Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Improvement! (7)
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『Sera's Perspective』
Sera rose from her chair and stood right in front of Gob.
Gob stared up at her with wide eyes.
"For all the wrongs I've committed against you so far, I sincerely apologize."
Sera placed one hand on her chest and bowed deeply.
Gob fidgeted awkwardly, at a complete loss for what to do.
"All the violence, the verbal abuse, the neglect, the indifference."
Various scenes flashed through Sera's mind.
She had strangled the neck of the bedridden Gob.
She had collared him and dragged him around like a beast.
Threats, disdain, loathing-filled tirades. Every kind of verbal torment imaginable.
When Gob had brought her food, she had sharply turned him away.
When Kasha had lashed out at Gob with violence, she hadn't stopped it—she had just watched.
Recalling those past events made her chest ache like a stab wound.
"Everything I did was absolutely unforgivable when done to another person."
As Sera spoke up to that point, Gob waved his hands frantically.
Gob scribbled something on his notepad and held it out toward Sera.
[You did it because you didn't know. I hate monsters a ton too.]
As if to say there was no need to apologize, nothing to be sorry for.
He fidgeted so helplessly that anyone might have mistaken Gob for the guilty one.
His gentle heart only made Sera's chest tighten even more.
"Even after suffering all that, you're still defending me?"
Sera's voice cracked.
"Even if it was out of ignorance, it's something that can never be forgiven."
Even if Gob forgave her, she had no intention of forgiving herself.
"That you weren't just some ordinary monster... I could have realized that right from the start if I'd given it even a little thought."
Even without talking to him, she could have known Gob wasn't a typical monster.
If she'd reflected on everything they'd been through together? At the very least, she wouldn't have marched up and strangled him on sight.
If they'd exchanged even a single word? She would have realized he was human in an instant.
"It was my own foolishness. I refused to see the truth."
From their very first encounter, Gob had saved Sera.
The days they'd spent playing, eating, sleeping, and laughing together.
If she'd recalled even a moment of that daily life, she surely would have noticed.
But after regaining her memories, Sera had tried not to think about her time with Gob.
Her hatred for monsters and those fond memories with him simply couldn't coexist.
To cling to that hatred, she had sealed away those memories.
She was the one who had turned a blind eye despite seeing everything clearly. Sera clenched her fists tight.
"Kerkkerk..."
Gob let out a timid croak and held out his notepad.
[It's all in the past anyway, so it's fine. The misunderstanding's cleared up now, so we can just get along great from here on out.]
Gob anxiously peeked at Sera's expression.
At the sight, something surged up inside her.
She hadn't planned to say this much, but her mouth moved on its own.
"Actually, I... I also..."
The words she'd meant to say leaped onto her tongue, only to halt abruptly as if slamming into a wall.
Then they circled the tip of her tongue, hesitating to emerge.
Sera glanced at Gob's face.
He gazed at her with calm eyes, ready to listen, waiting patiently.
Seeing him like that calmed her ragged breathing.
"Actually... I'm a monster too."
Sera finally forced out the words buried deep within.
Gob's eyes went wide as saucers.
His mouth hung open before he hurriedly scribbled on his notepad.
[What exactly do you mean by that?]
He hadn't quite grasped it at first.
Which made sense—Sera looked entirely human, impossible to distinguish.
"I'm a succubus."
She stated it matter-of-factly.
Perhaps too matter-of-factly, because Gob tilted his head, looking puzzled.
"I'll show you."
Sera dispelled her priestly robes. In the blink of an eye, her bare skin was revealed.
She awakened her long-suppressed instincts. Ticklish sensations prickled from her head, back, and tailbone.
Whoosh! Bat wings unfurled with a rush of air.
Goat horns sprouted from her head, and a heart-tipped tail from her rear.
"This is my true form."
Gob gaped at Sera in shock.
Seeing his stunned expression, Sera shrugged.
"It's hideous, isn't it? Grotesque things sprouting from a human body..."
Sera forced a wry smile, trying to play it off casually.
-Shake shake shake!
Gob shook his head furiously, as if to say absolutely not.
"You don't have to lie. I hate this form of mine too."
Not wanting to show any more, Sera immediately reverted to her original appearance.
Once dressed again, she spoke.
"At least I can hide my appearance, so I've been able to stay in human society."
If she couldn't conceal this demonic form, she would have lived completely cut off from the world.
In truth, even now she avoided outside activities as much as possible, so it was hardly different.
"If I'd turned into a goblin like you, I probably wouldn't have lasted a few days."
These weren't empty words—she truly believed it.
How agonizing must that isolation from other people have been?
"Looking at the scars all over your body, I can't even begin to imagine your suffering."
Gob's entire body was marred with scars.
Just surviving the physical violence must have been harrowing.
Enduring in the wild with a goblin's frail body was impossible for anyone short of a survival expert.
The fact that he'd managed it proved just how resilient Gob's spirit was.
"I'll definitely help you. So you can turn back into a human."
Sera looked straight into Gob's eyes.
She wanted to convey that her feelings were utterly sincere.
"If we can't find a way to turn you back, I'll stay by your side until the very last day."
Sera let the words bubbling up spill out without restraint.
But afterward, one concern arose.
She hadn't asked what Gob wanted at all.
On second thought, he might not even want her help.
"I really want to help you, but... does it make you uncomfortable?"
Wondering if she'd gotten ahead of herself, Sera asked cautiously.
-Shake shake shake!
Gob shook his head vigorously.
[Please stay with me.]
Fortunately, he agreed.
As she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, Gob began scribbling on his notepad again.
[But how did you end up as a succubus?]
Sera's face stiffened in an instant.
Gob flinched at her expression and quickly wrote something else, holding it out.
[If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to.]
Sera hesitated for a moment.
It wasn't a story she was eager to share, but Gob was in the same situation, so there was no real need to hide it.
"I'll tell you."
She began calmly.
"A long time ago, I fell into the Demon King's trap and got captured."
Reviving those memories made her head throb, but she pushed through and continued.
"She tortured me day after day until I finally broke and became her subordinate."
A brief summary, but every single day had been pure hell.
The torture involved pain at times, but pleasure far more often.
If it had been only pain, she might have endured. But Sera was weak to pleasure.
Her ascetic lifestyle had left her with zero resistance.
Worse, the Demon King hadn't even delegated to her minions—she'd personally broken Sera's body.
Before long, Sera was brainwashed, turning against humans as the Demon King's servant.
"I killed countless people."
Sera steadied her trembling voice, forcing calm.
She dredged up the memories she'd buried.
Days of seizing humans alive, draining their blood, pulverizing their flesh, shattering their bones.
"I killed so many people."
She couldn't even guess the number.
Hundreds easily, probably thousands. Maybe even tens of thousands.
Among them were children, the elderly—even her former comrades.
All of them had screamed in agony, cursing Sera as they died.
The images were still so vivid that nausea surged up in that moment.
"I laughed while I killed them."
Sera clearly remembered herself grinning brightly amid the horrors.
It was far too heinous to excuse as "not of my own will."
Those events replayed endlessly in her dreams, making restful nights rare.
"I'm... I'm a monster..."
Sera's voice quivered faintly, like a rabbit fleeing a wolf.
A monster in every sense.
Perhaps even more horrific than the Demon King herself.
Who could ever forgive her?
She couldn't even forgive herself.
"Monster... monster..."
Her lips trembled.
Her vision trembled.
Her arms, her body, her legs—all trembled.
Thud. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed right there.
"Monsters deserve to die..."
Her vision narrowed.
Her sight went white, then black.
Her eyes lost focus.
In her half-lidded gaze, Gob's face came into view.
His figure drew nearer.
She couldn't tell if he was coming to her or she to him.
Her forehead bumped gently against his green chest.
Her head tilted slightly, her ear pressing to his chest.
Warm body heat. The steady thump of his heartbeat in her ear.
His scent was so unique.
Somehow frightening, yet reassuring to lean into.
Sera's eyes slowly drifted shut.