Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Home
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“Young Lord.
We’ll set out now.”
The soldiers who had been injured in the sudden celestial ambush were now fully recovered, and the brief investigation prompted by Viscount Conean had wrapped up. With everything settled, Sion’s group was finally able to depart for Clauzen Margrave Territory once more.
Sion nodded and glanced back at the other carriage parked behind them.
‘...Nothing’s going to happen, right?’
Vice Commander Schumacher had confiscated all of Viscount Conean’s goods in the name of the royal family, then handed over the two largest and most luxurious carriages to Sion’s group.
Since it had all been done under royal authority, no one would dare question it later.
‘But Vice Commander?
Why two carriages...?’
‘Ah, the female mage accompanying you, Young Lord Sion, and Miss Lucia made the request.
They said it might cause rumors if they traveled with you, and asked if they could have an extra carriage.
Of course, I granted the two ladies’ wish.’
Schumacher seemed to think Lily and Lucia’s concerns were valid.
And honestly, they were—getting tangled in scandalous rumors was never good for a noble heir.
‘But why do I keep feeling uneasy?’
Lucia and Lily.
Talk about a tricky combo.
And then, right before departure, he’d learned that Lily had invited Risikida into their carriage too.
She’d said there was something important to discuss.
Risikida had resisted a bit, but Lucia had grabbed her hand and dragged her inside anyway—Sion had witnessed the whole thing.
“...”
What the hell?
What?
What the actual hell?
Sure, the golden rule was that men shouldn’t pry into women’s business if they valued their lives, but Sion had his guilty conscience nagging at him. He couldn’t just sit there.
‘This is driving me nuts.’
Was Lily establishing some kind of pecking order?
No, she’d boldly declared she wasn’t the jealous type, so she wouldn’t stoop to something so childish.
Then what?
Why were these three women riding together?
‘Damn it!
Brain, full throttle!
What is it? What the hell is going on?!’
His mind, which usually worked fine, had hit a wall somewhere.
Or maybe it was normal for it not to work in a situation he’d never anticipated.
Oblivious to Sion’s worries, the escorts set the carriages in motion.
Their return journey, delayed for days by the sudden ambush and the slave market incident in Viscount Conean’s territory, was finally underway.
“Whew.”
Sion, who should have been racking his brain about what to do immediately upon returning to Clauzen Margrave Territory, just kept sighing.
With something weighing on his mind, he couldn’t focus on the things that actually needed his attention.
“Whew!”
“The ground’s gonna cave in.
What’s eating you?”
At the clear, girlish voice, Sion glanced down.
His gaze didn’t land on the seat across from him, where someone should have been sitting, but on the floor.
And there sat Winnie.
“Kyaaang.”
Her golden cat eyes sparkled as she fiddled with her pale sky-blue hair, ears perked up, tail swishing back and forth as she stared at the sky.
“...”
“What?
Why’re you staring like that?”
“Sit on the chair, not the floor.”
“This is comfier.”
“Now.”
Sion patted the seat across from him as he spoke.
Winnie stared at him for a moment, then hopped up with agile grace and landed on the chair.
The only issue was that she didn’t sit opposite him—she plopped right next to him.
“Benefactor.”
“It’s Sion.”
“Oh, right.
Sion.
That woman’s dangerous.
Kill her now or run away!”
“How many times do I have to say it?
She’s not like that.”
Sion brushed it off as nonsense, but Winnie spoke even more vehemently.
“Kyaaak!
Dangerous!
Look, even now!
You’re calling her ‘that lady’!
Does it make sense for a human to talk about a demon like that?
You humans hate demons!”
“There are exceptions.”
“Then explain it!
Why’s she acting like that?!”
Sion let out a groan.
The enslavement contract was a secret as good as the succubus clan’s own.
If it got out, factions might try to exploit it, putting the entire race at risk.
That’s why Lily had begged him, when they made the contract, not to tell anyone the details.
Sion, who saw her as his strongest ally, had no intention of exposing her weakness and had kept it under wraps.
So even Lichten Margrave, Raido, and Lucia only knew they had *some* kind of contract—nothing more.
“Sorry, I can’t go into details.
But there *is* a contract between Lily and me, and it means we won’t harm each other.”
“Ugh... But demons are dangerous!
They’re bad!”
Winnie wailed like a stubborn child.
Beastkin, like humans, were raised on the idea that ‘demons are evil.’
They couldn’t escape the grand narrative painted by the celestials.
“Winnie Portable.”
“Yeah, Benefactor!”
“First off, my name’s Sion.
How many times have I said it now?”
“Fifteen this time!”
“...God, don’t let it hit twenty.
Second, you should drop the idea that all demons are automatically evil.”
“Why?
Even you humans say that!
Demons are bad.
Evil!”
Explaining nuance to a kid was the hardest thing in the world, they said.
And damn if it wasn’t spot on.
Sion racked his brain for how to make this cat girl understand, then spoke.
“You know how humans view your beastkin and other non-humans, right?”
“...Obviously.
I mean, look at me—I got captured and went through hell.”
Her teeth ground at the memory as she bared her claws with a snarl.
It was a fierce look, but Sion just booped her nose.
“Ow!”
“Scratch the seat and you’re in trouble.
Claws in.”
“Don’t hit my nose!
It’s sensitive!
Ugh!”
Most beastkin hated nose boops.
It was their key sense of smell, after all.
“Anyway, humans do that crap to non-humans because deep down, they think ‘non-humans are inferior.’
If I’d been one of those typical humans with that mindset, what do you think would’ve happened?”
“...I’d probably be broken—body and soul—like the other girls, rolling around somewhere.”
Sion nodded: exactly.
He gave her head a quick pat of praise, and she swatted his hand away with a hiss—but her tail was wagging, giving her away.
“But I never saw beastkin as inferior to humans.
We’re all the same—crying when it hurts, smiling when we’re happy.
That’s how I approached things, and what happened?
Everyone, including you, got their freedom.
Fixed ideas and prejudices would’ve just led to more tragedy.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Simple: how did you beastkin see us humans?”
“...Bad guys.
Perverts.”
“Good.
Plenty—no, more than half—are trash like that.
So what about me?
Am I one of those bad, perverted pieces of garbage?”
Winnie shook her head furiously.
He was her benefactor who’d saved her and the escorts, ears twitching in agreement.
“Right.
No one’s defined from the start.
Some are good, some are bad.
Others are con artists who switch as it suits them.”
“So?”
“Don’t judge by one thing alone, Winnie Portable.
Even among what you think is all trash, there might be a shining gem.”
Winnie nodded, finally getting it a little.
She peered into his face, then spoke.
“So you don’t see us beastkin as bad?”
“Obviously not.”
“That demon either?”
“Yep.
Sure, it’s complicated, but I don’t think she’s some massively evil schemer who approached me for nefarious reasons.”
Sion emphasized the ‘complicated’ part.
This cat girl had tagged along out of worry that Lily might harm her benefactor—wanting to repay the favor by protecting him.
If he just said, ‘No problem with Lily! Super nice lady!’ she might lose interest and bolt.
‘Keep things ambiguous with Lily-nim so she wonders how to repay the favor, then snag her with some excuse. Perfect.
Might even improve ties with the cat beastkin soon.’
In the original story, Kim Yoo-hyun didn’t seriously connect with cat beastkin or convince other beastkin until much later.
By then, the celestial assault was imminent; he hadn’t gathered enough allies, and most named beastkin ended up slaughtered by celestials, radical fairies, and fanatic humans.
‘Not this time, you bastards.
You scam-pigeon shits.
I’ll make you suffer.
You brats!’
They’d cheered from the back during the continental war that pitted everyone against demons: ‘Go, heroes! The light of justice cheers you on!’—singing hymns.
Then, once demons were mostly dead or crippled, and humans and others were exhausted from the bloodbath, celestials pulled their ‘So much blood has been spilled. The hatred and tears pain my heart; the world must be purified’ bullshit and triggered the ‘Seven Trumpets’—their world-purging protocol.
The kind of garbage that would make even white-collar criminals go, ‘Damn, these pigeon pricks are next-level!’
Sion had zero plans to join that mind-blowing idiocy.
To splash shit on the celestials’ scheme, he needed more ears tuned to his message than their hymns.
“Your answer’s weird, Sion.
She’s really not a bad demon?”
“Can’t give details.
Sorry.”
He smiled awkwardly, laced with an aura of ‘I can’t say more.’
It’d seem suspicious enough to deter rash challenges to Lily, but not enough to make her bail on Sion.
‘Hey, snagged a stray while managing the fish pond. Good enough.’
As expected, Winnie couldn’t hide her unease, pondered hard, then huffed and turned away.
“Sorry if I worried over nothing.
But I can’t drop my guard.
You humans know all the demon stories too, right?
Cut me some slack.”
“Good.
Thanks for saying that, Winnie.”
“W-what?
No need to thank me for that.
Hmph!”
She snorted like it was nothing, but her perky ears and dancing tail at his thanks betrayed her.
‘This is why cats are the best.
Can’t quit that tsun-tsun vibe.’
Acting uninterested but caring, hating it but sticking around.
Sion, who’d once fallen for a cat’s tsun-tsun charm, found her swishing tail, perked ears, golden eyes sneaking peeks in case he called again—everything adorable.
‘...Damn, can’t be catching weird tastes.’
*I’m not a perv, I’m not a perv, I’m not a perv.*
Muttering that, he still found himself grabbing her hand.
Just wondering if cat beastkin had that jelly thing too.
“Kyaaak!
Wh-where are you touching!
Nyaaang!”
Cue the hiss and blushing face.
―――――――Author's Note―――――――
Ruuuush!