To My Beloved, I Present My Exquisite Nightmare (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12
Laila did not know when she had fallen asleep.
But when she opened her eyes, everything around her was pitch black. It was so dark, so silent. She could hear no sound at all, as if she had fallen into a pit where no air existed.
No, it was not that she could hear “no” sound. Laila thought. At the same time, she could hear a low breathing sound. It was Eustar’s breathing.
His lips, lying on his side, were almost touching Laila’s ear. The lukewarm breath moved regularly, brushing against Laila’s ear and cheek at the same time. Wherever Eustar’s breath touched, fine hairs stood on end, and a faint tremor was felt.
For a moment, Laila had a strange thought. If she reached out her hand, she felt she could touch his breath…….
And she thought she would know what it was made of, what color it was, what shape it was. It seemed it would be soft. Just like his hair that had fluttered in the wind.
—Strangle his throat.
Laila’s fingertips suddenly shrank back. At the same time, her body, which had been lying straight, turned sharply in the direction away from Eustar. But she could see nothing. Only the faint outline of the closed door beyond the profound darkness.
Perhaps the thought occurred that the door might never open forever. Why was that? Even though it could not be so.
Laila, who had been breathing heavily, turned her body again and lay straight. It must have been a mishearing. Laila, trying hard to calm her mind, closed her eyes. Closed them…… and opened them again.
At that moment, two stiff and gaunt hands, like dry branches, seized Laila’s throat fiercely.
—Strangle hiiiis throooaaat—! Liiiike thiiiis—!
Laila’s eyes widened in shock at the force of the rough grip holding her throat. Right in front of her eyes was a skull-like face.
The blank white eyes without pupils were so large that they almost pushed down to the cheekbones, and between the horribly distorted lips, a tongue hung obliquely, dangling.
“Gah……! Eus, Eusta…….”
Laila’s hands flailed about, thrashing the bed. She struck Eustar’s body with all her might, but he did not wake. For a moment, Laila was seized by a chilling thought. Could this have killed Eustar first?
—Aaaah—!!
The ghost gripping Laila’s throat opened its mouth wide, and a sound like something snapping came from between its jaws.
It seems like a well is attached to the ceiling. Laila thought. If I fall into that well, I will never get out. Not while alive, anyway.
A crunching sound was heard. The back of the ghost’s head caved in, and its left face crumpled grotesquely. The large eye, which could not even be called human from the beginning, white and glossy like a slimy egg, slid further down and protruded more.
‘No, if this continues…….’
Her vision flashed. She was short of breath, and her heart was beating fast. I might die. Laila thought. If I stay like this, I will surely die.
That would not do, would it, Laila?
Was it a voice in her head? Or did she actually hear it? Was it Eustar’s voice? She did not know. There was no time to think. First, she had to get this hand off. If she could not get it off…….
Laila gripped the ghost’s throat with all her strength. Now she saw that its torso was stuck to the opposite wall, and only its neck stretched out long like a wriggling snake.
Laila, clutching the rattling and squishy “thing’s” throat, tried to block the mouth that gaped like the rim of a well from swallowing her. But her hand, touching the slick and moist lips, slipped and slid right into the pitch-black mouth.
—Kiiiiaaaah—!
It was a horrific sensation. As the long tongue wrapped around Laila’s wrist like a living rope, pain like being scratched by a wedge was felt. And then her vision darkened completely, then suddenly flashed open, and she saw the inn room swaying in ash gray.
A woman was standing. Her expression, reflected in the mirror in front of her, was steeped in worry.
Unfamiliar noises from outside fueled her anxiety. She fiddled with the small diamond necklace around her neck to calm herself. It’s okay, everything……. Everything will be fine.
‘I ran away. With a man…….’
Laila thought. No, it would be more correct to say she had found out. Laila was approaching the ghost’s “core.”
As soon as she realized it, the strength in the hand strangling her throat began to weaken. Laila guessed that the ghost was trying to escape to avoid showing her the core.
“You can’t go!”
Laila, grabbing the gaunt wrist, pulled the ghost even closer to her.
—Aah! A—ah—! Don’t look, don’t look!
Laila bared her teeth like an angry wolf and slowly shook her head.
“No, I have to see.”
A long scream was heard. At the same time, the flickering ash-gray screen changed with a pop sound. The man the woman had been waiting for arrived.
They made love on this bed……. The diamond necklace swayed around the woman’s neck. It was the most precious among the jewels and money she had taken when leaving home.
It sparkled. On the woman’s sweat-soaked skin, on her flushed skin……. The moment the woman’s senses soared to their peak, the man’s hands gripped her slender throat with all his might.
‘No, no……! Gah……!’
The sensation of the neck bone crunching and breaking was transmitted directly to Laila’s hand. And at the same time, she could also feel the horrific sensation as if her own neck was breaking.
The man, pulling and snapping the necklace from the limp woman’s body, gathered the rest of his belongings and left the inn.
The next morning, Madam Nollen, who came to wake the guest who would not answer no matter how much she called, found the woman whose pale skin was covered in dark bruises and screamed.
Again. Laila closed her eyes and opened them. Madam Nollen was visible. It was midnight. Or perhaps dawn. She wrapped the woman’s body, which she had hidden all day, in a sheet and threw it into the dry well behind the inn alley.
‘Damn it, if you’re going to die, die somewhere else, why here of all places……! Is there any reason to ruin someone’s business! The girl seemed out of her mind, so she deserved this, deserved it!’
When the body rolled in the sheet hit the bottom of the well, a thud sounded. Laila frowned, feeling a dull pain in the left side of her head.
The ash-gray afterimages were now all gone. The ghost, still held by Laila, was nodding its hideously distorted face this way and that, struggling desperately to escape. Black handprints remained on its long stretched neck.
Laila breathed heavily. What now? She had seen the “core.” But that was all. She could only see and hear. To eliminate this…….
“The red thread in the basket, whose blood dyed it? It is your blood.”
—Aaaah—!
The ghost’s gaunt forearm shattered with a snap, crumbling like a burned branch.
When Laila sat up and got off the bed, Eustar, whom she had thought was completely asleep, sat up holding the familiar small box. As if proposing, Eustar held out the box toward the ghost and spoke again.
“The white clothes in the wardrobe, whose tears wove them? They are a daughter’s tears.”
—Shiiiiiiii……!
A scream that tore at the ears was sucked into the small box. Something flashed. When Eustar closed the lid of the box, a wailing sound from inside was heard clearly, though only for a very brief moment.
Laila was watching him sitting in the darkness with eyes wide like a startled rabbit. Soon, Eustar opened the lid of the box. At the same time, black smoke rippled once more over his shoulder.
There it is again. Laila thought. That must definitely have something attached…….
“Yes, eat. But eat a bit quietly.”
Eustar said. At his words, the smoke wrapping his shoulders fluttered as if dancing for a moment. Laila knew it was “laughing.” Eustar’s hand holding the box was covered in smoke.
Crunch, chew, grind…….
Sounds like chewing raw flesh and bone continued. In between, faint cries and screams were heard, and the sound of tiny stones breaking was also heard. The diamond necklace the woman had worn at the end came to mind.
When the meal of the unknown “smoke”—whether it could be called a meal was uncertain—ended, Eustar let out a long sigh and shook his empty hand once. Then he turned his head toward Laila.
Eustar smiled broadly.
“Sorry, Laila. I was late. I fell asleep too deeply…….”
Laila’s sharp question cut off his words.
“What are you carrying around?”
In the darkness, Eustar’s eyes blinked silently. Strangely, his face was clearly visible. The moment Laila hesitated, Eustar stood up from his seat. She instinctively stepped back.
“Don’t come near me…….”
At the same time, a tap sound was heard. It was the sound of striking a match. Eustar, who had lit the nearly ash-like wick, found the glass cover coated in cloudy oil and turned it over onto the lamp.
As the room brightened, she felt a bit relieved, but that did not mean she was completely at ease. Laila spoke again.
“I asked in the forest too. Those children……. What did you do with the children’s souls? Who did you feed them to? You didn’t answer that question. Tell me now. That black smoke that appears near your shoulder……. What is it? Are you feeding souls to it?”
Eustar was staring at Laila with eyes like a professor examining a student.
When he made such an expression, it looked quite different from when he smiled softly.
The light green eyes, like freshly cut lime, seemed to dissect her piece by piece. It was chilling and goosebump-inducing, like a sharp knife touching below the throat.
“One thing you got right, Laila. The part about feeding souls.”
“Why? Why do such a thing……. What on earth is it? A monster? Or another soul?”
Laila asked, almost panting. But Eustar’s answer was beyond her expectations.
“I didn’t expect you to see him so clearly. Black smoke……. Laila, you really have good eyes. To ordinary people, it wouldn’t be visible at all, and even if seen, they would only feel ‘something seems to be flickering.’”
“Don’t talk nonsense! How could anyone not see such pitch-black smoke!”
“They can’t see it.”
Eustar said in a firm voice. Then, suddenly, he smiled smoothly and swept his long flowing hair behind his shoulder.
“But it’s not a monster, Laila. And certainly not a ghost.”
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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