“Why didn’t you seduce me like this before?”
“Hek…. Wh-what?”
“When it feels this good.”
Damian lightly licked my lips.
As my already swollen lips touched his thick tongue tip, a short breath leaked out. Noticing that he was bringing his face close again to kiss once more, I hurriedly tried to pull away, but at that moment I stumbled over something, my balance wavering. It was that thing that had been poking my butt from earlier.
When I glanced down, I saw one of Damian’s thighs was swollen.
…Why is that so big?
As if noticing my horrified expression, Damian followed my gaze down, looked at his lower body once, then muttered with a still dazed face.
“You…… would be impossible.”
“……”
No, I don’t know what you’re imagining, but we’re not doing that kind of thing!
My face burned hot, and I shuddered as I turned toward the kitchen.
But suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.
I whipped my head around and shouted.
“Wait a minute! Last time you said ‘can’t handle it,’ but this time why is it ‘would be’?!”
“……”
Damian said nothing. Only his red eyes quietly followed me.
At that gaze, my spine went cold, so I just slipped— and fled into the kitchen.
“Crazy, really crazy….”
Grabbing whatever was at hand—ladles, pots—I barely held onto my sanity. Living stuck with a demon, it seems even I’ve become strange.
Still, what’s fortunate is that he only demands kisses. Unlike Jeffrey, he doesn’t demand my body or anything like that.
…He won’t make demands in the future either, right?
“No, he shouldn’t. If he has any conscience.”
Right, that size I felt against my butt.
That size I saw directly with my eyes, even if it was over his pants.
Now I understand why Damian always said “You can’t,” “You’re weak.”
Of course, it’s as thick as my forearm!
If he ever put it in, intestinal rupture would be the baseline, and it would be attempted murder!
I covered my face, then accidentally hit my forehead with the ladle I was holding.
“Please at least have some conscience, please….”
Why are this bastard and that bastard all targeting my body! Have some conscience!
***
#04. The Beginning of the Original Story
Theorde set out on a second journey with Amelia.
Officially, it was the first. The previous reconnaissance of the Boundary Line was an unofficial mission that wasn’t even recorded.
The reason they moved again wasn’t different from before. It was because of the hottest topic currently in the empire—the ‘unidentified corpses.’
One corpse discovered near the Boundary Line.
On the surface, it looked like just an unfortunate victim, but when examined closely, the story was different.
Unnecessarily well-maintained paths, footprints remaining as if someone had passed through many times. And traces of someone’s touch that weren’t easily erased despite numerous footsteps. It was too orderly to be natural, and too tainted to be coincidence.
Adventurers and mercenaries were flocking near the Boundary Line under the pretext of subjugation, creating a noisy commotion. Using that noise and chaos as a screen, Theorde and Amelia moved quietly.
An expedition was carried out, but inconspicuously.
Though there were surely those who prayed blessings for their journey, the destination of those two was written nowhere.
Because where they were heading was beyond the Boundary Line.
Crossing the demon forest was by no means easy.
With each step, an eerie presence swept down their spines, and with each breath, the demons’ miasma seeped into their bodies as if gnawing at their insides. As if the forest itself was rejecting the strangers.
That wasn’t all.
The demons that flowed out beyond the boundary were opponents enough for the empire’s knights, but the demons inside the boundary were on a different level.
They weren’t prey—they were the masters of this land.
In the process of facing demons up close, the two people naturally realized something. That the demons pushed out beyond the boundary were very weak individuals. That what the empire had been subjugating until now was merely the ‘dregs’ of demons.
Even after succeeding in infiltrating, the two had to hide and move to avoid demons jumping out of the forest. However, they couldn’t always avoid them, and moments of direct confrontation came.
Even Theorde, called the empire’s strongest, was deeply wounded in battle with demons. Amelia, who possessed divine power strong enough to rival the first Saint, was also gradually becoming exhausted. Just pouring out divine power consumed stamina, and her fingertips were already deathly pale without any blood color.
How much time had passed like that? Fortunately, the weary journey was heading toward an end.
They soon discovered an old cabin. Right next to it was a small, shabby graveyard—though it was an unmarked grave without even names carved, the two inwardly guessed that all those sleeping beneath were blood relatives.
Theorde stopped in front of the graves for a moment and offered a brief moment of silence. Meanwhile, Amelia turned her gaze at the sound of the cabin door opening with a creak—, then briefly groaned as if seeing something and called Theorde.
“My lord……”
“……”
Theorde didn’t answer. His gaze was already fixed on the inside of the cabin.
Once again the old door made a creaking sound, and through the gap, the inside of the room was fully revealed.
The revealed interior was miserable.
Old tableware and worn furniture, cracked bowls and worn-out household tools. However, even amid the dust of ages and the smell of mold, they were strangely well-organized.
A floor with traces of walking, furniture corners worn from being touched, marks of repeated daily life. As if someone had lived day by day in this space.
In a way, it was just an ordinary scene. But precisely because it was too ordinary, the questions remained all the thicker.
…Would demons really need such a space?
He’d heard stories of demons that enjoyed gourmet food. But even so, would there be a reason to imitate human lifestyle so thoroughly? Cooking utensils, tableware arrangement, even the flow of daily life.
That was too meticulous to be seen as simple mimicry.
Moreover, the patterns engraved on the dishes were familiar.
A style that was popular in the empire two hundred years ago. A pattern that had already disappeared into history.
“……”
“……”
A brief silence flowed between them. And in that stillness, the two people were reaching the same thought.
A strange cabin placed in the middle of the demon forest.
Strangely thick traces of humans remaining everywhere.
The scattered fragments fit together one by one, finally converging into one conclusion.
…Someone was breeding humans in the middle of the demon forest.
“…Ah, thank you, my lord.”
Amelia swayed for a moment before a fate far more enormous than she had thought. Fortunately, Theorde immediately grabbed and supported her arm so she didn’t fall. Amelia gave him a brief eye greeting and muttered inwardly.
‘I always wondered why I was born holding such great divine power… Was it given to prepare for something like this?’
Was it truly that her standing here, facing this scene, was all predetermined arrangement?
If that was fate, she would have to accept it, but still Amelia resented God for the fact that all of this had happened to fall upon her of all people.
The two people hurriedly exited the forest with heavy hearts. Though they had made do with dried fruit and poor jerky for meals until now, fortunately their speed didn’t drop. No, rather, because it was a report that couldn’t be delayed, their steps naturally quickened.
Finally, when they left the demon forest and reached near the Boundary Line, they could catch their breath for the first time.
They set up camp in a small clearing to rest briefly and lit a campfire. As the flames flickered and brightened the night air, Amelia sank down against a tree trunk as if her strength had given out.
The spot where she sat was unusually comfortable. It was thanks to Theorde having cleared away small branches beforehand. At that small consideration, Amelia sent him a peculiar look.
A taciturn, silent man.
There were many rumors surrounding him. Cold-blooded knight, the empire’s watchdog…. If you just listened to those words, he felt like a wooden puppet devoid of human emotion, merely moving according to orders.
And yet, when she faced such subtle consideration like this, she sometimes thought he might be a kind person. It was the same earlier. Didn’t he silently bow his head for a moment in front of graves without even names?
Amelia looked him over for a moment.
A face so handsome it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say God had crafted him with care, a muscular build, kindness subtly seeping through his indifferent attitude.
Just looking at that, he should be popular, but the man had one fatal flaw.
…He was too silent.
How else would Amelia have finally been unable to hold back during the journey and spoken first?
“My lord, if your throat hurts, I can heal it for you.”
It was a roundabout way of asking if he was always this taciturn, but Theorde still gave no answer. Whether he didn’t hear, or heard but pretended not to, was unclear. Of course, from his personality she’d felt while moving together, it was clear it was neither.
