Chapter: 184
In the blink of an eye, Lian found himself knocked over by the cute puppy that was Jess. Even though the gag filter had worked its magic, his current body, much weaker than the original, was squished under Jess like a soft doll.
“W-Wait a second, Jess! Eek! Don’t lick my face!”
Despite his frantic attempts to push her away as her tail wagged vigorously and her tongue came flapping at his cheeks, it was like trying to stop a giant, excited dog—no chance of success there.
Sensing Lian’s struggle, Jess pressed even closer. The moment her warm and plush chest squished onto his, he froze, almost letting out a hiccup in surprise.
If it hadn’t been for his ‘training’ with Noah beforehand, he might have fainted outright and started bleeding from his nose.
“Ugh, Lian…”
Lian felt his mind snap back into focus like he was thrown into lava when Jess softly brushed her lips against his cheek. As he lifted his hands, determined to fend her off, Jess quickly grabbed them, her fingers weaving between his in a tight grip.
Her eyes gleamed dangerously as she looked down at him.
‘Something feels off here…’
Lian, who had been picturing this moment as “the overly excited pup meeting her owner,” suddenly felt alarm bells ringing in his head.
Her pupils, once mere pinpricks, had expanded into that of a predator staring down its prey.
Though he trembled like a rabbit in front of a wolf, he tried to soothe her with his voice.
“Jess, let’s stop this—”
Before he could finish, there was a loud CLANK!
The prison door, which had been firmly shut, rattled with a rough noise. A small window at the top, generally used for conversations, opened, revealing a pair of eyes peeking in.
“…”
“…”
Jess, still in position, turned to face the sudden visitor. The eyes looking through the small gap trembled as if they had stumbled upon something unexpected, then quickly regained their composure.
“…Hmm… Seems like there’s no problem.”
With a creak and a click, the small opening closed, plunging the room back into a tense silence.
The rookie guard, who had rushed over after hearing about a weak slave and a clearly carnivorous beastman being locked in the same cell, was able to leave in relief—though for very different reasons than anticipated.
“Uh, wait, this is a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”
Having recognized that this was a typical cliché unfolding, Lian shouted reflexively, drawing a startled glance from Jess. The sight of her adorably flicking her ears back to attention helped him regain some clarity.
“Ahh… Jess. This body isn’t really mine. So please don’t handle it too roughly.”
“Sniff, sniff… Mmm…”
Jess, who had been thinking of gobbling him up, pulled away slightly at the realization that he wasn’t in his real body, pouting a bit and stumbling backward.
With that, Lian was finally able to exhale a cautious sigh of relief.
“So—Jess, how on earth did you end up here?”
At Lian’s question, Jess rolled her eyes up to the right, as if rummaging through her memories.
*
After Lian vanished in a blaze of ominous flames, Jess desperately sought any information related to him.
She was convinced he was still alive, her invisible bond growing stronger the moment she began serving him.
While she was frantically searching through the books in the study, chaos erupted at the Duke’s House. Noah and Iris, who had been living like shells of their former selves, started insisting that Lian was alive and needed rescuing.
‘Master is in the Demon King’s Castle?’
Jess was the only one to take their words seriously amidst discussions of madness and potential mind games by the Demon King’s Army.
‘…I should probably sleep more often.’
Pouting at the absence of her master in her dreams, Jess resolved to storm the Demon King’s Castle.
Charging into the Demon King’s territory unarmed would only be throwing her life away, so Jess sought strength instead.
‘I need to form a group.’
With the power of magic, it wasn’t impossible for an individual to wage war against a massive force. But that would take far too much time.
Jess decided to band together with others for this very reason. She quickly dashed out of the Duke’s House and headed south, towards the land of the Beastmen.
This wasteland, no different from a savage land, only welcomed the strong. Beautiful beastmen like Jess were easy prey for predators.
“Everyone, bow down and worship!”
In less than a month, Jess conquered the savage land and made it her own. All the beastmen lowered their tails and submitted to her.
By that time, the battle between the Demon King’s Army and the Imperial Army had begun in earnest. Just as Jess had been waiting for, she plunged into the battlefield, earning the nickname ‘The Slaughterer’ as she wrecked havoc.
Time passed, and eventually, Jess found herself captured as a slave in the Demon King’s Castle.
“Wait a second. I feel like there’s a lot of missing details here. How did you even get caught?!”
“Every time I killed an enemy, more seemed to appear, and eventually I thought it would be quicker to let myself get captured. Hehe…”
“Wow… you…”
As Jess noticed she might get scolded, she gave a cute smile, resting her face on Lian’s lap, staring up at him. With her big ears drooping, she shot him a ‘Please forgive me. Okay?’ look that melted Lian’s heart.
“…You can’t do things like that again. Got it?”
“Okay, okay!”
As he absentmindedly patted her head, Jess responded without a hint of shame. That fleeting thought of whether to scold her darkened as her cheerful expression melted him away.
‘Good grief, this cute little troublemaker.’
Lian gently pinched her cheek, causing her to let out a small “Mmm” sound while flapping her ears. She was so adorable that he ended up petting her for a while longer. Jess, realizing Lian was treating her like a puppy, slyly hugged him around the waist, using her charm.
Unbeknownst to Lian, who failed to notice how close they were getting, he continued running his fingers through Jess’s soft hair.
…Everything was according to Jess’s plan.
After a little more time passed, Jess and Lian started making concrete plans for escaping the Demon King’s Castle.
“First, I have a place I’ve scouted.”
“Wow…”
Being in ghost form allowed him to move about freely without triggering traps or spells, making it a piece of cake to find secret passages.
As Lian began listing off the information he had acquired, Jess’s mouth hung open in awe. The quality of Lian’s insights was top-notch.
“With this kind of information, we can escape right away!”
“Right?”
“You’re amazing, Lian!”
Seizing the moment, Jess wrapped herself around Lian, burying her face in his neck as she satisfied her desires. Lian, used to this by now, lovingly patted her back. Having learned that coaxing her down gently was far easier than prying her off forcefully, he embraced the moment.
This was all part of Jess’s cute scheme, which Lian had no way of knowing.
As they fine-tuned their impeccable escape plans, a gloomy energy began seeping from a certain area.
“…Where are you?”
A seductive voice, chilling to the bone, echoed along the walls and floor. Normally, this entity would have appeared with a loud thud, but there was no sign of them.
“Stop messing around and just show yourself.”
As silence settled in with no sign or sound, the Demon King’s eyes began to drain of color. Her crimson eyes dimmed ominously.
“…”
She surveyed the room wordlessly for a moment. The space that had once felt comfortable grew colder than the snowy mountains in the north. It felt empty, as if a piece of her heart had been ripped out, suffocating her.
“Just as I thought…”
She murmured with a heavy gaze.
“I should have bound you to my side eternally.”
Thoughts of all sorts of forbidden magic flickered through her mind.
“No, it’s not too late… I can still find you…”
The Demon King.
“As long as I can possess your very soul.”
It was the moment the most cruel and savage of kings first admitted her true desires.
*
The next dawn, Lian and Jess made their escape preparations immediately.
Lian was ready to leave the Demon King’s Castle as soon as he found his body, and Jess, having pinpointed his location, was also set to rush out at the first opportunity, ensuring they had formed a detailed plan.
Thanks to this, they had no need for lengthy preparations and were set for a quick escape attempt.
Boom!
Lian activated a concealed mechanism hidden in one corner of the prison, revealing a passage barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through. Zone 0 was previously used as a storage area, and the passage that lay before them was initially created for quick access between the storage, kitchen, and guest quarters.
A history book he had read in the study had noted that this passage might have been destroyed long ago. Contrary to that history, however, the passage remained intact—information only known to Lian in his ghostly form.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay!”
It was time to go back home.
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