Chapter 358: Three Part Vacation (4)

After that sweet yet intense dinner, Kwon Oh-Jin and Isabella headed for the observatory at Seoul Tower. Beyond the glass, the city’s nightscape stretched out. Brilliant lights spilled across the streets as if someone had flipped the night sky upside down.

“It’s beautiful,” Isabella said.

“Yeah, it is.”

What more could one say? Whether it was Seoul or Italy, the city's night view looked just as beautiful. There wasn’t much else to add beyond that.

They sat on a bench nearby and looked out through a large window. Despite the silence, it didn’t feel awkward but rather comforting in a way. The warmth from holding hands felt like a soft, drowsy happiness that words could never fully express.

Breaking the silence, Isabella turned to him with a smile as warm as a spring breeze. “Mr. Oh-Jin, I had such a wonderful time today.”

“Today?”

The image of Isabella’s eyes burning red as she devoured his blood, and her murderously glaring at him over iced Americanos and Hawaiian pizza, suddenly resurfaced in his head.

“Was it... really wonderful?”

If he had to give the date a score, it probably leaned more toward a complete disaster.

“

Ah

, just forget about earlier.” She pouted and playfully pinched him in the side. “Maybe the date didn’t go quite as I’d hoped, but still, I enjoyed it.”

It had been an ordinary day. Actually, the day had been full of mistakes and regrets. Perhaps that made simply holding hands right now feel even more precious. Nothing flashy or extraordinary, just ordinary, everyday life.

“Before I met you, I couldn’t even imagine something like this,” Isabella said.

Ever since becoming the heir to the Colgrande Family and an executor of the Black Star Society, her life had been anything but ordinary.

Isabella had lived under unbearable pressure while the thirst for blood tormented her and dried up her very soul. It had felt like walking endlessly through a barren desert.

“It’s all thanks to you, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

In that parched life, Kwon Oh-Jin appeared like an oasis, moistening the cracked ground and bringing forth blossoms.

“Because I met you, I was saved.”

Like a prince on a white horse from a fairy tale, he swept in and solved all the problems tearing her life apart.

“That’s why... In a way, I’m scared.”

“Scared?” he asked.

“I’ve only ever received from you.” Isabella faintly smiled.

Kwon Oh-Jin could feel her hand, still clasped in his, lightly trembling.

“I’m jealous of Ha-Eun unnie.”

“All of a sudden?”

“Because you and unnie are irreplaceable to each other.”

Unlike her, who had only ever received, Song Ha-Eun was his purpose for living.

“That’s not—”

“You said that your past self didn’t know me, correct?”

“I did...”

The Heavenly Demon didn’t Isabella at all because she had succumbed to her thirst for blood in the past timeline and turned into the Blood Witch.

“That means, in your past life, I was someone you could’ve lived without from the start.”

Just as she had been utterly worthless and forgettable to the past Kwon Oh-Jin, perhaps she was equally useless to the present him. In fact, she was still a hindrance.

One of the reasons he had refused the Heavenly Demon’s offer wasn’t just to save Vega, but also to prevent Isabella from disappearing along with the Heavenly Demon’s Black Heaven.

“If you had never met me... Maybe your life would’ve been easier.”

The thought that she was nothing but a burden gnawed at her like a parasite. She envied Song Ha-Eun. In both his past and present lives, Song Ha-Eun had been his irreplaceable purpose.

“That’s not true.” Kwon Oh-Jin firmly denied it.

Still, Isabella’s expression didn’t soften. “How can you say that when all I’ve done is trouble you?”

Even today, wasn’t it true? To ease the bloodlust raging inside her, he had endured an eight-hour ordeal.

Even if it was for the sake of reaching eleven stars, he was already enduring grueling training every day. She had placed yet another burden on him.

If that’s the case...

Wasn’t she nothing more than a leech? A creature that lived off another’s blood. A parasite that gave nothing in return and only received. The thought that she had become such a leech to Kwon Oh-Jin filled her with unbearable fear.

She swallowed dryly, her throat itching from a sudden thirst.

Gulp.

“D-Do you need anything? Like something you’d like me to do for you...?” She clung tightly to his arm, pressing closer.

He looked into her trembling eyes as though she were being hunted and bitterly smiled. It wasn’t hard to guess what she was feeling.

Ha-Eun once said the same thing.

That crushing sense of debt—Isabella was likely feeling a burning thirst in her chest as she had nothing to give back to the one who saved her life.

The timing was a bit sudden, but these feelings had likely been building up for a long time. Now, they were finally spilling out. Given the nature of their relationship, this sense of being indebted to him was almost inevitable.

Well, I guess I do give her blood without a limit, and all she does is drink.

As long as vampirism existed between them, their relationship would always be closer to predator and prey. However, they also held romantic feelings for each other. In that case, the predator would inevitably do all the taking and feel guilty like an unemployed husband watching his wife work herself to the bone.

If Isabella were the shameless type who could ignore that guilt of being in debt, things would be different. With her gentle nature, a relationship where only one side sacrificed was bound to gnaw at her heart.

Her eyes burned as she looked at him. “I’ll do anything. Whatever you want, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

He didn’t know how they had gone from a heartwarming, “I had fun today” to this, but he could only say one thing.

“Then, I want to touch your boo—”

Wait. Shit. Not this.

“

Ahem

.” He coughed into his fist and corrected himself. “Bella, you’re misunderstanding something.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“I’m not like the Heavenly Demon.”

For the Heavenly Demon, Song Ha-Eun was his only purpose in life.

“Of course, Ha-Eun is important, but so are you and Vega.”

Important enough that he could never think of replacing them. Both of them had already become deeply rooted in his life.

“So, don’t say that I’d be better off if I never met you.”

His relationship with Isabella wasn’t about comfort or inconvenience, nor was it about keeping score over who gave more or took more. Her very existence made him happy, and that was enough.

She bit her lip and looked at him. “Mr. Oh-Jin...”

She hugged his arm tighter, leaned her head against his shoulder, and began to sob. Even though an illusion hid her face, her behavior still caused people nearby to whisper around them.

“Look at that.”

“Think they had a fight?”

“Typical couple drama.”

“Let’s head down now.” Kwon Oh-Jin led Isabella back down the tower.

The cool night air brushed against their cheeks. Arriving at a nearby park, he gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Are you feeling better now?”

She nodded and sheepishly smiled. “

Sniff

...Y-Yes, I’ve calmed down a bit. I guess I got a little carried away. I’m sorry for troubling you.”

“No, it’s okay.”

He figured this had just been the breaking point for feelings she had been holding in for a long time now.

She’s strangely fragile when it comes to things like this.

Though she always carried herself like a regal queen, underneath, she was no different from a delicate, young girl.

“By the way, Mr. Oh-Jin...”

With her tears wiped away, Isabella slyly looked at him and pressed herself against him again.

“

Hm?

”

“What was it you said you wanted to touch earlier?”

Let me correct myself.

She wasn’t innocent enough to be called a “delicate, young girl.”

“

Hm

. Let's see. It’s only nine.”

It was still too early to end the night.

“I booked a nice hotel nearby... Would you like to go?” She gave him a suggestive look.

Kwon Oh-Jin turned pale and quickly shook his head. “No. We already—”

“That doesn’t count. I wasn’t in my right mind back then.”

What happened earlier in the day hadn’t been about romance between lovers. It had been more like a starving beast tearing into its prey.

“You haven’t forgotten what you said, right? That I’m just as important to you as unnie?”

Kwon Oh-Jin deeply sighed as Isabella stuck out her tongue and playfully smiled.

When he reluctantly nodded, her face lit up with a blooming smile.

“I’m switching with Lady Vega at seven in the morning... so we still have ten whole hours left!”

“What about sleep...?”

Are we not going to sleep?

“Staying up all night once in a while is fine, isn’t it?”

Her eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky. A pure, almost childlike desire gleamed within them. Faced with that look, he could only keep his mouth shut.

You said this was a vacation! You said you’d let me rest!

“Come on. Let’s go, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

And so, Isabella held him tight and helplessly dragged him toward the hotel.

***

The next morning, Vega appeared with her arms up high in a triumphant pose.

“It is I! Did you enjoy your vacation yesterday...

Huh?

” She cocked her head at Kwon Oh-Jin, sprawled across the bed like a dried squid.

“What on earth happened to you yesterday?” Vega asked.

“I don’t even know...”

Dark circles drooped under his hollow eyes. Somehow, he felt even more exhausted than after his usual intense training. Still, he couldn’t just lie in bed when it was time for him to spend the day with Vega.

“So, where do you want to go today?” He got up from the bed.

Vega planted her hands firmly on her hips. “The Sanctum!”

Why there, of all places?