CHAPTER 69………………….
“What on earth is this?”
Esther stared stupidly at the scene unfolding before her and waved her hand through the air.
Just then the scenery shifted.
“This is my domain — the place where my family will be cultivated and made to prosper.”
His domain didn’t hold a great hoard of gold and silver, nor was the land especially fertile or known for some remarkable product.
It was rough and shabby for a parcel of land said to have been given to the most meritorious person.
“It’s barren,” she said.
“But it will soon be fertile. Everyone is working hard, so it will become that way. Those who come to my domain are people who would be rejected by any other domain.”
Although the soil wasn’t rich, the expressions on the people’s faces were bright.
She could see that everyone worked with one mind and purpose. They leveled the fields, removed the stones, and spread fertilizer.
“The war lasted a long time. We lost many things. Many lost their families… so I decided to gather those who had nowhere else to go.”
“…….”
Knowing the grief of the bereaved so well, why had he raised a sword even against those powerless children?
Not all of the demon race are belligerent. Not all of them are powerful.
Among them were the old, the sickly, and the very young.
They were only a slightly different people. We were — only that was different.
“…Is that so.”
The Demon King answered softly.
He was a man busy shuttling between the capital and his domain.
In the capital he worked to stabilize the nation, and he was doing everything he could to get his own domain on its feet as quickly as possible.
“Lun.”
When he turned his head from the peaceful domain, his head was bowed extremely low.
Kneeling on one knee, holding out a small box, his earlobes flushed bright red and his face frozen stiff, he barely managed to speak.
“Won’t you… look at the view with me? Lun… I love you. Will you marry me?”
It was the phrase the Demon King had longed for and the moment he had waited for.
Just as he accepted it and felt that he could be the happiest man, she would hang his neck and plunge a knife into his heart and burn his domain to the ground.
That was why.
Why she accepted the proposal, why she whispered love with him.
“…All right.”
When Lun accepted, his eyes grew enormously wide — larger than a lantern.
With a flushed, ecstatic look he ran forward and wrapped the Demon King in a tight embrace.
He grabbed her waist and spun around on the spot. The look on his face was indescribably ridiculous.
Yes — pitiful.
“I will make you happy for the rest of your life, Lun.”
Dressed in splendid ceremonial clothes, he smiled radiantly and spoke to the Demon King.
‘Just until he’s a little bit happier.’
He had to reach the highest point — falling from a greater height would make the impact worse.
“Lun! Look! The seed finally sprouted! Even this barren land can grow plants! If this grows well, this land will become fertile. We’ll be one step closer to a world with no hungry people.”
The man grinned and, looking at the newly sprouted field, hugged the Demon King.
‘Just a little more…’
The Demon King watched him blankly and smiled faintly.
“Lun! Listen! That fellow recently got married — and already produced a son. He teases me so much. We’ll have one soon too, I’m sure.”
Pouting with displeasure, he complained like a child.
Although he showed evident regret, he didn’t force anything.
‘If a child is born, we’ll be happier. Just a little more…’
The Demon King didn’t answer; he quietly took the man’s hand.
“Lun, congratulations on the pregnancy… I will do much better… You don’t have to do anything…”
He hugged the Demon King, whispered love, and wept.
‘Until the baby is born, just a little more…’
Until this man was at his happiest.
Until he was so happy he felt none of the world’s sorrows at all.
“Waaah! Waaah!”
“Lun, Lun… my Lun, it’s a beautiful baby girl. You did well, you did so well. But twice… honestly, I can’t do it twice… you were too exhausted…”
Holding the bloody lump in his arms and crying waterfalls of tears with a wrecked face, the man made the Demon King smile faintly.
‘Now, just a little more…’
The Demon King held the child and nursed her. Then suddenly a chilling sensation ran down his spine.
‘Until when…?’
How long will that man keep getting happier?
Will that happiness ever stop?
Day by day he grows more content — when will he reach the top?
“……No.”
She alone — she had to finish this revenge.
How many corpses were stacked before her eyes?
The bodies of demons formed mountains, the blood formed rivers, the tears shed in misery soaked into the ground.
If she didn’t kill him today, there would be no tomorrow.
She would kill the child before his eyes, slaughter the household, and finally, seeing the face of despair, she would drive a sword into his heart.
‘He’ll come back tomorrow.’
He would return from a trip.
So there would be no survivors left in the mansion today.
Her fingernails grew long and razor-sharp.
“Milady, why are you—aren’t you sleeping…?”
The butler, who always kindly took care to serve dessert, smiled as he approached and began to speak, but his words choked off as he collapsed.
A spreading dark pool of blood appeared on the floor.
The Demon King cast a spell over the mansion and muffled all sound. People might be able to enter, but no one could leave.
Lun — the Demon King’s red eyes flashed coldly.
The metallic smell of blood and screams filling the mansion followed soon after.
‘What the—?’
Suddenly the surroundings grew dark. Esther frowned, thinking the scenery would change again.
At that moment the scene brightened again.
But this time what appeared before her was not the Demon King.
It was the founding head of House Egbert.
‘…The soul belongs to the Demon King, but the body to the house head, maybe?’
As Esther floated and tumbled through the void, she saw the founding head on horseback with soldiers.
“I hope Lun will like it.”
“She will. Oh, if the head climbed the cliff to pick this for you, milady will surely be pleased to hear that story.”
What they held in their hands were flowers.
A bouquet that glittered like jewels whenever the sunlight hit it.
“…She rarely smiles, so if this gift pleases her, I’d like to see her smile once.”
They were just stepping into the mansion.
The founding head’s eyes widened.
“Lun…?”
The air smelled of blood.
Pale white, he hurried across the garden holding the flowers he had brought.
“House head!”
“Search the surroundings at once—”
“Kuh—”
Before the words finished, a horrific sound rang out.
The founding head turned.
“House head…sir…”
Something sharp had pierced through the knight’s chest and stuck out.
The knight collapsed forward, spurting blood.
“M-Monster——”
As other knights screamed and reached for their swords, their necks were already no longer attached to their bodies.
“……Lun?”
She, head bowed, still looked beautiful and, as always, expressionless as she stared at him.
“……You.”
But she was different from usual.
Her nails were abnormally long, and a pair of horn-like protrusions had grown roundly from her head like those of a sheep.
With red eyes she smiled.
“You’re back.”
“……Lun.”
“Look around the mansion. I prepared it for you.”
“Why on earth—”
The Demon King, staring at the betrayal, shock, and horror mixed with despair on the man’s face, laughed.
Wasn’t that exactly the outcome she had wanted most?
“…Why.”
The place reeked of blood.
“You slaughtered innocent demons so thoroughly… and expected only you to be happy on top of the corpse piles. How arrogant.”
Her wings spread wide.
They were twice the size of her body.
“I waited until now to kill you in the most cruel and despairing way possible.”
“……And the child?”
His voice trembled.
“Did you kill our child too?”
“…….”
The Demon King stared at him for a long moment and then spoke slowly.
“Yes.”
“…….”
With a contorted expression he threw the flowers aside. Then he drew his sword and charged.
The scene shifted again.
‘How long is this going to continue?’
Esther sighed, watching the scenes that had already passed.
No matter how many times they showed it, it was the past and nothing could be done about it.
She couldn’t understand the point of showing it unless it was for atonement or revenge.
‘I’m thirsty.’
As soon as she thought it, a glass of orange juice appeared in the air.
Esther gulped the orange juice down and watched a brutal scene.
What she saw next was even more savage.
Only the head of House Egbert remained standing.
Blood ran down his cheek, one arm had been severed — he was a sorry sight.
But the one who had fallen was not him but the Demon King.
‘Was I always this weak?’
The Demon King thought.
He and she had been together for ten years.
In those ten years, it wasn’t only his appetite for revenge that had dulled.
“Why……”
The founding House Egbert sank to the ground and sobbed.
“Why, at the end—”
He watched.
He watched the moment just before her sharp nails pierced his heart, when she stopped.
“She stopped, didn’t she…?”
