Chapter 42
‘He can’t seriously mean *now*, can he?’ Jeha thought, gasping for air.
A true Demon King would probably pounce right then, declaring, ‘Yes, excellent. Today, I shall thoroughly defile you!’ Alas, this novice Demon King was, regrettably, a lifelong virgin and a Confucian boy.
Fortunately, a brilliant idea quickly struck him.
Jeha exerted force, pushing Hereis away. To his relief, Hereis yielded without resistance.
Hoping his own face wasn’t as flushed as Hereis’s, Jeha rubbed his cheeks vigorously. Then, with a mischievous grin, he spoke.
“Shall we have some fun, then?”
At Jeha’s suggestion, Hereis blinked his silver eyelashes, as if utterly bewildered.
This usually composed and serene man’s confusion, for some reason, struck Jeha as undeniably cute.
As if inviting Hereis to follow his lead, Jeha bounded onto the bed and immediately began to hop up and down.
*Creak— Creak—*
With every jump, the wooden bed groaned relentlessly.
Though deceptively sturdy in appearance, the bed, clearly made of cheap materials, couldn’t withstand Jeha’s vigorous bouncing. It didn’t merely creak; its four corner legs scraped mercilessly against the floorboards, leaving deep gouges.
After staring blankly at Jeha for a moment, a smile slowly spread across Hereis’s lips.
It was the first time Jeha had seen him laugh so brightly and innocently, devoid of any trace of sorrow.
“Jump with me. Together.”
Jeha continued to bounce, beckoning Hereis to join him.
After a brief hesitation, Hereis stepped onto the bed, facing Jeha, and began to hop in place.
The creaking grew faster and louder.
While it was merely two grown men absurdly jumping around in the room, to the other guests in the inn, the sounds would carry a far more suggestive meaning.
“Pfft—!”
Finally, Hereis burst into laughter. Seeing him, Jeha couldn’t help but chuckle along.
They continued to jump for a long while before finally stopping. Jeha collapsed onto the bed, giggling softly.
The thought of the mournful atmosphere outside, which they had so deliberately avoided, struck him as hilariously absurd.
Beside him, Hereis lay down quietly. He gazed intently at the ceiling, seemingly lost in deep thought.
Jeha couldn’t discern whether he felt relieved or a touch of bitterness.
“Do you regret it?”
Jeha asked. Hereis turned his face from the ceiling and looked steadily at Jeha.
Then, in a soft voice, he inquired,
“May I kiss you?”
His sapphire eyes were earnest, reflecting only Jeha’s face within their depths.
“Why? Why do you want to kiss me this time?”
Jeha asked frankly. He was tired of ambiguity.
Hereis, who had been gazing at Jeha as if savoring something precious and luminous, quietly parted his lips.
“Because you are my sole savior, my only god, and I am a faithful devotee who loves, reveres, and serves you. Is there any devotee who would not wish to be loved by their god?”
For Hereis, who had spent his entire life learning only how to serve and love a god, those words were likely the purest way he could express his feelings.
Jeha gazed at Hereis for a moment, then involuntarily closed his eyes.
Immediately, warm, soft lips met his own.
****
‘I had always harbored fantasies about my first kiss…’
‘What would a kiss feel like? Could it truly be as sweet as they said?’ He had wondered countless times.
Now, the kiss he finally experienced with Hereis was far softer and sweeter than anything Jeha had ever imagined.
It was, at once, intensely thrilling and stimulating.
They kissed for a long time, pausing only to gaze steadily into each other’s eyes before, at some imperceptible moment, resuming their passionate embrace.
When they kissed, his mind would grow hazy, and his sense of time would completely vanish. He had no idea how much time had passed.
There was no need to ponder how one was supposed to kiss.
What began as clumsy and awkward kisses soon became masterful, their bodies moving instinctively.
It felt as though the act was simply etched into their very beings.
As Jeha would occasionally open his eyes amidst their frenzied kisses, he would catch glimpses: Hereis’s fluttering silver eyelashes, the soft silver strands of hair that had come loose and tickled his cheek, the rare flashes of sapphire eyes, and Hereis’s slightly flushed face.
He couldn’t tell if each of these sights thrilled and charmed him due to the magic of the kiss, or the genuine feelings he held for Hereis.
Just how many times had they kissed, stopped, gazed at each other, and then kissed again?
*Meow—*
Kkamangi’s desperate cry pierced his ears.
Come to think of it, he might have heard it several times even while they were kissing, but he had simply dismissed it, like water off a duck’s back.
“Ah.”
Hereis let out a small sound, then lowered his gaze.
Following his lead, Jeha looked down as well, spotting Kkamangi firmly clamped onto Hereis’s calf. It seemed that after crying incessantly without getting any attention, Kkamangi, unable to bite Jeha, had settled for Hereis instead.
“Kkamangi.”
At Jeha’s call, Kkamangi released Hereis’s calf and sauntered up.
The cat then forcefully wedged itself between Jeha and Hereis, who were still pressed close together, settling squarely in the middle. It stared directly at Jeha, letting out a resentful *meow—*, its eyes full of indignation, clearly upset at being ignored for so long.
Jeha chuckled softly and stroked Kkamangi’s small head.
At that moment, the magical spell that had made it feel as though only he and Hereis existed in the room was broken, and reality rushed back in.
While stroking Kkamangi, Jeha glanced discreetly at Hereis. He then let out a soft laugh.
Hereis’s usually neat and composed lips were now swollen and bright red from their prolonged kissing.
Sensing Jeha’s gaze, Hereis raised a hand to touch his own lips.
He then gave a knowing smile with his eyes, as if instantly understanding the reason for Jeha’s amusement.
Hereis’s fingertips glowed faintly, and his swollen red lips slowly subsided.
It was the first time Jeha had witnessed him using healing abilities. The fact that Hereis was a high priest blessed by divine grace struck him anew.
“I have no idea how much time has passed.”
Jeha remarked, glancing at the closed door. He then waved his hand through the air.
A gentle breeze stirred, pushing open the closed window.
Outside air flowed into the room, which had grown subtly warm from their prolonged kissing. Beyond the open window, the sunlight was brilliant. It was well past noon, meaning they had spent hours simply kissing.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
When Jeha asked, Hereis smiled faintly and shook his head.
“Not at all. In fact, I feel quite full.”
Having said that, Hereis reached out and idly ran his fingers through Jeha’s jet-black hair.
It was just ordinary black hair, yet Hereis stared at it with an intensity as if it were something truly rare and precious. His touch and gaze sent a curious flutter through Jeha’s heart.
Perhaps it was because they had been kissing intimately for so long? Jeha felt as if he could, somehow, finally perceive a glimmer of Hereis’s perpetually ambiguous feelings.
Hereis was, at this very moment, genuinely marveling at and admiring the color of Jeha’s dark hair.
“It’s not like you’ve never seen black hair before….”
Jeha mumbled awkwardly, feeling a little embarrassed.
Despite being the Demon King, his appearance was simply that of an ordinary Korean man, and he found it difficult to adjust to being stared at as if he were a rare treasure.
“There are indeed a few priests with black hair in the Grand Temple, and I know of several bloodlines on the continent where individuals are born with such dark hair,” Hereis explained.
“However, Lord Jeha’s hair feels entirely different. Moreover, a person with eyes that emit such pure, dark light as yours is likely the only one on the entire continent.”
Hereis gently caressed the skin around Jeha’s eyes as he spoke.
His gaze, fixed on Jeha’s pupils, was filled with genuine admiration.
“It seems you’ve got rose-tinted glasses on, Hereis,” Jeha commented.
He fiddled with his own hair, which to him still looked perfectly ordinary.
“Rose-tinted glasses?”
Hereis wore a perplexed expression, unsure if it was an unfamiliar idiom or if his sheltered life in the temple simply meant he didn’t know slang.
Jeha started to explain the meaning to him but then stopped. He didn’t want to reveal his slight insecurity about his own appearance, which he felt paled in comparison to Hereis’s.
“Lunch. Let’s get some lunch, shall we?”
Fearing they might subtly start kissing again if they continued like this, Jeha deliberately sat bolt upright.
He noticed a hint of disappointment on Hereis’s face, which, for some reason, made him feel a little proud.
Stepping off the bed, Jeha briefly scanned Hereis from head to toe.
The signs of their passionate rolling and kissing on the bed were clearly visible on his clothes. However, that level of disarray alone couldn’t account for the incessant creaking of the bed.