Welcome to the Demon’s Cabin - Chapter 14

“I think I might be able to fall asleep naturally if I just lie here. I tend to sleep well anywhere, so you do not need to worry too much.”

Something about her tone felt ominous and highly unsettling. Idris spun a lie, feigning composure while breaking into a cold sweat.

“If that is the case, it is a relief, but will you really be alright?”

“Yes. I will fall asleep eventually.”

“What if you do not get enough sleep because of that? Oh, should I sing you a lullaby? I am quite good at singing.”

“……I am fine.”

He wanted to decline, fearing it would be a song that summoned eternal rest rather than sleep.

“Listen to it anyway. It should be quite effective.”

Once again, he was ignored.

Idris did not even have the chance to throw out another timid protest. Irene briefly cleared her throat and began to sing of her own accord.

“……!”

Ignoring his own attempts to watch her cautiously, Idris’s eyes flew open. He could not help it. It was an irresistible force.

It was a melody so beautiful and strange that he had never even imagined such a thing in his life. Composed of a language he could not understand, the pure voice filling the room left him with no impression other than shock.

He had thought her voice was pretty, feeling like a song even when she was just speaking but this was beyond imagination.

The pain that had tormented him all day, and the thoughts that had cluttered his mind, vanished instantly without a trace. Matters like demons, red eyes, and survival felt utterly trivial.

It was a sensation that was practically violent. It felt as if his brain were melting. Just as a sense of crisis arose at his uncontrollable mind, he was swept away by the waves of the melody. It felt as though it would dredge up even his long-standing misfortunes and make them disappear.

‘What…… was I thinking about?’

Ah, I do not know.

I do not know.

I do not want to think about anything.

I just want this song to last forever…….

Just before his hazy consciousness cut out, he felt as if he caught a glimpse of blood-red eyes that had approached right before his nose. And the ripples within those pupils, resembling a blood-colored lake, that seemed ready to suck him in.

* * *

“……!”

Deep blue eyes snapped open. Idris, who bolted upright, grimaced heavily.

“What a wretched dream……”

He then wiped his face with an irritable hand. Those horrifyingly blood-red eyes were vivid in his mind. Of all the things to happen, dreaming such an absurd dream. A demon, of all things. Was it because his mother’s death anniversary was approaching?

“Haah. Thank god it was a dream……”

The moment he lifted his throbbing head, Idris’s mouth clamped shut. His vision was filled with uneven wooden walls.

They were not the white walls of his room in the temple.

As he turned his gaze, instead of the bleak furniture of the temple, the room was filled with colorful furniture. It was that cabin. As a bonus, a small purple flower was greeting him.

‘Dammit. What dream?’

It was reality, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

He swallowed a sigh and ran a hand through his disheveled blond hair.

“……”

Wait, ran a hand through?

Idris, who froze momentarily, then slowly moved his head to look down at his left hand. Unlike before he fell asleep, there were no bandages. As he slowly clenched and unclenched his hand, it moved smoothly without tremors or pain.

Moreover, he was clearly sitting up by his own strength right now. It seemed the sensation had also returned to his legs, which he had feared might become crippled. While it was certainly a good thing, Idris’s expression hardened like stone.

‘I was not treated with high-level divine power; there is no way I would recover like this in a single day.’

Unable to shake the ominous feeling, the events from before he fell asleep suddenly flashed through Idris’s mind.

“They say deep sleep is essential for recovery.”

“I really think it would be best for you to sleep soundly by any means necessary.”

Irene’s meaningful words. And the song that followed.

“Ugh……!”

As soon as he recalled the memory of before he fell asleep, he clutched his head. Even just retracing the faint melody made it feel as if the singing were churning through his entire brain. It felt like his head would split open.

At the actual moment he had heard it, he truly felt as if he had become an imbecile. In his world, only tranquility and drowsiness had remained in an instant, and he had fallen asleep at once, forgetting everything. It was a spine-chilling and unpleasant power.

That was no ordinary human’s song. Nor was it a demon’s dirge.

He knew the owner of this beautiful and bizarre song.

A monster of the sea that ensnares and kills foolish humans and magical beasts with its singing. A half-human, half-beast magical creature also known as a mermaid.

“A Siren……”