Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 164
Chapter Title: Cliffhanger Temptation
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“This is... amazing.”
Pellisi marveled as she looked around the interior.
A space hidden beneath the floorboards of an ordinary home.
She had seen human storehouses before, but this was her first time encountering such an elaborate shelter.
“You could live here your whole life.”
Life cannot survive without sunlight.
But that was a lie.
Here, you could live without ever seeing the sun.
No economic activity or social interaction was required.
Everything needed for survival was compressed into this place.
“To think of something like this...”
Judak*: No one will find us there, right?
“Indeed.”
Judak wasn’t here.
Yet he wielded magic of this caliber.
This was a singularity in magic.
Even a dragon couldn’t help but be astonished by it.
For puny mortals, it would be an unavoidable shock.
“But you’re not surprised either.”
Pellisi’s gaze turned to Penny.
“What?”
Suspicion lingered in Pellisi’s eyes.
Unfazed by magic like this.
Judak didn’t create things without reason.
Everything he produced had its purpose.
Besides, a being like Judak had no need for a mere shelter.
‘If such an existence built this place...’
“Do mortals like you live in spots like this?”
Penny, utterly powerless.
And a bunker so perfect even a dragon would struggle to find it.
“What a depraved world these days.”
A nobody without any power.
And she gets privileges like this from Judak?
Even she, the great queen of dragons, had to watch her step just to get a cup of coffee?
“What are you getting at?”
“Mortals who know their place live longer.”
Envy. Sheer envy.
It was right then, as jealousy made her bristle.
“Jealous?”
“What...!”
Penny’s direct hit made Pellisi’s eyes flash.
Of course, Penny knew it too.
She was just an ordinary human girl, powerless.
No good provoking a dragon.
But for some reason, right now, she wanted to poke and prod.
“I can do whatever. Judak listens.”
She wanted to poke and prod relentlessly, savoring victory over that lizard.
So she kept scratching at her nerves.
So what if she was queen of dragons?
Judak stood behind her.
“I don’t have to scramble to catch Judak’s eye like you.”
“...Enough! Stop right there.”
Pellisi warned firmly.
But Penny hadn’t forgotten the tone from upstairs, dismissing her.
Stop? Didn’t that mean keep going?
“Poke?”
“Grahhh!”
Pellisi’s mouth gaped wide at Penny’s taunt.
Dragons don’t get provoked by anyone.
Perhaps that’s why—a mere taunt was enough to rile her up.
Her mouth split open, sharp as shark teeth!
“Grah?!”
Suddenly, Penny shoved her head right into it.
Pellisi recoiled in panic.
“Can’t eat me? Want to, but can’t? Can’t do a thing?”
“This... this mana hasn’t even dried on your head...”
Pellisi’s mind raced.
Want to smash her. Want to punish her.
And the scenes of world destruction Judak had shown.
Those two clashed furiously as she clenched her fist.
“Ah?”
Envy, bound on the floor beside them, opened her eyes.
*
“Oh, you’re awake.”
As expected, not ordinary—woke up faster than thought.
Judak*: Oh
“Eek!”
Now she flinched just at my chat.
Envy rolled her green eyes frantically, taking in the situation.
A disheveled green-haired beauty, trembling while bound in a cold space.
Judak*: Now I look like the kidnapper
“Th-that’s...”
Judak*: Answer
“No, I’m so happy... Happy enough to go mad...”
A reaction completely opposite from before.
She’d become incredibly cooperative.
The issue was whether she’d stay cooperative even if told she’d be eaten.
“No, absolutely not.”
Judak*: Thought so?
Even if not total death, who’d like being absorbed?
“I can’t force-feed, right?”
I had no intention of handing over Envy’s demonic rights either.
She’d already taken multiple lives.
Unfortunately, it was impossible.
“Needs consent.”
Judak*: ???
“We can’t force each other. Absorption requires the other’s agreement.”
Thinking about it, that was right.
If forced absorption were possible, they wouldn’t be called the Seven Deadly Sins.
“But who’d agree?”
Snatching food right out of their mouth...
To be blunt, who’d agree if told: From now on, parental consent needed to eat this.
Judak*: Then force them to agree?
“Has to come from the heart.”
Not easy.
“But can this even work?”
Craving life.
It was something humans, elves, even demons all shared.
Doubted it could be done, but surprisingly, Penny was calm.
“I can do it.”
Her face brimmed with confidence.
Didn’t know how, but.
“But can you help with a few things...?”
Penny needed my assistance.
Judak*: Yeah, what do you need?
“A grinder.”
Judak*: What?
A grinder?
Surely not planning to break her will with direct pain?
But Penny wouldn’t do that.
“I’ll run the grinder 24/7 nonstop. Until her mind breaks someday.”
Penny aimed not for pain, but psychological pressure.
A sort of grinder ASMR.
“Sorry, Envy, but no choice.”
Too dangerous to release after murders.
And couldn’t trust her.
Penny chose to instill fear.
“What do you think?”
Penny asked my opinion.
But my idea differed slightly.
“She’s Jealousy, right?”
Jealous of everything.
Especially things she hadn’t experienced or enjoyed—her jealousy exploded.
“Then it’s easy as pie.”
Tempting a Deadly Sin—easier than lying down for a meal!
Judak*: Try my way first?
“You have a method?”
Judak*: Yeah, won’t take days
[Item-filled box delivered to destination!]
I bought various things from the shop and sent them to Penny.
Penny and Pellisi curiously opened the box slowly.
“Nothing special.”
What I sent were utterly ordinary items.
Penny looked puzzled at the box, then slowly pulled something out.
“...Novels?”
Judak*: Strawberry shortcake too
Ten random novels, plus sweet strawberry shortcake and macarons.
Things Penny usually liked.
Instead of explaining to the puzzled Penny, I said:
Judak*: Take a novel and read to Jealousy
“Huh?”
Judak*: Trust Judak?
Penny blinked wide-eyed, then nodded.
She opened a book with a subtle expression.
“There’s one thing no one can stand in this world.”
One is interrupted speech.
The second is...
...
That’s when Penny slowly began reading the first line.
“All children grow up. Except one.”
Start with Peter Pan.
*
Envy couldn’t comprehend the situation.
Blinded by jealousy, crossed the rift, harmed lives.
But why.
“Then Wendy said: Darling, adults forget the law when they grow up.”
Was she telling stories to her?
Couldn’t understand.
Couldn’t understand, but soon forgot even that thought.
“Fun...”
It was so much fun.
Outside, everything was bleak.
The imaginative tale was like an addictive drug, impossible to quit.
She’d long forgotten being tied up and kidnapped.
“There, chapter 5 done.”
“Read the next chapter quick!”
Time flew.
Soon Peter Pan and the children arrived in Neverland.
But Peter Pan still had its final chapter 6 left.
Surely it wouldn’t end like this.
‘How does it end? Do they just live in Neverland forever?’
Heart pounding as she imagined scenes, urging Penny on.
Judak*: OK, that’s enough
“Huh...?”
Judak*: Next novel go
Suddenly, like waking from a dream, Judak’s notice appeared between Penny and Envy.
“Yeah, got it.”
Lived eons only outdoors.
Immersed in her first novel ever, but suddenly—what’s this?
Before Envy could protest, Penny spoke the next novel’s title.
“I’ll read the next novel.”
“Wait, what are you doing? You haven’t read chapter 6 of Peter Pan!”
“Oh.”
Penny opened her mouth at Envy’s words.
Envy, anxious but brightening, waited expectantly.
“...?”
But time passed, and Penny said nothing.
She just lay on a luxurious bed unimaginable from outside.
Savoring cake and juice whose flavors she couldn’t even guess.
Silently reading chapter 6 of Peter Pan line by line.
“Oh my god, Tinkerbell?”
Then she gasped at some scene.
“T-Tinkerbell? What happened?”
Envy startled badly.
What happened to Tinkerbell?
But Penny didn’t answer.
“Wow, couldn’t have imagined it. Wendy making that decision.”
“What did Wendy do!”
Chapters 1 through 5.
After the long journey from 1 to 5.
Penny didn’t utter a word of the chapter 6 where it all concluded.
Just occasional gasps of admiration.
“Ahh...”
Those exclamations drove Envy mad.
Wanted to snatch the book and enjoy it herself.
Judak*: Lol
“Ugh...”
But force wouldn’t work—some unknown entity loomed, watching over her.
I know how to read too.
I want to lie there too.
I know how to eat tasty things too.
Jealousies boiled up like a volcano.
“Been waiting long?”
“Ah!”
Penny smiled and spoke.
To Envy, on the brink of madness from jealousy, it felt like salvation.
“N-now you’ll read?”
“Yeah, I’ll read.”
“Aah, finally...!”
No point getting angry.
Anticipating this new pleasure she’d tasted for the first time, groveling even.
“Title: Romeo and Juliet.”
“...Huh?”
But expectation breeds disappointment.
Harder to endure than ignorance.
Was knowing the ending ambiguously, without the finale.
“I’ll let you eat.”
Penny whispered with a smile.
“But just a taste.”
Envy’s face paled.
That meant...
“No chapter 6 of Peter Pan. Ever.”
“No, don’t!”
If only she hadn’t known.
If only she hadn’t understood such joy.
But that wasn’t the case.
“Verona’s richest houses were the Capulets and the Montagues.”
Endless torment.
Penny calmly began the next novel, skipping only the endings.