Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Karmic Retribution
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“...”
[...Why are you just standing there? Isn't this a crisis right now?]
Kalliban threw those words at me as I stood there frozen after receiving the box.
‘...It is a crisis, but...’
The first thought that hit me was that something felt off.
Tribal Alliance weddings surpass the traditions of other nations—they're extravagantly massive events that defy imagination.
There are various reasons for this, but fundamentally, the Alliance compensates for its small population with incredibly tight-knit bonds.
In that regard.
When someone from the Great Chieftain's clan gets married, it's a colossal affair so immense that just thinking about the scale gives you a headache.
“...”
Which means.
Showing up with just a single box like this to propose is something that absolutely should never happen under normal circumstances.
A proposal this abrupt—bordering on reckless—would never be accepted.
Especially from someone who values tradition so highly; it sparks more unease than crisis.
“...Marriage?”
So.
I asked cautiously, wondering if this person was serious.
“...Yeah.”
But.
Liru's voice, as she avoided my gaze, remained the same as ever.
She was clearly embarrassed, but her resolve shone through even stronger.
“...I know this is sudden.”
Liru covered her face with both hands and spoke.
“...But if not now, I felt like I'd never get another chance.”
“Huh?”
“If I just wait around, it'll feel like you'll get snatched away.”
Those words trickled out from beneath her hands.
Liru's voice was uncharacteristically timid as she said it.
And mixed in there, unmistakably.
Was fear.
It hit harder because it contrasted so sharply with her usual confident demeanor.
Making it clear she was truly coming at me with all her heart.
“...”
But.
[...You gonna turn her down?]
No choice, right?
It was the same with Elnor and Yuria. If my life hadn't been on the line right then, I would've rejected them all.
From my position, constantly walking a tightrope among demons, the risks were too high.
“...”
I gritted my teeth.
Hard enough to taste blood from my gums.
People always call me trash and all that.
But saying no to someone genuinely coming at me like this always feels guilty.
“I'm sorry, Liru.”
Even if I'd just declared I'd live surrounded by demons, suddenly dropping something like this...
I couldn't accept it.
My goal was to reach that point only after clearing the main scenario and eliminating all threats.
Which meant I already knew what I had to say here.
“...It's just too sudden right now.”
“...”
“We still have so much to learn about each other before we get there... don't you think?”
Laboriously.
I suppressed the lump in my throat and continued as calmly as possible.
“...”
No response came.
Of course no one could reply right away to something like that.
Her face was covered, so I couldn't see her expression.
“...Sorry, Liru. Right now, it just feels too hard.”
I pressed on gloomily.
Liru showed no particular reaction. She just hung her head, staring at the ground.
“...‘Right now,’ you say.”
A low voice murmured those words.
“Does that mean your answer might change later?”
“...”
It won't change.
I never planned on being with you in the first place, anyway.
But I couldn't say that now.
All I could do was give a vague dodge.
“...We should get to know each other first, I think.”
I left it with a bitter smile.
It was close to a clichéd rejection line for saving face, but the words themselves were genuine.
There's a mountain of things she and I still don't know about each other. And we'll keep seeing each other going forward.
“...So. What does ‘getting to know each other’ mean?”
“Even if marriage is too much... we can spend plenty of time together.”
Marriage might be out, but.
Taking it slow is totally doable.
At my words, Liru spoke up again.
“...Then.”
After hemming and hawing for a while, Liru.
Opened her mouth with a tense air.
“Can we start as boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“...That much, sure.”
I've got women all around me ready to kill if I don't marry them. Boyfriend-girlfriend is tame by comparison.
It'd be a relationship level I could brush off somehow if word got around.
“Really?”
With that.
Liru removed the hands she'd kept over her face.
“...?”
But.
Her expression was... weird.
“...??”
Why.
I'd clearly just rejected her proposal.
But she looked like ‘I did it! He took the bait!’?
“...Boyfriend-girlfriend means closer than friends, right? But not lovers yet.”
She even grinned as she said it.
Stunned, I nodded reflexively.
“Y-Yeah.”
“Great, then.”
Liru now beamed openly and patted my shoulders firmly.
Then she pulled me into a tight hug.
“...Liru?”
“If we're boyfriend-girlfriend, this much is fine, right?”
“...L-Liru?”
“Let's meet up often from now on. I'll call you.”
A slightly twisted, fierce smile crept onto Liru's face as she said it.
It was her usual self through and through.
As if.
The gloom, the dejection from moments ago, had all been ‘acting.’
“You're the one who said ‘let's take it slow,’ so no backing out?”
“...”
“Alright then.”
Liru scratched her cheek as she said it.
Her hearty laugh remained, but now with a slight blush.
She nudged my shoulder with her fist.
“Looking forward to it, my ‘boyfriend.’”
“...”
Uh.
What.
Why am I breaking out in cold sweat?
Did I just make a massive mistake...?
“A-Anyway, see you! Have a good evening!”
She must've found her own words embarrassing, because Liru bolted after saying that.
Before long.
I was left standing alone under the evening sky filled with cricket chirps.
“...”
What the hell was that?
[Masterpiece, really. Is this karmic retribution? Or butterfly effect, in your terms?]
Kalliban tossed that at me in a voice full of disbelief.
“...What're you on about?”
[How can I not laugh? You're getting your nose slit wide awake. She learned that straight from watching you. Seeing you on the receiving end is pure comedy.]
“Huh?”
What're you talking about?
Kalliban cackled as he continued.
[By rejecting the marriage, you forced it into ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ territory instead?]
“...”
[She wasn't even paying much attention before. You weren't planning to approach her either. But now you've handed her a perfect excuse to come at you guilt-free under the ‘boyfriend-girlfriend’ label?]
“...”
[With all those around you threatening to kill if you don't meet up, you never saw this sly fox approach coming, did you? Low resistance?]
Huh?
[Once you agreed to start as boyfriend-girlfriend with your own mouth, you can't dodge if she wants to do couple stuff. She's got the justification now.]
“...W-Wait a sec.”
[No matter how desperately your surrounding women crave your attention, none could proactively ‘summon’ you. But now one can?]
Wait. That's. I mean.
Does it really work like that?
[High-level play from that girl.]
“...”
[You just got played, man.]
“...”
[The proposal was bait. She set a trap from the start to seize control.]
Hearing that.
I blanked out for a while.
Then it finally hit me.
“...Huh?”
Unlike Elnor's previous proposal or Yuria's immediate charge after.
No ‘demon alert’ popped up this time.
Meaning.
She'd come to me fully prepared to be rejected.
As if.
She'd predicted from the start that prodding like this would make me react exactly this way.
Thinking back, it had seemed oddly out-of-character for her from the beginning.
“...Huh...?”
Did I.
Just get reverse-gaslit?
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Liru Garda rubbed her still-burning face with effort.
[Wow, you really did it?]
“...Shut up.”
She grumbled curtly at the chuckling voice behind her.
Her heart pounded wildly. It didn't feel real.
Just now, she had.
“...Hey. Um.”
[Yes, Liru.]
“That guy's my... ‘boyfriend’ now, so I, I...”
She murmured while stroking her face.
“...With that guy, like, dating or k-k-kissing and stuff, I c-can do that now?”
[...]
The blue devil desperately stifled a bursting laugh.
Good lord.
Is this what comes out of a grown woman's mouth?
She struts around so boldly, but in romance, she's ridiculously pure.
‘...Good thing I advised her.’
A proposal was something Liru would never have done at her normal ‘pace.’
First opposite-sex friend. First relationship. First confession. First romance.
Every moment she'd build with that man ahead was a string of firsts she'd never had in her life.
Skipping all that for a proposal? Unfair, right?
But.
That's exactly why she did it.
“...You said I'd definitely get rejected here anyway, so why bother? That's what I said.”
Liru muttered in an excited voice, her breath quickening.
“...You're reliable in this stuff, really.”
One thing she'd learned spending time with this guy: the ‘future’ info he occasionally dropped was almost always spot-on.
And somehow influenced by him, she sometimes glimpsed a few seconds into the future herself.
He called it a side effect of the ‘fusion’ process.
-Gray, purple, red—you go through it all. Fusion of fragment and vessel. But we communicate way easier, so ‘attunement’ is simpler?
-Attunement? What kind?
-Oh, like when doing night stuff, hubby gets two flavors at once?
-...
-Joking. You'll get it later, Liru.
She remembered him giggling as he said it.
-When hubby's in his darkest hour, that's when we shine brightest.
Cryptic stuff like that came with it.
Anyway.
[Yeah, well. I kept saying, nothing to lose, right?]
The blue devil floated around her, snickering.
[Considering hubby's current situation, that proposal was a bomb. No way he'd accept.]
But.
By targeting that, she gained an opening to build a ‘natural relationship’ the others couldn't dream of.
And the ‘stage’ to leverage it was coming soon.
[Hmm... Timeline-wise, Hero Selection is tomorrow, I think.]
The blue devil muttered, brushing back his hair.
“...Hero Selection? What's that?”
[It's a thing. Pretty major event.]
At the very least.
All the branching points tied to Dawood Campbell's ‘crisis’ start here.
Hero, Gray Devil, White Devil, Red Devil—a chaotic cauldron all tangled up.
‘Originally,’ neither the blue devil himself nor Liru had a place in it.
But.
[...This ‘round’ will be a bit different, hubby.]
The blue devil murmured, licking his lips slightly.
[I won't let the others monopolize you like last time?]
Unmistakably.
It was a sentence laced with such seductive resonance that even listening Liru felt a chill down her spine.
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