Chapter 115
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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Chapter 115
"Vivian."
My heart sank at the soft call of my name.
His voice carried the weight of a plea, yet also something he was desperately trying to restrain.
In Lahedis's eyes, fierce emotion swirled precariously, threatening to overflow.
As though he might consume me at any moment.
Only then did I understand.
'He's waiting for my permission.'
And....
Until I granted it, that emotion would never consume me.
Yet paradoxically, the moment I grasped this truth, his emotion no longer frightened me.
Simultaneously, certainty crystallized within my own heart.
I would be content to be consumed by that raw, unfiltered emotion.
I gazed blankly into those azure eyes that held only me, then steeled my resolve and closed my eyes.
'My heart feels like it might burst from my chest!'
Though I tried to suppress the frantic beating in my chest, I couldn't hide the trembling of my hand gripping his sleeve.
Lahedis cradled my hand gently, his reddened lips pressed firmly together as he lowered his head.
But in that instant.
A tentacle suddenly materialized, lunging toward me as though to pierce through.
Lahedis, sensing the danger, swiftly cast magic to sever the tentacle.
"Lahedis...?"
Yet simultaneously, another tentacle erupted from the ground, coiling around me and dragging me away.
"Kyaaaah!"
"Vivian!"
Lahedis desperately reached out to grab me.
But our hands missed each other by a fraction of a second, and the distance between us widened once more.
"Ugh...."
Dragged helplessly through branches and undergrowth, I barely regained my senses and summoned the Dark Spirit.
"Meow!"
"Blackie, attack!"
The creature before me was a demon beast shaped like a slug.
The Dark Spirit honed the surrounding darkness into a sharp form to strike the beast, but it regenerated so quickly the attack proved useless.
'Even for a slug-type demon beast, it shouldn't regenerate this rapidly...?'
As I puzzled over this, I caught sight of a pale blue wall not far away, and suddenly understood the reason.
It was the boundary of the Demon Realm.
'As we draw closer to the Demon Realm, its regeneration accelerates.'
The high mana concentration in the Demon Realm's air strengthened demon beasts considerably.
'Considering the matchup, I should summon Ppiyak.'
Summoning a light spirit strong against demon beasts and demons would give me an advantage in battle, but the problem was that other knights were present here as well.
If I summoned a light spirit, they would discover that my mother is a high-ranking demon, and if that happened....
'Curtis Rohan's position might become difficult.'
But that hesitation lasted only a moment.
'...No, wait. Does that matter right now? First, I need to survive!'
If I die, that would be far worse!
It was just as I, having changed my mind, was about to summon a Spirit of Light.
"Lahedis?"
Lahedis, who had caught up in an instant using teleportation, deployed a wide-area magic circle.
The ground froze over, and ice sealed off the demon beast's lower body, cutting off its escape route.
Soon, sharpened ice pillars thrust upward from beneath the thrashing demon beast, piercing through it.
"Kieeeek!"
That attack, calculated precisely by Lahedis, missed me, but the demon beast thrashing in pain hurled me away.
"Vivian!"
Lahedis quickly used teleportation magic to reach me, but the Dark Spirit was faster.
However, just before the Dark Spirit could swallow me.
'Wh...?'
My hand, drifting through the air, crossed beyond the Demon Realm's barrier.
Despite the barrier still existing perfectly intact.
"Vivian, are you alright―"
Before Lahedis, who had approached, could even check my condition, urgent footsteps sounded from behind.
"Vivian!"
It was Dain, who had come running after hearing the commotion.
The moment he saw me unharmed, he pulled me into his embrace.
His hands trembled as they caressed the back of my head and my back.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine, Father. But...."
"Commander!"
Before I could finish speaking, a servant who had hurried over reported the situation.
"Two more demon beasts have appeared from the western direction. It seems... we must hurry and investigate."
At that news, Dain hesitated for a moment, then turned back to me with a reluctant expression, swallowing a sigh.
"Vivian, what were you trying to say earlier...."
I knew that if I wished it, Dain would gladly stay by my side, but precisely because I knew that, I deliberately smiled brightly and shook my head.
"...It's nothing. Go on, Father. I'll help too."
But Dain held me back.
"No, this is my responsibility. Vivian, you should head back now."
He gave an order to the servant before I could object, as if he wouldn't hear any rebuttal.
"Hans. Guide these two out of the Forest."
"Yes, Commander."
The servant guided Lahedis and me in the opposite direction from where Dain was heading.
I could only watch Dain's receding figure.
The question that arose the moment I touched the barrier remained unasked.
* * *
Clatter, clatter.
Through the open window of the carriage, I could see the forest that had been there just moments before.
The forest where the barrier between the Demon Realm and our world stood.
"...No."
Seeing that forest, memories of what had happened there flooded back to me.
'Surely... my hand passed through the Demon Realm's barrier...'
According to all known records, no one had ever crossed that barrier.
Yet I had passed through it...
"Vivian?"
Lost in thought as I gazed vacantly at the forest, I snapped back to awareness at the sound of Lahedis's voice.
"...Yes."
"Are you hurt anywhere? Did you perhaps twist your arm back in the forest?"
Concern was evident in Lahedis's blue eyes as he looked at me.
"You know, Lahedis."
I was about to tell him what had just happened, but fear suddenly seized me and I clamped my mouth shut.
'Would Lahedis accept me... no matter what I am?'
If the hypothesis forming in my mind were true, how would you react?
As I hesitated in that fear.
A conversation we'd had sometime ago came back to me.
[You wouldn't dislike me even if I were half-demon? Even if I were an incredibly dangerous demon?]
[What does that matter? Human or demon, you're still you.]
Recalling those words, my resolve crystallized.
I asked him, who was waiting silently for me to continue.
"Could you... come with me for a moment?"
I tried to speak as calmly as possible, since nothing was certain yet.
But my voice trembled beyond my control.
I finally dropped the mask I'd been wearing and revealed my true self—vulnerable and afraid.
"There's something I need to confirm... I think it would help if you were with me."
To someone who would stand by me in any circumstance.
* * *
After sending back the servants from the House of Edelwein who had come with us.
Lahedis and I arrived at another forest nearby, where the Demon Realm Passage lay.
Standing before the barrier, I asked Lahedis.
"Lahedis. Magic doesn't affect the one who casts it, right?"
Lahedis looked at me with an enigmatic expression before nodding.
"...By the same logic, it doesn't affect the caster's child either."
Most magic, excluding protective spells, fundamentally doesn't affect the caster.
The mana that comprises the spell recognizes its master and excludes them from the spell's effect.
So the caster never suffers injury from their own magic.
And that nature extended to the caster's child as well.
Those with similar mana recognized the caster as their master.
And just moments ago.
'If I'm not mistaken, my hand passed through the barrier.'
This barrier that the Demon King created by sacrificing his heart.
I approached the barrier once more to confirm it with absolute certainty.
And I brought my trembling hand to the barrier.
As expected, my hand passed through the barrier, and I felt the familiar mana.
At that same moment, a longed-for voice I had forgotten in my now-faded memories surfaced.
[Vivian, my baby. Mommy loves you so much. Forever....]
My mother's voice.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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