HPV 13

“Mmgh, ngh….”

I sucked in a breath the wrong way in surprise. My heart pounded wildly in my half-asleep, dazed body.

The moment something soft and fleshy touched my lips, a jolt spread from my toes up.

Thick, blunt fingers were digging a rough mark into my jaw. He moved my face back and forth to find a better angle for our lips to meet—his motions were almost violent.

I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned as I twisted away. My hands flailed in the air, searching for anything to grab onto, and finally landed a hit on a hot, solid mass.

As soon as I struck him, Banwes leaned his upper body back. But our lips remained connected. I could feel the heat of his damp skin, and it made me pant uncontrollably. He snapped at me:

“Breathe properly. Are you really going to treat a favor like an attack?”

What the—!

I wanted to yell at him, but before I could, he yanked my head forward and sucked my tongue in deep.

My neck stretched painfully tight. I shuddered and pulled back, bumping into the rough wall behind me.

“Nngh… mmph…!”

Then something strange began happening in my body.

All Banwes had done was suck on my tongue and inner mouth—yet heat exploded through me, rising as if every bit of warmth was flooding straight to my lips.

Squelch, slurp. Strange, wet sounds. He was swallowing the saliva gushing up under my tongue, pausing now and then to gulp it down.

Oddly, my fingers and toes tingled. My mind turned blank and white at the edges. My thoughts snapped off, one by one.

“Ah…”

Finally, Banwes let go. I reeled back, chin bumping against the bed’s headboard before sliding to the side.

My eyes stung. It hadn’t lasted all that long, but my lips were already swollen. I covered them with the back of my hand, breathing heavily.

While I gasped for air, Banwes looked down at me in silence. He merely wiped the gloss of spit from his lips with two fingers.

“Are you insane?”

I forced my shaking arms to push myself upright, hoping my voice would carry more anger.

“You’re the insane one. Playing the priest with a body this filthy?”

“You done talking?”

“I don’t want to save you, either. You could die for all I care.”

His bare face looked more despicable now than ever. I opened my mouth to hurl more curses—but froze.

That dark, suffocating aura pouring off me in waves.

And yet… it was being sucked directly into Banwes.

He wasn’t doing anything, just sitting there with arms crossed—but the aura streamed toward him all the same.

Where it had once rampaged freely through my body like a familiar playground, now it circled only his upper torso—like he had swallowed it and it had stopped in his throat or stomach.

Swallowed through the mouth…

The meaning finally clicked.

While my expression shifted rapidly, Banwes quirked one eye at me and looked down. His emotion, faintly visible—mockery.

He had just declared me the host of a demon, and now he was reveling in it.

“I can last longer than you, that’s all. But I also weaken when I carry a demon like this. So I have to return it to you before too much time passes. You pass it back and forth—before it destroys your body, you return it, recover, and take it again. Over and over.”

He was saying it outright: the method was kissing. An act demons found alluring.

His flat, uninflected explanation slowly cooled the fire that had been boiling in me.

Since when? Why do I have a demon in me?

Was it Hancanera’s doing? Did he really want to destroy me that badly? Questions with no answers roared through my head. I wanted to scream.

The odds are low… no, not even that low.

If this was the real reason I was never made the cult leader…

If the cult’s confinement of me had actually been justified…

If my body was cursed—

My vision dimmed. The world turned black, like I was going blind.

“…Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

Only then did a flicker of surprise pass over Banwes’s face.

Strangely, the moment he spoke, my vision returned to normal. I swallowed down the despair rising in my throat.

It’s fine.

Everything in my life has been fine up until now. So this is fine, too.

Carrying a demon—yeah, that definitely secured my spot as a burden.

The thought that Banwes would now find me even more bothersome, more repulsive—it somehow made me feel better.

If I’m going to be the villain anyway… might as well get under his skin.

“Looks like you’ve found a way to pay off your debt to me. I’ll be counting on you.”

He acted as if it were only natural he’d be helping me regularly from now on—completely self-assured.

“More than repaid, actually. Now you owe me. You’d better remember that.”

He emphasized it again and again.

Considering we’d just established a relationship where we’d be kissing back and forth to keep each other alive, it was all strangely dry—and, in a way, consistent.

My body really did feel lighter. The uncomfortable feeling, like grime clinging to my skin, and the occasional piercing pain in my chest and lungs—both now felt like a dream. I could call upon the spirit’s power without hurting.

But… it hadn’t completely left me.

It was like the contents of one vessel had been temporarily poured into another—Banwes was simply carrying it for me. While my damaged body healed itself through its own natural strength.

As a half-orc, Banwes had strong physical resilience thanks to his blood, which allowed him to hold the demon for a while. But this wasn’t a permanent solution. We’d only bought time.

__

I shook my head to clear out the personal thoughts.

Yurichen was explaining the general plan. I had to pay attention now so I wouldn’t have to ask again later.

“We’ll use an artifact to teleport to the gate inside the capital. From there, we’ll travel on foot.”

Preparations were complete. Everyone carried packs appropriate for their strength. Mine was smaller than even Bzhan’s.

“Penzey’s a powerful mage, right? Can’t we teleport closer to the black dragon’s nest?”

Paronai asked softly, probably assuming there was a reason they hadn’t, but still curious.

“Teleportation requires two mages. One is me, here. The other has to receive my spell from the destination point. But we’re the most secretive expedition team in the world, aren’t we? So we can’t afford to bring in another mage.”

I listened to his explanation without blinking. He glanced back at me and smirked like he’d just finished a delicious meal.

It wasn’t that the topic was especially interesting—it was just that my mind had wandered.

If teleportation is so difficult and rare… then how did I even escape from the cult back then?

But then, we hit a snag at the gate. We were about to get into the carriages when the horses began backing away in fear of Banwes. They even tried to bolt, and the stablehands sweated as they struggled to rein them in.

“Hm, how curious.”

The animals reacted to Banwes like he was a monster. Penzey openly cast a sidelong glance at him.

So that’s how it was—when he was escorted from Byahil Forest to the royal palace, he’d apparently been unconscious the entire time, boxed up, so the horses hadn’t noticed. But when I brought that up, Banwes glared at me with enough murderous intent to make me believe he really would rip me apart.

“We’ll abandon the carriages and proceed on foot.”

Yurichen quickly took control of the situation. Though he was dressed plainly like any traveler, he still wore his veil.

Now that I thought about it, nearly half our party was hiding their real faces behind masks.

“We were going to walk most of the way once we left the capital anyway. What’s a bit more distance to anyone here?”

“…Yuri?”

Penzey muttered slyly, and Yurichen immediately shot him a sharp, irritated glance.

Taking the opportunity, I announced myself.

“I can’t walk for long. Someone’s going to have to carry me.”

He held back once, but maybe twice was too much—Yurichen’s moon-pale face cracked.

“Ria, want me to carry you?”

“I can do it too.”

Penzey offered playfully, while Paronai stepped up with noble conviction. But the person I had in mind was already decided.

“Banwes is going to carry me. Based on physical ability, he’s the best fit. Don’t you agree?”

Could I possibly be more of a burden? Even I was impressed with myself.

Banwes’s red eyes looked like they were rotting away inside his mask—but…

Amazingly, I still ended up on his back.