Became a stagnant person in a squalid prison cell
Chapter 48 —
I still remembered the day we first met—when Helios shouted angrily and cursed at me. So I couldn’t trust his words very easily.
Helios pulled me closer.
“You said you weren’t biased, right? Just do it.”
Well, if he says so, I guess I have no choice.
“There’s no other way.”
“Um… should I close my eyes?”
“Stop saying weird things and just do it.”
“Is it your first time?”
Helios glared at me. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that.
“That’s too bad. It’s my first time too.”
Wow. I had imagined the original story changing in many ways, but I never thought **this** would happen.
I leaned in without wasting more time.
“Sorry.”
That was probably the last piece of guilt I had left.
“It’s my first time too, so let’s just accept that.”
Our lips touched. They felt soft.
‘How long do you have to kiss for it to count?’
What even counts as a kiss in this situation?
Last time, just completing the condition made the stage clear. I could feel the Ki-a moving inside me.
‘Just pressing lips together isn’t enough, huh?’
I opened my mouth slightly. Helios flinched beneath me. Just as my lower lip moved a little more—
A big hand grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in.
I had sensed something, but I didn’t expect this. I was surprised.
Now I was pressed even more deeply against Helios, and our lips were tightly connected.
‘He’s… this forward?’
I couldn’t speak since my mouth was blocked. Helios kissed me even more intensely.
Even though he was a bit clumsy, it felt like he was trying to devour me.
Our breathing tangled together. It wasn’t smooth, but I felt a strange tingle deep inside me.
That was the beginning.
He adapted way too fast for someone who said it was his first time.
He touched my back, running his hand down my spine as if by instinct, making my shoulders twitch slightly.
I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this dizzy.
It was confusing. It felt… better than I thought it would.
Here in the prison, people always chased pleasure—violence, drugs, and other sexual things.
They had no other way to live in this place.
But I was different. I had no desires or urges. I only had the desire to survive.
I slowly closed my eyes. I didn’t understand why people made lovers or got into love fights in this hellish place.
But now… I understood a little.
Helios’s body trembled.
Because I leaned in closer.
I closed my eyes. When I opened them, Helios had his eyes closed.
‘…He’s pretty.’
Sunlight was falling on his face. His silver eyelashes trembled.
He looked like a saint bearing a heavy burden—or maybe like a fallen angel because of the beauty mark under his eye.
Then Helios opened his eyes too.
His two-colored eyes met mine in the air. I could feel our tightly pressed bodies getting warmer.
I tried to pull my lips away just to breathe, but Helios came after me with a hungry look.
Suddenly, our positions changed. I was now lying inside the glass coffin where Helios had been.
The coffin, filled with flowers, was surprisingly soft.
Helios was clearly stronger, so I could’ve resisted, but I didn’t.
“You started this.”
And it felt good.
“…I don’t care what you are anymore.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, and honestly, I didn’t care.
I felt dizzy again, and my eyes kept closing.
My hands explored his back. Maybe because he’d trained so much, his muscles were firm.
I ran my hands along his strong back and grabbed his shoulders.
We stayed like that for a long time.
Eventually, we pulled apart, breathing heavily.
Helios gasped like someone who had just run a marathon.
When I looked up, his face was flushed and there were tears at the corners of his eyes.
“…What a sight.”
“What are you saying?”
I lightly touched Helios’s clothes and activated my Ki-a. His outfit changed.
He was now wearing a uniform.
I did it without thinking, but it looked surprisingly good on him.
“Tada. Now you’re the prince.”
“…”
I could imagine how he might look when he got older, wearing clothes like that.
I gently touched the back of Helios’s neck.
“Baby, did you enjoy it?”
“Who are you calling baby?”
He gritted his teeth and glared at me. Then he came back in for another kiss, and time passed again.
It was only after a long while that I realized something was wrong.
‘Why hasn’t the stage cleared?’
Since Helios got out of the coffin, the kiss must have been the condition for him to escape.
We walked together down the path to where the others were.
“Big bro!”
Ged ran over quickly, then tilted his head.
“Did something happen?”
“Yeah. A lot happened.”
Everyone except Helios looked confused.
“Are you okay?”
“…Not sure.”
My lips still felt swollen.
Why was I the only one looking like this? Probably because someone had chewed, sucked, and bit them like crazy.
“What was in there?”
“A huge bug.”
“A b-bug? That wasn’t a bug!”
Helios snapped at me.
Then our eyes met, and he quickly looked away. His neck was bright red.
“Haha, there’s even a bug here?”
Brett mumbled, and Seth shook his head.
Only Haila gave me a strange look.
“You’re lucky I’m the only one who noticed.”
She whispered as she passed by.
I ignored her and looked around.
“We saw the end of the fairy tale, but it’s still not cleared.”
In Seth’s level, the condition had been to seal the murderer.
“Hmm, big bro. Maybe there’s a hidden boss?”
“I don’t feel anything.”
“Uh… maybe there’s another condition?”
Maybe. I thought kissing was enough, but I guess not.
“Or maybe it’s not the real end…”
“The real end?”
Actually, fairy tales don’t end with just a kiss.
“They get married and live happily ever after.”
“Oh.”
“So does that mean you and the boss have to get married?”
“Huh? Haha. Ged, what are you saying? Why would I marry Helios? The prince is supposed to marry the princess.”
“Uh, but actually, the boss was originally—”
“Ged.”
Helios gave him a sharp glare, and Ged quickly shut his mouth.
Because I had changed Helios’s clothes earlier, no one except Ged knew he was now the ‘princess.’
“Ugh, I really want to talk…”
Helios glared at me, but when our eyes met, he looked away again.
Just like a teenager going through puberty.
Clearly, Helios and Ged’s group didn’t know the full story of *Snow White*, so they weren’t much help.
“Should we hold a simple wedding?”
I never thought I’d be planning a wedding inside a tower.
But just as I was stuck for an idea, I suddenly turned my head.
‘A killing intent?’
My body moved on its own. I ran.
I could sense Helios and the others chasing after me in confusion.
“Wait, isn’t this where the invisible wall was before? We can get in now?”
“Yeah… it was blocked earlier.”
“Haha, maybe the boss appears here?”
“Quiet, Brett! Don’t jinx it.”
But sadly, Brett’s words came true.
Back where the glass coffin of Snow White had been, now shattered into pieces—
—stood a person wearing a black cloak.
‘Of course…’
This stage wasn’t going to be that easy after all.
—
**“Where are you… my child…”**
The person in the cloak looked around with a sorrowful voice.
Ged and the others flinched.
“D-did it just talk?”
“Wait, the boss can talk?!”
“Why are you all so surprised? It’s not like this hasn’t happened before!”
