Have Courage, Great Queen - 3
She spat out those words with full confidence. However, the side overflowing with confidence was rather Zekiel's, not Christine's.
Christine's gaze was extremely firm.
The sweat droplets on her entire body clearly showed how intensely she had been concentrating.
“Queen's Nest.”
“I understand.”
“Why don't you escape? You have that much life force.”
Christine gritted her teeth and asked. However, the answer that came back was calm.
“I said I wanted to see your true self.”
“I said so.”
“Then look.”
Whoosh.
She adjusted her breath. Christine's red eyes slowly calmed.
Yes, first, she had to think about that. The truth was almost right in front of her eyes. If she closed her eyes now, what more foolish thing could there be?
“Yes. I will look.”
Christine slightly twisted her wrist. The tip of the rapier hanging in the air pointed towards Zekiel.
Despite clearly seeing that, Zekiel didn't move an inch. That composure slightly angered Christine.
I made a huge resolve on this side. Is that not a big deal to you?
The rapier's movement was straightforward. It drew a straight line as upright as its owner's personality and thrust forward.
Kwak!
A sharp sound of something piercing the body. The one who was pierced was Zekiel, but Christine's eyes widened.
“...Why don't you dodge?”
Christine knew it was a foolish question.
After all, inside Queen's Nest, her rapier was absolute. Even if she tried to dodge, it was impossible.
It was only natural to wonder why she didn't even attempt to block it.
“This seems to be your question as well.”
“Eh?”
“The answer is just that.”
Christine, pricked to the quick, bit her lip.
The reality she had feared was gradually becoming true. If this continued, she would face the truth she had harbored for a thousand years, which would reverse her thoughts.
She was both looking forward to it and afraid. She wanted to see it but didn't want to.
She herself couldn't suppress this confusing feeling. The uncollected feelings were scratching mercilessly at Christine's heart.
That's why she pulled out another rapier and held it. She put all her strength into her hand. To steady her mind.
Kwak!
Zekiel didn't move an inch this time either.
Rather, as if it was more comfortable for him too, he spat out breath and blood with a slightly relaxed face.
It was already the second rapier stuck in his body. Breathing heavily, Christine asked.
“What do you think of me?”
“Fiancé.”
“That's not the question. How do you think of me?”
“How do I think...”
Zekiel fell into thought, but the thought didn't last long.
“Pitiable.”
“Pitiable...?”
Christine's teeth clicked as she repeated Zekiel's answer.
He was arrogant. From the first time they met.
Because of the reason 'Vampire Lord', he looked down on everyone and ignored them, and showed no mercy to those he commanded.
It was Christine who stepped in because she couldn't stand it. She accepted the engagement he proposed and tried her best to neutralize him from the side.
So, did he change? He didn't change.
Did he keep the promise with Christine? He didn't keep it.
He was a lonely vampire. Zekiel was too, and Christine was too.
He acted as if he had everything, but in the end, nothing remained by his side. In Christine's case, since she had almost everything taken from her by Zekiel, she was lonely.
She felt a bit of pity. She thought the other side was pitiable for having a life that was just a shell.
But at the same time, she hated him. Dealing with you, whose existence itself is a sin, became a mission, and Christine was going to kill him with her own hands.
However, one day he suddenly appeared on his own.
His face when he appeared at Christine's coronation was quite different. Still, there was a sense of blood and loneliness, but at the bottom of his eyes, something was hidden. A certain goal that hadn't existed before. A conviction.
Now, there was no need to think deeply about what actions he took after reappearing.
He helped Christine. Even if it was by offering his body, it wouldn't be an exaggeration. However.
“Is that so.”
For a thousand years, Christine had been exploiting Zekiel, and the feeling towards Christine who reunited after a few hundred years was only pity and sympathy.
After all this time, did you do such a thing because you felt only that kind of emotion?
Pitiable.
That word pierced Christine's heart like a needle. You made me pitiable, didn't you?
This time, the impression she felt towards Zekiel was no different. He was treating Christine like a toy and mocking her...
“Just that kind of... Just... that kind of feeling...!”
Christine's face twisted like a demon.
Kwak-!
Another rapier pierced Zekiel's chest and went through. Since it was three, Zekiel choked and twisted, spitting blood.
“Because you're pitiable... pitiable? You can say such words to me!”
She had already stabbed three times, but she couldn't stop. Was this what it meant to be swallowed by anger.
The accumulated resentment that had been piled up finally burst out. Grabbing Zekiel's shoulders, she continued stabbing the rapier.
Kwak-!
One. Two. She stabbed three more, but the anger didn't subside.
However, this time, it was Christine who trembled, not Zekiel.
Finally, Zekiel fell. Christine, sitting on top of him, grabbed another rapier and opened her eyes wide.
Zekiel had actually been taking care of Christine.
What a foolish thought. That makes sense.
“The coexistence of the Human Realm and the Demon Realm... Did you spit out such words to mock me? No, you would have. You are such a man!”
Cough, cough blood.
Zekiel spat blood. Even lying down, it wouldn't have been easy.
“It's the truth.”
“Lies are over. I'm tired of it!”
She held the rapier with both hands. One more stab and Zekiel would die. He wouldn't be able to breathe again.
“...Even if it's the truth.”
While saying that, he burst into a cool smile. He stared at Christine, who had climbed on top of him, fixedly.
“And, originally, I like pitiable things. I said pitiable not to mock you.”
His tone was so casual. As if nothing had happened to his body.
“If it was the sin of arrogance, I might have mocked you, but I am currently a professor in the Human Realm. I teach the students I like. Pitiable students.”
Upon thinking about it, that's right. When Christine went to find Zekiel, he was at Rahal Academy. Christine had always thought it was for internal strife.
“Well... seeing it directly is better than talking.”
While saying that, Zekiel painfully pulled something out from his bosom.
What he pulled out were a few crumpled sheets of paper soaked in blood, turned entirely red.
Since they were written in blue letters with mana, there was no problem reading the letters. Zekiel handed them to Christine's hand and told her to take them and read them.
“Event Horizon, Burning Buster, Plasma Chain Cutter, etc.— all magic used by human magicians. And this was a manual about it.”
Christine looked down at Zekiel with somewhat dazed eyes. He was smiling faintly.
“Materials used in lectures. It seems to have quite an effect. Recently, I've even heard students say they are grateful.”
Yes, even if it was Christine the vampire, she could feel how considerate this material was.
...Why show this to me now. An inexplicable feeling surged through Christine's whole body.
“So, you stopped being the sin of arrogance.”
“That's right.”
“Why... didn't you tell me?”
Christine's lips, bitten, bled. She stared at Zekiel fixedly.
“If it was for such a reason, why didn't you tell me? I would have welcomed it, even if I thought it was strange, why did you hide it so tightly...”
“Because you are my fiancé.”
Christine stopped breathing. Her nonexistent heart seemed to stop once.
The conversation was inefficient and dirty. He talked casually, but Christine had to shudder every time she heard one word.
She almost dropped the rapier. It seemed like it would break again. He continued talking so casually.
“For the coexistence of the Demon Realm and the Human Realm, there are inevitable deaths. And in that death, my death is inevitable. How can a demon professor survive? I would die at the hands of the students I raised.”
Every single word made her heart sway.
She had forced herself to hate this man. She had stabbed the rapier six times. However, it seemed like a meaningless struggle.
“The world that coexists will eventually come. However, if you don't live to enjoy that world, it would be quite bitter for me, your fiancé.”
While saying that, he even joked.
“Well, but not at the hands of the students... I could die right here.”
She choked because she knew the intention of the joke. He was trying to relieve Christine's tension even in this moment.
Although she remembered all the words he said, she couldn't believe them. So she pressed Zekiel and pressed him again.
In a situation where life was urgent, there would be no one telling lies. This way, she could hear his true self.
However, the truth conveyed from him was ultimately to keep the promise with Christine.
He kept the promise. Now, there was no doubting it.
“...No.”
Christine finally realized. She had stabbed and pierced Zekiel not just with his body.
She had stabbed the heart she had hated and the accumulated resentment, and his words were the finishing blow. Finally, the repressed thing came out.
The heart that had been frozen melted and surged up. Christine vaguely thought she might know the name of this emotion.
“You will not die here.”
When the sound of the rapier falling to the floor was heard, ting.
Christine slowly lowered her head. Her silver-white hair covered Zekiel's face and formed a curtain.
In the obscured vision, what was felt was a soft, fluffy sensation. She had felt it before, but this time it was a bit deeper. She hugged Zekiel's face and continued kissing.
Their breaths mixed. Somehow, Christine was mixing her breath with the one she had hated more than anyone.
“...Zekiel.”
After the kiss.
Both Christine and Zekiel's physical condition improved. What determines the effect of life force is the other's mindset.
She hadn't imagined that such a day would come.
Her face was burning hot.
But Christine could now be quite sure. Every time she faced this man in the future, her face would burn hot like this.
“My interrogation will not end with just one time. I will do it once a week.”
Every time, she would use Queen's Nest.
...So, every time, she would have to recover her life force.
“Have you said everything?”
“One more thing left.”
She cut off Zekiel's words. There was still one more thing to stab.
“The ring...”
Not with the rapier, but with words.
“Give it back to me.”
After five hundred years, Zekiel finally had a fiancé for Christine.