Chapter 105

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 105

Chapter Title: Succubus's Dream (3)

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"What... do you plan to do with me?"

Chae Yeon-hwa lightly grasped her already severed arm and wrapped a barrier around the wound.

It seemed she was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trying to stem the overflowing blood first, as any more bleeding would be dangerous.

"...?"

I looked down at Kali... no, Chae Yeon-hwa, who was still on the verge of death, her life force steadily fading.

'... What choice should I make?'

Normally, there wouldn't even be a need to hesitate—I should just kill her right away.

Before considering any extenuating circumstances, Chae Yeon-hwa was a demon who had attacked Seolga,

and as a lord-class demon, she was one of the major forces in the demon realm.

Besides, from a player's perspective, she was one of the characters who always stressed me out at the beginning of every main story route, giving me even more reason not to spare her.

And yet.

For some reason, my hand wouldn't move easily.

Was it because I'd learned about her past—something I'd never heard even once while actually playing the game?

Or was it because of the influence from her teaching me barrier arts every week, even hinting that the artificial dungeon would be dangerous?

I didn't know exactly what it was.

But one thing was certain.

I had almost no intention of killing Chae Yeon-hwa right now, enemy of humanity and one of the demon realm's top forces.

"... Haa, this is driving me crazy."

I glanced over to get Seol Yu-bin's opinion, but she had already moved back toward the Eternal Frost's ice crystal and was replenishing mana into the top-grade magic stones placed around it.

It seemed she had judged that there was no danger against a demon who couldn't even resist anymore.

Or maybe, since she was on friendly terms with me and it looked like there were circumstances, she was giving us space.

Either way, in this situation, it meant I had to make the choice alone, based on my own will and judgment.

I turned my head back and looked down at Chae Yeon-hwa.

And... with great difficulty, I opened my mouth.

"Can I... ask you one thing?"

"Ask me anything. I'll answer everything I can."

"... How many humans have you killed so far?"

"Five."

She wasn't bluffing when she said to ask anything.

Answering without the slightest hesitation.

Five... even more surprising.

'That's incredibly low.'

One couldn't measure the weight of lives with mere numbers, but for a demon—

a lord-class demon at that—to have killed only five humans meant she had truly avoided slaughter almost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entirely.

Of course, there was plenty of possibility she was lying.

But somehow, it didn't feel like a lie.

"Why did you kill those five?"

"Three were hunters I had infiltrated as; they accidentally discovered my identity, so I had to kill them.

The other two were on orders from Lord Versain Alma."

"... Were they good people?"

"Well, two were humans raising slave hunters while deceiving the association's eyes, and the last one was trash with over twenty prior convictions."

Chae Yeon-hwa answered dryly.

As if asking why there was any reason to keep them alive.

"...?"

I was at a loss for words for a moment.

Not out of absurdity, but because I genuinely had nothing to say.

On top of that, it was so different from the composed image of Chae Yeon-hwa I'd known until now.

But the woman before me right now—

had already lost one arm, had a hole pierced through her abdomen, and from her legs down was fused with ice, barely clinging to life. She was nothing more or less than a patient clearly about to die.

"Then... aside from those five?"

"That's the end of the humans I've killed with my own hands."

An answer without hesitation.

Not even her pupils wavered.

"Before becoming a lord, most of my fights were internal to the demon realm. After becoming a lord, rather than killing humans... I spent more time dealing with other lords and clingy demons."

"......?"

Honestly, digging further would probably yield similar answers.

Besides, the number itself wasn't what I was curious about.

I just wanted to know how many innocent people she'd killed as a demon.

"... Whew."

I let out a long sigh.

"I think I've sorted things out now, more or less."

"Sorted out?"

"Yes."

I slowly raised my right hand and opened the inventory window.

Beyond the transparent window, one item glowing with a iridescent light floated up.

Back when I was leaving Yoo Ga after eating with Yoo Ji-an, she had given me one, saying she was too anxious and it was extremely expensive, but she'd use it for her junior.

At the time, I thought I'd use it someday in a real crisis—

'But I never imagined it'd be used like this.'

I took out the potion.

A clear turquoise liquid inside the glass bottle emitted a faint glow.

Chae Yeon-hwa's pupils turned toward the potion bottle.

Her blood-clouded eyes cleared up, if only for a moment.

"...... That's."

"A supreme recovery potion. The kind that easily costs hundreds of millions each."

"I see. So that's what your decision means?"

She let out a small chuckle.

"Quite an expensive gift for a dying succubus."

"Right? I hesitated right up until pulling it out."

I lightly shook the potion.

"Whether to pour this on my own back after getting stabbed and screaming in pain, or save it for an even more dire situation?"

"But you're not choosing either of those, it seems."

"Exactly."

I stepped closer and knelt down in front of her.

Her upper body, half-buried in ice, came into the center of my view.

"My choice is to save one lord-class demon... and pull her to my side."

"...?"

Chae Yeon-hwa's fingers trembled faintly.

"Are you really, truly thinking of saving me?"

Cautious, but clear in her eyes was pure curiosity, a bit of expectation, and— a tiny bit of anxiety.

I looked straight into those eyes.

"I plan to keep getting stronger until I defeat the Demon King."

My mouth moved on its own.

"Not just getting stronger, but by any means necessary."

The choices I'd made so far flashed by.

The irreversible constraint of the Vow of Purity.

The Vow of No Retreat that allowed no backing down.

The efforts to always find answers amid the endlessly tangled futures.

It was too late to apply selective ethics now; I'd come too far.

Right now, I had to do everything I could.

"Professor Chae Yeon-hwa's barrier arts—"

I deliberately called her the same way as before.

Not as the Lord of Obsession Kalius, but as the professor who taught me barrier arts.

"are one of the best means for me to get stronger."

"...?"

"Just looking at how you betrayed the demon realm and even beheaded a lord shows it.

Barriers, swordsmanship, understanding of the battlefield. They're among the sharpest tools for surviving this damn world."

I held out the potion in my hand toward her.

"So— I decided to save you."

After saying it, my breathing felt a little lighter than expected.

As if belatedly accepting a question that could only have this answer from the start.

Chae Yeon-hwa said nothing for a while.

She just looked straight up at me.

Legs bound in ice, severed arm, body stained with blood.

Even bearing all that, her gaze befitted a noble lord.

"... It'll be dangerous, you know."

She whispered.

"What if everything I've said so far was a lie and I've been deceiving you?"

"Doesn't matter."

I nodded.

"Still, I think this choice will be more advantageous for beheading the Demon King.

So what if humanity finds out and curses me? It's not the first or second time I've nearly died anyway."

"......?"

A brief silence.

And then— she smiled ever so faintly.

"... I knew I liked you."

"Pardon?"

"My choice."

Chae Yeon-hwa grasped the potion with her remaining left hand.

Frost fell onto the back of her hand, the glass bottle's surface instantly freezing white before cracking and regaining its original sheen.

"From the perspective of the Lord of Obsession— I'm certain I've chosen an utterly perfect partner."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It is one."

She bit off the bottle cap with her teeth.

"But in exchange, promise me one thing. Student Hyun-sol."

"What?"

"Someday, if—"

Her red pupils sank deeply.

"you judge that I'm truly a threat to the future. Then, without hesitation... cut off my head."

"......?"

"That's the responsibility of the human who saved a demon."

I thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright. I promise."

"Hehe... Good. Then—"

Chae Yeon-hwa glanced down at the potion once.

"Shall I entrust this body's future to you, Student Hyun-sol?"

And with that, she brought the bottle to her lips and drank it all down.

The moment the turquoise liquid passed her throat— a strange vitality, utterly different from the Eternal Frost's energy, subtly spread throughout the basement.

Enough that even I, right beside her, felt a slight healing effect.

"Kuh...!"

Her body shuddered violently.

From the cross-section of her severed shoulder, new flesh writhed like sprouting buds.

From the abdominal puncture wound, torn flesh began knitting back together.

The glass-like frost encasing her ice-buried legs shattered and scattered,

and her paralyzed muscles and nerves slowly regained function.

'... This potion is insane.'

I could tell just by watching.

It was healing bordering on the realm of gods.

As expected of the future greatest alchemist.

"Haa... haa... haa..."

Regulating her breath, Chae Yeon-hwa finally lifted her upper body slightly.

Not fully recovered, but at least she seemed to have escaped the state of imminent death.

Her red pupils locked onto my eyes again.

"You really... saved me, Student ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hyun-sol."

"Yeah. I did."

"I always wanted to have you at the academy, but now I feel even more obsessed."

Chae Yeon-hwa's lips slowly curved up.

The same dangerously alluring smile I always saw in the lab.

"Take good care of me from now on. My— eternal partner."

"That title's a bit much. I just saved you, Professor; I never said I'd be your mate."

"Then how about prospective mate?"

"Watch your words, Professor."

"Ah, hearing 'Professor' from you always sounds so good."

"Mm."

Even in this short exchange, a warning alarm rang in a corner of my mind.

A system window like 'Contract with the Lord of Obsession in progress.' seemed about to pop up.

But whatever it was— the potion was already handed over.

The choice was made.

All that remained was responsibility.

"Hyun-sol!!"

It was then.

From ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the basement entrance, an urgent voice calling my name rang out.

It was Seol Yu-bin.

"The ice crystal... the ice crystal is acting weird!!"