Chapter 9

He didn’t know what to say, as he was spacing out so he spit out the first word that came to his mind.

“What have you done to me?”

“Should I have just let you die?”

He was such a wild fellow. Isabella shot back indifferently, then he cleared his throat, avoiding her gaze.

Perhaps because of his fever or embarrassment, both his cheeks were red.

Isabella turned a blind eye to Kayden and casually held out the cup.

“Drink it. It’s effective at calming. It’s chamomile.”

“…….”

“Are you worried that I might poison you?”

As Kayden hesitated, Isabella took a sip of it first.

“Drink it because it won’t kill you.”

She pushed the cup to his lips, and he drank it reluctantly.

The smell of bitter grass spread through his mouth. He doesn’t know if it’s just his feeling, but he felt like his head was clearing up.

“… chamomile?”

“It’s grass that looks like this. It’s a common herb, but it has a calming effect, so boil it like tea after you have a fever. There are a lot in the tower.”

Isabella held out the herb without making eye contact.

“It’s thanks to the cat that you’re lying here. Otherwise, you’d still be lying on the cold stone floor.”

Isabella took the cup he’d finished and said. When he turned his eyes, a black cat was licking its front paws.

“Mu, come here.”

“Is it’s name Mu?”

“Yes.”

Mu, immersed in grooming, lightly ignored Kayden’s words. Mu was the cat that Kayden had in the tower.

During his time trapped in the tower, Mu was Kayden’s only friend and roommate… Or rather, he felt like he was living as his butler.

Its golden rice bowl was filled with meat. A silk cat bed, fine sand airlifted from the western desert, and a fishing rod with luxurious peacock feathers and jewels were also seen.

In comparison, Kayden’s life was very simple.

‘She even took off my clothes.’

His tight chest is visible through his untied shirt. Isabella turned her head because she remembered what had happened earlier.

“Where are you looking?”

“Well, I was just looking around the room. It’s nice and cozy.”

Where did her impudence go? Kayden smirked at Isabella’s awkwardness.

He wondered if there was a corner of himself that believed she would let him meet the Demon King.

What confidence did she have in making such a proposal? He was furious, but he kept thinking about her words.

With her slender frame, it wouldn’t have been easy for her to move him here and lay him down.

‘It wouldn’t be difficult to listen to her story with sincerity.’

Kayden stared up at Isabella.

“That ridiculous promise from earlier.”

“…What?”

“I want to hear it clearly. I am bored since I am lying down.”

He’s giving her a chance to nurse him. It was a good thing for her, whatever the reason might be.

He leaned over and looked at her.

His sweaty hair was all over the place because of his terrible fever. His eyes were very drowsy as if he had just gotten out of a long bath.

“You’ll let me meet the Demon King. By what means?”

“…….”

“As the lady claims, she’s a woman who didn’t even budge for years, right?”

“We can make it inevitable.”

Isabella smiled significantly.

She heard that the Demon King was the ‘strongest being’ in the Demon Realm. Although it may seem that they are only connected by blood, it is actually the strongest bloodline. Therefore, they have given birth to the Demon King from generation to generation.”

“So what?”

“Sign a contract with me and be the strongest demon. And become the Demon King.”

It was a low and determined tone. Kayden was already notorious as the natural enemy of all demons and monsters.

He was challenged by demons who were flying and crawling on the northern border, but he never kneeled.

He was of direct descent from the Demon King. It was certainly possible for him once he became an official demon and his power stabilized.

“Aren’t you curious? If it really is a place for you to sit on even while throwing away a pile of dung?

“…….”

“How would your mother feel when she threw everything away for that position only for her own child to take it away?”

Isabella’s deep blue eyes shine brilliantly.

“If it were me, I’d rather do something than wait for the day I die.”

If he becomes the successor of the Demon King by force, his mother, the current Demon King, will not be able to avoid her son, Kayden.

It was a pretty clever trick, but there was only one big problem.

“But I don’t want to be a demon.”

It was “Kayden’s Bull Stubbornness.”

“Why are you trying to evade it? It’s something you can’t run away from.”

“…….”

“You said your body was already that of a demon.”

“Because demons are a selfish race that only knows itself.”

“Are you any different?”

“What?”

Kayden’s eyes widened at Isabella’s direct question.

“Just running away from reality with a body that may explode at any time, that’s selfish behavior.”

When a human wizard experiences a mana explosion, most of them spend the rest of their lives in temples.

In fact, treatment was impossible and it was a measure to prevent damage to private houses. Deaths caused by mana explosions have a strong impact, so they used a method to offset them with holy power.

But it was limited to humans. In the case of Kayden, he was not allowed to enter the temple because he was a child of a demon.

“You seem to be mistaken, but I don’t mind dying. If it’s defense magic against explosions, I’ve already cast it here too.”

“If a human wizard suffers from mana explosion symptoms, the survival period is about a year. You’ve been here for five years already.”

“That’s what it is.”

“What I mean is that the scale of your mana is incomparable. What’s the use of defensive magic?”

“…….”

“If you are destroyed, the North will be devastated. The innocent Lords and your father, Duke Blake, will all die because of you.”

Kayden couldn’t say anything.

‘It’s just like my dream.’

Because Isabella’s words were the same as the dreams he had repeatedly dreamed of.

It was a decision he made all alone. That’s why he confined himself to the tower despite Duke Blake’s countless dissuasion.

At first, he thought it would be over in a year like everyone else. But for many years, he was in endless pain.

Time passed in the tower, too. He ate the food sent by the Duke, read books and newspapers, and stayed connected to the outside world.

Didn’t he come here to die in the first place? Maybe he wants to live. He was confused, but he decided not to think complicatedly about his body that would die even if he stayed still.

He didn’t want to be a demon. His conclusion was always the same, no matter how many times he pondered over it.

Ironically, his body gradually turned into a demon. One day when his back hurt like it was torn.

Kayden found black feathers on his back. It was a demon’s wing.

Kayden had not known that his petty pride, which he did not want to admit even if he died, could eventually devour the things he loved the most.

‘I thought that once it was all over, I would die alone.…. It was an illusion.’

His heart was pounding. There’s nothing he can do if it’s inevitable.

Kayden, who had not spoken for a long time, sighed lightly and asked with a resigned face.

“Okay. How are you going to use me?”

Kayden, who had risen before she knew it, looked at her obliquely with his arms crossed.

‘It’s done.’

Isabella’s lips slowly drew an arc.

“I’ll tell you the bottom line: I’m going to destroy my father, and I want you to be the bait and my strength for it.”

Bait and power. Kayden burst into laughter because he was overwhelmed by Isabella’s wild expression.

“I think I need an explanation.”

“My father cheated on us. He also did it with a woman who was my mother’s best friend.”

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TL Note:

Happy new year, everyone! (❁´◡`❁)