TMD - Chapter 57 < Unrejectable (10) >

Pocalor smiled at his younger brother.

It had been a long time since she had decided to go to eternal sleep. At that time, Belled, who had thought of love as 'a twisted hobby of those who have lived long lives and gone mad', was wavering.

"Both are true, but it is not such a simple desire."

She spread her hands.

"The desire for you to be with her, not just for you to be happy, but a higher-dimensional desire that is only satisfied when your partner is happy, is love."

If he had heard it before, he would have dismissed it as nonsense.

'I don't think I can find anything more stimulating.'

Pocalor said that before going to eternal sleep. At the time, Belled really didn't understand what she was saying and asked.

'Are you so shaken by losing a human who was going to die anyway a little earlier?'

Pocalor was a demon who had a lot of interactions with humans.

Some humans knew that she was a demon and others didn't, but she was like that whenever she talked about humans.

'I intend to let them live as humans and die as humans.'

'I can't let them enjoy the curse of eternal life because of my greed.'

'Then they will have to live in eternal pain, losing the humans around them one by one.'

Because she said that, Belled couldn't understand anymore.

But now, he thought he understood. He also thought he understood why Pocalor had fallen asleep.

She had said that she would ruminate and fall asleep before losing even a little more happy memories.

It wasn't because life had become boring, but perhaps because of a sense of loss.

"How is it, do you understand?"

Pocalor asked. Belled looked at Beryl quietly.

I want you.

But what about you? Can you accept my feelings, who came to this land to survive while doubting me?

Can you, who tried to keep an eye on me to remain on my land, not simply accept my feelings as violence? Can I not give you the fear that 'if you don't even pretend to love me, you might be kicked out of this land'?

Have you ever thought of a relationship other than being an ally who opens the gates of hell together?

"Ah...”

A short sigh-like breath escaped from him.

What if I’m the only one going ahead?

What if you don’t have any feelings?

At that moment, a strong desire shook him.

Then I have to make you see me. I have to make myself meaningful to you.

I have to engrave myself into you all.

At that moment, he understood the strange ambivalence of wanting to roughly grab her but not wanting to mess up even a single collar.

That was love. That was love.

***

If I could walk on clouds, would this be what it would feel like?

I opened my eyes to a strange feeling. And for a moment, I blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling.

No, to be exact... it was a ceiling I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“...Uh.”

I let out a short breath. I could feel even the rough texture of the fabric against my fingertips.

Bam!

Even the servants roughly slammed the door and left, whether I opened my eyes or not.

I sat up without realizing it. This space was clearly etched in my memory.

Outside the window was pure white daylight. It was a cloudy day, but it was definitely daytime. It wasn’t just night, but…

“...Orobas?”

I gaped. The space that the servants had deliberately left unmanaged for a long time felt all too real. 

‘The Saintess is going to reject the night?’

Duke Orobas, who had been saying that, had not given me any space from the beginning. Not only that, he had told me that I could not approach him no matter where I tried to go, and eventually led me to Duke Orobas’ bedroom.

‘...!’

And there, I had to see all the lewd things Duke Orobas did. It was no use covering my ears and eyes.

And when I kept running away from that room, Duke Orobas began to treat me differently.

From a way to relieve his twisted sexual desires to a slut.

‘I’ll be watching you from the temple!’

Those words were the only thing that could protect me from his dark hands. But Duke Orobas said.

'You'll have to spread your legs for me eventually.'

He ordered me not to give me any space. In the end, I had to return to my bedroom.

So I ended up sleeping in an old storage room in the corner of the mansion. The blankets were old and worn out, so he brought them to throw away.

“Didn’t you come to find the devil? If you find the devil, people will treat the Saintess well. Can you find it alone?”

"The Duke of Orobas kept asking her to give up her body in return for his help. “

"Even if you die, the newly born Saintess will take your place anyway.”

“Even if you sacrifice your short life, Orobas won’t be tarnished.”

He kept telling me not to hold out and to give up my body to him.

“Then, can’t I build that body in Orobas?”

It was insulting. In my first life, I had been convinced that the devil would definitely be here.

What could someone like this be if not the devil?

However, the result was the exact opposite.

The painful times I had spent in Orobas flashed before my eyes in an instant.

My heart ached as if it had been cut open.

And soon.

The time that had stopped before my eyes was the moment I had considered the most terrifying.

“...The Holy Family?”

“Do you believe it now? Orobas can’t be a demon. How could a family with the vision of making holy water, which is passed down from such an invitation, be a demon, huh?”

“Then why did you...!”

The woman of the past asks again, gritting her teeth. I, who was watching, bit my lip at the overly realistic appearance.

When asked if I hadn’t already said no, the Duke sneered.

“What kind of idiot would turn down an opportunity like this? Three things come with just a momentary suspicion of being a demon.”

He spread his hands.

“A position where you can take the Saintess at will, the honor that comes with helping the Saintess defeat the demon, and even a debt to the temple. Do you think it’s common to have the opportunity to gain all of those things at once?”

With eyes filled with greed, he waved the book containing the family’s vision in front of me.

“But since you’re resisting like this, refusing to give me anything, my patience is reaching its limit, huh?”

He approached with a threatening expression.

I tried to confuse whether this was a dream or reality. What had been the time I spent in Vine?

Was it just a dream?

The underground where Orobas’ vision was hidden. There was no one here who could help me.

“...!”

Could I push away the Duke of Orobas and escape? It was when I clenched my teeth.

“Beryl?”

I seemed to hear another voice in my head. No, right next to my ear. A little closer.

It wasn’t the unpleasant voice that the Duke of Orobas was spitting out.

Ah.

At that moment, I realized the identity of this unnatural feeling of walking on clouds.

And I opened my eyes.

***

I let out a gasp and opened my eyes. It was cold and damp as if cold sweat had run down from the back of my neck to my back.

What I saw right away was Belled’s face.

A cold profile. My pounding heart seemed to stop in surprise at that sight.

When I couldn’t tell what I had seen a moment ago and which side was real, Belled looked back at me.

“Beryl.”

His stiff face softened and suddenly became filled with worry. Then he grabbed my hand.

Ah.

That warmth was real. The wavering sense of reality seemed to come back to me.

“...Belled.”

When I called him that, his face took on a slightly softer smile.

I suddenly thought as I watched his expression change.

Would he be the same in other places as I was a little while ago?

Was it because I was special that he was showing me this way?

His voice was heard between my fleeting thoughts.

“Beryl, are you okay?”

“Yes..."

A muffled voice flowed out. I still hadn’t fully grasped the situation.

It had definitely been a dream until just a little while ago. This real voice, this warmth, was enveloping me.

Then what could have happened... The window outside, where day and night were indistinguishable, confused her even more. I thought of Orobas’ window and unconsciously tightened my grip.

“Beryl?”

Belled’s hand gently grabbed mine.

“What happened?”

My last memory was finishing my work and returning to my bedroom.

“Your Highness!”

The urgent voice of Decarabia that she heard at that moment, and enveloped me. And the black parasol that was unfolding and the blue smoke that was billowing in...

“...Ah.”

When I let out a sigh, Belled rubbed my hands repeatedly. Only then did I realize that my hands were extremely cold?

“There was an accident.”

His gaze turned to the window frame. I quickly noticed what was missing there.

Marves’s decoration was gone.

And Belled pointed to the exact spot.

“It seems you have been struck by Marves’ ‘plague.’”

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