CHAPTER 089
“Ermiore, you look really tired. How about you rest tonight? I'll stay here,” Arabelle suggested, worry evident in her expression as she watched Ermiore feed well water to a baby deer.
Ermiore's pale face turned towards Arabelle with a faint smile and shook her head.
“I'm fine. So many wild animals are injured… If we don't treat them now, they won't recover.”
Unable to argue further, Arabelle looked at the numerous animals, big and small, waiting for their help.
She had heard that a forest fire caused by human mistakes had engulfed the entire forest, leaving innocent wild animals homeless and lifeless.
The animals that survived the fire had come to Arabelle and Ermiore with terrible burns or severe injuries from collapsing trees and rocks.
Though they were tired, they couldn’t stop offering help.
Initially, there were only about a dozen wild animals, but now there were so many that they crowded the dark forest, making the ground invisible.
“Arabelle, it seems you're the one overworking. Why don't you take a short nap under that old tree?” Ermiore's lifeless eyes glanced sadly at the sweat beading on Arabelle's forehead.
Arabelle shook her head, her round eyes crinkling into crescents.
Seeing the sickly Ermiore tirelessly caring for the wild animals, Arabelle resolved to muster her strength and continued to stop the bleeding on a mole's head.
“It would be easier to treat them if morning came…” Arabelle tilted her head back to gaze at the crescent moon hanging in the dark sky.
When she arrived at this forest with her mother, it was already dusk.
After her mother went down to the river, Arabelle met Ermiore at nightfall and began treating the injured animals.
Somehow, it felt like a lot of time had passed, but the moon still hung above Arabelle and Ermiore, illuminating their surroundings.
“Is it because we’re deep in the mountains that the night feels longer?”
“Maybe it’s because of the sunset so quickly…” Arabelle added, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead.
Though she was smaller and frailer than her peers, Arabelle was not sickly.
On the contrary, she prided herself on being quite healthy, having never suffered from minor or major illnesses.
Her body was trained from playing in the rough mountains of Kender Estate, which she treated like her backyard since she was a child.
Traveling through various mountains with her mother, collecting herbs, and treating wild animals often meant they missed meals or slept curled up on hard dirt floors.
Even then, she never found it particularly tough…
Feeling her energy drain, Arabelle let out a small sigh.
But before she could catch her breath, a pack of severely burned wolves surrounded her, pawing at the ground in pain.
“Oh dear, you must be in so much pain…” Arabelle carefully applied crushed yam root juice to the mother wolf's neck.
“By the way, Arabelle, aren’t you hungry?” Ermiore’s weary eyes showed a flicker of life as her slender hand retrieved something from her apron pocket.
Arabelle tilted her head, trying to remember what she had eaten that day.
What did she eat on the way here with her mother? She couldn’t recall.
She wasn’t sure if she was hungry or not.
Could her exhaustion be from hunger?
“My betrothed brought this from the village. It's so sweet and soft that just waiting for him, I let it melt in my mouth and it makes me happy,” Ermiore said, blushing and opening her palms to reveal a treat.
“What is this…?”
“It’s chocolate. Arabelle, have you ever had chocolate?”
“No, but I've seen it. I saw my aunt and uncle eating it. I heard it's very valuable and rare.”
Arabelle's black eyes gazed at the variously shaped chocolates in Ermiore's small hand.
Then,
‘Have you ever tasted chocolate? When we go to the village, I’ll buy you every kind of chocolate. Even gelato made from chocolate.’
A deep, resonant voice echoed in her ears.
The amused male voice quickly dissipated like mist through the gaps of a waterfall.
Thud.
“Arabelle… why are you crying?”
“Huh…? Oh, it’s nothing. Really, I don’t know why I keep doing this. Sorry, I must have scared you…”
Highly empathetic, Arabelle was prone to tears, but she wasn’t usually a crybaby who shed tears so frequently and unpredictably.
Even when she tried to hold back the rising tears by forcefully blinking, it was no use.
Her heart ached as she looked at the sweet chocolates.
Her throat tightened at the lingering voice in her ears.
It felt like she had tasted chocolate before, even though she never had.
The indescribable sweetness and excitement of the first taste came vividly to mind.
And the lingering sensation of warm lips on her fingertips was all too real.
It was so absurd that Arabelle's tear-filled eyes dropped to her fingers.
As if she had fed someone chocolate and then been caught by their lips—a ridiculous illusion…
Her heart tightened painfully.
No matter how much she wiped her tears with the back of her hand, the thick droplets continued to stream down her pale cheeks.
Even she couldn’t understand it.
There was no one she missed…
She was overwhelmed by a longing so deep it brought her to tears.
“Sorry, Ermiore. I don’t think I can eat the chocolate. Sorry…” Arabelle shook her head, unable to accept the chocolate offered by Ermiore.
The depthless longing made it impossible for anything to go down her throat.
Watching Arabelle with concerned eyes, Ermiore brought the three chocolates in her hand to her mouth.
Carefully wrapping the remaining chocolates in a handkerchief, Ermiore placed them back in her apron pocket.
As she slowly let the chocolate melt in her mouth, a bit of color returned to Ermiore’s face.
She closed her eyes briefly, savoring the sweet taste, and a faint smile curved her chapped lips.
She seemed happy as if imagining the night of the full moon when her beloved had promised to return.
Rustle,
There was a small sound behind the two girls.
Two pairs of large black eyes focused on the figure emerging from the darkness.
A girl who appeared to be about the same age as Arabelle and Ermiore stepped into the moonlight.
Her wavy golden hair, shone like it was sprinkled with jewels, and her tall, slender body moved with extraordinary grace.
Under her long eyelashes, deep and dark emerald eyes appeared, taking in Arabelle and Ermiore.
She was a dazzlingly beautiful girl, more stunning than Arabelle could have ever dreamed.
If Arabelle had to imagine the young version of the mythological goddess of beauty, Celitaea, this girl would come to mind.
Her lips, redder and more vibrant than peony petals, parted slowly in a shy greeting.
“Hello.”
***
The eyes, cold as ice, glared at the woman whose hair flowed like a waterfall of golden light down to her ankles.
Thick veins pulsed on the back of Musatre's hand as he gripped his sword, and his body, covered in taut muscles, maintained a flawless combat stance.
Kaligo growled, baring his sharp fangs as he questioned,
“Who are you?”
Lips as red as crushed peony petals parted to reveal a long tongue split into two sharp tips.
“Is it so hard to imagine? That the great Demon King who rules the underworld appears as such a beautiful woman?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Demon King Urviseut was a male god in ancient times.”
When Kaligo retorted, the tall, slender beauty gave a sinister smile.
“Believing the distorted facts created by the pride of the first and second gods who almost lost their thrones to their sister. How unfortunate. I put in a special effort for the humans who entered here for the first time in a thousand years, but you seem disappointed. Then, as a welcoming gesture…”
She raised the long wooden staff in her hand, which looked like it was made of intertwined roots.
“I will greet you in the form you imagined.”
As she spoke, the shape forming the wooden staff revealed itself.
Dozens of snakes constantly devoured and were devoured by each other, forming their shape.
Her golden hair turned into bright red flames, engulfing her entire body, and the feet hidden beneath her hair transformed into large beastly claws with sharp talons.
A cracking sound came from her previously translucent skin as rough scales the color of swamps began to cover her entire body.
Each scale opened an eye with yellow pupils.
Hundreds of eyes moved independently, focusing on Maxwell one by one.
A tail, thicker than a horse’s body, uncurled and writhed on the ground.
The scaled face was no longer human but reptilian.
As the flames covered her face, the horrific image burned and then the scales regenerated, covering the flesh again.
Emperor Maxwell stared unblinkingly at the hundreds of yellow eyes gleaming within the flames.
It was more unnerving and unpleasant than frightening, like bugs crawling on his skin.
The staff struck the blood-soaked ground.
Instantly, the beautiful woman was standing before him again.
With a smile more elegant and graceful than any princess on the continent, her lips parted, revealing a snake’s tongue flicking out.
“I shall honor my daughter’s betrothed. I am very sensitive when it comes to my daughter being angry.”
Kaligo stamped the ground with his front leg, facing the Demon King who spoke incomprehensible words.
“Who is your daughter’s betrothed? Stop spewing nonsense and don’t block our way to the nine gates!”
“Hmph, how adorable. But I haven’t tasted such a delicious-looking dessert in so long, I’m already salivating.”
Urviseut's gaze, slowly moving from Kaligo to Maxwell, was filled with lust.
Her lake-colored eyes glistened with desire as she looked Maxwell up and down.
Her split tongue flicked across her lips before retracting.
“I’m impatient, so I dislike wasting time. From this moment, I’ll start your test. If you pass through the nine gates, I will return Arabelle’s soul light. If you fail to pass all nine gates…”
“You’ll become their dinner,” answered the emperor, his voice devoid of emotion.
“No, Emperor Maxwell… You will become my daughter Sepilia’s husband.”
As the Demon King burst into a bright smile directed at him, Maxwell’s jaw clenched tightly.
***
The girl, who looked like she came straight out of a fairy tale about a princess and a prince, smiled sweetly.
“Hello, I’m Sepilia.”
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