source of that strange ability she possessed?
The unknown always stirred human desire.
As time passed, Velkirei found himself increasingly drawn to Eliana.
The demon’s power, which reacted to desire, paid even greater attention to her.
"Were you lonely?"
It was a bold question.
Loneliness.
It was an emotion that had long since grown dull.
Loneliness was simply another feeling that always existed.
So he merely said that he had grown used to it, but Eliana suddenly grabbed his hand with an intensely determined expression.
"I will stay by Your Majesty’s side now. I will hold your hand like this every day!"
It was an extremely unfamiliar feeling.
Come to think of it, since his parents died, had anyone ever warmly taken his hand first?
Had anyone ever said they would stay by his side?
Even if someone had, they were now nothing but corpses.
Velkirei stared at Eliana.
'Will this girl also one day die in blood because of Hera?'
When that day came, would he try to save her?
Would she be a woman worth saving?
For now, he did not know.
He had no answer except that he did not know.
That night, like many others, he groaned in pain.
Velkirei staggered under unusually severe agony and fell from the bed.
As he grabbed a small table for support, the bell placed on it rolled to the floor with a clinking sound.
"Ugh."
His condition was too serious to suppress the noise.
It was pain similar to the time his breath had once nearly stopped years ago.
Just as he wondered whether he would die and revive again, Eliana rushed into the bedroom.
"Your Majesty! Please follow me and take deep breaths!"
The moment she came close, she grabbed his arm.
But because the demon’s power was raging violently, merely holding his arm did not solve the problem.
A faint trace of the clear energy reached him, but the pain remained unchanged.
Velkirei gripped her arm even more roughly.
Even if it took time, he felt that if he stayed like this he would at least not die.
At that moment, as he frowned while sensing the pain gradually weaken, it happened.
Suddenly her lips collided with his.
"Mmph!"
The lips that touched him so abruptly were extremely warm.
For Velkirei, whose skin temperature was low, Eliana’s lips felt burning hot.
What she breathed into him was not merely air.
A force entirely different from when she held his arm surged forward, pushing against the demon’s power.
It felt as though Velkirei’s deep thirst was finally being quenched, and he helplessly leaned toward Eliana.
He clung to her as if she were a lifeline.
He bit the lips that met his and shared his breath with her.
The ecstasy he experienced for the first time in his life made it difficult to stop.
While Eliana performed artificial respiration several times, Velkirei relied on her, unwilling to part from her lips.
It was a sweet energy.
Velkirei felt dizzy with the temptation to possess her completely.
Their lips merely touched, yet he wanted more contact.
A sharp tingling spread through his lower abdomen.
His mind grew hazy.
His heart beat pleasantly.
Stability. Satisfaction.
Countless indescribable emotions stirred inside Velkirei.
He wanted her.
He wanted to possess her desperately.
Velkirei could not calm the instincts surging within him.
He wanted to abandon the act of pretending to be weak and roughly bite and explore her lips.
Just as he was about to lose his last thread of restraint, the sweet lips pulled away.
Eliana wiped her lips with her hand.
Velkirei stared at her blankly.
Even though she had moved away, he felt no pain.
The headache that had returned every time her hand left him had also subsided.
A sense of freedom.
The strange feeling of a burden that had always tightened around him suddenly loosening.
Velkirei could only remain dazed.
It had been far too long since he had felt such comfort.
"Did I make you uncomfortable? I am sorry."
Perhaps his expression looked strange.
Eliana apologized with a gloomy face.
Uncomfortable?
On the contrary, he felt as if he might go mad from how much he liked it.
He wanted to forget about Hera behind her and indulge in it completely.
If she had removed her lips even a little later, he might have kissed her properly.
Like a child staring at candy he could not eat, Velkirei felt restless.
"On the contrary, my head feels clearer."
Velkirei murmured with a dazed face, and a smile slowly spread across his lips.
Only then did Velkirei realize what he wanted to do with her.
'I want her. Desperately.'
Countless people had come to him before.
But there had never been anyone he wanted to possess completely.
That was why he had allowed Hera to have them killed.
But Eliana was different.
He had no intention of letting Hera take away the one person who could calm him simply by touching him.
Even after Eliana left, Velkirei remained lost in thought as he touched his lips.
His eyes had already taken on a crimson hue.
'I will have her.'
Velkirei decided that he would possess her.
Her arrival at a time when Mary’s debutante was approaching felt like a gift from the heavens.
Velkirei murmured in a cold voice, filled with dark intent.
"The heavens have given me a gift at the perfect time."