Chapter 3

The violent movement alerted the nearby students.

Someone shouted loudly, "There's movement over there!"

A rush of hurried footsteps followed.

I braced both hands against Marty's chest, and our eyes locked.

"Olivia…"

The instant Marty said my name, his pupils contracted sharply. Then, the inky black of his eyes slowly turned into a bewitching, dark emerald green.

My mind went blank. All I felt was a warm, wet touch against my lips.

By the time I came back to my senses, Marty had already returned to a normal human form.

He sat on the ground, calmly straightening his clothes.

I was still under the lingering influence of the incubus's charm when his voice drifted to my ears, half-smiling, half-mocking.

"Incubi don't eat chocolate. Incubi eat 'people', especially bad women like you who take advantage of others."

…

The fact that Marty was an incubus was known only to his parents and me.

I searched online and discovered that there were actually many shapeshifting beast-humans in this world.

Normally, they lived in human form.

And in general, beast-humans had the same social status as humans, so few people bothered to distinguish between them.

But beast-humans with incubus bloodlines were different.

Incubi bewitched hearts. They used their supernatural abilities to seduce and charm humans.

Then, through special methods, they obtained energy.

Some humans, unable to hold firm to their hearts, often betrayed their lovers under an incubus's influence.

Because of this, the Enforcers had set rules: any beast-human who awakened an incubus bloodline had to sign a master–servant contract with a human or an ordinary beast-human within six months of awakening.

Otherwise, once discovered by the Enforcers, they would be taken back to a research institute.

There, they would undergo an "incubus bloodline purification" program.

Bloodline purification was an extremely painful process. Many succubi couldn't endure it and died during the procedure.

Once the contract was signed, the incubus could no longer charm anyone except their master.

They had to remain eternally loyal to their master.

Reading this, my heart began to itch.

My mind automatically filled with the image of Marty crawling at my feet, red-eyed, calling me "Master" in a trembling voice.

The more I imagined it, the more excited I became.

…

Ever since discovering that Marty was an incubus, I'd wanted to coil his tail every single day.

I used to be terrified of snakes. But now, I thought snakes were pretty cute.

Especially Marty's snake-like tail—one touch and he'd blush.

He was a baby incubus who clearly wanted me to touch him, yet forced himself to say no while starving.

Just like now—after the instructor dismissed us again, Marty sprinted out of the formation.

Looking at how red the tips of his ears were, I knew he was hungry again.

I chased after him.

This time, he didn't go to the woods.

He turned into the teaching building instead.

When I found him, he'd already shifted into his human-body–snake-tail form.

Marty was curled up in the corner of a classroom, staring at his pitch-black tail in despair and helplessness.

When I pushed the classroom door open, he was holding an inhibitor, searching for a place to inject it.

At the sound of the door, his hand jerked hard in shock.

The syringe fell to the floor and rolled right to my feet.

I picked up the syringe from the ground and turned around to lock the classroom door.

After the lock clicked into place, I held the syringe and slowly walked toward Marty.

The noise of the hallway was sealed outside.

Inside the classroom, only Marty and I remained, staring at each other.

As I slowly pushed the air out of the syringe, I stepped forward, bit by bit, until he had nowhere left to retreat.

He pressed both hands against the white wall behind him, his whole body on high alert.

"Olivia, you… don't come any closer! Are you trying to take advantage of me again while I'm weak?"