“Aren’t you curious?”

Trying to hide her feelings as much as possible and looking aloof, Aselia glanced at the deputy director addressing her and quickly lowered her head. Because she didn’t want to be slapped like last time.

Utterly bewildered, Aselia couldn’t even guess why the deputy director called her.

But simultaneously, she was so distressed over Kalisten that her body trembled. Since she came into this body, she had never witnessed an experiment conducted herself. Since she was an A-classer, she would be immediately discarded if she as so much peeked at the researchers’ working trials.

“Why are you shaking so much?”

The deputy director stroked Aselia’s cheek. She trembled at her touch. Glancing through the glass, her heart felt strange when she saw Kalisten sitting alone in her chair.

He was getting more and more dazed, as if the drug was taking effect.

“Are you finally aware of your place?”

The deputy warden grabbed Aselia by the cheek and lifted her face, trying to meet her eyes. But she shut her eyes tight in fear.

“A grade is really tiresome.”

“Ugh…”

The deputy director threw her to the floor and ordered the researcher near her.

“Let’s commence.”

“Yes.”

The researchers approached Kalisten. They were all wearing white coats and even gloves. It seemed to be a protective suit, as the faint magical energy was apparent.

They moved Kalisten to the next room. Although from Kalisten’s room, one couldn’t see what lay beyond it, the space from Aselia’s viewpoint could see everything.

In the next room was a large water tank filled with ice.

“Aren’t you curious why we are doing these experiments? Umm A-702?”

Aselia was battling between her fear of the deputy director and her anxiety over Kalisten. When one emotion won over the other, her mouth opened involuntarily,

“Why are you doing these experiments—-Ugh… .!”

—Smack!

The deputy director slapped Aselia across the face. In her high heels, she was even taller than Aselia in her male form. She was struck so hard that she collapsed on the floor. She struggled to get up and bowed her head.

“That child’s mana radiates heat. If it’s the ability to use fire, it’s very weak against the cold.”

“Ah… .”

“He could freeze to death, so take a good look at your friend’s face for the last time.”

A bolt of fear struck Aselia; there were still six days left until he awakened.

But what if he gets awakened by this?

The terror made her open her mouth:

“Why are you showing me this?”

—Smack!

This time she braced her legs to keep from falling, and instead, her body jolted briefly, and the inside of her mouth burst open, causing blood to ooze lightly. But Aselia stood there silently with her head down.

“If you don’t cooperate with us in the future, we will eliminate him.”

At the warning of the deputy director, Aselia understood why she was here. But as an A-ranker, she was extremely limited in what she could do.

“I will do everything you ask. Don’t kill Kal.”

“It depends on how cooperative you are.”

Aselia quivered as the deputy director stroked her swollen cheek.

“Your eyes are the eyes of a loser. Funny enough.”

Aselia lowered her gaze further to avoid responding to her words.

– Cough—!

The sound from the next room made Aselia shift her gaze.

The tank was huge. Almost the whole hall was composed of a massive swimming pool filled with ice. But it was the next sight that shocked her. Kalisten was being dragged with his arms and legs tied.

“Y-you promised to spare* his life—!” [t1v: also means ‘save’ in Korean]

“Indeed, so save him yourself.

The deputy warden withdrew her hand from Aselia and held her gaze. Aselia instinctively noticed that she wanted her to get closer to Kalisten. But no matter what situation was concocted or even if she was doing what she wanted or not—

“Yes.”

—Aselia had no intention of stopping her actions.

She ran out of the room. Even though she was on the other side of the mirror not long ago, getting to Kalisten was quite a distance. So she ran even faster. Then, her feet slapped against the marble floor because she had been dragged here barefoot.

Aselia’s body lacked nutrients. Unable to eat properly, most of her nutrients came in supplements, but that was only enough to keep her from dying. Unlike the other high grades, an A grader was no different from a consumable slave.

So Aselia was irate and frustrated that as soon as she started running, her body ran out of energy and slowed down. With regret, she thought that she should have drank more water from the shower if she had known it would be like this.

“Ugh…”

Out of breath and panting, her mouth tasted like blood. Still, she didn’t want to stop. Her heart was pounding; she was terrified Kalisten would die if she was too late.

He was a monster who annihilated everything and killed everyone in the original story.

So maybe if he died now, she might really be able to circumvent her prophesied death

But.

‘I want you to eat.’

He was worried about her, so he gave her his food.

‘You are too small. It feels like you will break if I hold you.’

He was the one who cared for her even when he was intoxicated. She couldn’t stop now, anxiety peaked and she kept running.

“Ugh…ha.. please… .”

Quivering in fear with every passing moment, she kept running. It was as if her mind and body were working separately. Her stuffy chest and crazy head wanted to hurry.

However, her body couldn’t keep up with her head, and when she barely managed to reach the room, the researchers were staring at the water reservoir listlessly.

“Kal!”