Chapter 129 …
Click.
The door closed.
Isaac’s expression was far from pleasant as he returned to the sitting room after putting her to sleep, clearly showing signs of fatigue.
Being blindsided at the end left a bitter taste.
“What about Sitara?”
“…She’s asleep.”
Isaac poured whiskey into a glass with an irritated gesture and gulped it down in one go.
Pan leaned back on the sofa, letting out a low, soft laugh.
Isaac’s Adam’s apple moved several times before finally settling slowly, heat still lingering.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking nothing. It’s just simple insurance. I protect her, and in return, she protects me. A straightforward exchange of equals.”
Pan’s calm voice was infuriating in its serenity.
Isaac, frustrated, unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and collapsed roughly into the chair opposite him.
“Seriously….”
“Then why did you strike from behind? I was planning to stay silent… This is the result of your greed.”
Pan’s red eyes flared dangerously before slowly calming.
Isaac wanted to draw his sword and cut him down. But immediately, the thought of her head falling came to mind.
If he killed Pan, she would die too.
“I will keep the secret. I don’t want her to die either.”
He doesn’t whisper words of love into her ear, yet accepts the monster without question.
Whether it’s due to her ignorance or her inherently kind nature, he couldn’t be sure…
“A woman who embraces a monster—such a sweet phrase, isn’t it?”
Pan asked softly.
Even knowing something of the monster’s true form, Isaac would have to continue protecting her, perhaps for Pan’s sake as well.
“She belongs to me.”
“I have no intention of taking her. Our lifespans are different anyway, so desiring her is meaningless.”
To hold her too deeply would leave a great scar—on her, and on him.
He didn’t believe that love beyond species was impossible, but at least love with a human wasn’t included.
Different lifespans would only plunge her into endless worry and despair, eventually leaving her weak.
Thus, his interest had its limits.
“Let’s agree to this. I will protect her, and what I need are the souls of those who threaten her.”
“…….”
“I neither have the will nor the power to take her. She already stepped into this place looking at you.”
There was no room for a half-measure to interfere now.
The three of them—Isaac, Pan, and Eclipse—would live as if nothing had happened, blissfully unaware that beneath her feet, corpses piled high, hidden beneath a soft, crimson carpet of beastly fur.
“What if she finds out someday? Realizes the path she’s walking is a field of corpses… she wouldn’t be able to accept it.”
“Well, by then, she will already have something she can’t let go of.”
Whether it be a child, or a friend or acquaintance gained within limits he allowed—whatever it was.
And eventually, she would have no choice but to accept it.
“Living a normal life is out of the question. For both of us.”
Pan chuckled softly. A self-made path to hell—how amusing.
He knew it was twisted.
Yet the reason he couldn’t let go was that she had burrowed so deeply into their lives.
“Is her confession of love sweet?”
“None of your concern.”
Isaac said lightly, tilting his glass.
The strong liquor scraped down his throat.
Wiping the hot rise on his nape, Isaac stood from his seat.
“Love for a monster. She’d be happier if you never noticed. What happened to her family?”
“Who knows? What do I care?”
He shrugged and turned. His steps out of the sitting room were steady, without hesitation.
“Whether those beasts went mad and killed each other, or tore themselves open and died—”
“…Heh.”
A bitter laugh slipped through Pan’s lips.
A cruel, ruthless way to handle things. Yet he had no complaints.
If he hadn’t done it, Isaac would have found some way to drag those humans into the abyss himself.
Thud—
The sitting room door closed heavily.
What he had hoped for was already in a massive cage.
The final destination of a long-laid plan.
“Gifts were too much, huh.”
The Demon King stepped onto the crimson carpet.
The woman sitting on the bed slowly lifted her head.
Her hair, as red as the carpet, tumbled over the bed in soft waves.
Noticing the faint dissatisfaction etched between her furrowed brows, the Demon King’s lips curved into a slight smile.
Her deep emerald eyes stared at him without a flicker.
“Unless you have a hobby of eating human flesh alive, perhaps returning things to their original state would be wise.”
The soft voice was familiar, yet her tone was distinctly different from the woman merely wearing the exterior of it.
She spoke with calm, quiet defiance.
“Well, our contract was about taking souls. I wasn’t supposed to eat you.”
The Demon King perched lightly on the chair.
The two of them sat across from each other, eyes meeting in empty space.
Clea Lino.
She was supposed to be dead, yet her unstable form remained.
“Isaac Dytroy… did he get what he wanted?”
“Yes. I don’t know if it’s the best choice for that human woman, though.”
He had gotten what he wanted, but not perfectly.
That hybrid would likely ensure balance. Enough to keep things tolerable for the human woman.
“You tried to serve a hybrid to me, yet were blindsided.”
“He’s been cunning from the start, so it’s understandable.”
Clea Lino frowned, irritated at the superficial conversation.
Everything she wanted was over. She had little lingering attachment to life.
Eclipse had found someone to call family in his own way.
Someone to play the role she could not.
Though not entirely without resentment, she was too tired for pointless jealousy.
Even if everything she wanted was taken, perhaps she was not displeased because, in the end, she would live her life in a cage, never knowing the truth.
“Our contract is over. What do you want from me now?”
“Well… I don’t think eating an unstable soul would taste good.”
“You planning to raise me then?”
“Something like that.”
The Demon King shrugged lightly.
Human emotions had a peculiar way of affecting people.
That cruel drive to crave only one thing endlessly had its small allure.
‘Thanks to that, I’ve indulged in human feelings for the first time in a while.’
The Demon King rested his chin lightly on his crossed legs. Perhaps he was slightly curious simply because a human woman was nearby.
Which part of a non-human monster could have found humans intriguing?
“There’s no other human around.”
“I don’t want to, so go find another contractee.”
“Your soul is still unstable. I plan to bring it to its prime before consuming it.”
Clea Lino laughed low, a dry laugh.
She was exhausted and had little interest in entertaining his curiosity.
Finally, she let out a short, tired sigh and slowly lifted her head.
“If you don’t kill me, I’ll die before you even eat me.”
The Demon King’s eyes narrowed.
His red eyes twisted slightly in displeasure. He exhaled shortly.
“Threatening to die? Sorry, but both your body and soul are already mine. The restrictions I placed won’t be lifted easily.”
“…You like making things troublesome, don’t you?”
“Living long gets boring. One must change one’s playthings periodically.”
Clea shrugged in resignation. She had no will to live, and likely never would again.
Watching the long night from the window, anticipating death, wasn’t so bad.
‘Just consider it part of the process of dying.’
It was enough to think of it as time to organize one’s mind.
Clea Lino’s body and soul were already exhausted. She had no strength left to argue with the Demon King.
She had spent a long time living upright, holding her head high.
With a sharp blade on her tongue, she had cut herself repeatedly, surviving with tenacity.
“Do as you please. It seems it won’t take you long to grow bored anyway.”
Her quiet voice made the Demon King shrug.
He agreed. At most, one year in this world.
A short, fleeting game, perhaps not even half a year.
He rose lightly from his seat.
Clea Lino did not turn toward him.
Her gaze never met his; she seemed already at the edge of life.
The Demon King’s eyes narrowed further. After a moment, he vanished.
