~Chapter 63~
“That thing?”
The thing wearing Rubyana’s form repeated his words and then laughed.
“Hehehe…”
She lowered her head, hair falling to completely cover her face. From behind it came a chilling laugh.
It was clearly Rubyana’s voice, yet it was the kind of laugh Rubyana would never make.
“Hehehe… hehe…”
Damien simply stared silently at the thing pretending to be Rubyana.
[Hehe… hihihihihahahahahahahaha!!]
The thing’s mouth twisted into a wide grin as it suddenly lunged at Damien.
Crash—
But Damien was a step faster. He jumped from his chair and pushed it away.
It had gone for his neck.
Damien immediately threw the chair at it.
[Give it to me!! Your blood and your curse—give it all to me!!!]
Long, sharp nails and pointed fangs.
Long hair turned pure white.
It was certainly Rubyana, but different from the Rubyana Damien knew.
It was exactly the appearance shown by the Mirror Curse—the form Rubyana feared most.
[Give it.]
The thing stubbornly aimed for Damien’s blood and curse.
Damien dodged its attacks with ease and moved behind it.
As the thing showed a hint of panic, Damien quickly sprayed something in its face.
[Ah.]
It let out that single sound and its expression twisted.
Then it closed its eyes and fell forward.
“Haa.”
Before her head could hit the ground, Damien caught her safely and let out a small sigh.
“It’ll take some time to clean this up.”
Despite the intense fight just moments ago, the surroundings were very quiet.
The broken chair and the scratches on the desk from its nails were proof of the battle.
“First things first.”
He lifted Rubyana, whose arms hung limply and eyes remained closed.
Supporting her back and head with one hand, he unhesitatingly brought his lips to hers.
But now wasn’t the time for that.
Like that, he released several lowest-grade curses bound inside him.
Slosh—
These tiny lumps were even smaller than normal low-grade curses roaming the mansion. They were curses just forming, attaching to the smallest fragments of human fear.
Unlike normal low-grade curses, they couldn’t talk or think.
They simply moved where they flowed.
The freed curses followed Damien’s neck and entered Rubyana’s mouth.
Then Rubyana, who had been unconscious, slowly opened her eyes.
Her gaze was hazy, as if she were half-asleep or under a trance.
But Damien immediately recognized that the person before him was Rubyana—not “that thing.”
“Rubyana?”
When he pulled back, a little black curse seeped from her lips.
With a vacant look, Rubyana swallowed it without hesitation.
Seeing her throat move, Damien whispered to her again.
“For today, let’s stop here.”
Still dazed, she stared at nothing, black curse-blood staining her lips.
Then she fell asleep again.
“Gasp.”
I woke with a sharp inhale.
The sun was already high.
“Wait, sunlight…?”
Thud.
My heart dropped.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
Because if I was seeing sunlight now, it meant that last night, I had broken the chains I’d used to bind myself and left the closet.
I jumped up from bed and checked my wrists.
Just like when I’d tied myself with rope, there were countless marks.
The chains were nowhere to be found.
“What on earth did I do last night?”
My hands trembled.
To think I’d broken even those sturdy chains—just imagining what “that thing” might have done terrified me.
Breathing heavily, I looked around the room—and my eyes widened further.
“This isn’t my room.”
It was Damien’s office.
And it looked like a thief had broken in last night—completely turned upside down.
There was hardly a single piece of furniture intact.
“Don’t tell me… I hurt Damien?”
Of all people.
Of all people, I might have harmed the one who saved me. My mind went blank.
At that moment—
“Rubyana.”
That warm voice, as always, greeted me.
I quickly turned around to see him sitting on the floor in the corner of the office.
“Damien…!”
It seemed he’d given me the office sofa and sat on the floor himself because there was no chair left for him.
Luckily, as he got up and approached, I saw no obvious injuries.
“Rubyana.”
He asked as he came closer.
Relieved he wasn’t hurt, yet knowing what he probably wanted to ask, my heart felt heavy.
“Do you remember last night?”
“…Last night?”
Of course, I couldn’t remember.
Even now, after waking up, I had no idea what had happened—
“Wait.”
The desk, scratched like it had been clawed by an animal.
A small mirror sitting on top.
In its reflection, I saw my face—black blood smeared at my lips.
And like a flash, last night’s memories returned.
Losing control of my body to “that thing,” pretending to be me to approach Damien, going after his curse and blood.
Damien overpowering “that thing,” and seeing all of my secrets.
“Ah… ah…”
In the mirror, I watched myself cover my face with both hands in anguish.
Damien had seen everything clearly. I had even tried to take his life. There was no way we could live as before.
It was over.
Still… I had fun.
In a painful life, I had experienced happiness and comfort for the first time.
Just keeping those memories would give me strength to keep living.
I had stood up for myself without holding back, done what I wanted.
Without Damien, when would I have done that?
Right. If I’m leaving, I should at least thank him properly.
Forcing my expression to stay neutral, I lifted the corners of my mouth.
In a slightly trembling voice, I spoke.
“Damien, you must have been shocked. I’m sorry.”
Damien frowned.
“What?”
So, he was angry after all.
Yet even now, he was still looking after me. Truly a kind man.
“I’m sorry for keeping this secret all this time. If you’d known, you never would’ve proposed marriage to me in the first place…”
“…Rubyana.”
“I’ll pack my things today and leave right away. If you need documents processed, you can send them—”
Thump.
A large hand quickly covered my mouth.
“Rubyana.”
Damien shook his head and called my name.
“Please… don’t ever say you want a divorce.”
Startled, I looked up.
His violet eyes, always sincere toward me, were now trembling with emotion.
“Hearing that hurts me too much. I don’t want to part with you.”
My mind went blank.
“What…?”
“I want to keep living in this mansion with you, Ruby. As your husband.”
His eyes, so shaken at my talk of leaving, were now resolute and firm as he said that.
Even knowing my biggest secret, he was saying he wanted to stay with me.
But logically—could that make sense?
Even those who hadn’t seen my true self had called me disgusting after seeing just the pool of blood outside my door, the corpse, the blood on my lips.
And yet someone who had seen it directly wanted to remain married to me?
“Damien, you don’t have to force yourself. You’re lying so I won’t be sad—”
“I’m not lying.”
Damien, rarely interrupting me, cut in firmly.
“I’ve known your secret for a month now.”
It was like being struck by lightning again.
“You… already knew…?”
“Yes. You don’t remember, but while you were unconscious, the Mirror Curse showed me the being you feared most.”
It made even less sense.
“You saw that, and still… you…”
Still kept talking with me, greeting me every day.
Asking if I’d had a good day.
Discussing new horror novels.
Sleeping in the same bed, washing away blood from curses together, leaving the bedroom together.
“How… how could you do that?”
Even knowing all that, had he really treated me so kindly?
My thoughts were too tangled, but Damien just smiled at me with those unwavering eyes.
“Well, because the fact my bride has another personality that comes out once every three months doesn’t bother me at all.”
He still held my confused hand, guiding me to the sofa.
Gently seating me, he immediately sat beside me, holding my hand in both of his.
“Rather than driving you away, Ruby, I want to talk with you more.”
Then he went straight to the point.
“So, Ruby—you’re the ‘Swallower,’ right?”
