I'm the Only One With a Different Genre - Chapter 192

Chapter 192

Stroke me.

***

“Stay still.”

The voice that usually bounced with energy sank heavily, drilling into Lian’s ears. As his body shivered from the eerie sensation, a slow pat on his back, as if to calm him, made him relax. The gentle touch, as if soothing a child, melted away his tension.

Lian’s mind was too sluggish to react sensitively. He slowly closed his eyelids, which felt heavier than usual, and after a few seconds, managed to open them again.

Barely holding onto the end of his drifting thoughts, Lian finally voiced the words he couldn’t let go of.

“Jess, I’m really… okay… I’m fine, so…”

The words, slipping out with a puff of white breath, seemed to fall weakly to the ground. The sound of snow falling and the wind mixed with Lian’s drowsy voice, spreading through the air.

‘Jess, you need to take better care of yourself.’

Lian had pushed Jess away partly because he saw her as a child, but mostly because he was genuinely worried.

For Lian, this level of pain wasn’t anything unusual. Even if he was feeling several times more pain than usual due to his gag filter malfunctioning, his thoughts remained unchanged.

Even though the pain, as sharp as being cut by a blade, wasn’t felt properly, and even though his joints didn’t move as they should, like broken machinery, he didn’t think it was serious enough to die. That’s why Jess’s actions felt like she wasn’t valuing herself.

Should Jess really have to endure such humiliation for this ‘minor’ pain?

Lian could answer that firmly: No. That’s why the words that came out of his mouth were nothing but nagging. Jess’s eyes narrowed as Lian continued to speak.

“So…”

“I…”

A voice, lower than usual, cut off Lian’s words.

“For Lian’s sake, I could give up my heart.”

The name, called without the usual playful ‘Master’ attached to it, felt strangely foreign yet stimulating, leaving Lian flustered. It was like the indescribable shock he had felt when Jess, who always seemed so young, had shown the mature side of a woman. The impact echoed loudly in his mind.

While Lian was still reeling from the shock, a low voice whispered in his ear.

“I can do even more than this.”

A burning heat spread from the spot where his earlobe had been bitten. Like sunlight melting snow, the heat that started from his ear began to thaw his frozen face. His slow breaths returned to their normal pace, and his heavy eyelids felt lighter than before.

A strange mix of embarrassment and tension coursed through his body. Lian tried to speak several times, his lips moving wordlessly, but no words came out easily.

Ever since he had glimpsed the Demon King’s inner thoughts, or perhaps since he had entered this unfamiliar body, Lian could clearly feel Jess’s emotions, as if he could reach out and touch them.

Just as the weight of words differs depending on the person, the weight behind Jess’s words was so heavy that Lian couldn’t easily respond.

“Why…?”

After biting his tongue several times, the words that finally came out didn’t carry much meaning, reflecting his confused mind. The unorganized thoughts swam around in his mouth, forming into words only after much effort.

“Am I worth that much?”

It was a question that only someone with low self-esteem would ask, but Lian was genuinely curious.

Could he really offer his heart, even for someone precious?

Jess was different from him. She had lived in a world where the boundaries between life and death were clear, where death held significant weight. Her values had to be different.

In a world where ‘death’ was heavy and closely tied to ‘despair,’ could someone like him, who didn’t die easily, hold the same value as Jess’s life?

If Jess saw Lian as someone who could die as easily as an ordinary person, then he might have understood her words. But she had seen Lian covered in blood, only to recover time and time again.

He had often boasted about surviving near-death situations, trying to break free from overprotection.

Jess, who was smart and quick-witted, had realized long ago that Lian wasn’t lying. That was why she was less overprotective than Noah or Iris.

‘Why?’

Even though she knew he wouldn’t die easily, why did she place her precious life on the same scale as his?

As the thoughts deepened, a headache began to form. Lian furrowed his brow slightly, lost in thought.

‘Is it because my gag filter isn’t working properly? My thoughts are too complicated.’

Simplicity was a basic trait of gag residents. The fact that his once simple and carefree mind had become so complicated was entirely due to his malfunctioning gag filter. Lian thought he needed to find his original body as soon as possible, and just as he was thinking that, Jess spoke again.

“Lian is my everything. More valuable and precious than anything.”

In the past, Lian would have brushed off such words, thinking, ‘She must love me like family since we’ve been together for so long.’ But now, the words took on a clear shape and struck his heart directly.

The overwhelming emotion was too vast to be put into words, making it hard to breathe.

“Lian, I’m precious to you too, right?”

Her voice, mixed with laughter, held both expectation and a hint of anxiety. Lian blinked slowly and answered.

“…Yeah.”

“Then, stroke me.”

Jess rested her chin on Lian’s shoulder, her ears drooping. Whether it was thanks to the half-working gag filter or the warmth Jess had been sharing, Lian’s hands, which had slowly regained their senses, moved and rested on her red hair.

As his hand moved slowly, the tail covering Lian’s lower body fluttered like a fan. When a cold wind blew, it flinched and stopped, but soon resumed its fluttering, as if unable to hide its emotions.

No further conversation passed between them. They simply shared each other’s warmth, waiting for the snow to stop. As time passed, Lian’s cheeks flushed a pleasant red.

I like you, I really like you.

Stroke me more, love me more.

Even though the words weren’t spoken, the clear affection felt like a confession, causing Lian’s eyes to waver aimlessly.

‘The more contact we have, the clearer I can feel it?’

Trying to divert his attention from the emotions, which were even clearer and more detailed than those he had felt with the Demon King, Lian focused on other thoughts. Whether it was due to his efforts or because his exhausted body had reached its limit, Lian soon drifted off to sleep.

Jess clicked her tongue as she watched Lian fall asleep. If Lian had been in his original body, she might have taken responsibility for the pleasure he was feeling, but the deeply asleep Lian had no way of knowing.

***

The snowstorm, which had seemed like it would never end, finally stopped, covering the snowy mountains in a blanket of white. Lian and Jess, wrapped tightly in the clothes they had prepared, began walking through the snow-covered mountains.

“Jess, are you really okay?”

“Yeah!”

Jess, wearing a dress that was open from mid-thigh to her ankles, wagged her tail. Despite having her long sleeves rolled up halfway, she didn’t seem to feel cold at all.

‘Is it because she’s a beastkin and naturally warmer?’

There were two types of beastkin: those with full animal forms and those with only certain features like ears, tails, or skin resembling animals. Jess belonged to the latter group.

With large red ears, a fluffy tail, beast-like eyes, and a voluptuous figure, she otherwise looked like an ordinary human.

Her voluptuous figure could be considered a human trait, but Jess’s body was more akin to that of a ‘female animal’ than a ‘woman.’

Not in a derogatory sense, but quite literally, her body was optimized for childbearing.

Her hips, a symbol of fertility, were well-developed, her lower body was sturdy, and her chest was very large. Her muscles were evenly developed, making her body perfect for hunting. If she ever had children, they would never go hungry.

Her body, having surpassed the natural limits of what a human could possess, was hard to categorize as purely human.

In any case, Jess’s body was made of soft flesh, unlike animals who could rely on thick fur to ward off the cold. Her exposed legs and arms looked so cold that Lian couldn’t help but worry.

Just as he was thinking of offering her his outer coat—

“Boss!”

A strange voice called from afar. Turning his gaze toward the sound, Lian saw two male beastkin looking in their direction.

“The boss is back!”

One of them shouted loudly, then pulled out a horn.

Blowing a horn in the snowy mountains was practically a new method of suicide, as it could trigger an avalanche. Jess’s temper flared at the foolish beastkin’s actions.

“That… idiot!”

Though the insult she spat out was nothing special, her voice sounded terrifying, as if it had come straight from hell. Lian flinched, his shoulders trembling as he looked at Jess, but she had already dashed off.

Bwoo…! Hee…ee…

The majestic sound of the horn fizzled out weakly like a mosquito’s buzz in the face of Jess’s fist. As Lian approached Jess, who was shaking the male beastkin by the collar, he thought to himself.

‘…Has Jess made a lot of beastkin friends?’

The thought that suddenly popped into his head made him stop in his tracks.

‘It’s a good thing that Jess has more friends… but why do I feel so irritated?’

A strange discomfort, like a hangnail on his fingertip, made him frown. Before he knew it, his gaze had shifted to the male beastkin being thoroughly scolded by Jess.

End of Chapter