Chapter 2

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

YUKI used to watch Dracula as a child. Whenever Dracula sank his teeth into a gorgeous woman’s neck, the woman’s expression always filled with ecstasy. She had watched those intimate scenes with glee as a child. And now, when her turn came to experience what she had always admired?

“IT HUUUURTS!” All the hair on her body stood up as she felt something sucked out of her neck. “Yuuuck! Hey! Stop it!”

Sluurrp. She clearly heard him suck something out of her.

Incapable of screaming, she flapped her lips. She struggled and squirmed, but the man’s grip was strong and he wouldn’t let go. Just how long did he suck on her neck for? It felt like ages before the lukewarm liquid pulled from her neck. He spat on the bushes, dying them partially red from whatever he had removed from her.

What’s going on?

Yuki pressed her hands against her neck where she could still feel the heat of his lips. She peered up at him as he wiped his mouth on his white sleeve, smearing it with red.

“It might be too late, but I removed the poison anyway. You shouldn’t wander around here, you know? This area is overflowing with Buibui.”

What poison? It was a poisonous bug? And he just saved me?

“I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

“For goodness’ sake. Ignorance isn’t an excuse, you know, dearie?” A sympathetic smile crossed his beautiful face, captivating Yuki. “After the elated state from the Buibui poison subsides, the victim suffers from a high fever—you’d better come to my house. I have medicine.”

He lifted Yuki off the ground and hung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Whoa! H-Hey! What’s the big idea?!”

“There are no other homes in this area. I’ll tend to you, so pipe down back there,” he commanded, picking up Yuki’s jute bag and strutting off with her dangling over his shoulder.

***

THIS was the second time Yuki found herself being carried like a sack of potatoes. The first time happened when hired thugs kidnapped her and lugged her to the inn where she bumped into Nasette who subsequently rescued her.

She resented her tiny body, incapable of doing anything to resist at the time. However, it now dawned on her that even a bigger body couldn’t do anything to get out of this predicament. She kicked and flailed, but the arms wrapped around her were like steel shackles.

“Good heavens. You have to stay still, sweetie,” he coaxed with mild exasperation.

“How can I? Explain, now!”

“When you’re hanging upside down?” His body trembled with stifled laughter. “I’ll be sure to explain everything to you once we get to my house, so don’t be scared… I guess that’s a difficult request under the circumstances.”

Why is this man so composed? Here I am panicking, embarrassed, and confused, when he’s as calm as he can be.

Yuki unconsciously bit her lower lip. She really wanted to cry, but her tears wouldn’t budge. Instead, her stomach gurgled and grumbled.

“…!” Shame and gravity made the blood go to her face. The young man chuckled again.

“You haven’t eaten anything, dear? In that case, I’ll have him whip you up something.” Ashamed, Yuki stayed quiet. “Oh dear, I forgot we were still fighting,” the young man commented to himself.

Yuki didn’t ask him who he was fighting with or who was going to cook. The rain had finally let up and the sun came out to cast its light on the sparkling, wet leaves. She watched nature in awe as she bounced with the man’s slow gait.

***

“AFTER the elated state from the Buibui poison subsides the victim suffers from a high fever.”

The young man had informed her when they first met.

My body feels heavy…

Yuki wasn’t the one walking, but her body felt like an anchor sitting at the bottom of the ocean. If it wasn’t just her imagination, she was breathing heavy too. Her head was spinning. Soaked hair and clothes clung to her, sucking away what little heat she had left.

Just how long am I going to stay like this?

Hanging upside down rendered her incapable of knowing where the young man was going and left her feeling as if a preposterous amount of time was passing. Her fear must have been conveyed to the young man, because he finally broke the silence.

“Are you all right? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Mm-mm…”

She honestly felt sick to her stomach, but she didn’t have the energy to say it. Every step he took, her midriff banged against his shoulder and her head lolled. Blood rushed to her head and her temples throbbed.

“Oh dear, are you okay?”

Perhaps he found her lack of response alarming, because he pulled her off his shoulder and into his arms. Sitting upright sent the blood rushing down from her head. He nimbly put one arm under her legs and one behind her back to carry her in front of him like a bride over the threshold.

“I suppose I should have carried you this way from the start?” he asked in a gentle tenor.

“Huh? Ah…um…uh…” she sputtered incoherently and her eyes darted restlessly.

“I’m Rifaenotis. You can call me Rifae. What do you go by, dear?” he inquired with a smile.

“Y-Yuki.”

“I see.”

At a glimpse, he looked slender, but his chest was solid, and his arms bulged with well-defined muscle. Each of those manly body parts were pressed against her. Her waterlogged clothing splotched his dry clothes with wet spots.

“Yuki, dear, that’s my house over there.”

Yuki looked up. She followed Rifae’s gaze to a wooden cabin. He walked up to his house and skillfully opened the door with one hand.

“Rifae! You finally decided to show u—” an abrupt shout greeted them at the door. Standing in the doorway was a boy slightly younger than Yuki with distinctive red hair. He grimaced when his eyes met hers. “…Rifae, who’s that?”

“A guest. She was chomped on by a Buibui, so I’m going to tend to her. I’ll be borrowing your bed, Est.”

Rifae entered the house, paying no attention to the boy’s fuming. He headed straight down one of the hallways, his wooden leg thumping against the wood floors, and opened the first door on the left.

“I’m sorry, sweetie, I don’t have a guest room, so you have to bear with this one,” Rifae apologized and slowly laid her on the bed.

“Wait just a minute!” The boy named Est stood dauntingly in the doorway with his arms folded. “Why are you using my room?”

“Oh, yes, Est, please make her something easy to eat.” Rifae pulled a cloth out of a wooden dresser in the corner of the room and held it out to Yuki. “Yuki, use this to wipe yourself off. I’ll bring you a change of clothes, okay?”

Rifae brushed her wet bangs off her forehead and put the back of his hand to it. “You’ve got quite the fever. Do you have the chills, sweetie?”

Yuki nodded. He offered her another sympathetic smile.

“Rifae?” Est hadn’t moved from the doorway. “I’m still mad, y’know?”

Est glared at Yuki and turned on his heel. Rifae shrugged when he spotted her staring blankly after Est and went back to tending her.