Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: You're Such a Pitiful Bitch, Huh?
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You're such a pitiful bitch, huh?
My hand moved before I could even think.
Smack—!
But I felt no regret whatsoever.
Because right now... my lips, which only my wife Sora was allowed to touch, had essentially been raped.
Once I framed it that way, far from any guilt, rage flooded my insides instead.
Fuck purposes and all that bullshit.
All that swirled in my head was how to tear that fucking cunt bitch Kurokawa Ren apart.
Watching her slowly turn her head, cradling her slapped cheek, I instinctively clenched my fist.
Even back when I was crawling around as a Villain Alliance grunt, I'd never suffered this level of humiliation.
But then.
"Spicy, huh."
Kurokawa Ren pressed her hand to her bruised cheek, still smiling calmly as ever.
"Honestly, I'm a little disappointed. I thought you were someone who could keep his emotions in check... Guess not, huh? Right, villain husband, Mr. Kim Taegon?"
"……."
For a moment, my breath caught.
Just as I feared.
I'd braced for the worst, but this bitch really knew all along?
Instinctively, old memories flashed through my mind.
Back then, I was definitely wearing that perception-blocking mask.
Yet this smug cunt in front of me pierced right through it, smiling seductively as she met my gaze.
As if to say, 'We've already met before, haven't we?'
"You knew who I was?"
My voice came out low and cracked.
"Of course."
Ren smiled softly with her eyes, nodding as if it were the most obvious thing.
"Because... we've already fought once before, haven't we?"
"…!"
"Did you think a mask like that would fool me? Heh, you're mistaken."
Ren's lips curled in mockery.
"Our Kurokawa family isn't just mages. We're swordsmen. The senses engraved in our blood won't be tricked by cheap perception-blocking magic."
...So that's why.
That fucking mask hadn't worked worth a damn.
If her family had trained that 'sense' for generations, my little trick was doomed from the start.
A shitty feeling washed over me, along with a new question.
"...So, you knew who I was even when Sora and I first entered your family estate?"
"That's right."
"Then why let us in? You could've killed me then, when I was off guard."
Though rage boiled inside me, my voice sank cold as ice.
Not the weight of a lump of metal, but the sharpness of a honed blade.
A short breath escaped Ren's lips.
Her smile paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing.
"Simple. I thought you and I... shared the 'same goal'."
"...Same goal?"
"Yes. Mr. Taegon, do you know... what the title 'Strongest of the Prismatic Eight' really means?"
Ren suddenly changed the subject.
I had no reason to humor her bullshit in this fucked-up situation.
I shrugged and spat it out.
"Strongest is strongest, nothing more. Literally, the most powerful and perfect magical girl. That's it."
And among them, holding the top spot was my wife, who'd stayed on the front lines long past retirement age.
Pink Lumina, Kang Sora.
A vulgar body that bulged out everywhere compared to her costume.
Yet she'd never once been defeated—the undisputed strongest.
The pussy I slapped around every night from on top was the world's acknowledged 'strongest pussy'.
"So what?" I sneered at her, and Ren's smile returned as she nodded.
"Exactly. Strongest is strongest. And right now, the strongest of the Prismatic Eight is definitely Senior Lumina."
She stared straight at me, drawing out her words.
"Kang Sora, the one you married under a 'sham marriage' just to stay close and rack up achievements."
Sham marriage... What the fuck is this nonsense?
I nearly snapped back but clamped my mouth shut.
For now, digging into Ren's true intentions took priority.
Sometimes, it's best to shut up and listen.
"And before Senior Lumina, the strongest was my mother. The former head, Kurokawa Mitsuri."
I snorted.
"So what? Mad that my wife stole the top spot, so you grabbed me?"
"No."
Ren's smile didn't waver a bit.
"Times change, lifespans change, and the strongest always shifts. Mother acknowledged that too. Even when Senior Lumina surpassed her, she stepped aside without a word."
Ren paused, then let out a low chuckle.
"But there was one thing I couldn't accept. Whether that was truly the 'strongest'."
"...What're you talking about?"
"Simple. My mother was brilliant. And she was so ruthless that even me—her own daughter, birthed from her womb—she never once praised in her lifetime. But people like that... are even harsher on themselves. Obsessed with perfection, they'd shed their human shell entirely."
Kurokawa Ren's mother—the woman called the strongest magical girl before my wife Sora.
Silver Majesta, Kurokawa Mitsuri.
Her life was discipline incarnate.
No distinction between weekends and weekdays.
She gripped her sword before dawn broke and refined her mana until the moon dipped low.
To her, 'rest' was synonymous with sloth.
True to her Prismatic Eight status, she never smiled in public.
Every expression, every glance was part of her training.
A smile in front of others meant 'disorder', fatigue shown meant 'weakness'.
That brutal self-control extended to her private life too.
Even basic human desires of flesh and blood were subjected to iron rule.
Pain became part of her mana, joy dismissed as emotional residue.
Watching her, Ren had called such a being beyond 'human' her mother since childhood.
A steel woman devoid of emotion, and the mightiest magical girl of all.
That's probably why.
Ren both feared her mother and admired her more than anyone.
"Someday... I want to make a mother like that smile."
That was her first reason for becoming a magical girl.
"So I trained until my eyes bled. Not to tarnish Mother's name—no, to surpass her someday. That's how I earned the name 'Silver Serenity'... and took my seat among the Prismatic Eight that day."
Her gaze drifted far, then locked firm.
"But then someone came along to tarnish that seat."
"Who?"
"Pink Lumina. Your wife."
Ren's smile twisted cold.
"Calling herself the strongest, yet she laughs when happy, cries when sad, drools over good food... Seeing that vulgar laziness smeared all over the name Mother left behind made me want to puke."
I glared at her silently.
"So you hated that? The happiness?"
"Happiness? Ha."
Ren scoffed.
"The title of strongest isn't just a power ranking. It's the 'shield of the nation'. It can't waver on petty emotions. But what was she like? Bawling her eyes out over one dead junior, collapsing at the funeral... Is that the 'strongest'?"
A brief silence.
Ren seemed to notice her own expression twisting and quickly rebuilt her smile.
She extended her hand and said,
"That's why, Mr. Taegon. The reason you sham-married Senior Lumina as her husband... It was for 'assassination', right?"
"...What?"
"But you haven't killed her yet. Simple reason. She's too strong. You couldn't find the right moment."
Her tone brimmed with certainty.
As if she'd already peered into my guts, she stated it like fact.
"So, slicing her finisher from behind that day was for the same reason?"
"Correct."
Ren flashed a pure white smile, as if praised.
"Can't beat her head-on. So break her heart instead. The fastest way to break a person isn't shattering their mana—it's shattering their 'love'."
"That's why you shoved your tits in my face, and tried kissing me today?"
"She loves you. So if I steal that love... what happens to Pink Lumina?"
Her eyes curved slowly, lewdly.
"Betrayed by her husband, her pride, the world all at once. That's the 'strongest's' downfall I want to see."
Ren smiled soft as a beast.
Deeper than killing intent, raw desire laced that smile.
"That's when I'll crush the true strongest."
I said nothing for a moment.
Staring at the woman before me, my rage oddly cooled.
Just... emptiness.
"Kurokawa Ren."
"Yes, Mr. Taegon."
"Have you ever once considered that I'm no villain, that I truly married Sora out of 'love'?"
"......Huh?"
For an instant, Ren's smile stiffened.
"Haha, what're you saying? A joke? Love, now?"
She covered her mouth, chuckling as if it'd been the world's funniest line.
"Even villains are so innocent. Love? That's just dopamine illusion from the brain. You really think it exists? It's just feel-good secretions."
Hearing that mockery, I quietly looked down at her.
"Kurokawa Ren. When... do you masturbate?"
"Wh-what, what?"
Ren's eyes flew wide in shock. Her ear tips flushed red in an instant.
"Guess. Once a month."
"H-how do you—"
"Can't even shove your fingers all the way in. Too scared."
I tilted my head sideways.
"Instead, you barely graze the clit hidden under its hood with your fingertip, stifling your pants. The thrill's just that fleeting sensation."
Ren's eyes shook wildly. Her fingers trembled on her knee.
"Wh-what's that got to do with anything?"
I took a step closer. My shoe stepped on her shadow.
"What you imagine then... isn't a man."
Her breath stopped.
"It's your dead mother."
"—!"
Ren's shoulders stiffened.
The hand she'd clumsily raised hung in the air.
"What you feel at your fingertips isn't your body, or pleasure."
I slowly raised a finger.
"It's the touch of that woman who never once stroked your head as a child. A fantasy you conjured, stroking yourself with it."
Ren's face drained white. Her breath hitched hard.
Lips quivering, her smile shattered to pieces.
I chuckled lightly.
"I can tell at a glance. You've never been 'loved', have you?"