* * *

The sound of his voice calling my name echoed in my ears as I felt my strength drain slowly from my toes upward.

My head spun, and as I barely lifted my face, Jerome frowned and touched my forehead.

A fever was raging through me, making the world swirl unsteadily.

“You’re burning up.”

His voice snapped me out of my daze, and I struggled to recall why.

Right—running around a freezing snowy mountain all night in a thin shirt, then plunging into icy water.

It was no wonder I was sick.

Jerome clicked his tongue as he kept pressing the back of his hand against my forehead and neck.

“Why are you so fragile? If you were a hulking brute of a man, I wouldn’t have to hold back as much. Do you even know how many positions I’ve given up for fear of breaking you?”

I couldn’t focus on whatever Jerome was saying.

He slipped his arm under my armpits and effortlessly lifted me from the tub.

My drenched clothes clung heavily to my skin, and stepping into the cold air outside made me shiver even harder.

Jerome didn’t hesitate to scoop me into his arms.

“Let’s get you dried off first.”

We left the bathroom, and I noticed the half-open window.

Ber must have fled through it, having sensed the commotion.

Jerome reached to strip off my soaked shirt, but I flinched and grabbed his wrist.

His black eyes stared at me, then he sighed.

“You should’ve said something if you were embarrassed.”

He stretched his hand toward the bedside lamp and covered the flame with his palm, snuffing it out.

Darkness descended like a thick mist.

I could feel droplets of water dripping from my hair onto my face, a reminder that Jerome was standing there, silently watching me.

My body wouldn’t stop trembling.

‘It’s not just from the cold, is it?’

Despite all my brave talk earlier, fear had gripped me tightly.

The raw terror from nearly drowning kept replaying in my mind.

Jerome didn’t seem to care as he tugged off my shirt, letting it fall to the floor.

I tensed as his hands moved to my waistband, and I hurriedly protested.

“I’ll handle it myself from here. You can leave.”

“No way. You’re drenched, and getting undressed alone will be too hard. I’ll help.”

Ignoring my objections, Jerome pushed me onto the bed and yanked down my pants, underwear and all.

The dizziness in my head worsened, and I felt absurdly like a wet corpse sprawled across the bed.

A memory surfaced, and without meaning to, I blurted out something unrelated.

“This isn’t the first time, is it?”

Jerome paused, shirt half-off, and turned to look at me.

Wrapping myself in the bedsheet, I whispered, voice hoarse and trembling.

“When I was young, my stomach hurt so much from a fever, and the heat just kept getting worse… No matter how much I groaned and whimpered, my father didn’t even acknowledge me. Even though he was clearly awake.”

Jerome pulled up the sheet that was covering me after finishing undressing.

The sudden movement from underneath caused the sheet to bulge upward.

Unlike me, who was shivering from the cold, Jerome’s body was so hot it felt like it could burn.

I sighed, feeling Jerome rustling around under the sheet.

“That’s when I thought: maybe going to work was just an excuse, and deep down, he actually wished I would die… or something like that.”

“……”

“In the end, I never asked him why. I was too scared to see him make a face that said he’d been caught.”

I frowned in the middle of speaking.

There was a wet, strange sensation on my left chest.

With a sinking feeling, I lifted the sheet.

Sure enough, Jerome was pressing his tongue against my nipple.

Despite my shocked expression, he kept sucking at my chest like a madman.

I grabbed his hair and pulled him upward.

“Can’t you at least pretend to listen when someone talks about their past seriously?”

“Eh.”

Jerome, with his tongue halfway sticking out, obediently let himself be pulled up.

He looked like a dog caught digging through the trash, then rested his chin on my chest.

The sudden weight pressing down on me made me gasp.

Jerome grumbled with a dissatisfied expression.

“Yeah, I get it. You’re upset because you never got your father’s love, right? If that’s the case, I can be your dad from now on.”

“What?”

I froze at the sensation of Jerome’s fingernail scraping across the tip of my nipple.

Jerome paused, as if considering something, then smiled softly.

“Son, today we’re going to have a special time to… swallow your unborn brothers raw.”

“Don’t joke about that! That’s definitely a different genre.”

“What, it’s not? Sorry, I don’t really understand normal father-son relationships.”

I released Jerome’s hair with a sigh, and he took the chance to plant a kiss on my jaw.

He slipped his leg between my thighs with ease, making me shake my head urgently.

If this kept up, things would spiral out of control just like last time.

“I don’t want to do it today.”

“Why not?”

“To be honest, I don’t even know if I like this. Last time, it just hurt…”

“You’re spouting nonsense after leaking everywhere like a dog pissing itself.”

Jerome’s expression darkened ominously, making me shudder.

Seeing my face pale, Jerome sighed and gently patted my rapidly beating heart.

“Fine, fine. I’m not mad.”

“……”

“See? Look, I’m opening my pretty eyes again. Do these innocent eyes look like those of a bastard who would torture his wife?”

Jerome reached out toward my face, and I instinctively turned my head away.

He watched me silently for a moment before slipping back under the sheet. J

ust as I was beginning to think he’d let it go for today, I felt his hand wrap around my limp member, making me jerk upright.

“What are you doing?”

When I frantically pulled up the sheet, I saw Jerome positioned right between my legs.

He was clearly acting differently from how he used to, when he would avoid even looking at it.

Jerome made a show of licking the slit of the head with his tongue, causing me to freeze.

The unfamiliar sensation was so overwhelming that my legs drew together involuntarily.

But when I kept moving upward, Jerome slipped his arms under my knees and pulled them apart, leaving me no choice but to be ravaged by his tongue.

“Nngh, stop….”

Even when I tried pushing his head away, he didn’t budge.

Jerome deliberately made obscene, wet sounds as he took me deep into his throat, rubbing his thumb against my swollen tip.

Every time the heat pooled in my abdomen and made me twitch, he caressed that sensitive spot, making my whole body tense.

‘Why, why is he like this? Mephisto’s power should be more controlled now. Why is he so desperate for this just from making eye contact?’

With Jerome refusing to let go and the sheet dragging me down, I was trapped and breathless.

His arousal brushed against the top of my foot, pressing insistently.

Jerome tightened his throat around me, drawing a choked gasp as pleasure built up, leaving my toes curling from the leftover heat. E

xhausted, I collapsed with a sigh.

“I told you to stop…”

Overwhelmed by shame, I covered my face with the back of my hand.

Jerome, with lips parted, let my release drip down, wetting the area below.

Licking his lips, he muttered with a soft chuckle.

“I really wish my father could see me sucking a man off so greedily.”

“……”

“Then he wouldn’t be able to say I’m a crazy bastard who doesn’t understand love, right?”

Why was it?

The moment I saw that beautiful smile, I was reminded of a faceless man screaming and thrashing.

I hastily sat up, Jerome’s unexpectedly intense voice ringing in my ears.

“Don’t you dare run away!”

His shout was so loud it made my ears ring.

His strong arms pinned me down to the bed, and I struggled like a bug caught on a needle.

Jerome panted against my neck, flipping me over to grab a knife off the bedside table and press it into my hand.

“Understand? You’re not allowed to run away. Even if you have to stab me to death with this knife, running away is not an option. Being separated from you is as good as death for me, now that we’ve shared souls.”

“……”

“Promise me you won’t leave.”

His words made no sense.

Jerome was trembling, pressing on my shoulder as if he wanted to crush it.

My hand, gripping the knife, shook uncontrollably.

Jerome, seeing me silent, dragged my hand toward his own throat.

The knife’s point grazed his neck, and I shouted, losing all reason.

“Okay!”

“……”

“Okay, I promise! I won’t leave. So please…”

Finally, Jerome’s grip on my hand loosened.

The knife clattered to the floor.

The tension that had been building slowly began to dissipate.

He pressed his lips against my neck, whispering in a strained voice.

“I’ve thought about this for a long time.”

I couldn’t stop him from biting my neck, and just then, his arousal pressed insistently below, finally breaching me.

I let out a strangled cry at the sharp pain.

As my body trembled, Jerome’s voice washed over me, thick and full of longing.

“It would’ve been better if we were born as one.”

“Ah…!”

“Not as separate beings, but as one… together.”

Jerome withdrew slightly, then thrust in hard, gasping as he whispered feverishly.

“Completely one.”

* * *