Forget It All
"Mom…… I'm sorry…… Please don't leave me……"
My heart dropped.
The witch of the age. Elise of Hellfire. The monster everyone feared.
But the person in front of me now was nothing more than a little girl trembling at the thought of being abandoned.
What kind of dream is she having?
Details from her past file flickered through my mind. The record of how, as a child, her mana had gone berserk and burned her own parents to death. The years spent being shuffled from laboratory to laboratory, treated like a living weapon.
"Aaaah!"
She suddenly screamed and unleashed her mana.
A violent blast tore through the room. Furniture went flying, and the walls flushed a searing red.
If I left this alone, the panic room—and everything else—would melt straight through.
I climbed onto the bed without a second's hesitation and pulled her thrashing body into my arms.
"It's all right! It's me! Kang Jinsoo!"
Absolute Calm — Maximum Output
I dragged every scrap of cold from my body and poured freezing mana into her until my own heart felt like it might freeze solid.
"Haa…… ngh……"
Her body went rigid, then slowly began to loosen. The scorching heat drained from her skin, and the crimson light flooding the room faded away.
"……Hah, hah."
Elise gasped for air and opened her eyes. Unfocused red irises stared blankly into space before they found me holding her.
"……Air conditioner?"
"Yes, it's me. You were having a nightmare."
At the sound of my voice, her eyes wavered. She lifted a trembling hand and touched my cheek.
"You didn't…… burn?"
"No. I'm fine."
"Liar. Everything burned…… Mom, Dad……"
"It was a dream. This is the Abyss, and you're safe."
I brushed her damp hair back from her face. She flinched at the contact, then buried her face against my chest.
"I'm scared……"
The murmur was barely audible. She clutched my clothes like a lifeline.
"Don't go. Don't leave me alone."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Put the fire out…… Put out the fire on my body……"
She still seemed to feel as though she were burning. Trauma, most likely.
I held her tighter.
"It's out. There's no fire anymore."
"……Really?"
"Yes. I put it all out. You're cool now."
I patted her back the way you would soothe a child. Little by little, her trembling subsided. She nuzzled against me, sniffing.
"……A cool smell."
"Yes."
"A smell that makes me feel safe……"
Her breathing gradually evened out. Even so, she refused to let go. Instead she wrapped her legs around my waist and locked her arms around my neck, pressing herself flush against me—a desperate cling, as if we were conjoined twins who could not be separated.
"Just for today."
She mumbled into my chest.
"Just for today…… I'm acting weak. Tomorrow, forget it."
"Yes. I'll forget."
"If you spread this around, I'll kill you."
"Yes, yes."
Only then did she seem to relax, letting out a deep sigh. With the tension gone, exhaustion must have hit her all at once.
"Sleepy……"
"Go ahead and rest. I'll stay right here."
"Hold my hand."
I took her hand firmly. She guided it to the spot over her heart.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Still a little fast, but a steady, regular beat.
"……Warm."
She murmured it under her breath. My cold hand, warm to her. I couldn't even begin to imagine how freezing a hell she had been living in all this time.
I didn't know how long passed before her breathing turned slow and even. Forcing my half-numb arms to hold their position, I looked down at her sleeping face.
Tear tracks stained her cheeks. Sweat-damp hair clung to her skin. Those eyes that always carried such venom were soft and drooping now.
So she can make a face like this, too.
I carefully wiped her tears away with my thumb.
An S-rank witch. A walking catastrophe. But peel back the shell, and underneath was a wounded little girl covered in scars.
I'm only doing this for the money, but……
I gave a bitter smile. In that moment, at least, I genuinely hoped she could find some peace.
"Sleep well."
I gently rested my forehead against hers.
That night, Elise didn't scream again. She only fidgeted in my arms, occasionally mumbling half-asleep things like, "Mmm, cool……"
Morning came.
I had no feeling left in my left arm.
"……"
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Elise sprawled across my chest as if it were her personal mattress. She was sleeping with the most peaceful expression in the world, as though last night's nightmare had never happened.
The problem was her sleeping habits.
My left arm had become her pillow. My right was pinned and hugged tight between both of hers. On top of that, one of her legs was thrown across my thigh.
If I wake her up, I'm dead, aren't I?
Wake her, and I'd get roasted for sure. I stared at the ceiling, barely daring to breathe.
"Mmm……"
Before long, Elise stirred. She lifted her head and peered up at me with bleary eyes.
Our gazes met.
"……"
"……Did you sleep well?"
Silence.
In an ordinary romance novel, this would be the part where she shrieked and kicked me off the bed. Elise was different. She stared blankly at my face, then buried herself against my chest all over again and sniffed.
"……Cool."
She mumbled it, and instead of screaming, she burrowed in even deeper—like a cat trying to hide from the morning sun.
"Um, Prisoner. You really should get up now……"
"Shut up. Five more minutes."
"There's no blood flowing to my arm. I think it's going necrotic."
"Cut it off. I'll stick a new one on for you."
She delivered the bloodcurdling joke and hugged my waist even tighter. Her body heat seeped through the thin slip, warm and close. Whether it was the morning or the aftermath of last night, she ran hotter than usual.
Haa. I'm going to lose my mind.
For a healthy man in his twenties, enduring this kind of stimulation first thing in the morning was pure torture. I recited the national anthem in my head and tried to keep myself under control.
Those five minutes felt like ten. At last, Elise raised her head. Her red eyes slowly found their focus—and as the memories of the night before began to surface, her pupils shook as if an earthquake had hit.
The nightmare. The tears. The pathetic way she had clung to me and begged me not to leave.
"……!"
She jerked away from me in a panic, scrambling to the far corner of the bed and yanking the blanket up to cover herself. Her face was as red as a tomato.
"You—you……!"
"Yes. Kang Jinsoo."
"Last night, that…… I……"
She couldn't finish the sentence and bit her lip instead.
The great witch had bawled her eyes out, snot and tears and all, clinging to me and whining. Her towering pride hadn't just been scratched—it had a hole punched clean through it.
I kept my expression carefully blank. If I so much as let on that I remembered, the sheer humiliation might drive her to incinerate me on the spot.
"Did something happen last night?"
"……Huh?"
"Aside from you having a nightmare and using my arm as a pillow, I don't remember a thing."
I lied without a shred of shame.
"I was so exhausted I basically passed out. Whatever you said, whether you cried or not—I didn't hear any of it."
"……Really?"
"Yes. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper."
Elise's eyes narrowed. She looked me up and down with open suspicion, but my poker face could have put professionals to shame.
"……Fine."
She cleared her throat and swept her hair back. The flush was slowly fading from her face.
"Right. Nothing happened. I was just a little hot…… so I sweated, that's all."
"Of course. The room was a bit warm."
"I didn't cry or anything. Sweat got in my eyes."
"Ah. Sweat in the eyeballs. That can happen."
It was a ridiculous excuse, but I nodded along anyway. Protecting her pride—that was the virtue of a slave bound by a five-billion-won penalty clause.
"Hey."
"Yes."
She got down from the bed and stood in front of me, grabbed me by the collar, and pulled my face close. Those red eyes bored into mine.
"Forget it."
"Pardon?"
"Everything from last night. Forget all of it. Wipe it from your head."
"Forget what, exactly?"
"Just forget it. Got it?"
A tiny spark flickered at her fingertips. A threat.
"If you go around talking about this…… I'll rip your tongue out for real and roast it well-done."
"Understood. My brain is already a blank slate."
"Good."
Apparently satisfied, she let go of my collar, spun on her heel, and headed for the bathroom.
"I'm going to wash up. Have breakfast ready."
Her retreating back looked perfectly composed. But I saw it—the tips of her ears, blazing red between the strands of crimson hair, as if they might burst into flame.
……Cute.
I barely managed to hold back a snort of laughter. Getting that embarrassed and still trying to threaten me.
Prisoner No. 001's Dependency has increased.
But…… it was warm.