CHAPTER 09
[Monster’s Noble Daughter – 00009]
Lupian leaned in toward me. His face came closer and closer. Dim lighting, a strange scent brushing the tip of my nose. He blended naturally into the darkness. In that moment, it felt like this space filled with decadence and pleasure had been created just for him. His side bangs slid down and tickled my forehead, and finally, his fiercely glowing eyes met mine. It was a strange feeling. My toes tingled, and I curled them involuntarily.
“Our appearance was designed to captivate humans.”
His words suddenly came to mind. No matter how close he was to a demon, as Lupian had said, I also had human blood. Was that why I was falling under his spell? For the first time, “darkness” didn’t feel like fear—it felt like a thrill. My head began to fog over, like I was high. My vision blurred. His breath brushed against my cheek. With unhurried movements, Lupian placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Who is it?”
His voice was lower than usual. It was almost like the growl of a beast. I snapped out of it like waking from a dream.
What just happened? I felt like I had been completely entranced. Just a moment, but the shock was so intense I forgot about the noble ones and everything else. I blinked dumbly. I thought Lupian had used some demonic power to entrance me. But looking now, he was simply close—our ears nearly touching.
There was no way he could hear what I heard. For some reason, the realization left me feeling oddly hollow, and that emptiness calmed my fear a little. My heart, which had been racing wildly, returned to normal, and I gave a strange expression. I had been so terrified—how could I calm down from just this?
With a whatever-happens-happens attitude, I told him who had killed me. It wasn’t something I particularly cared to hide. The real reason I hadn’t spoken of it before was because it would inevitably lead to explaining how I met the noble ones and how I was rejected by them—something I didn’t want to revisit.
“Four of them. They’re in the last room at the end of the right corridor.”
They were still making noise. From what I could hear, they had no intention of leaving the establishment tonight. I had figured I would run into them again someday. But now? It was too soon. My mind was still reeling from the miracles that had happened to me—I didn’t have the capacity to think about them, too.
Even after I told him, Lupian didn’t ask how I died or what happened. He merely pulled his face away and muttered quietly,
“I see.”
He smiled enigmatically. Up until now, I’d been able to read his expressions, but this time, I couldn’t. I glanced at his face like a guilty child. I didn’t know what he was thinking, what kind of reaction he would have. That made it all the more frustrating.
What was I supposed to do?
Of course, the monster noble lady Ailee would have run. Even the version of me just moments ago, still bound by Ailee’s chains, would’ve chosen to flee. I had trembled in terror from hearing just a voice. I was only able to calm myself because Lupian was here.
But what about the Ellie now?
I asked myself. If I ran, they would go on living as if nothing happened—marrying someone, having children, growing old. One day they might leave behind final words like “I lived a life without regrets.” Peacefully closing their eyes, never realizing what they had done to Ailee, who was persecuted for being a monster. To them, I wasn’t even a speck of dust.
That thought made something surge in me, choking me up. My throat tightened. It was hard to speak. I clutched at my neck, lost in thought. But no matter how I tried, I couldn’t name this feeling. Why was I so suffocated? My insides burned. The thing that flared within me started to scare me.
I muttered,
“Something feels wrong.”
“What does?”
“It feels like a fire is burning inside me.”
I was still afraid of them. That was undeniable. But this emotion, which burned so much stronger than that fear…
“That would be hatred,”
he said clearly.
I looked up at Lupian in silence. As soon as I raised my head, our eyes met. He had been watching me the whole time. His expression was still that unreadable smile.
“Ah… Hatred.”
So this was hatred. I could always sense hatred directed at me from others, yet I didn’t even recognize my own. Unconsciously, I rubbed my burning chest with my palm. It was a new feeling, but I could tell one thing—it was deeply unpleasant. My chest burned, my head spun. I wanted to rip everything apart.
“Now, listen.”
He gently stroked my back. I followed his words and listened. Once again, I heard the noble ones’ voices.
“Ugh, I really might puke… Bleh.”
The green-eyed one gagged. Then the black-eyed one responded, his voice dripping with disgust.
“This is a basement. If you do that here, I’ll bury you.”
“Then what the hell am I supposed to do? Swallow it? Swallow?”
“You crazy bastard. I’ll kill you.”
“No joke, I feel like you guys have threatened to kill me hundreds of times.”
He slurred his words, grumbling. After mumbling for a while, I heard unstable footsteps and the sound of a door swinging open. He left the room. His footsteps began approaching our room. My body stiffened. I held my breath and gripped Lupian’s sleeve tightly. Of course, he wouldn’t, but it felt like that noble might burst through the door at any moment.
I hunched my shoulders like a bristling cat.
Step. Step. Step.
But he passed by our room without stopping. I let out a long-held breath, my shoulders slumping. My heart was still pounding.
While I was needlessly worrying, Lupian had closed his eyes, as if trying to sense where the green-eyed noble was headed. The footsteps stopped. Lupian slowly opened his eyes. His long lashes cast shadows in the dim light. He smacked his lips and smiled even more darkly.
“He’s alone now.”
My heart dropped. He seemed calm and smiling, but his eyes gleamed with murderous intent. That smile wasn’t just mischievous. He was holding back a wave of killing intent. I stood from the bed and slowly reached out to touch Lupian’s face.
“Lu. It’s okay.”
His gaze shifted to me. I was glad he was angry on my behalf, but I didn’t want to see him consumed by rage because of me. Hatred alone was already such an unpleasant emotion—it made me feel like my insides were twisting apart. He looked into my eyes and took a deep breath. He was holding it in.
“I’ll leave the opportunity to you. It’s not my place.”
“Opportunity?”
“Your revenge.”
“Revenge?”
I dumbly repeated him. Revenge? The dictionary meaning floated in my mind—making the person who hurt you feel the same pain. It had always felt like a word unrelated to me. Because I was a monster, being hurt was normal. And I didn’t have the power to return the favor.
But now… I had power. They even said I rivaled the Empire’s flower in beauty.
Ah. Realization dawned. I looked at Lupian.
“Humans often say revenge is hollow. That it leaves you empty, unsure of what to live for. That it’s all meaningless.”
He paused, then grinned. The murderous air around him had already vanished. Lupian masterfully reined in his emotions, placed his hand over mine on his cheek.
“That’s all nonsense.”
“Huh?”
My fingers twitched. That was a surprisingly harsh expression for him.
“Killing fragile humans who faint from a touch—what’s so empty about that? If anything, it’s disappointing how easy they die.”
He chuckled and shook his head. It felt oddly like he spoke from experience. Did he have a human he hated to death? And did he kill them? He’d lived for a thousand years—anything could’ve happened—but I couldn’t quite picture it.
“Demons live for thousands of years. If we waste that time stewing over meaninglessness, and then those fragile humans just die? Ellie, would you really want the ones who terrified you so much to die like that?”
I hesitated, then nodded. I had always lived by accepting my fate. But I wasn’t a saint, nor a monster without emotion. The truth was, I had cried and been hurt countless times when they mocked me for being a monster. That was a long time ago—so far back the memories were fuzzy. But I learned that crying made the hatred worse. If I killed my emotions, their attitudes improved slightly.
But now, I didn’t need to kill my feelings anymore. And a new one had awakened. One I thought I’d erased long ago—but it had been inside me all along.
With a shocked face, I said,
“Lu. I found a new emotion.”
Hatred. It slithered and coiled inside me, feeding the flame. Would revenge quench it?
“How do I get revenge?”
“You give back what they did to you.”
“What they did to me…”
Could I return all that cruelty, selfishness, and malice? And could I be the one to do it? Somehow, I wasn’t confident.
“You don’t know the thrill of revenge until you’ve done it. It’s not hollow. It’s just the cleanup afterward that’s annoying—well, for humans, anyway. We’ve got eternal youth and live for thousands of years.”
He said it so casually that it started to feel casual. Lupian was always right. For weak humans whose blood runs dry and die, revenge really must be nothing.
I imagined the five nobles begging for their lives, crying. Hollow? No—it felt exhilarating. Cathartic. In my imagination, I was screaming at them to feel the pain they caused me. Realizing that made me flinch. Is this what I really wanted?
“Alright. Let’s start with that bastard.”
Lupian suddenly took my hand. I followed him, startled. Then I remembered the woman who had been in the room with us. Had she heard everything? I turned to check—she stared blankly into space. I looked at Lupian, and he answered, he had just used his ability briefly.
“Drink.”
He handed me a bottle of blood. Fresh and fragrant. I hesitated, then closed my eyes and drank it. The hesitation lasted only a moment—I’d tasted it before. There was no way I could resist the sweetness. Once I finished the bottle, all thirst was gone, and fullness came.
“How is it?”
“Delicious. Very.”
“Good.”
“What about you, Lu?”
“I had plenty earlier. I’m fine.”
He smiled fondly and stroked my hair. I leaned into his hand. He let it trail to my shoulder and led me out of the room. His steps were confident, like he already knew the destination. It was the same direction that drunkard had gone. My body stiffened again. My steps were rigid.
He pressed on my tense shoulder, and suddenly—kissed my cheek.
“Ah!”
He often touched me casually, but the feel of his lips on my cheek was… very strange. Especially because it was so close to my own lips. My face turned red, and I pushed his face away with my palm. He laughed against my hand.
“It’ll be fun, Ellie.”
He said it like a mischievous boy plotting a prank.
