CHAPTER 31…………………………………………..
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It was a little disorganized, but still, she’d said everything she wanted to say. So now, she really wished Lumière would stop looking so angry…
Seriously, at what point did he get this mad? It was like she’d done something horrible. Why was she the one walking on eggshells?
All she’d done was ask when he was leaving. It wasn’t like he was going to live in the Demon Realm forever.
“You can’t just stay like this forever, can you?”
Even if he was resting because things were hard right now, there were plenty of people looking for him, and plenty of things only he could do.
And besides… he was a hero.
But Xenya swallowed the rest of her words.
Lumière had said he hated being called a hero.
As she bit her lip, Lumière, who had only been silently looking down at her, suddenly turned away.
*Wait—where are you going?*
The conversation wasn’t even over yet. She was about to follow him, but thankfully, Lumière only walked over to the flowerbed right in front of them.
Xenya was about to suggest they return to the room—fighting out here wasn’t a good idea—when she saw what Lumière had grabbed in his hand, and her face went pale.
“No way… you’re not serious, right?”
Her voice trembled pitifully.
But of course, *of course*—as if determined to prove her wrong, Lumière stared straight at her and chewed down a poisonous herb.
“…You’re insane.”
Xenya stared at the man calmly chewing flowers, refusing to accept reality.
This had to be a dream. Her eyes had to be wrong.
But no matter how much she denied it, nothing changed.
After swallowing the entire handful, Lumière spoke again.
“Now it’s settled, right? I can’t leave. Heal me again.”
Was he really out of his mind?
Before she could even finish thinking that his mouth looked unusually red, he coughed.
The poison had already spread. Staggering toward her, Lumière dropped to his knees in front of Xenya.
Then, like a devout believer, he buried his face in her palm and whispered:
“You need me alive, don’t you? So until I’m healthy again… you won’t leave my side, right?”
His blue eyes shone with a strange, unsettling light as they captured her face.
“I must have lived all this time just to see you.”
Lumière closed his eyes as though making a wish.
“So please… don’t abandon me.”
Everything was a mess. Her mind, the situation—everything.
“Hah…”
All of Xenya’s assumptions had been completely wrong.
She’d thought he was trying to get close to her—someone known as the Demon King’s confidant—to extract information from the Demon Castle.
That it was almost laughable, considering how little help she’d actually be.
But that wasn’t his goal at all.
“Xenya?”
The cunning man, who knew exactly what kind of expression she was weak to, wasn’t after the Demon King’s death.
Watching Lumière rub his face against her so miserably, Xenya pressed her lips together.
She didn’t know what she’d say if she opened her mouth.
But then, when dark red blood suddenly spilled from his lips again, she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Xe… cough—”
“You lunatic!”
No matter what your goal was, who in the world eats poison with their own hands?!
“Xenya… my stomach hurts a little.”
*A little?* Anyone could see his organs were melting in real time!
Xenya barely managed to support his large body as it slumped against her, and in fury, she smacked his shoulder.
“You ate something you weren’t supposed to, and you think you wouldn’t hurt?!”
But Lumière only smiled brightly.
“Then… we can stay together again, right?”
He was truly out of his mind.
This situation had gone wrong in every possible way.
—
After that, it took a great deal of effort to calm him down.
His legs weakened more and more, and when he eventually dumped a whole bucket of blood onto her shoulder, Xenya barely held onto her sanity.
Using her holy power, she healed him easily.
But the moment she finished and tried to push him away, Lumière attempted the same madness again.
“Now get up on your own! You’re heavy!”
“Ah…”
Lumière obediently let himself be shoved back… then glanced to the side.
The moment Xenya realized where his gaze landed, she grabbed his shoulder before he could move.
“Where are you going?”
“To eat it again.”
He really had lost his mind completely.
Xenya barely managed to soothe and coax him, and quickly shoved a hat onto his head before anyone could see.
Without even checking if others were nearby, she dragged Lumière away in a panic.
He stopped a few times, but each time, she covered his mouth with her hand.
When they finally reached the room, things didn’t improve.
If anything, they got worse.
Xenya tossed the picnic basket she’d brought onto the floor, stripped off Lumière’s robe, and scrubbed furiously at the blood around his mouth.
“Don’t you ever pick up and eat something weird again!”
His reply:
“Is that the only thing I shouldn’t do?”
The slow way he scanned the room was almost… deranged.
Xenya was on the verge of tears.
“Don’t do *anything* that could harm your body!”
Maybe he felt guilty seeing her face like that, or maybe she simply looked desperate enough—either way, Lumière finally hooked his finger with hers and promised.
After barely stopping him, and changing out of the bloodstained clothes in the bathroom, Xenya slowly began to escape her panic…
Or maybe she fell even deeper into it.
She didn’t know.
She just wanted to get out of this room as fast as possible.
She stepped out and prepared to leave.
“I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Where? Are you abandoning me and going somewhere else?”
Lumière, who had been sitting quietly on the bed, sprang up.
Xenya raised her hand to stop him from coming closer.
The word *abandon* made her feel like she was developing a complex.
At the same time, everything that had happened flashed through her mind.
Unable to hold back, she shouted:
“If you stop me, I really *will* abandon you!”
She’d always tried to be gentle with him.
And she had been.
She’d indulged most of his stubbornness.
But if she endured any more, she felt like she’d go insane too.
“So just wait quietly!”
Lumière blinked, looking as docile as a cow, as if he’d never expected her to raise her voice.
She wanted to leave, but she had no idea what this unhinged man might do.
“Two hours! I’ll come back in two hours, okay?!”
She glared until he slowly nodded, checking the clock.
Normally, she might’ve found that pitiful.
Maybe even cute.
But today, she planned to use up every last second of those two hours.
Before Lumière could grab her, Xenya half-ran out of the room.
And the place she ended up was right beside Beef.
Panting, she appeared and gulped down the water he handed her.
Then another glass.
Then another.
Even so, she couldn’t calm down.
She sank into the chair Beef pulled out for her, staring blankly into the air.
“Ugh…”
The more she thought about it, the more hopeless it all seemed, and she clutched her head with a groan.
“Xenya… what on earth happened?”
Seeing Beef looking at her with concern, Xenya swallowed a sigh.
She couldn’t explain properly.
But she also couldn’t survive without telling *someone* about this absurd situation.
Where should she even start?
She squeezed her eyes shut.
She’d pitied the hero, who looked so worn down, like he’d lost the will to live.
That was why she’d always treated him gently.
But no matter how kindly she tried to interpret everything…
This was too much.
“How do you deal with a crazy bastard?”
Beef’s already serious expression turned even darker.
“What really happened?”
It had. But she couldn’t say it outright.
Even after what Lumière had done, she didn’t want him to be cursed too harshly.
“Haa…”
“Xenya.”
In the end, she stayed silent.
“No, it’s nothing. I’m just a little on edge…”
She tried to pull herself together and stand, but Beef cut her off.
“You treat them the same way.”
“Huh?”
“You act just as crazy. No need to overreact no matter what they do.”
“Uh…”
Beef narrowed his eyes.
“That’s what you’ve always been good at.”
He was right. Xenya had dealt with countless demons who were half out of their minds.
Then Beef’s voice sharpened.
“But if you’re asking this all of a sudden… it means someone unexpected did something insane, huh?”
“…Right?”
At her awkward agreement, Beef asked, looking tired:
“Your boyfriend?”
“Mm…”
Beef’s aura turned dangerous.
“How crazy? Did he hit you?”
Seeing his clenched fist, Xenya quickly shook her head.
“No, not that.”
“Then?”
At this point, no one would believe nothing happened.
More than anything, she needed advice.
“Beef… how do you fix a man who’s obsessively clingy?”
She trusted Beef, the most objective and wise person she knew, to have an answer.
But his response was brutally firm.
“Fix?”
“Huh?”
“That’s just who he is. You can’t fix it.”
—
