Chapter 3: CH 3

When she got to the terrace, someone was already there. Juliana was taken aback by the sight of the person leaning on the railing. She was so drunk that she had missed the placard that had been placed in front of her.

“Oh… I’m, I’m…sorry.”

Juliana hurriedly tried to get out since there was a visitor who got to occupy the place first.

“You can stay.”

But the voice of the man from behind halted her steps. Juliana slowly turned her head and looked at the owner of the voice.

The man was extremely gorgeous. His eyes were cool and calm like his blue hair. His blue and fathomless gaze, a shade deeper than the night sky were directed toward her.

Her drunkenness went away completely when she saw the appearance of the man after he took his mask off. The man was too handsome. Juliana gazed blankly at his face with a flushed look.

Her heart was pounding loudly. The man leant away from the railing with indifferent eyes. Having kept a little distance from Juliana, he proceeded to speak with a straight face.

“You’re drunk.”

“What? Oh, yes. I drank a bit…”

He must have smelled the scent of wine that was coming out of her mouth. Juliana lifted her hand and tried to cover her mouth. However, when her fingertips brushed against the metallic mask covering her face, she lowered her hand.

The man gazed at Juliana with an expressionless look. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and laid it on a small bench.

“Please sit over here.”

The man’s gaze remained on Juliana’s high-heeled shoes. She couldn’t read his expressions, even though she wanted to.

Juliana slowly approached the man, a strange irresistible and unspoken attraction dragging her toward him.

“The air is cold.”

The man took off his coat and placed it on Juliana’s shoulder. She had never seen a man like this before. She couldn’t believe he even cared about a woman he had never seen before

Juliana sniffed in the cold wind while trying to figure out the man’s intention. But the man only acted as if he had done his duty.

“I hope you have a great time at the banquet.”

The man turned around with these plain words. Juliana’s heart was stirred by this consideration from a man she saw for the first time.

She had a hunch that women would go crazy everywhere if such a handsome man made his way out.

She wondered if it was the influence of the alcohol, or was the man’s appearance excessively handsome? A strange courage surged up in her.

“Will you stay the night with me?”

Juliana fixed her eyes to the floor in shame as she clutched the hem of his clothes.

Silence took over for a moment.

The blowing wind had gotten rid of her tranced mind and tipsiness.

In the remaining silence, Juliana let go of the man’s clothes weakly.

Her face turned burning hot in embarrassment even though she was drunk.

Juliana only stared at her shoes.

“Can you take responsibility?”

“Excuse me?”

Juliana, whose thoughts were distracted, replied a moment late. The eyes of the man she happened to meet were gentle. He whispered in a low voice as he was looking into Juliana’s eyes, the only part that was seen through the mask.

“I won’t leave if you promise me.”

“I’ll give you an unforgettable night.”

Juliana raised her head at the hand before her eyes. Juliana held his hand as if she was bewitched. Bowing, the man smiled and blinked his eyes beautifully. His gaze remained on Juliana’s earlobe that turned bright red for a long while.

***

She had already shifted places by the time she came to her senses.

“I want to see your face.”

The man’s large palm came closer to Juliana’s face. Juliana flinched. His hands were interrupted by something so he was unable to touch her face.

‘Oh, come to think of it, I’m still wearing a mask.’

Juliana was still wearing the red mask that she put on at the masquerade ball.

The man just laid his hand over Juliana’s red mask. He was seeking her consent with intense eyes. But Juliana remained silent because she didn’t want to reveal herself.

This was because her high status stopped her mouth even while she was drunk. She didn’t want to get blamed without a reason by the high society at a time when she broke up her engagement.

“……”

The man’s hand pulled back as he understood her sign of refusal.

Juliana felt like she was going to die by the rustling sound that reached her ears.

“Ahh.“

“Don’t be so pushy.”

At the end of her words, darkness covered both of their figures.

***

“Haah. Haah.”

Juliana opened her eyes. She exhaled while wiping out the sweat off her forehead. Juliana grimaced as she stabilised her breathing.

“Where is this?”

She came to her senses to be stunned by an unfamiliar ceiling. Juliana looked at her surroundings after straightening her upper body.

White wallpaper, white bed, white drawers.

Was the owner of this room a white lover? The room was entirely white.

The event from last night suddenly struck her head like a wave. The betrayal of her fiancé and her friend, and her spending the night with a man whose name she didn’t even know, because she was feeling broken-hearted. As soon as she realized, Juliana suddenly jumped up like lightning.

“Crazy…!”

She couldn’t remember what happened after she suggested the man stay for the night because she blacked out. Except that she asked someone to sleep with her.

Arghh, Juliana desperately wanted to stop and scold whatever got inside her yesterday.

‘I couldn’t believe I was crazy enough to throw such a crazy offer at a man I just met for the first time like that!’

Juliana screamed inside as she vowed to never drink again.

After a while, the Juliana that has been settled then lifted up the blanket to peek under it. She was still wearing her yesterday’s beautiful blue dress. Juliana breathed out a sigh of relief on finding that she wasn’t naked.

She casted her eyes to the side of the bed slowly while feeling nervous. There was no one on the cold side of the bed.

It seemed that her one-night-stand partner had already left.

Juliana blinked. Strangely, she felt empty, however there was no reason for both of them to keep staying here. Juliana got her foot off the bed to the floor.

“…..What is this?”

Juliana was appalled. There was something she didn’t see before that was on her wrist.

“АФпряий.”

Juliana chanted the spell. Her eyes flickered blankly as her mana scattered in the air.

‘What’s going on here?’

Juliana bit her lips hard while thinking about it.

Then she heard a strange sound behind her.

“Ugh.”

Juliana’s eyes widened when she turned to look behind.

A large caterpillar was wriggling on the floor… No, someone whose whole body was wrapped in a blanket was wriggling over on the floor.

“Who, who are you…!”

Juliana was taken aback. The caterpillar that she thought was threatening, only wriggled and crawled over the floor without answering.

“Wha, What is that……?”

Juliana saw the caterpillar wriggling and moving slowly.

The caterpillar turned his body over to the back after moving limply and grovelling everywhere on the floor. It came closer right before Juliana.

Juliana was taken aback when her eyes met the eyes of the man in the blanket.

“Aghh!”

A scream escaped her mouth. Juliana hastily shut her mouth.

“Are, are you okay?”

Juliana said while moving slightly after regaining her senses late.

“I’m alright.”

Juliana was taken aback by the man’s extremely courteous voice. She felt a sense of estrangement from the frivolously crawling figure that was on the floor a while ago.

“Can, can I help you…?”

It’d been long since she had forgotten what happened due to the shock right in front of her eyes. Juliana set the man’s body free from the blanket which was wrapped tightly on him with one arm.

The man she saw up close was extremely beautiful. The blanket man looked as if he had a good and refreshing sleep on his face. Juliana realized that his blue hair was loose and sluggish.

Ah, this man.

He was the one she had spent the night with.

‘But why is he so wrapped up tightly like that?’

“What is this?”

Juliana gestured to her own wrist while thinking it wasn’t the time to admire the man’s appearance obscurely.

“Well……”

Juliana’s question was ignored by the man. His head tilted to the side appearance was artistic. However, the image of the man crawling while wriggling on the floor like a giant caterpillar had been embedded firmly in Juliana’s head.

I’m sorry, Juliana thought to herself. He had become a human blanket in her head. Juliana’s heart remained unwavered thanks to that thought, despite the man’s handsome appearance. Her heart was so calm that she almost couldn’t keep it that way any longer.

“Then, do you know where we are?”

“……”

There was no answer from him so he didn’t know either. Juliana thought carefully and closed her eyes.

Both of them were in an unfamiliar place.

Not just that, the man was even wriggling pitifully in the corner on the floor as his body wriggled inside the blanket. Juliana felt sorry for him, but who would sympathize with whom when they were both in a similar situation?

“……”

Juliana opened her eyes like a flash of light after arranging her thoughts silently.

Someone must have left her and her one-night-stand partner here.

Juliana’s expression became serious with this logical thought in her head.

“As you know, we are in this kind of situation right now.”

“……”

“It seems like someone has brought us here.”

The man’s face also slowly turned serious.