Roisel stood up from his chair.
Every nerve in his body was on edge, a dire premonition creeping up his spine.
As expected, a familiar shadow fell from the stairs. It was Tariya, as he’d thought.
“Tariya?”
His voice was hoarse. A terrible sense of déjà vu.
“What are you plotting now?”
Roisel’s voice held blatant animosity and deep weariness.
It was the same nightmare he had already relived twice.
Or rather, could this even be dismissed as just a dream?
This was the third time. The same situation, the same characters.
His patience was slowly wearing thin.
“Tariya, stay right there.”
However, Tariya ignored his warning and took another step closer.
“I told you not to move!”
Roisel drew his sword from his waist. He pointed the tip of his sword at her and spoke in a low voice.
His menacing aura was so intense, it felt as if he could pierce her at any moment.
Just then, Tariya stopped and spoke in a trembling voice full of worry.
“R-Lord Roisel?”
Her eyes seemed to genuinely worry about him.
They flickered with anxiety, like a lost child.
“……”
Roisel was momentarily speechless. The atmosphere was subtly different from the two previous nightmares he had experienced.
In the past, Tariya had approached him with blatant seduction or a bizarre smile.
But now, she looked… exactly like Tariya, the loyal subordinate officer Roisel knew.
He was confused. Could this be the real Tariya this time? Was he overreacting due to the nightmares?
Still, Roisel did not lower his sword. He had experienced too much to let his guard down.
“Are you alright? You look so pale. Did something happen while I was away…”
Tariya continued in a tone that seemed genuinely concerned for him.
Her voice held no pretense or malice.
On the contrary, she even seemed hurt by his sharp reaction.
Roisel’s heart was in turmoil.
Was this also a trap? Or was he truly suffering from nightmares, unable to distinguish reality from dreams?
‘I don’t know.’
He truly didn’t know.
Because if it were a dream, wouldn’t the meeting proceed the same way?
If that were the case, it meant the Tariya before him was a monster. But looking at her now, it seemed like an absurd thought.
As Roisel hesitated, Tariya cautiously took another step closer.
Her eyes were still filled with concern for him.
“Lord Roisel, you try to carry too heavy a burden alone. Even for a moment… lean on me and rest.”
At that moment, Roisel realized it.
Her tone of voice had changed, subtly but undeniably.
Within her pure, worried tone, a sweet, yet chilling aura began to seep in, like honey.
“Come, hold me now without any worries.”
As Tariya spoke, she began to undress, one piece of clothing at a time.
The situation was unfolding exactly as before.
Stripped bare, Tariya slowly approached Roisel.
“……!”
The sword slipped powerlessly from Roisel’s hand.
It hit the floor with a clang that cut through the stillness of the basement, but he didn’t even consider picking it up.
His mind was filled with confusion.
While doubt lingered, a desperate hope began to rise.
What if this Tariya was real? Had he been so exhausted that he was seeing and hearing things?
What if he’d rashly drawn his sword, and she was truly there to comfort him?
If so, wouldn’t he be making an irreversible mistake?
“Look at me, Lord Roisel.”
Her voice had now completely transformed into a captivating whisper that paralyzed his reason.
As if entranced, Roisel approached her. And he embraced Tariya as she came towards him.
Her body was so soft.
The warm embrace seemed to melt his tired body and soul.
Even Tariya’s scent was an irresistible, captivating fragrance to him.
It felt as if the fatigue and anxiety that had plagued him for days and nights vanished in an instant.
‘Yes, this must be a dream.’
It was strange to have the same dream three times.
Perhaps the previous two were truly nightmares, and this moment was reality.
The solace Roisel longed for, the rest he craved.
Roisel buried his face in Tariya’s shoulder.
The subtle fragrance emanating from her hair filled his lungs.
He closed his eyes.
For this moment, he wanted to forget everything.
The empire’s oppression, the burden of rebellion, the terror of the recurring nightmares.
He wanted to forget it all.
It was then.
“Hoo… Hoohoo……”
A low, eerie laugh echoed in his ears. Just as Roisel started in surprise and tried to raise his head, immense strength coursed through Tariya’s arms wrapped around him.
It squeezed him as if captured by steel manacles.
“Gck…!”
He was suffocating.
Before Roisel’s eyes, Tariya’s face, which he held, began to distort like clay.
Her beautiful eyes bled red and tore open, her nose flattened, and her mouth ripped open to her ears, revealing sharp teeth.
Her soft skin turned rough.
Simultaneously, black, sticky tentacles began to sprout from Tariya’s body, embraced in Roisel’s arms.
They writhed like snakes, coiling around Roisel’s entire body.
The tentacles dug into his flesh.
“Kuaaaak!”
With excruciating pain, he felt his life force rapidly draining away.
It was as if all the blood in his body was flowing backward and being sucked into the monstrosity.
‘In the end… again…….’
Roisel’s consciousness began to fade. The last things that entered his vision were the monstrous maw trying to swallow him and the countless writhing teeth within.
His body was soon sucked into its mouth.
“Aaahhh!”
“Lord Roisel! Lord Roisel!”
Just then, someone shook his shoulder.
Roisel gasped for breath and his eyes snapped open. Before him, Berk looked down with a worried expression.
“Are you alright? You suddenly screamed, so I was startled.”
Not only Berk but also others around them, with surprised faces, surrounded him.
“You’re sweating so much…”
This time it was Tariya.
But Roisel didn’t have the strength to say anything. He simply stared blankly into the air for a while.
‘It was… a dream again.’
He slowly looked around. The old, dilapidated basement was still there. A city map lay spread out on the table. The meeting seemed to be not yet over.
“Lord Roisel, you look unwell. Perhaps you should rest for today…”
Tariya’s voice was heard.
She had a look in her eyes that seemed genuinely concerned.
However, Roisel could not shake off the lingering images of the previous dreams from her voice and eyes.
He let out a deep sigh and touched his forehead.
“It seems… my condition isn’t good. We’ll end the meeting here for today.”
At his words, everyone in the basement looked at him with puzzled expressions.
It was a critical juncture, with a grand operation imminent.
But the ultimate decision-maker was Roisel. No one dared to object to his firm tone.
“Understood. Please rest well, Lord Roisel.”
Berk replied on behalf of everyone, and others gradually exited the basement.
As the last one, Tariya glanced back at him with a worried look before quietly ascending the stairs.
Everyone left, and Roisel was once again alone in the basement.
He sank deep into his chair and breathed heavily.
‘It’s the third time already.’
The same nightmare. The same ending. Was this a mere coincidence?
It couldn’t be.
If not, was it someone’s manipulation? Or was he really going insane?
His mind was as tangled as a ball of yarn.
He could no longer distinguish what was reality and what was a dream.
Perhaps even this moment was a dream.
Thump-thump-
Just then, he heard movement again from the stairs. Light, familiar footsteps.
Roisel’s gaze turned cold.
He silently rose from his chair and picked up his sword.
His grip tightened.
Emerging from the darkness was Tariya, as expected.
“Lord Roisel, I was worried…”
Tariya began to speak with a worried expression. But Roisel no longer believed her words.
To his ears, Tariya’s voice already sounded like a grotesque whisper.
“You again!”
Roisel drew his sword and pointed it at her. His eyes were bloodshot.
“L-Lord Roisel? Why all of a sudden… Please calm down!”
Tariya recoiled in surprise at his sudden actions. Her eyes held pure fear and confusion.
“Calm down? Do I look like I’ve gone mad! I won’t be fooled by your act anymore!”
Roisel turned a deaf ear to her words. His reason had already reached its limit.
As Tariya took a step closer to calm him, Roisel swung his sword like a madman.
“Kuaaak!”
Blood spurted from Tariya’s arm.
“Kiiiaak!”
She screamed and collapsed onto the floor.
“That’s acting too! Do you think I don’t know your true nature!”
Roisel, as if consumed by madness, shouted and lunged at Tariya.
He climbed onto the fallen Tariya and mercilessly swung his sword.
“Gck… Roisel… Lord… Why……”
The words that barely escaped Tariya’s lips were like a desperate scream.
Hot tears flowed ceaselessly from her eyes. But to Roisel, even that seemed like deception.
“Shut up! It’s your trick to seduce and devour me again!”
He roughly tore at Tariya’s clothes as she gasped for breath. Red blood spread across her exposed white skin.
“Are you trying to bewitch me again with this appearance! You hussy!”
Roisel howled like a beast and thrust his sword into her body several more times.
Tariya’s body went limp, and the last light vanished from her eyes.
Only Roisel’s ragged breaths and the smell of blood filled the basement.
He stood there blankly for a while, looking down at Tariya’s blood-soaked corpse.
“Yes, this is all an act! It must be a dream!”
Roisel muttered like a madman.
His eyes were unfocused, lost in the void.
He brainwashed himself, telling himself this was all an extension of a terrible nightmare and that he would soon wake up.
His sense of reality had long been numbed.
He staggered towards Tariya’s lifeless body. A grotesque smile formed on his face.
“No matter how much you struggle, it’s useless. I won’t be fooled. This is a dream… so anything goes in a dream!”
His hand reached out to Tariya’s corpse. It was the gesture of a beast consumed by madness, devoid of any human dignity.
At that moment.
“Lord Roisel? What’s that sound from inside…”
Berk’s voice was heard from upstairs.
After the meeting ended, Berk had been waiting outside when Tariya went back into the basement.
However, as a loud noise erupted, Berk hurried down the stairs.
And the sight that unfolded before his eyes was Breathtaking.
What entered his vision was Tariya’s corpse, growing cold.
Tariya lay there, her whole body soaked in blood, her clothes brutally torn. And Roisel was on top of the corpse, thrusting his hips.
Roisel’s face was contorted with madness, and he was uttering incomprehensible gibberish.
“……!”
Berk momentarily doubted his own eyes at the sight of such an unspeakable act.
“Wh-what is this…”
He couldn’t believe that Roisel, whom he respected and followed, the leader of the rebellion, the hope of the Free City Alliance… was the same person as the hideous monster before him.
Revulsion and anger, and a deep sense of despair, pressed down on Berk’s heart.
“Lord Roisel! What… what are you doing!”
Berk’s voice cracked with anger and shock.
With trembling hands, he drew his sword from his waist.
Only then did Roisel seem to notice Berk’s presence and slowly turned his head.
His eyes still glinted with madness.
“Berk? Did you appear in this dream too? Haha… Yes, let’s all enjoy this nightmare together!”
Roisel said, giving Berk a chilling smile. He still believed he was in a dream.
But Berk knew. This was no dream.
The faint smell of blood filling the basement, Tariya’s cold corpse, and the red blood on Roisel’s hands were all too vivid a reality.
Roisel did not know. He did not know that the terrible sin he had committed was an irreversible reality.
And that reality was now preparing to be judged by the sword of Berk, his former subordinate.
* * *
In a corner of the abyss dominated by darkness, a magnificent palace painted red soared.
On a wide bed, a woman sat in a space filled with a mixture of exotic perfumes and the scent of vital energy.
“How interesting.”
She wore a dress the color of rich red wine.
“While I was away, someone brought my children and engaged in petty mischief.”
Her identity was the Succubus Queen, Carmina.
She had reappeared in the world after a long time.
Until now, she had hidden her presence briefly to increase her power, but there was no longer a need for that.
She had been a 5-star, and now she was a 6-star.
Only one rank remained until the next Succubus Empress.
“To dare use succubi without permission.”
Her lips curved into a smile, but her eyes were cold.
Carmina, the queen of succubi, slowly rose from her throne.
“The worms who dare to challenge the queen’s authority must pay the price they deserve.”
A cruel smile flickered across Carmina’s lips.
“Find them.”
Her command was absolute.
Red eyes bowed in unison, then silently disappeared into the shadows.
