Back then, she had been immortal. Now, she was nothing more than a fragile fragment of a soul: weak, unstable, sickly.
Just thinking about it made anger flare in his chest. Still, he quietly activated a trace of his restorative ability, letting it seep into her.
"Don't use that damn ability anymore," Shin muttered. "It's useless against me."
Yeri thought she heard him wrong. She slowly sat up, staring at him.
"You know exactly what I mean," he replied casually. "Your demon ability."
Her face drained of all color. Yeri stared at him as if he were shapeshifting right in front of her eyes. Her body trembled uncontrollably, her mind spiraling as one terrifying thought chased another.
How does he know?
"Why do you think I know?" Shin chuckled softly. "Take a guess."
Take a guess his face!
She couldn't utter a single word. Her heart slammed violently against her ribcage, her vision spinning as though the world had tilted sideways.
Could he be… A priest?
Shin had wanted to tease her for a long time but seeing her so pale, so frightened that she looked on the verge of collapsing, he decided against it.
Before he could explain, Yeri whispered, her voice shaking uncontrollably, "A-are you… a p-priest?"
"…."
The vein on Shin's forehead throbbed.
Even just a strand of Jewel's essence, she still possessed an unmatched talent for infuriating him.
"Yeri Zhi," he snapped, "did you drop all your brain cells when you snuck in here?" He took a breath, forcing himself to calm down. "When you were sick, do you think your mother only relied on modern medicine? She sought help from all kinds of people, including priests."
He leaned closer, eyes sharp. "Did you burst into flames when they touched you?"
Yeri blinked.
"We're not the kind of demons described in human books," he continued coldly. "We're simply beings from another realm."
Her eyes darted around the room, clearly not processing half of what he said. She shrank back against the headboard, then suddenly froze.
"…We?" she repeated cautiously. Slowly, she looked back at him.
"You…" she whispered. "Are you a demon?"
"What else?" Shin replied flatly. "How do you think I knew you were trying to enter my mind for the second time, no less?"
Yeri shook her head vehemently. "I wasn't trying to hurt you! I just wanted to know if your mind is normal!"
Shin "…."
Realizing she had said something disastrously wrong, she hurried to correct herself. "I mean- I just want to understand you. You know, why you'd go so far as to give up all your assets."
"You couldn't just ask me properly?" he said flatly.
Yeri bit her lip, still shaken by the revelation that he was actually a demon.
How did he know about her when she hadn't suspected him for even a moment?
Since when had he known? Was that the reason he had approached her in the first place, because he could tell she was different?
The more she thought about it, the more overwhelmed she felt. Dizziness washed over her, and the room seemed to sway slightly. All she heard was Shin's low chuckle.
"You had no intention of harming me," he said calmly. "But do you enjoy harming yourself? Why do you think your nose started bleeding?"
It had only taken seconds. If she had tried that ability on an ordinary person, she might have suffered the same backlash as before. But Shin was different. Against another demon, especially someone like him, even while asleep, his power would instinctively defend itself.
Only then did Yeri finally understand why his mind felt nothing like the others. Why her consciousness had been violently dragged the moment she touched him.
It was like breaking into a house rigged with traps, every step triggering another defense.
"Since when did you—"
"That's enough," Shin cut her off. "Go to sleep. There are still a few hours before school." His tone softened slightly. "We'll talk once you've rested and calmed down."
Yeri wanted to protest. But for some reason, her eyelids grew unbearably heavy. Her body refused to respond as she vaguely sensed him lifting her, laying her down properly, and pulling a blanket over her, soon, darkness claimed her.
When Yeri jolted awake, the sun was already high in the sky.
For a moment, her thoughts drifted aimlessly. She looked around in confusion, unsure of where she was. Gradually, memories of the night before resurfaced, but she soon realized she was back in her own room.
Beside her was Carpet, already wagging excitedly the instant she stirred.
"Carpet?" she murmured.
She let him climb all over her, his weight grounding her as her thoughts spiraled. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if everything that had happened had merely been a dream.
Even when the nanny knocked and entered, Yeri only stared at her absentmindedly.
"Still sleepy?" the nanny asked kindly. "Young Master Keir said to let you rest as much as you want."
At the sound of that name, Yeri shuddered involuntarily.
"Nanny," she asked cautiously, "when did you arrive?"
"This morning, around six," the nanny replied, already busy opening the windows and checking the laundry. "Right after you sent me a message saying you missed Carpet and were craving the fried rice I make, so I left the manor early."
"…Message?"
Yeri frowned. When did she-
Realization struck her, it must have been Shin Keir using her phone.
"What time is it?" she asked stiffly.
"Half past nine," the nanny answered casually.
Yeri shot up from the bed. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?!"
"Young Master Keir said it was fine if you were late," the nanny replied calmly. "He said the early classes weren't very important."
"What nonsense!" Yeri exclaimed as she rushed to get ready, though, admittedly, the first two periods were usually etiquette lectures or self-study.
---
Inside the classroom, Yeri took her seat near the window. Books opened. Notes were passed around. The lesson ongoing but she absorbed none of it.
Her pen hovered uselessly over the page, her thoughts drifting back again and again to Shin Keir. She found herself replaying every interaction she'd ever had with him, every glance, every pause, every moment that had once seemed normal and now felt suspicious.
Had he always been watching her like that?
She remembered the time he had questioned her about Lianna Neri's sudden change, how she had felt utterly miserable in the hospital, wracked with pain, only for it to vanish the moment she touched him.
Did that have something to do with him being a demon too?
She snapped her head up, scanning the corridor beyond the classroom door as if she might catch him standing there. Nothing.
Her pulse spiked, and she clenched her fists under the desk, forcing herself to breathe evenly.
Every few minutes, her attention drifted toward the door, half-expecting Shin to appear or worse, sensing him even when he wasn't there.
It was already bad enough that he carried the identity of Shin Keir. Now it was infinitely worse knowing that he was a demon.
Had he been targeting her from the very beginning? And aside from him, were there others like him in this world?
What she couldn't understand was this: all along, she had believed her first life belonged to another realm entirely. Then how had Shin Keir crossed between dimensions? Had she reincarnated… or transmigrated?
And what was Shin Keir's role in her first life?
Her thoughts spiraled endlessly.
By break time, Yeri barely tasted her food. Nina and Levi chatted beside her, but her mind churned like a raging river, impossible to calm.
She stared blankly at her tray. Something dripped down. One drop, then another.
Nina's expression suddenly twisted into horror. Levi shot to his feet in panic.
Confused, Yeri glanced down at her hand.
Blood. Ah, another nosebleed?
She opened her mouth to ask Nina for a tissue, but the room spun violently. The voices around her dulled, fading into a distant buzz.
Someone screamed. "She fainted!"
Nina was shouting for an ambulance. Levi rushed forward, about to lift Yeri, but a student from the neighboring table moved faster.
"This student- " Levi started, trying to stop him.
"Move."
Loki brushed past Levi without hesitation and swiftly carried Yeri away.
"Loki! Where are you going?!" Nina shrieked.
His strides were long and urgent. Realizing he was heading toward the infirmary, Nina hesitated only briefly before chasing after him with Levi close behind.
---
At KGG, the conference room was filled with a strange mix of exhilaration and tension.
All eyes were fixed on the two contracts laid out on the table, agreements worth billions.
These were the very contracts Shin Keir had presented to the Keir clan elders when he negotiated for Yeri's engagement.
The reactions now mirrored those from that day.
However, Shin's uncle and cousin, Hiro Keir, wore ashen expressions. They knew all too well that this only made suppressing Shin Keir even more difficult.
Those who had initially aligned with them, old shareholders who had wavered between factions, sat stiffly in their seats. Even the so-called neutrals, though silent, betrayed their shifting loyalties through their expressions.
They had come prepared to raise complaints, to smear and discredit Shin Keir. But in the face of contracts worth billions, any opposition would only paint them as villains trying to sabotage the company's momentum.
Secretary Yun, seated nearby, was in an excellent mood. There were still more contracts, equally lucrative, waiting to be announced.
"The CEO seems to be in a good mood," someone beside Secretary Yun remarked.
"Who wouldn't be with deals like these?" another replied.
"Master Keir truly raised a formidable son. From the very beginning, I trusted his decision to name Shin as his heir."
"CEO Keir, we should celebrate this, perhaps a banquet!"
"CEO Keir, congratulations on your upcoming engagement," Master Ando said warmly as Shin approached.
Shin smiled, genuinely pleased. Of course, he knew Master Ando was Levi's father and Yeri must have already told her friends. This made him even more pleased.
"Did he just smile?" someone whispered.
"What did Master Ando say this time? That old fox keeps claiming he's not close to Shin Keir, yet look how eagerly he's flattering him," another muttered.
But one man had heard Master Ando's words clearly. His voice rose in shock as he blurted out, "CEO Keir is engaged?!"
The room went deathly still.