Her fingers moved gently... A moment later.
"Click."
A crisp sound rang out.
The brass lock sprang open.
Lili removed the brass lock, pushed the iron-barred door open with both hands, and slipped into the private storeroom. But then.
One glance was all it took.
Lili froze on the spot. Compared with the smell in the corridor outside.
The fragrance inside the private storeroom was unbelievably rich. The wooden shelves around her were packed with labeled bottles of finished Divine Wine. But none of those were the most lethal. On a raised platform in the very center of the private storeroom stood a single exquisite bottle. It held crystal-clear Divine Wine.
Merely approaching it was enough for the fragrance of that bottle of Divine Wine to seize Lili's heart. No wonder Zanis, the wine keeper, never drank Divine Wine and absolutely forbade anyone who had drunk it from approaching this private storeroom.
Such supreme Divine Wine could utterly entrance anyone who had tasted it, to the point that they would willingly sacrifice even their souls to that bottle of liquid.
As she smelled that fragrance, Lili's pupils began to lose focus, and the world before her gradually began to warp.
Her body moved toward the platform, step by step.
She reached out with trembling hands and picked up the bottle filled with Divine Wine. All she had to do was pull out the stopper. Just one sip would take her to paradise... That thought swelled wildly in Lili's mind. But then. The next second.
Lili squeezed her eyes shut. Both rows of teeth bit down hard on her tongue! She bit with such force that her tongue split instantly, blood streaming out. "Lili... must not drink it..."
"...Must never... become that kind of monster again..."
Lili opened her eyes. The