165.

“…What should I do with you like this.”

An air like a resting period envelops the surroundings. Without realizing it, he closed his eyes and slowly rubbed his cheek against Inette’s temple. Though he couldn’t control his sadistic excitement, she was unharmed, and even after the excitement subsided, she was as sickeningly lovable as ever, and he clearly didn’t blame his excited mind and body like before. That was very curious and pleasing. For all he knew, this was all proof that his tower was complete. Inette.

Finally, you’ve accepted me.

He thought, feeling and savoring the warmth nestled in his arms. From now on, he would gently devour her flesh without encountering resistance, and she too would be eaten by him as tender nourishment without completely losing her nature.

Meanwhile, there would still be chains around his own neck. Thinking that even if he acted like a demon, the end of the chain would be in Inette’s hands made his chest burn hot where it touched hers. He would become a satiated beast with all his might.

Moreover, given Inette’s qualities, she might even stab his nape with a knife while pulling his chain if she became upset while being devoured. You’re upsetting me, Johannes. Her tearful reproach rang clear in his ears.

At such times, he intended to keep his mouth on her breast until the end, panting and whispering sadly. Please forgive me, Inette, forgive me…. Inette. Inette. Even if this balance seems corrupt to others, balance is balance. In this tower where there will be no interference, neither of us can have absolute superiority. So we can just eat and be eaten like two docile snakes. Ah, we can do that….

“Was it pretty?”

Suddenly, Inette asked.

“Yes.”

Johannes answered with a dazed smile, his mind not yet fully awake from his ecstatic reverie. Inette immediately questioned back.

“Was I…?”

“You’re pretty…. Who else would I find pretty if not you?”

“……”

“Why do you look surprised now? Isn’t this what you wanted anyway? You too… are the same as me.”

He quietly kissed her ear where he had been rubbing his cheek, as she remained stiff without answering. In fact, if he had twisted just a little more, if he had grabbed and turned the tip of her chin just a bit, he could have immediately delved into her mouth, they were so close.

Despite the situation, fearing Inette might be startled, he silently endured the urge to tilt his head right then. It’s still far too early. Just three more years. No, two and a half. No, just two more years. When you grow up. He continued speaking with his lips firmly pressed, as if restraining himself.

“You seemed to treat that previous incident as insignificant, so I didn’t know you’d be embarrassed like this…. I thought you’d rather get angry. To see you twisting your body in shame like this, how could I not find it surprising and pretty.”

Inette remained motionless as she received the whisper that was almost a half-kiss on her ear. Amidst her stillness, Johannes felt the blue, protruding artery on her neckline pulsing under his lips. The pulse was so intense that it throbbed all the way to her ears. It was truly extraordinary. Such tension while being held in a familiar brother’s arms.

Can I take this as a result of you being conscious of me too? Johannes couldn’t help but speculate. Can I receive such a reaction? Though hesitant, he couldn’t stop. Can I do this?

Indeed, you too, for me.

His heart, half-confident, expands on its own. In the end, Johannes’s face turned completely red this time. As if he had absorbed all her pulse through his lips, even the spaces between his delicate and neat eyelashes gradually reddened. Eventually, even his eyes were tinged with a feverish red, like a sick sister.

Realizing that if he kept holding her like this, he might end up pinning her down tonight, he released Inette with a feeling of almost stepping on his own solar plexus. Nevertheless, an uncontrollable heat still emanated from every part of him. As if trying to avoid him, he gently stroked Inette’s forehead as she stood still like a statue, her gaze lowered, and couldn’t help but tease her again.

“Since when did my sister become such a shy person? Making people’s hearts ache…”

“……”

“Did something happen without my knowing? Did you acquire a sense of shame from somewhere?”

His eyes, looking at her with a pretend grin, couldn’t have been more affectionate and sorrowful. But something was off. Specifically, her complexion.

“Don’t… do that again.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t tease me about that incident again.”

Inette’s voice lacked strength or modulation. Tuk, tuk, as if tearing off her own head, she barely met his eyes, moving her gaze with a suddenly bewildered expression. Unable to handle her unfamiliar feelings, her cheeks, which looked like they might burst into tears at any moment, were colorless. Was it due to excessive tension? The color had completely drained, leaving her as pale as white paper. Even the back of her hand, raised demurely to her chest, was a tightly clenched fist.

“I really don’t want to be teased about such things. As you said… somehow, I feel embarrassed. It feels strange.”

She spoke with a notably anxious look in her eyes. I went too far. Johannes immediately corrected his own state upon assessing her condition. Presumably, she, like the duke, was a born ruler who wouldn’t easily be swayed by emotions other than simple joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.

That’s why she could be cruel, and that’s why she had remained innocent until this night. Whatever emotion had dawned on her today, it wasn’t the time for him to regret it right now.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He answered seriously, as if addressing an innocent child. Inette quickly drew close to him.

“Don’t just keep it in mind, swear it.”

“You need me to swear for such a small matter?”

“Yes.”

The answer was firm. Only her expression remained immersed in confusion. She was no different from a lost child overnight. Johannes, who had intended to coax and soothe her if possible, now clearly realized it was time to back off.

“I won’t bring up that incident to torment you. I promise.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

He showed a calm smile. A long sigh of relief seeped through Inette’s lips as she stared at him intently with anxious eyes. He could almost see her inner turmoil, her chest tightening without even realizing the cause of her emotions. In the end, he couldn’t help but smile slightly. The force guiding his sister’s fingertips, saying it was late, was filled only with uncontrollable affection like a gentle breeze.

“…Thank you, Johannes.”

“You’re the one thanking me now. You’ve really grown up.”

“How funny…. I’ve always been human.”

“Is that so? Surprising.”

Johannes unnecessarily smoothed out the place where Inette had lain down. He pulled down the pillow for her as she turned to face him. Inette, who had been quietly looking up at him from under his curved arm, clung to him like a shadow.

She pressed her nose bridge against his empty chest and entwined her legs with his, clinging to him down to his waist. Her arm, like a vine, dug under his side. As a result, Johannes’s expression became somewhat disgruntled, and he stiffened completely.

“Inette.”

“Yes?”

“If you keep doing this… I’ll want to tease you more.”

“Why?”

“Ah.”

Johannes, who had let out a short sound that was neither an exclamation nor an answer, looked down at his arms. The round crown of her head, with platinum hair completely disheveled, seemed determined to fall asleep in an uncomfortably close position.

“…This is unbearable.”

Johannes, who had groaned without realizing it, pushed away her crown as if pressing it. Her smooth forehead and two eyes, revealed by this, were like a white and blue full moon. That image tilted back even further. Inette, startled by the sudden force, didn’t even have the spirit to scream. A light friction sound, like ‘chup’, resonated above her upper lip, on her finely creased philtrum….

“Good night.”

Johannes’s blue eyes, smiling mischievously, quickly turned away, leaving something like an afterimage…. Now, all Inette would see is the nape of Johannes’s neck and shoulder blades as he lay with his back to her.

“You said you wouldn’t do it!”

Inette exclaimed in a preemptively terrified voice. Simultaneously, a merciless fist struck Johannes’s spine with a thud. He closed his eyes tightly and replied nonchalantly.

“What are you surprised about? This much should be just a greeting.”

“You promised me!”

“I didn’t bring up that incident.”

“You sleep under the bed.”

“Why should I?”

“It’s punishment! Get down there now!”

“Ah, ah, were we too noisy? A guard seems to be coming down from somewhere….”

Johannes grumbled for a while before quietly smiling as he felt her body clinging to his back and side again. The warmth of her hand, wrapped around his stomach saying she hated him to death, seemed to melt away the blackness in his solar plexus. The last night the siblings spent together in their youth, which would never return no matter how much he begged, he ended with such insipid jokes.

It was a night of ecstasy and delusion.

***

The duchess’s illness worsened. Both her mind and body seemed to be eaten away by an unknown disease.

Inette became less talkative. Even when moving, her detailed gestures were no longer as flamboyant or exaggerated as before. It must have been no ordinary ordeal to tend to a woman who was not of sound mind in a dark, enclosed space, even if it was luxurious on the outside. Inette’s face turned notably pale, with only her two blue eyes gleaming ominously like daggers in the shadows. Moreover, she didn’t seek out Johannes as often as before. On nights when the duchess’s agonized screams didn’t shake the fortress, she would only briefly show her face in Johannes’s bedroom, not staying long or sleeping with him. Losing warmth day by day, she was like an iron child spending 10 years of winter in a single day. Even her low breath seemed to carry frost. However, even as he felt Inette’s temperature changing differently yesterday, today, and tomorrow, Johannes believed his tower was intact. The reason was quite simple. Since the duke didn’t visit his sick wife, it seemed reasonable to assume that Inette’s path to him was merely blocked.

On a night when the suffering duchess finally swallowed opium and fell asleep.