Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Kiss?

“…I kept working harder, thinking I just needed to reach their expectations… but by the time I realized I no longer cared for their validation… it was already too late. The ghost had already begun its work. I kept living, but it does not feel like living at all.”

She smiled faintly.

“I never had a real friend. Then you came along. You chose to stay, even knowing how dangerous it was. I admire you, Lana.”

Lana looked at her quietly. “You have no siblings?”

Naina shook her head. “It was always just me.”

Lana placed a hand on her back. “I understand.”

Naina looked up. “What about you? What have you experienced?”

“Let’s not talk about me.” Lana gave a tight smile.

Her unsaid words were… You are the one with not much time left.

“I want to know.” Naina insisted, she resembled a child who was throwing a tantrum. “I consider you a half friend, Lana! So please! Tell me!”

Lana took a slow breath. If that was Naina’s wish… then she will fulfil it.

“I had three brothers once. I did everything for them, and they did everything for me. Later, I learned I was not actually their family. I also once believed that if I excelled, someone would finally see me. So I worked until I became one of the top scorers in the state at a very young age. Only then did they start paying attention. As if my worth had always depended on my results.”

Naina let out a small laugh. “Then you must have lived a good life afterward.”

Lana smiled faintly but did not answer. Instead, she looked at Naina. “What else do you want to talk about?”

Naina thought for a moment, her gaze drifting toward the soft glow of the bedside lamp, before she spoke.

“I want to talk about… love life.” Her voice was quiet, almost shy. “I never had a lover. Did you ever have one, Lana?”

Lana let out a small laugh, the sound light despite the heaviness hanging between them. She shook her head.

“No. I am simply too beautiful. I am out of everyone’s league.”

Naina burst into laughter, leaning forward so much she had to hold her stomach.

Lana’s self-assured tone, paired with the faint dramatic tilt of her chin, was such an unexpectedly narcissistic display that it blurred the tension in the room for a moment.

“Why?” Naina asked, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye.

“You say you’re out of their league, but from what I’ve seen, there are definitely people who could match you.”

Lana paused. Blue eyes… that smile. Her lips curved faintly.

“My standards are too high. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t still be single.”

Naina laughed again, this time softer. The conversation flowed easily between them, as though they were two childhood friends sharing a late-night secret under a blanket fort.

Lana was surprised herself. ’I didn’t think we would bond this naturally.’

Yet everything about it felt effortless.

At some point, mischief sparked between them.

“Let’s pull a prank,” Naina whispered with a conspiratorial grin.

So together, they snuck into the kitchen, their steps light and hushed despite the quiet house.

They found a plain sponge and decorated it with whipped cream to make it resemble a delicate little cake.

It was ridiculous. It was something children would do. Yet for a moment, they were just girls, not a cursed host and the exorcist who might have to watch her get killed.

They called over a maid to taste it. The maid took one look and already knew, everyone in the household had noticed that Naina was going to pull a prank. Still, she played along dutifully.

Just as the maid brought the sponge-turned-cake closer to her lips, Naina snatched it away, bursting into laughter.

“It’s a prank! You almost ate a sponge!” she giggled, unable to contain herself.

The maid smiled weakly. Lana simply watched.

Because in the middle of her laughter, Naina began to cry.

The tears slid down her cheeks silently at first, then openly, pooling along her jaw and dripping from her chin.

Her laughter trembled into something broken, something raw.

Lana’s heart tightened painfully.

’If there is someone, anyone, up there listening… please. Let her live. She doesn’t deserve this.’

In Lana’s eyes, Naina’s aura shimmered faintly gold.

A pure, unblemished brightness that only appeared around those who had never once chosen cruelty, who had endured quietly instead of hurting others.

Yet intertwined with it was a spreading red and black stain, writhing and growing.

Lana remembered Axel’s words. The 120th day. The body is already weakened. The nearing end.

She inhaled slowly, steadying herself. She reached inward and called, ’Mr. Crow, is there any other way?’

Mr. Crow shook its head.

Still, Lana refused to stop. She searched every archive she could find.

She made calls, even to Monk Anaro. His answer was solemn and absolute.

“There is no saving her.”

Lana’s fists tightened until her knuckles whitened.

Across the room, Naina had joined the maids, speaking with them as if everything were normal, as if dawn were promised.

When the clock struck 2:50 AM, Naina suddenly walked to Lana and gently tapped her shoulder.

When Lana looked up, Naina was smiling.

“I already informed the university about the difficulty of my case. You won’t receive any negative evaluation. And I transferred the full payment to Shadow Ridge University. I also left a five-star review. You don’t have to stay anymore. You can go home now. I’ll handle things from here.”

Lana stared at her. Then shook her head once… firm, unwavering.

“I’m not leaving.”

There was a stubborn intensity in her eyes that silenced Naina.

Naina opened her mouth to speak again, then paused. She looked at Lana’s face for a long moment, searching it, memorizing it.

“Then…” her voice came out barely above a whisper, “can I kiss your cheek?”

Lana froze.

Naina smiled faintly, almost apologetically.

“I’m a lesbian. And you… you match every part of what I find beautiful. Before I die, I just want to have at least one small… last taste of love.”

Lana’s eyes widened, breath catching in her throat.

(A/n: What would you have done in her place?)

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