Chapter 10.2

The man who appeared in the living room again seemed to have washed and had changed into new clothes. He walked out of the dark hallway, tapping his wet hair with a large towel gingerly.

Emma, who was nervously holding her hands on her lap waiting for the man to appear, swallowed her dry saliva when she saw him and focused her attention on his fingers on the towel. The long fingers from which the bandage was removed were full of scars both large and small.

She looked at the condition of his fingers, frowning, before her mind came back to the question she wanted to ask. “Will they come back?”

“I don’t know,” he answered drily.

The man eased himself on the sofa. He looked relieved as if he had just gone through an intense workout and was now washed and relaxed. From his laidback attitude, no one would think that he fought against a pack of beastly monsters just moments ago.

He relaxed on the sofa, as if nothing had happened. And suddenly, he reached out to the table. It seemed he was thirsty.

“Even if they wanted to come this way, wouldn’t it be hard for them? The damage was huge. They also might have lost their way.”

With his large hands, the man held the bottle of distilled liquor and shook it, then sighed after confirming that there wasn’t much left. His eyebrows bunched together into a frown, before he simply gave up on the empty bottle and bowed down to reach under the table.

He placed a new bottle on the table with gentle movements. Then his cool eyes bored into Emma. Emma’s heart reflexively tightened.

“Do you want some?”

“…No thank you.”

As Emma shook her head, the man’s eyes subtly thinned. He stared at Emma for a while and began pouring the distilled liquor into the glass. When the pumpkin-colored transparent liquor filled the glass, he inadvertently pushed it towards Emma.

“Drink it.”

It was not a choice this time.

Emma looked down at the cup and bit her lips. Most of the foodstuff on the table was laced with something unidentified.

Will the new alcohol be different?

Since the man ate, drank, and lived here the whole time, there would be nothing wrong with it, but Emma still felt uncomfortable. It would have been easy if she didn’t know, but she did. And she wouldn’t be able to drink the liquor without not knowing what was added to it.

“It’s okay. I’m good.”

Even though Emma refused politely, the man did not walk away. Rather, he stretched his injured fingertips and pushed the glass closer in front of Emma.

“Drink it.”

It was like an order.

“I’m… I’m not good at drinking…”Emma responded awkwardly.

The man whispered, “That is more than a reason for you to drink it. The night is longer than you think here.”

“…….”

His cynical eyes seemed to ask how Emma would spend the long night. And as she came to think about it, she felt his words were true. She would never be able to sleep in her frenzied state like this. If she didn’t calm down her anxious and confused mind after going through all kinds of things overnight, Emma felt like she was going to burst like a bubble at any point.

“You’d better drink it.” The man’s whispers where like an evil tempting her.

Emma’s awkward gaze headed for the pumpkin-colored glass. It happened to be a distilled liquor with a high level of alcohol, and she knew she would fall asleep as soon as she drank it.

As she vaguely stared at the drink, she could vividly recall the birthday party to celebrate her adulthood last spring. At that time, she had tried distilled liquor for the first time to commemorate her coming of age, but she was unable to pull it together until the next afternoon. The entire time after drinking was neatly erased from memory.

The only thing Emma could remember was suffering from a throbbing headache for more than a day. Since then, Emma vowed not to drink again.

However, in a situation like this, it would be better to wake up in the morning without going through any stress. If it was a high level of alcohol, just one glass would be able to relieve the tension.

“You’re right,” Emma nodded finally.

Doubts arose over whether the man had any other ulterior motive, but such thoughts soon disappeared quickly in Emma’s mind. No matter how much she thought about it, the man didn’t seem to recommend food or water because something was added to it.

If he intended to harm her, the man had many other opportunities besides alcohol.

The time she spent with him was very short, but Emma was convinced that he was never a coward who aimed at other people’s weaknesses. He was strong and bold enough to deal with werewolves alone and go outside to face unknown enemies.

“As expected, I also think it’s better to drink.”

Accepting the drink, Emma paused for a moment as the glass was about to tilt when the scent rose sharply to the tip of her nose. The smell of subtle herbs was deeply ingrained in the strong alcohol that paralyzed her sense of smell.

It was there again, that sweet yet subtle scent.