Chapter 8

“Cough—”

There was a harsh cough. Suddenly, Kayden felt strange.

His red eyes turned redder. His whole body was burning hot.

When he felt his blood writhing, he began to tremble like a spiny tree.

“…Get out.”

Blood swelled up in his mouth. Kayden’s bloodshot eyes darkened.

꧁꧂

Even if he rubbed his cloudy eyes, it was still blurry. He felt dizzy with bewilderment.

‘…it’s hot.’

Kayden felt a burning sensation all over his body. The shaking of his body did not stop, like a kettle boiling fiercely toward its boiling point.

His back hurt like it was about to rip, and his wings rose with a grotesque rupture sound. Like darkness, its feathers were dark and insidious.

By the time he was distracted by a splitting headache, a fierce horn broke through his forehead. He felt like a fuse broke in his head.

“Damn it.”

His fangs pierced his mouth, leaving a fishy taste of blood. The demon’s blood was so nauseating that he couldn’t stand it.

He only felt hideous about himself. He wanted to take his beating heart out of his body and destroy it.

Soon he heard a loud explosion with the sound of a roar. He felt like his body was floating. Then Kayden was engulfed in a raging flame.

Kayden wasn’t the only one swallowed by the explosion. But also a blacksmith in a blacksmith’s shop, a soldier in a guard’s shop.

The merchants of the market, a woman who was doing the laundry, and a newborn child on a woman’s back. The fire engulfed everything.

‘Thanks to the Little Duke, we were able to harvest safely.’

‘That’s right. It’s all thanks to the Little Duke.’

He remembered the young people who brought an armful of potatoes they harvested that year as they laughed.

At first, everyone was afraid, but thanks to Kayden, the residents of the border village were able to keep their daily lives.

When the attack of the demons disappeared, the people of the territories safely farmed, and the children also ran around.

Kayden didn’t hate them. No one looked at him with contempt, saying he was the demon’s child.

‘No…’

The explosion wiped out most of the estate. Of course, so was Duke Blake’s castle. Kayden couldn’t move like he was paralyzed by sleep paralysis.

Damn it. He had the same dream today.

꧁꧂

‘I didn’t mean for him to faint. Did I come onto him too strongly?’

Isabella sighed unconsciously.

She lifted up the fainted Kayden’s head and laid him on his back and examined his condition. Fortunately, there was no problem with his breathing, but his whole body felt like a fireball.

“Meow.”

She heard a small cry of a cat somewhere. A small cat approached, shining its eyes in the dark.

She felt a soft texture of fur on her frozen feet. A black cat was groaning and rubbing itself on her.

“Cute…cute.”

Even though she’s never seen it before, it seemed like someone’s cat since it was being friendly.

Isabella felt her heart flutter when she saw the cute furry in the gloomy tower.

“No, no, this is not the time for me to do this. I have to lower his temperature first.”

She was almost mesmerized by the cat’s murderous cuteness for a moment but she managed to come to her senses.

“Meow! Meoooowww!”

The cat, which had been rubbing on her for a long time with its belly open, suddenly ran far away and began to cry and lean back with a strange sound.

“…what’s wrong, cat?”

“Meow! Meow!”

When it wouldn’t stop crying, Isabella approached the cat carefully.

The cat fluttered, rubbed itself to her once again, and ran away gently again.

“Meow! Meow!”

It kept crying and rubbing repeatedly. If Isabella didn’t come near, it cried until she came.

“Do you want me to follow you?”

There was no particular point, so she followed the cat in the direction it called.

Looking closely, a faint light was leaking from the direction where the cat was sitting.

Is there anything there? She looked closely and saw a door into the tower.

‘It’s better to stay inside because the night wind is cold.’

There might be something inside that would lower Kayden’s temperature.

Isabella managed to raise Kayden, who was lying down, and helped him. He was thin because he had been experiencing a long spell of mana explosion, but he is still overwhelming despite that.

“…You punk, if you don’t sign a contract, I won’t let you go.”

She dragged Kayden along, grinding her teeth. She’s struggling to get in with Kayden’s arm around her shoulder.

“Ssaek— Seak—”

She felt his hot breath. When she looked up, Kayden’s red lips were exhaling hot breath.

‘What a crazy beauty. What the hell?’

Isabella felt embarrassed and fixed her eyes on the distance. He is a terrible demon, full of decadent beauty, even when he is sick.

After passing the long stairs and the long hallway, she finally saw a bright light. It seemed to be Kayden’s room.

Flop—

Her eyes lit up as she threw Kayden on the bed. She turned her neck around as she used all her strength.

The cat, who didn’t help as she was dragging Kayden, was naturally grooming by the pillow.

“Water…!”

Isabella, exhausted, frantically searched for water.

The cat, who was glancing around, jumped up on a high console. There was a kettle of water right there.

Kayden was literally a ball of fire. In order to lower his body temperature, she had to take off his clothes and wipe him with a wet towel.

She took out his pillowcase, soaked it with water, and squeezed it tightly. It was time to wipe him off.

‘I can’t bear to take off the clothes of a man I’ve never even met before.’

Her fingertips touching his clothes trembled, then she looked elsewhere.

She fumbled over his clothes then wiped him off with a wet towel. The texture on the palm of her hand was quite firm.

When she untied his clothes, she tried hard to keep her composure, pretending to be okay on the outside. Her face was burning at the thought of it.

‘Let’s do it. What courage do I have?’ 

She shuddered because she was ashamed of herself for accepting it so willingly.

‘But wouldn’t it be bad if he stayed like this?’

She carefully wiped the face of the man. His finely laid eyelashes and lips were still wet.

‘If I have to do a marriage without love anyway, it’s better to do it with someone beautiful.’

Isabella, like most girls her age, tended to lean at the aesthetic of things she would own.

꧁꧂

His burning body cooled down. It’s been a long time since he felt safe.

He saw a dim pale face through his eyelids. Is he dreaming? He felt a strange sense of glee.

‘I think I’ve seen this face before…….’

At the age of six, Kayden had a terrible fever. After feeling like he was boiling like a fireball for three days and nights, he saw the same face as now when he opened his eyes.

Are you okay?

That one word brought him a feeling of overwhelming relief. It looked like an angel.

‘…what happened?’

Kayden grabbed the cold feeling that touched his body without realizing it. It was a slender hand of a woman.

His cloudy eyes met deep blue eyes. She sighed shallowly as if relieved only after Kayden’s consciousness returned.

He felt warmth and tremors at the same time at the hand that he held. It wasn’t an illusion, it was alive.

‘This is not a dream.’

Kayden realized that the current situation was real so he let go of her hand.

He raised his heavy eyelids. Now everything seemed clear.

Isabella was wiping Kayden’s face with a wet towel.

He can’t believe there’s someone who is taking care of him as he comes to his senses. He felt awkward but it was not a bad feeling.