Startled by the strong grip, it was only for a moment before Zachary’s hand went limp again as if it had never grasped mine.

I couldn’t stay like this any longer. I had to get Zachary out of the passageway as soon as possible.

Completely clearing away the large potted plant in front, I reached out and knocked six times. I rapped much more urgently than usual. The door began to rise.

‘Please, hurry.’

The door seemed to be opening slowly today of all days. I stared at the door anxiously.

When knocked six times, the passageway door rises or falls. The door frame has a thin cloth with a magical formation drawn on it, serving to conceal the door’s boundary from sight.

How on earth did he break through this and stick his hand out? There should be no way to open it unless he knocked.

Only after the door had fully risen could I understand what had happened.

‘He opened this with force?’

Did Zachary really know how to open the door? Even if he did, it was definitely not an easy task to immediately identify this as the snake’s passageway in the darkness and open the door. One had to knock precisely six times at the entrance, but how could that be possible in this darkness?

“Zachary!”

He was limply stretched out with his hand reaching towards the entrance. His condition looked worse than expected.

I barely suppressed a scream that nearly escaped and raised him up. Zachary had been lying face down, and there were bright red marks on his wrist as if something had pressed on it.

‘No way.’

The snake’s passageway entrance was quite heavy, requiring a very strong force to open and close. That’s why I had never once thought it could be opened by force. Yet Zachary had opened that heavy door with his strength and reached out his hand.

How could this happen? Worried that he might have broken a bone, I grasped his wrist and double-checked. Fortunately, his wrist bones seemed fine.

“…Ugh.”

I slowly lifted Zachary up for now. His limp body was heavy. I also pushed my body into the snake’s passageway. Supporting him as if hugging him and making him sit was no easy task. The ankle I strained to support myself ached, but I managed to get Zachary to sit leaning against the passageway wall. At the same time, I felt strength entering his body.

“Zachary?”

I took a position as if straddling him. I panted and looked at Zachary like that. Since the snake’s passageway was narrow enough for only one person to pass through, our faces were close.

His eyelids trembled finely. Then, as his long eyelashes lifted, Zachary’s eyes were revealed.

The passageway was too dark, making it difficult for him to adjust to the faint light coming in from the room.

“It’s okay. Take it slow.”

If light suddenly entered, it could startle the eyes. I reached out and covered the area around his eyes. Not completely covering his face, but just slightly lifting my hand. I felt Zachary blinking. His long eyelashes repeatedly brushed against my finger joints as if tickling them.

After waiting like that for a long time for him to adjust to the light, I slowly withdrew my hand.

“…..”

Zachary slightly grimaced and kept blinking. His eyes seemed to have trouble focusing. Opening and closing as if uncomfortable, his eyes looked particularly dark, perhaps because of the darkness.

Despite blinking uncomfortably several times, his dark and blue eyes were precisely looking in my direction.

That gaze made me feel somehow flustered and embarrassed. As I struggled to avert my eyes, Zachary’s dry lips suddenly entered my view.

“I’ll go get some water.”

This wasn’t the time to be doing this.

Today marked almost a week since the day Zachary fell asleep. Having been unable to eat anything all this time, Zachary must be hungry.

I slowly moved my body to the side. I intended to bring water and perhaps some simple porridge to eat.

“Just wait here for a bit… Ah!”

However, I couldn’t leave. A strong force wrapped around my waist and pulled me.

The body that had slightly peeked out towards the entrance was instantly sucked into the snake’s passageway. As if caught as prey, I was swiftly pulled back in front of Zachary.

“…..”

Zachary’s eyes as he silently looked at me were strange. They were different from usual. Not the lifeless, sunken eyes he always had, but something….

“…Zachary.”

I called out to him in bewilderment, but Zachary didn’t answer. He simply stared at me as if glaring, then suddenly pounced on top of me. And that was the last scene I saw.

With a light thud, the snake’s passageway closed as if time was up. It was because the door automatically closes after knocking and a certain amount of time passes.

I couldn’t do anything due to the darkness that instantly settled between us. No, to be precise…

“You, really, why all of a sudden-!”

It was because of Zachary who started biting my neck. Straddling me, he was truly like a beast. Coiling his limbs around me like a snake, he gnawed at my neck. It felt as if I was being devoured.

In the deep darkness, there was nothing I could do. Without luminous stones or lanterns, I was no different from a blind person with open eyes.

“Ugh.”

A groan-like scream escaped from the pain.

The sensation of contact was vivid. He seemed to be confirming something. While persistently biting, he kept sniffing my neck with his nose as if smelling something. I couldn’t move an inch at his behavior, acting as if he had truly become a beast. I was just pressed down, and it was difficult enough to adapt to the unfamiliar and strange sensations.

I tried to push him away, but it wasn’t easy. In the narrow and pitch-black space, I was also afraid that if I suddenly moved, I might hurt Zachary. I didn’t want to hurt him anymore.

Fortunately, the act abruptly stopped at some point. I thought it was finally over, but the smell of blood brushed past my nose.

“Are you hurt?”

I suddenly wanted to ask why he was acting like this, what his current condition was, and what had happened to the magical formation. However, the moment I smelled the fishy scent of blood, all those thoughts vanished. I was most worried about whether he was bleeding from his nose or mouth again.

I fumbled in the darkness and hugged him. As I patted his back as if stroking it, his hot breath touched my neck.

“Let me see. Okay?”

“…..”

“Are you bleeding again? Are you in pain? Zachary, it’s too dark right now, and I can’t see anything. Let’s not stay here. If we quickly go out and you show me your face… Ugh.”

But I couldn’t continue speaking. Because he suddenly shoved his lips against my neck and started biting again.

However, it was different from before. He wasn’t just biting but pressing his lips. It was a chilling sensation that made me groan involuntarily. I could feel his sharp teeth through the slightly parted lips, but he wasn’t baring them at me.

The moist flesh gently brushed against my neck bones as if to break them. It tickled. But it wasn’t simply a ticklish sensation.

‘It feels strange.’

As it continued, it seemed as if a subtle heat kept rising. I shuddered slightly without realizing it.

Unable to bear it any longer, I gently pushed Zachary away, but I kept feeling my hands and feet losing strength.

But… something was excessively moist. The fishy smell of blood was also getting stronger.

Even though Zachary hadn’t licked me with his tongue, it was wet as if oil had been applied. I forcibly mustered my strength and moved my body away. Then I quickly approached the door and knocked six times.

The door opened when I knocked.

I felt like I could live with my brightened vision. However, unable to endure even the short moment it took for light to re-enter the passageway, Zachary wrapped his hand around my waist and pulled.

Exhausted just from pushing Zachary away and knocking on the door, I limply let myself be dragged by his strong grip, but it was worth it.

In the faint light coming in from outside, Zachary’s face was finally revealed. It was the first time I properly saw his face since he woke up. Because he had pounced on me and pressed me down the moment he regained consciousness.

However, I couldn’t express any appreciation for seeing Zachary after so long.

“This is….”

I could understand why I had felt the moistness in the darkness.

I was too shocked to utter any words. Contrary to my bewildered and at a loss state of mind, my hand habitually reached out first. As I slowly caressed Zachary’s cheek with my fingertips, Zachary familiarly leaned into my hand and lowered his head.

Even as he lowered his head, his gaze never left me.

Perhaps because it was still dark, his pitch-black gaze somehow looked damp and even ominous.