There is No Key to His Cage - Chapter 9
How much time had passed like that?
Seeing her asleep, slumped over the desk, it seems she must have fallen asleep while studying with Jane again.
The person who had covered her kindly with a warm blanket before leaving was probably Jane.
Her back and shoulders were stiff from sleeping for who knows how many hours.
“Mmm…”
Thud-
Elena yawned widely with her mouth open, like a baby bird, barely able to open her eyes properly.
As she turned her head a few times and stretched, she felt her tense shoulders loosen a bit.
The thick blanket naturally slid down her body and fell beneath the chair.
Just as she was about to open her eyes and look at the book again.
“Why are you here…”
A familiar face came clearly into view.
For a moment, she thought ‘Am I seeing a ghost?’ and rubbed her eyes a couple of times with her hand.
But since it didn’t disappear, it must be a real person.
“I was watching to see how long you would sleep.”
He leaned his arms on the desk and gazed at her with languid eyes.
His eyes, bewitching like a nine-tailed fox’s, were mesmerizing.
“Th-then please leave now.”
Flustered, Elena averted her gaze, her voice trembling.
He then grabbed her chin, forcing her head up straight.
“I told you not to avoid me.”
His sticky voice seemed like it would melt her eardrums.
“It hurts.”
Elena turned her head sharply, escaping from his grasp.
He chuckled and stared at her intently.
“……”
His gaze, which had been on her blue eyes, now moved down to her dainty lips.
Startled, Elena touched her lips with her hand.
“Why. Why are you staring like that.”
Wondering if something was on her face, she touched around her mouth.
She felt something sticky around her mouth.
“Drool…?”
Picking up the hand mirror on the desk, she saw that transparent drool had spread around her mouth.
Moreover, there were tear stains that she hadn’t wiped away earlier.
Embarrassment rose to the top of her head.
Quickly covering her mouth with her hand, he slightly snorted and rose from his seat.
“Wh-what is it.”
“What do you mean, what.”
He approached very slowly.
The sound of his shoes echoing in the room, coupled with the ticking of the clock, added to the tension.
She took a deep breath and pulled her chair back, retreating from the imposing man who was at least two spans taller than her.
“I’m your husband.”
“Don’t come closer.”
Elena snapped at him in a commanding tone.
But the chair, blocked by the wall, had nowhere else to go.
“I said don’t come closer.”
A voice as firm as steel lingered on the tip of her tongue.
But he wasn’t the type to listen to her words.
“I don’t want to.”
Before she knew it, his firm hand touched her soft skin.
Slowly, caressing her as if soothing a baby, the touch was not just ticklish but chilling.
“Stop it.”
“Even this side of you is lovely.”
Her face suddenly flushed at his words.
From earlier, he kept saying things like she’s special, she’s lovely.
Such words are unfamiliar.
She had never heard them in her life, no, she didn’t even deserve to hear them.
She quickly picked up the brown blanket that had fallen under the chair and buried her reddened face in it.
“Leave.”
“Elena.”
She looked like an abandoned animal.
Like a small animal trembling in the cold outside, yet fully longing for someone’s touch.
As if feeling some compassion, he approached her closely and slightly bent his knee.
Then, as if handling a frightened kitten, he very slowly, little by little, brought his hand to her face.
“When you need me like this.”
The cold fingertips gently caressed her cheek.
Elena curled up her body and hunched her shoulders.
“Do you really want me to leave?”
“…Leave.”
He exhaled shortly as if he had no choice.
“Ele…”
“Get out! I said get out!!”
Elena roughly shook off the hand that touched her.
Her eyes, full of anxiety, trembled endlessly.
“Leave, please.”
She couldn’t take it anymore.
Just being in the same space with him made it hard to breathe.
“Why were you crying?”
He spoke as if he had no choice, not coming any closer than a certain distance, as if trying to soothe her.
Like trying to capture a fierce wild animal alive.
“I wasn’t crying.”
She didn’t want him to notice even this.
She hated feeling like her every move was being watched.
“Are you going to keep lying?”
“I didn’t cry. I said I didn’t cry.”
“Elena.”
“Leave.”
Her static voice was like a river without wind.
She no longer looked at him or met his eyes.
Decarus sighed briefly and then opened his mouth.
“It hurts me so much when you treat me like this.”
“Hurt…?”
For a moment, the corners of her mouth twisted askew.
An empty wind sound escaped from her throat.
Her facial muscles trembled finely at the utterly incomprehensible statement.
“After what you’ve done to me…”
She swallowed the rising emotion.
A tangy taste of blood lingered between her tightly clenched lips.
“You… are truly the worst.”
There wasn’t even a hint of emotion in his eyes.
Like a psychopath who feels no guilt at all.
“The worst, the worst…”
He slowly closed his eyelids as if lost in thought.
Then he snorted slightly and stared straight at her.
“I’ve always tried to be the best for you, you know.”
His hand slowly caressed her delicate chin.
The warmth touching the tip of her chin was so unpleasant.
“Can’t you show me a kind face just once?”
“Ha, kind…? Did the word ‘kind’ just come out of your mouth?”
A hollow laugh came out first, it was so absurd.
She knew he lacked empathy from the beginning but to this extent…
“Yes. I wish you would call my name and caress me.”
He slowly got up and approached her.
To her small frame, he was as threatening as a giant.
“Don’t come.”
She barely managed to utter the words that had been lingering in her mouth.
But of course, it had no effect.
He bent his waist and brought his fingers to the tips of her hair.
“Don’t touch me.”
Slap-
Elena shook off his hand with all her might.
Then she gripped her hair where his warmth remained and glared at him.
Decarus stared intently at his rejected hand, then snorted as if something was funny.
“I don’t remember teaching you to act like that.”
He faced her directly and stroked her hair again.
She wanted to escape from this creepy touch right now.
As she glared at him with wide eyes, he smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth.
“How much lovelier can you be?”
“Shut up.”
She was still fierce, like a hedgehog with all its quills raised.
Sharp quills that seemed like they would draw blood with the slightest touch.
Decarus exhaled deeply as if giving up and stood up straight.
“You’ve been trying quite hard to leave this place, Elena. Even learning the imperial language.”
He slowly brushed the imperial language textbook, dust coming off on his fingertips.
He blew on it, close to his mouth, and the dust disappeared into the air.
“I wonder who dared to teach my possession how to read… Hanna? Alisa?”
His footsteps moved heavily.
He came close and leaned in, bending his waist.
“No.”
“Or… Jane?”
His low voice dug into her ear canal.
Hot breath tickled her fine hair, sending chills down her spine.
“N-no. I was trying to learn by myself…!”
At that moment, her body floated in the air.
Arms supporting her back and thighs lifted her lightly.
Surprised, Elena screamed and grabbed his nape.
“What are you doing? Let go!!!”
“Disobedient beasts need to be punished.”
He roughly pushed aside the canopy and headed for the bed.
The delicate female body touched the well-made sheet without a single wrinkle.
Decarus, mounting on top of her, stared at her with a crooked gaze.
“I know what you want.”
“……”
“But I have no intention of giving it to you.”
Slender fingers carefully brushed aside her disheveled bangs.
A strange feeling from his fingertips spread throughout her body.
Elena closed her eyes tightly and curled up.
“So be quiet and behave.”
He spat out each word with force as if pressing them down.
His deep, dark voice lingered in her ears.
The cold, emotionless gaze sent chills through her entire body.
“Remember, people can live or die depending on your actions.”
Her eyes, which had been struggling like a general on the battlefield, soon lowered their tail.
She couldn’t bear to look him in the eye.
She felt smaller and smaller every time she stood before him.
“Ah, and from now on, I’ll be the one teaching you how to read.”
“What…?”
Is this how it feels to receive a death sentence?
Her heart seemed to stop at the sudden announcement.
It had been the only moment she could escape from him.
To think he would take even that moment away.
“No. Who are you to…!”
Elena gritted her teeth and grabbed both his arms.
She struggled to break free, but it was useless.
He was as solid as an unbreakable rock.
“You know it’s futile.”
His low voice makes her feel worthless.
She feels powerless like being isolated at the bottom of an endless cliff.
“Who are you to, who are you…”
Her blue eyes, lost, trembled endlessly.
All she could do now was clench her teeth tightly.
A tangy taste of blood wafted from her pale lips.
“You’re bleeding.”
He silently approached and licked the blood spread on her lips.
The thick flesh stickily brushed over the wounded area.
“Don’t…”
She looked at him with a soulless face.
She was listless, like someone about to die at any moment.
He slowly kissed her small, petal-like lips.
He gently caressed them so as not to hurt the wound.
“I love everything about you.”
He raised his head and looked her up and down.
It was a soft gaze, like treading on a snow-covered path.
“Your eyes too.”
His lips touched the corner of her eye.
Warm breath slowly spread over her eyelids.
“Your nose too.”
His face gradually moved down, kissing as if stamping.
“And your lips too.”
A warm flesh seeped between her slightly parted lips.
When she turned her head to avoid it, he held both her cheeks and kissed her.
His thick tongue intertwined like dancing inside her mouth.
“Don’t avoid it, accept it.”
Elena gripped his wrists tightly.
An indescribably miserable feeling dug into her body.
Undeniable hot breaths burst between her throat.
“From now on, you’ll be dyed by me. Like a fish trapped in a deep abyss, unable to escape.”
“……”
“Because I’ll make you that way.”
