Kissing Hylone had happened a few times before.
Each time, it was an act driven by a surge of mischief, a desire to tease him.
Mostly, it involved pinning down a struggling Hylone and pressing my lips against his.
Every time he was kissed, his eyes would blaze with a blue flame of fury.
The sight of his icy gaze turning to fire as he stared at Cheshire was something I never tired of, no matter how many times I witnessed it.
It was amusing, so I kissed him occasionally.
Not often, just sometimes.
But now, I couldn’t explain why I had kissed him.
It was truly an unconscious action.
I briefly thought about soothing him, thinking he might be a little upset.
And before I knew it, I was already on tiptoe, our lips touching.
“…!”
I felt the soft sensation of delicate skin meeting mine.
Hylone’s eyes widened.
I could vividly see his dark pupils dilating.
His blue eyes, once clouded with murky emotions, were now a chaotic mess.
With a soft smack, our lips parted.
But our faces didn’t move away easily.
Hylone and Cheshire stared at each other from a distance where they could feel each other’s breath.
It was a sweet, heated breath.
Cheshire belatedly felt embarrassed.
It was the first time kissing in such an atmosphere.
I quickly pulled my head back and said,
“Ah, I just….”
The words trailed off.
He roughly pulled the chained arm.
My body was drawn into his broad embrace.
A large hand firmly gripped my waist.
With fierce strength, our lips met again.
In that moment, I forgot everything.
Cheshire used her free hand to pull Hylone by the nape of his neck.
The kiss lasted quite a while.
Or perhaps it felt very short.
His firm teeth gently nipped my lower lip.
As if he, too, was leaving a mark.
The stinging sensation reignited my fading senses.
Cheshire pushed him away.
“……”
The flower of the Phantasmagoria [a dreamlike, shifting realm] spread an overwhelmingly intense fragrance.
The broken music box, which always played only broken tunes, was strangely playing a smooth melody.
The toy soldiers marching noisily and the chess pieces floating around haphazardly were all quietly aligned on the floor.
The doll with its stuffing coming out was as good as new, and the cake that had been lying on the floor, oozing a disgusting red liquid, had become a beautiful three-tiered cake, sparkling.
The chaotic Phantasmagoria had quieted down.
The only things leisurely roaming the peaceful Phantasmagoria were butterflies scattering light.
Cheshire bit her slightly swollen lip and looked at Hylone.
His white, clean, and cool eyes were flushed.
His cheeks were flushed with color.
His lips, like Cheshire’s, were red and swollen.
It was an appearance that did not suit the chaste uniform of a holy knight.
And his blue eyes….
“Put me first, Lichesia.”
They were no longer calm.
The once tranquil lake had become a stormy sea, turbulent with emotions.
It swirled with immense feelings like a tidal wave that would engulf everything.
The Chains of Atonement bound to his forearm trembled finely in response to his master’s emotions.
But Cheshire couldn’t tell if it was the chain trembling.
Or if it was her own trembling.
“I must be the first of every emotion you feel.”
The demand to put him first was confident.
As if asserting a right he rightfully deserved.
“Even if you have kissed countless others, cherish me most specially.”
His hand roughly tore at the collar of his uniform.
With a snap, a silver button flew off somewhere.
The skin hidden beneath the white uniform was revealed.
The mark of the Enchantress imprinted on the body vowed to God was visible.
The mark was glowing bright red.
As if recognizing the owner of the mark, it flared up with a red, bewitching light.
Showing off the mark left by the Enchantress, Hylone whispered.
“No matter which bastards you have marked, cherish me the most.”
The Phantasmagoria, once filled with broken things, was now whole.
But strangely, the once noble Inquisitor had become broken instead.
In the Fairy’s Phantasmagoria, where the eyes of God could not reach, Hylone revealed his impure darkness.
It was an emotion so intense and dark that even Cheshire, the so-called Enchantress, was taken aback.
“You must take responsibility for breaking me….”
In that instant, the chains wrapped around his forearm tightened.
While tightening firmly until a faint pain was felt, Hylone still did not take his eyes off Cheshire.
“I won’t let you end this relationship as you please.”
I had no intention of ending the relationship at all….
It seemed like misunderstandings were only piling up.
But Cheshire didn’t bother to tell him the truth.
That was something to be said when she got out of the baby’s body.
If she revealed the truth clumsily, it was a situation that would only complicate things further.
Instead, she quietly whispered.
“The mark of the prey… No one else has ever carved it for me like you did.”
That was true.
Carving the mark with such care, as if engraving each pain into her nerves for so long….
Hylone was the first and last for Cheshire as well.
Before Hylone could react to her words, she summoned the axe again with her free hand.
And swung the axe to cut the chains.
After cutting off the Chains of Atonement that had bound his arm, she stepped back.
The flower that had been holding Itar spat him out with a “Ugh.”
The unconscious Itar fell with a thud onto the chessboard.
Cheshire stepped lightly onto the pile of flowers and said.
“Lock that bastard up as a heretic, and don’t let him out of the interrogation room until his re-education is over.”
The job was done.
Wasting any more time here would only put Cheshire, who had so much to hide, at a disadvantage.
Cheshire raised the axe.
She was going to destroy the Phantasmagoria.
“Lichesia!”
The Chains of Atonement lunged to grab Cheshire.
Cheshire gave Hylone a bright smile.
And immediately swung the axe.
The Phantasmagoria collapsed.
It was the end of a dreamlike fantasy.
***
“Heung!”
Cheshire thumped her butt on the floor.
“Ouch……”
My butt was sore, probably because I landed right on it.
I gently rubbed it with my hand and stood up.
Then I went to the window.
I dragged a chair to the window and stood it up, then climbed onto the windowsill.
The bizarre combination of holy knights and mercenaries gathered in front of the mansion was visible.
Armed men suddenly swarming into a quiet, upscale residential street.
They were really too conspicuous.
The holy knights and mercenaries were murmuring among themselves.
Soon, Hylone and Itar appeared in the air as petals and butterflies scattered.
Cheshire chuckled at the pathetic sight of Itar falling to the street with a thud.
The holy knights swarmed around Hylone.
They must have been startled by being suddenly dragged into the Enchantress’s Phantasmagoria.
Hylone calmly gave them instructions.
Itar and the mercenaries he had hired were all bound by the holy knights.
Some tried to resist, but it was all in vain.
Itar was unconscious, so he was arrested even more helplessly.
While chuckling and watching, Hylone turned his head.
“……”
Our eyes met exactly.
Although far apart, it was clear that we were looking at each other.
Just as Cheshire, with her many sins, was about to subtly pull her body back.
A pure white chain stretched out with a clatter.
“Kkeueaek!”
Cheshire was wrapped in the chain and flew through the air.
And landed in Hylone’s arms.
‘Ugh, you scared me!’
My heart was pounding wildly.
Hylone, holding the baby who was about to faint from shock, muttered lowly.
“You are easy to catch.”
“……”
He couldn’t catch Lichesia with the chain in the Phantasmagoria, so he must have tried to catch Cheshire instead.
I was staring at him with a dumbfounded expression.
The door of the mansion opened.
“Hey, mister. Stop bothering our baby.”
Carha, who walked out from inside as if it were her own home, said crookedly.
“Why don’t you come in and have a cup of tea?”