Chapter 37
“…”
“Then even after being violated by all of you… I’ll have to remain trapped here helplessly…”
Her pronunciation became more slurred toward the end. Her doe-like eyes were brimming with tears.
Psyche lowered her gaze while internally feeling deeply relieved at her excellent acting skills. From now on, she had to act even more perfectly. Enough to convince even herself.
“Actually, I’m… so scared. What will happen to me after this, what will happen to Ruon… I can’t do anything here… I feel so lost and scared…”
Psyche’s delicate eyebrows contorted. As she bit her lip firmly and closed her eyes, transparent tears rolled down her white cheeks.
At that moment, his body visibly flinched. Realizing belatedly that he had been holding his breath, Serdin let out a long exhale, when Psyche firmly grabbed his hand. Then she looked up at him with desperate eyes.
“Serdin, you told me yourself. That there’s no one here to protect me, so I should watch my behavior.”
“…”
“Couldn’t you protect me…?”
His eyes grew hazy as he looked down at Psyche. Her trembling body appeared incredibly fragile. Her tear-stained face was beautiful enough to draw a sigh, and also pitiable.
He was overwhelmed by the urge to wipe away her tears and embrace her right then. Serdin had to clench his teeth to suppress that intense impulse.
“Stop it.”
Just as he was trying to shake off her hand, Psyche quickly shook her head as if begging him not to. Sending him an earnest gaze, she held his hand even tighter. Like it was her last lifeline.
“Please, Serdin… Even if everyone here forces themselves on me, I wish you at least wouldn’t. Please, just you… protect me…”
Serdin just glared at her without saying anything. Just as anxiety appeared on Psyche’s face, he burst into loud laughter, probably in disbelief.
“Ha.”
She trembled slightly. As Psyche moved her lips to try to persuade him again, he violently shook off her hand.
“You… you think I’m a joke.”
Her shoulders shrank at his fierce demeanor. Looking down at her frightened face, Serdin snarled viciously.
“What? Protect you? Can you say this to the other bastards too? This isn’t even funny. How little must you think of me-“
“No, that’s not it.”
Psyche hurriedly cut off Serdin’s words and grabbed his hand again. He stiffened, apparently not expecting her to take his hand again. Looking up at the rigid Serdin, she whispered in a tearful voice.
“I’m not doing this because I think little of you. It’s because you were the only one here who helped me.”
“…”
“You were the first one to show me that not everyone here is hostile to me, that’s why I’m doing this.”
Serdin remained silent for a moment. His expression suggested he was trying to gauge what she meant. Then his face suddenly darkened.
“Don’t tell me you’re… talking about when I carried you to your room before? Over something so trivial-“
“It wasn’t trivial.”
Psyche choked up as she clutched his hand tightly with both of hers. His eyes twitched slightly.
“After what Rezus did to me… I was really struggling. To the point where I thought dying might be better…”
Serdin’s face turned frighteningly rigid for a moment. Psyche bit her lip as if swallowing a sob, then continued.
“You were the one who reached out to me then. You were the first one to make me feel that someone here actually cared about me, to give me that kind of comfort…”
Serdin silently looked down at his hand in her grip. Psyche held on desperately, as if afraid he would pull away again.
An undefinable emotion flickered across his eyes. His gaze, which had lingered on her hands, began to move deliberately.
Skin glowing transparently in the moonlight, breathtakingly beautiful features, a soft and fragile body without any muscle unlike his own…
The longer he looked at her, the more clouded his golden eyes became. He gently covered the hands gripping his with his other hand. Then, with a smirk, he removed her hands.
“If I had known you’d make such a ridiculous request of me, I wouldn’t have helped you then.”
The movement was so fluid and natural that Psyche realized a beat late that he had released her hands. She stared blankly back and forth between his hand and face. Serdin slowly brushed up his bangs and muttered in a sunken voice.
“I should have just left you whether you collapsed on the stairs or not.”
“…Serdin.”
“No, maybe I should have just taken you then.”
“…I know you’re deliberately being harsh.”
Before she finished speaking, he started letting out small laughs. Rather than laughing from joy, it was closer to self-mockery.
“So you think I am just doing an act huh?”
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