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This human! This human! How dare he treat this body like nothing!

Just as a pure white canvas could be dyed with all kinds of colors, the purer and cleaner it was, the easier it would be to stain it.

Just as a tree standing upright could be easily bent in a typhoon, the more upright it was, the easier it would collapse even with the slightest temptation.

He satisfied all the right conditions to become corrupted, but no such thing occurred.

–You’re not really an angel, are you?

Felix, who didn’t feel the value of answering, remained silent.

It was the first time that the power of the devil could not control a man like Felix.

–Hmm, but the longer you keep me in your body, the more and more assimilated we will be. Let’s see how far you can resist it.

“Haa……. you don’t seem to have much to do.”

–No, look at this lunatic. You trapped me here!

Once again, the power of the devil began to glow.

Ignoring the noisy screeches of the devil complaining that he wasn’t doing this because he wanted to, Felix was reminded of Irene again.

Felix thought he had no choice but to be patient and endure it.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t fair to be so pretty and lovely.

Felix sighed and swept his pallid face in a downwards motion. His fingers were heavy with deep anguish.

Crouching down in front of the playroom, I dozed off but then suddenly woke up. Someone was gently stroking my cheek.

The movement was so careful it felt ticklish. Even without opening my eyes, I could instantly tell who it was.

“…. Felix?”

I must have got used to it enough to recognize who it was from the touch.

When I called him, I felt his hand, which had been lightly sweeping around my eyes, flinch and stop. I slowly opened my eyes.

Beyond the dim view, there was Felix, who had a bandage across his shoulder and chest.

He smelled of blood and a strong scent of medicinal herbs. The smell was similar to the cigarettes Benjamin had been continuously smoking.

For it to smell to this extent, the secondhand smoke must have been worse than I imagined. My insides boiled as I thought of the people snickering while making Felix look this way.

‘Since when did I fall asleep? While he was getting treated, how long was I asleep for?’

I couldn’t sleep a wink as I was worried about Felix, but I must have dozed off like a sick chicken.

But no matter how hard it was, how could I fall asleep in this situation?

I stared at Felix, beating myself up¹.

The soft smile he always gave whenever our eyes met……. He did not give it.

‘Our Felix’s trademark sunshine smile is gone.’

I bit my lips and desperately tried to search for it, but a gaze like a sharply forged blade stared back at me.

“Don’t sleep here and go into the room.”

Perhaps, because I was on the floor, his voice seemed to sound hurried. His voice scratched my eardrums like prickly sand.

“……lock the door.”

At that instant, the blue eyes that glimmered in the dark sent shivers down my spine.

Despite his eyes looking hazy due to the medicine, it gleamed brightly like a beast on the verge of hunting. It was unclear whether he was firmly holding onto reason or not.

I couldn’t put my finger on it².

What was certain was that I felt exhausted enough – I didn’t feel myself³.

And yet, strangely, the gaze was not scary. Rather than being scared, every breath he made gave me tingles and caused heat to rise to my ears.

The word ‘erotic’ came to mind. Although, it was an expression that had nothing to do with him.

‘……What kind of rubbish thoughts am I having about a wounded man?’

While I was startled and shaken by my subconscious thoughts, Felix stood up and tried to leave.

In a daze, I judged that I shouldn’t let him leave in this manner. I reflexively flung myself up from my spot but stumbled as I lost my balance.

Felix frantically grabbed me as he thought I was going to fall.

“Argh!”

In an instant, a scream escaped from my lips. It hurt so much that tears came out.

I looked up at Felix with my eyes wide open, surprised by the terrible pain that seemed to have cracked my arm.

It was the first time that he, who was so considerate of the others, caught me so harshly. No, rather than being harsh, it was a ridiculous force.

Felix looked down at his palm with a look of alarm, as if he was surprised too.

‘Is it the devil’s fault?’

I grasped the situation at once. Of course, I knew it in my head before, but after experiencing it myself, I suddenly realized it – it was as if I woke up covered in ice water.

I finally realized why he continuously and mercilessly kept pushing me away.

‘Indeed, you were afraid of hurting me in a physical sense.’

Before now, Felix was careful in his own way, but he had grabbed my forearm a little. If he accidentally hit me, my bones would probably break.

The feeling of disappointment completely disappeared.

I would have freaked out and avoided it too. It was no different from the fear of accidentally stepping on a hamster and crushing it.

I imagined the scene for a moment. I was about to walk, but the hamster kept going between my legs……

‘I know you’re adorable, but please get away from me. You’re lucky that you’re not locked up – let’s put it that way.’

That was why communication was so important. If someone kept telling me to leave, I would have thought the person hated, resented, or blamed me.

I almost misunderstood him

‘Let’s try to pretend that nothing’s wrong. No matter what I see in the future, and no matter what I experience.’

I tried my best to hold back the pain and erase the agony from my face. I had to. It was for Felix, who sacrificed himself for everyone.

“It’s all right. Don’t be alarmed. I just felt pain for a moment.”

I spoke reassuringly towards Felix as I took a couple of steps back. It was because he seemed more frightened than me.

He looked as if he was something invisible was threatening him.

The left forearm, which he firmly grabbed, ached with pain, but I completely ignored it. Being hurt like this was nothing when compared to the possibility of losing Felix.

It was Felix who acted like he was going to leave after talking about the devil’s relic. Although Felix returned safely like this now, he was a person who would voluntarily leave if he believed he was a threat to the Chamberlains.

He was not a threat at all!!

“Don’t be afraid. Hamsters are raised as pets, too. Just pat it gently and don’t step on it!”

It was only for a fleeting moment, but a flash of bewilderment passed by on Felix’s frighteningly stiff face.

His expression questioned what kind of nonsense I was saying. He seemed to have omitted the words instead.

As I explained how harmless Felix was to me, I suddenly realized that he was wearing nothing on his upper body.

In fact, it was a matter of course⁴. The shirt and the robe had been soaked in blood and torn apart, so Felix must have taken it off and thrown it away.

“Take this. I brought you a change of clothes. Ah, I’m sorry I looked through your room without your permission.”

“But I only touched the closet. I didn’t even look anywhere else…….’ I rambled on in a mumble.

I was deeply embarrassed as this happened as soon as I vowed to pretend that nothing’s wrong, no matter the situation. I didn’t expect Felix to expose his upper body without warning.

I hurriedly pulled out the shirt I had been holding in my arms for a while. It was a new outfit that I prepared for Felix to change into immediately after treatment.

I hoped that my earnest wish for him to wear something worked. Felix silently looked at my outstretched arm for a moment before taking the clothes.

I could see that he was trying not to touch me as much as possible.

“…….Thank you. I’ll take it.”

At first glance, his restrained voice sounded curt.

He held the pure white shirt I gave him and turned his back. He seemed to be considerate of me, who couldn’t speak properly, because my face was burning red.

My gaze instinctively turned to his clear and pale white skin. After receiving treatment, it was smooth without any scars. Even in the dark, it glistened as if it had collected all the lights in the world.

The skin clearly looked white and soft, but strangely, the body did not look soft at all.

Diamonds were the hardest gems in the world.

When he inserted one arm into the shirt, the muscular limb slipped smoothly into the sleeve, and without delay, in one swift movement, he put the other arm in, causing his broad shoulders and triceps to twitch.

‘His muscles are crazy…….’

Ahh, I saw not just the back, but now, also the front.

I lowered my head. My face was as ripe red as a boiled octopus⁵.

I thought I would never see abs like that with my eyes unless it was a pictorial of a foreign model.

I often appreciated Felix’s beauty as a work of art, but I didn’t know that even his body was art.

Not only was he well-built, but his body had the perfect golden proportion. As if it was a scene stolen from a famous painting, he was aesthetically beautiful. Sure enough, he looked like a figure of a statue.

If Michelangelo⁶ saw this scene, he would have rushed in with fire⁷ in his eyes.

I would probably rush in, too. Please draw it on the canvas and display it.

However, appreciation was appreciation, and I couldn’t help think ‘why?’.

…….Why was he well-built? He’s a sorcerer. He couldn’t be like that before.

I wasn’t sure if I was the only one who felt that as Felix just buttoned up without hesitation.

He paused for a moment.

“The shirt is a little…”

I wanted to tell him he was ‘stuck’.

That was what I wanted to say.

T/N: Wow. The moods in this chapter. The annoyed devil, Felix’s sense of helplessness, Irene’s confusion (yes, I guess you can liken yourself to a hamster XD), and that body…!!! Was it just me, or did it get a bit hot here… ahahah XD (Look forward to the !)

^{1. To beat (yourself) up means to continually criticize/question yourself usually about something that cannot change.↩}

^{2. If you “(cannot) put your finger on something” it means you do not know or understand something, and can’t say exactly what it is.↩}

^{3. “Not feel(ing) oneself/myself” means to not feel physically or mentally well.↩}

^{4. “A matter of course” is used to say that something will or should happen because it’s natural, usual, or logical.↩}

^{5. I had to Google this to be sure (since I’m not much of a cooker ahaha). When cooked, octopus turns a deep red outside, but white inside.↩}

^{6. Michelangelo is a famous Italian Renaissance sculpture, painter, architect, and poet and exerted a strong influence on the development of Western art.↩}

^{7. To have “fire in someone’s eyes” means the person has passion/desire so intense that is shows in their eyes.↩}