“Adeleheit.”

She barely opened her eyes at the voice calling her name.

She thought she had just closed her eyes while sitting on a chair, but she found herself on a bed.

Waking up in a different place from where she fell asleep was no longer surprising, but today was different from usual.

Adel slowly realized that someone was looking down at her.

Was it a dream? It felt too vivid, almost… real.

“Wh-who…”

Due to the darkness in the room, the features of the figure were not visible.

As he gently held her chin, his body trembled slightly.

He seemed like he was crying, and at the same time, smiling. Slowly, he tilted his head and placed his lips on Adel’s ear.

“My wife.”

Instantly, a languid breath brushed against her tender skin. Adel recognized the owner of this voice.

In fact, even before he spoke, she had vaguely guessed who he was.

Everything was ‘him’. His scent, his figure, her…

Valentin.

‘He’ opened his eyes in the darkness. Strangely, it felt like opening his eyes for the first time in a very long time.

Darkness was light to him. There was no discomfort in looking around the room.

However, he sensed his surroundings through smell before seeing with his eyes.

It was a dizzying fragrance, like a flower blooming extravagantly in the season. It was a scent he had smelled before.

Ah, he knew that taste.

He moved silently like a predator who had found its prey. The woman was defenseless, fast asleep.

Pathetically, she did not even notice him casting a shadow over her. He reached out and grasped the delicate woman’s neck.

He knew her name.

“Adeleheit.”

Rather, let’s kill her. Let’s end all this pain.

The impulse was peculiar.

The ‘substance’ that looked into his abyss prompted thoughts he could not bring himself to have, even when the woman was closest to the embodiment of sin.

It questioned whether all that pretending with an innocent face, slowly undermining the woman’s guard, was not all for this moment.

When the woman let her guard down, to get closer…

Kill her. She stabbed you first. Remember the blade lodged in your torn heart.

However, even facing this hateful face, for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to harm her with just one touch.

Perhaps it was because the woman’s sleeping face looked too peaceful. He slowly stroked her.

A round forehead, cute lips and cheeks, a sense of serenity that seemed to melt away in her thick eyelashes.

He watched her without even remembering to breathe.

“…”

At that moment, the woman’s eyes flickered open.

Eyes that blinked slowly as if not realizing reality suddenly widened.

Uncomprehending of the situation, tears gathered in the circular emerald green eyes. Ah, he bit his tongue.
Adel’s tears helplessly sometimes entangle his mind too much.

“Valen…tin?”

Once. The memories of bending as he pleased and getting drunk as he pleased were vivid until now.

That ancient night. It felt like not a single day had passed since then.

Especially when looking down at the woman in his arms like this…

Suddenly, hunger overwhelmed him. He licked the tears flowing from the woman’s cheeks with his tongue.

The taste of the woman’s tears felt like it would burst on the tip of his tongue. It was exquisite, but it wasn’t enough. He had endured for too long.

“Adel.”

Someday.

He will crush her in his embrace, chew every inch of her soft flesh, and fill his belly with tears flowing like a river.

Shackles on both legs, a curtain that won’t let even a ray of light through above the head.

Never again speak lies, never again think of abandoning me twice.

Curse only my name with those delicate lips.

“My wife.”

So, Adel. You should rather pity me.

“Valen…tin?”

She gasped and grabbed Valentin’s strong hand.

Was it a seizure? Or was she wandering in a terrible nightmare?

Under the bright moonlight, Valentin’s golden eyes, clearly revealed, seemed blurry and intensely painful at the same time.

He seemed as if he couldn’t even recognize who was in front of him.

“Adelheit.”

The effort to understand him even while being choked was shattered in an instant.

“Adel.”

The voice repeating her name was sinisterly melodic.

Not whispering a lover’s name but rather directed towards an enemy or a detestable target.

The moment she realized it, a deep blue fear rushed in an instant. The hand that was clumsily holding onto his front shivered.

“Ah, uh…”

When she thought that what he did was because he didn’t recognize her, she could have endured it.

Suffering from a terrible nightmare, it couldn’t be helped. It was because he wasn’t in his right mind.

Thinking like that, she could have overlooked even more severe injuries.

After all, he couldn’t even strangle her neck.

“…”

Even while staring into each other’s eyes, Valentin’s large hand gently enveloped her neck.

Although Valentin’s fingers were merely laid like feathers, Adel knew what he wanted.

And what he wanted to do.

The throbbing heartbeat in her neck felt like a vibration as it collided with the palm of his hand.