CHAPTER 098
"Do you know what your biggest mistake was?"
The emperor tightened his grip on Sephelia's neck with a disdainful expression.
"It was rubbing your lips against my hand so shamelessly. Arabelle never presses her lips to my hand when she rubs her face against it. Just the other day, she teased me by hesitantly moving a few times in my hand before running away out of embarrassment. Do you think she would ever sensually open her lips and lick my palm with her tongue like you?"
When they first spent time as lovers, Arabelle had unknowingly moved her head in his caressing hand and then almost fell backward out of shock. It was a significant improvement that she didn’t run away and instead stayed in his hand, gently rubbing her face.
Arabelle would never suddenly act so lewdly with her lips and tongue in his hand.
At that moment, Kaligo and Ermire, who had climbed to the top of the rock, heard the emperor's bold words.
The emperor was declaring such embarrassing things with a serious face, without any change in expression.
The more they got to know him, the more shameless he seemed.
Kaligo pursed his lips and shook his head slightly.
"Your Majesty, you're mistaken. I was just so happy to see you again... sob, sob... The Abisseut is clouding your judgment. I am your Arabelle... sob, sob..."
In Arabelle’s form, Sephelia struggled with her feet and burst into pitiful tears.
Her eyes and nostrils turned red, and clear tears rolled down her round eyes and trembled on her lips.
Even the heart of any monster would soften at such a pitiful and sorrowful sight.
Ermire, who had been startled and was staring blankly at the emperor, snapped out of it and climbed down from Kaligo’s back.
"You're right. That woman is not Arabelle. Another woman is inside Arabelle’s appearance."
The emperor followed Ermire’s pointing hand with his gaze.
At the end of his gaze stood the grotesque monster.
"Arabelle is inside that monster's body. I don’t know how, but I can see it clearly."
Ermire, who had seemed weak just moments ago, now faced Sephelia with a resolute demeanor.
"Sephelia, I don’t know why you’re doing this, but stop the joke!"
She thought Sephelia was her friend, but now she had pushed her off the rock and was imitating Arabelle. It was clear that Sephelia, who could switch bodies, was no ordinary human.
"Sephelia..."
Kaligo, still standing by Ermire’s side, tilted his head and muttered Sephelia’s name several times.
Suddenly, his glassy eyes sparkled as if he remembered something.
"Sephelia... the only daughter of the Great Demon King Abisseut! I thought she threw herself into the Aether River after being abandoned by the god of the river... but she’s alive?"
The gate made by the river god for his tryst with Sephelia was the same gate used by the emperor and Kaligo.
The promiscuous river god had abandoned Sephelia, and unable to bear the sorrow of their separation, Sephelia had chosen the only way for gods to die. She jumped into the Aether River.
The emperor, Kaligo, Ermire, and even the monster containing Arabelle now turned their attention to Sephelia.
Her face was now alternating between Arabelle’s and Sephelia’s, becoming a chaotic mix.
As time passed, Sephelia’s appearance became more dominant.
The emperor, his red eyes still fixed on the monster, raised his sword hand into the air.
With a weighty mid-range voice, his red lips parted, sinking the surrounding air.
"Since it seems this tedious trial is over, why not show yourself? Otherwise, I’ll sever your daughter’s neck."
Another way to kill a god: the Musatre’s Sword.
When Abisseut wreaked havoc on the human world and rebelled against the ancient gods, they gifted the sword, forged with their blood, to the hero Musatre.
There was no way Abisseut or Sephelia wouldn’t know.
Feeling the cold blade of the sword on her neck, Sephelia screamed shrilly.
It was the same nerve-wracking sound that had come from the monster's lips.
Unperturbed, the emperor brought the flat side of the sword closer to her pale neck.
"Aaah! Mother!"
"Stop!"
With Sephelia’s shriek, a sharp voice echoed, engulfing everything in the forest.
A fierce sandstorm blew and stopped atop the rock.
In the blink of an eye, the swirling wind transformed into the figure of a beautiful woman.
With lips twisted in anger, Abisseut commanded the emperor.
"If you want to save Arabelle, release Sephelia immediately!"
By now, Abisseut had reached out and pulled the monster containing Arabelle closer.
The monster’s glossy black eyes stared at the beautiful woman holding its arm.
She looked similar to Sephelia but exuded a much more mature sensuality.
The deep scent of hyacinths from Abisseut’s mother filled his nostrils.
When an unintelligible word escaped Abisseut’s enchanting lips, Sephelia returned to her original form in the emperor's grasp.
The emperor’s red eyes wavered indescribably as he looked at the monster held by the Great Demon King.
The monster’s shell melted away, revealing Arabelle inside.
Her round eyes blinked repeatedly in confusion and fear, looking back and forth between herself and Abisseut.
To Arabelle, the emperor was a stranger.
He was the man who had saved her and her friends from the evil spirits, but he was also the man who had just held a sharp sword to her neck.
And he had been confronting Sephelia, who had taken on her appearance, with incomprehensible words.
It was as if he knew her, no, as if he knew her very well.
Even though she had never seen him before, every time he looked at her, her heart ached and throbbed.
At first, she thought it was fear.
But it wasn’t fear.
Relief warmed the blood that had been chilled by terror.
Just having him in front of her somehow made her feel reassured.
Was it sadness...?
Arabelle bit her trembling lower lip to keep from crying and listened to the pounding of her heart.
It was more frustration than sadness, more excitement, and joy than frustration.
Seeing a man she had never met before made her vision blur with joy.
Seeing Arabelle’s eyes sparkle with moisture, the emperor’s throat tightened dramatically.
His throat felt raw and parched.
Just a little longer. Just a little longer.
The emperor made a vow inwardly as he locked eyes with Arabelle.
I will take you out of here.
"If you don’t send Sephelia to me right now, I will throw Arabelle alive into the fire pit swarming with hungry evil spirits."
With a wave of her arm, the forest instantly transformed into the inferno of the underworld.
Right next to the rock, hot lava began to bubble up like a fountain, forming pits of fire.
In the fire pits, evil spirits of various shapes and forms waited eagerly, biting and devouring each other in anticipation of the souls to be thrown in.
The monsters below the rock licked their lips as they watched the emperor and his party, biding their time.
The air, thick with the stench of blood, felt as if bugs were crawling all over their skin, making it unbearably unpleasant to the bone.
The emperor looked around leisurely before speaking.
"It seems the Great Demon King of the underworld is gravely mistaken."
He tightened his grip on Sephelia’s neck for emphasis.
"Ugh... Mother!"
At her daughter’s pained scream, Abisseut’s golden hair instantly transformed into dozens of snakes, their mouths open wide as they hissed at the emperor.
"If you insult my daughter again, I will turn Arabelle to ashes right here."
"Do as you wish."
The emperor nodded calmly at Abisseut’s warning, wearing a nonchalant expression.
Kaligo looked up at the emperor in disbelief.
Even though he held the demon king’s daughter hostage, it was a reckless provocation.
Abisseut’s face twisted for a moment before she raised an empty hand towards Arabelle.
The numerous ornate accessories on her arm and fingers jingled as they moved.
She raised her sharp nails towards Arabelle’s eyes but stopped just short of touching them as if there were an invisible barrier in front of Arabelle’s face.
No matter how much force she exerted on the hand holding Arabelle’s arm, Arabelle seemed unaware of the pressure.
Her blue eyes, like a lake, turned into the yellowish eyes of a reptile, glaring at Arabelle.
But Arabelle’s hair didn’t catch fire, nor did her skin blister and burn.
Muttering what seemed like an incantation with her twisted lips, nothing happened to Arabelle.
"It seems your thoughts are in disarray due to the unexpected events. You seem to have forgotten that no matter how much you try to harm Arabelle, you cannot."
The emperor’s mocking laughter made Abisseut’s face harden.
She had forgotten. No matter how much she ruled over the underworld, she could no longer harm Arabelle.
The emperor had accomplished something that no one else had achieved, except for one instance.
Thousands of years ago, a father’s devotion to retrieving his son had seemed victorious, but the son had already consumed the fruit of the underworld.
With a benevolent appearance, she had sent the father and son back to the human world, expecting them to return within a week.
But then...
Abisseut glared at the emperor and Arabelle with murderous intent.
The emperor had perfectly succeeded in passing through the nine gates, and Arabelle had not consumed the forbidden food.
Despite her many attempts to tempt her, the seemingly weak-hearted girl did not succumb.
Even when she suffered from thirst, she offered the fruit juice to Ermire. Despite Sephelia handing the glass bottle to Arabelle first.
When Sephelia had taken her to the forest and plucked a luscious fruit from a tree, she was confident Arabelle had finally succumbed to temptation.
But... the deer from the human world had interfered.
That deer was the mother deer Arabelle had saved with her fawn from a burning mountain on her way back to the palace.
As sworn with the ancient gods, putting their immortal light on the line, Abisseut and the monsters of the underworld could no longer harm a human who had passed through the nine gates and the soul they had come to rescue.
Abisseut’s veins pulsed under her skin like a spider web in anger at the realization that she could not throw the impudent man holding her daughter’s neck and Arabelle into the fire pit.
"Since facing each other is equally unpleasant, let’s get this over with."
At the emperor’s demand, Abisseut flicked Arabelle’s arm away.
With a flick.
Arabelle’s form was sucked into a flame that appeared in Abisseut’s palm and vanished.
The surrounding, contrasting bright and luminous light was caught in the emperor’s sight.
He clenched his fists tightly to hide his trembling hands as he watched the approaching light.
"There’s no need to try to grasp it. The light of Arabelle’s soul is now yours."
Kaligo whispered softly beside him.
The sparkling light approached the emperor and settled on his shoulder.
"Do not touch it carelessly. It’s a sleeping soul in an unconscious state. The important thing is to ascend to the world without waking it."
At Kaligo’s warning, the emperor resisted the urge to reach out and caress it.
Swish.
Suddenly, Ermire, who had been standing next to Kaligo, faded like a mirage and disappeared into the air.
"Princess!"
Kaligo, panicking, limped around in a circle.
He looked around desperately to find the princess’s light but failed.
"Are you looking for this? Haha."
While Kaligo and the emperor searched for a light similar to Arabelle’s, a cheerful laugh was heard.
In Kaligo’s transparent eyes, a tiny ember was seen in Abisseut’s palm.
Unlike Arabelle’s healthy flame, it was a dying ember.
It wasn’t a warm light; it was cold, almost devoid of life.
"As a reward for your efforts, I’ll let you take Ermire’s light out of the underworld."
A voice filled with feigned compassion whispered in Kaligo’s ear, whose face was painted with despair.
His glassy eyes, flickering with hope, reflected the demon king of the underworld.
"However, this dying soul’s light will extinguish as soon as it reaches the human world."
Abisseut’s eyes glittered cruelly as she finished speaking.
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