– Gulp.
A tense moment of silence ensued between the two of them, as Sierra involuntarily gulped down the saliva in her mouth.
Her heart trembled in apprehension when she caught the faint tinge of madness mixed in Damien's desire-filled voice. The heat in her body rapidly cooled down under the water pouring down on her from above.
She could've never imagined the Damien Collins she knew to be able to sprout something so....cheesy, obsessive, and yet threatening at the same time. It just seemed so.... out of character for him.
...But to be honest, what did she even know about him?
Damien's merciless display of violence against those thugs last night already showed her that she didn't know the first thing about him. And judging by the fact that Milia never mentioned anything like this to her, she was most likely in the dark about his 'hidden' side as well.
Even as a bystander, the piercing scream of that thug as Damien unhesitatingly drove a knife into his flesh still seemed to reverberate next to her ears whenever she thought back on it.
Just imagining his manic grin from back then, telling the remaining thugs that the guy he just stabbed might die from bleeding out without a shred of panic or remorse, still sent cold shivers running down her spine.
– "...I want your everything, Sierra Alden."
Now, after knowing this 'hidden' side of his, the words uttered by this excessively horny man sharing the shower with her no longer sounded that loving or romantic to her anymore.
'Wh....W-What does he even want me to say?!'
Rather, it felt stifling to her. Like her throat was being constricted by some unknown force as she desperately tried to find the right words to respond to him.
"....W-What...d-do you mean by that?"
However, despite her apparent breathlessness, she still managed to voice a trembling response to his words.
Obviously, she wasn't able to muster up the courage to straightforwardly question him about his motives or such, but the intent of it was faintly expressed in her voice.
After the events of last night, she had been quite afraid of setting him off, and understandably so. After all, it wasn't an everyday occurrence for a normal, law-abiding girl student to witness such a vicious and bloody fight between real people, live on the streets.
Someone could've even died there if things had gone wrong!
The only reason she wasn't already on her knees, crying and begging him to let her go was because she had known him for a long time, courtesy of her 'best' friend.
Also, the two disorienting nights she spent with him in bed – one last night and the other four nights prior – somewhat helped her in staying calm for so long without freaking out.
Roughly knowing what was most likely going on inside her head, Damien looked into her eyes with a gentle smile on his face. There were no signs of madness apparent in his tender gaze as he repeated himself to her once more.
"I meant exactly what you heard me saying. I want your everything, Sierra. Your body, your heart, and even your soul... I want you to be mine and mine alone, forever."
Sierra's jaws hung open a little, feeling the sincerity he did his utmost to express in his voice. There was not a single hint of falsehood in his clear eyes as he patiently waited for her answer.
She was feeling quite strange in her heart, unable to understand why he would say something like that to her, of all people.
If he had said the same thing to Milia, she knew that her best friend would've been over the moon for days because of it. And although she didn't personally meet them, she also knew that Damien had other girls who would be just as happy, or maybe even more, if he said the same thing to them.
Just how and why she managed to attract his attention, she didn't know. The only thing she did know was her own feelings toward him, past as well as present.
Taking a deep breath, Sierra conjured up all the courage she could for her next words.
"Is...is this how you always get other women to...s-sleep around with you? By...l-lying to their faces like this?"
Her voice trembled a little, but she didn't stop herself from freely speaking her mind.
Since he said he wanted her heart, he would have to pacify it first before thinking about claiming it. She couldn't let her fear keep swaying her according to his tune.
If she was powerless to stop him from doing whatever he pleased with her body, then so be it. But in case he was truly trying to win over her heart, he would have to move as per her wishes.
"—Pfft...! Huh... Ahem!"
Hearing what she said with such a cutely serious face, Damien almost broke out in laughter before desperately stopping himself.
If it was before he regained his memories of this life, it might've been a bit difficult for him to understand her feelings by relying on his instincts only. But now that he was back to being himself, Damien was easily able to pick up on her emotional state, especially when they were sticking so close to each other.
...On top of that, Sierra's intentions were simply too obvious. And she didn't even make an attempt to conceal them from him.
There was no way she could play with the emotions of someone who repeated the same routine with highly experienced and manipulative women multiple times in his life, and even outmaneuvered them each time.
"...Hmm, sorry for that. You say I lied to you, but have you ever seen or heard me saying something like that to any other girl except you?"
Damien asked her with an amused smile on his face, watching as Sierra's cutely resolute expression gradually twisted in confusion. Her eyes moved unsteadily as she repeatedly opened and closed her mouth, unable to say anything to refute him.
"...What happened? You can call your friend and ask her if you want to, you know? I never said I loved someone before you, Sierra."
From how familiar he was with her thought process, she had most likely tried to imitate the main character from some kind of romance-drama show, hoping that it would work out for her just like it did on TV.
...And it might've worked on him too, seeing that he actually loved her. If not for the fact that Sierra herself was a hopeless pushover...
"...Even after knowing this, to say that I lied about something like that....you're hurting my feelings again."
He then gently pushed her back against the wall behind them, holding her tightly in his warm embrace as he rested his head on her shoulder.
"...Honestly, I never knew what love was, before you taught me the meaning of it. The better part of my life was spent in a broken family without any affection. I even thought that I was incapable of ever loving someone. My world was just so colorless, so lifeless, and so gray...."
He took a deep breath. His voice lost its usual forcefulness as he unhesitantly exposed the most vulnerable side of himself in front of her.
The hopelessness, the hollowness, and the despair of his life a few years ago were laid bare in the open for her to see. Everything in his life seemed so bleak.
"...But you, you brought back the color in my black-and-white world. How can I not fall in love with you, when you're my only ray of sunshine in the forever gloomy world of mine?"
Feeling the warmth of his body enveloping her, Sierra suddenly felt her heart starting to beat a little too fast for her comfort. An urge to hold him tightly and tell him that everything would be fine entered her mind, and refused to leave no matter how much she denied it.
...It was so much better when he simply intimidated and forced her to do what he wanted. But this soft and vulnerable approach of his was making her heart waver too much, and she was scared of what she might start desiring because of it.
"A-Are you...really not lying to me? Everything you just said, you truly mean them?"
Despite her trying to hold it in, she found herself walking on the same road that led her best friend to her ruin. She simply couldn't help herself, seeing him expressing his own weakness like that.
Somewhere deep in her mind, there was a voice desperately trying to reach out to her, telling her not to listen to a word of this demon in human skin. But the demon's temptation was just too great for her to ignore.
If only the things that already happened between them had never happened, or if she didn't have the slightest of feelings for him, or maybe, if she didn't have that stupid crush on him since the day they first met.... She might've been able to control herself here.
But, what was meant to happen had already happened. Now, it was too late for her to regret anything...
"...Yeah. Everything that I said is the truth. More than anything or anyone in this world, I love you. And I will do everything in my power to make you happy, so please, won't you agree to become mine?"
Sierra felt his grip on her tighten, as he voiced out his request to her in a desperate tone.
Her lips trembled, unsure of what to say to him.
She had a number of responses ready for him if he said anything forceful to her, memorized in her mind from the multitude of drama shows she watched over the years, but nothing for the current situation at hand.
– Gulp.
Sierra gulped once more, before hesitantly tightening her own grip around his neck as she blushed a little, finding their current position quite awkward for what was supposed to be an emotional moment.
"Um."
Not finding anything appropriate to say, except for corny lines like 'Yes, I'm all yours', or 'Only you will own me from now', she simply expressed her agreement by making a small sound.
"...Is that a yes!?"
Damien immediately jumped at it with an excited face, causing her to look away with her face turning beet-red in shame and embarrassment.
...She had really done it, she was officially cheating on her boyfriend now. By her own will, at that!
Seeing her reaction, Damien smiled so brightly that she felt like it was the midday sun of summer.
"Uh, wait a mom—Mmmhhh~!"
He then immediately leaned forward, locking their lips in a deep and passionate kiss, while pressing her hard against the wall.
Although he didn't show it, all this time, Damien was feeling quite unsettled mentally. He didn't really know what to do in case Sierra insisted on refusing him as she did in the original story his transmigrated self read in his previous life.
He could easily conquer and claim her body through his years of accumulated experiences in accurately utilizing all sorts of sexual techniques, but the matter of the heart was far more delicate and fragile.
But now, he could finally relax. Thanks to the memories of the original novel, he was able to change the future, by learning from the mistakes he made in the novel and changing his approach to conquering her heart!
'Now, I have to get rid of that annoying little ex-boyfriend of hers!'
Damien's heart was bubbling in excitement. Now that Sierra was completely his, in both body and heart, he could finally begin his plans for the future.
...As for his long and arduous speech on his vulnerabilities?
Yes, they were every bit true just like he said.
However, he had long since accepted them and moved on with his life. He had never felt bothered by the memories of those so-called 'weak' times of his life.
All that sobbiness he expressed in front of Sierra was simply to gain her sympathy and make her unable to get away from him. For a soft-hearted girl like her, this was the best way to tether her to himself.
Well, what could he say?
His character was so twisted that just by virtue of living in his body, even the straight-laced Daniel (The transmigrator) began spinning entire webs of lies just to get a job urgently.
It was barely a surprise that after they merged together, the original Damien's scummy nature was making itself known so overtly.
For a through-and-through villain like him, even the pure feelings of love weren't safe from being twisted beyond repair. To keep the one girl he loved forever attached to him, no means and methods were going to be off-limits in his book.
Because to him, that's what the true meaning of love was. This was, after all....
A villain's love.