I'm fighting Kal'tsit? Really?

The air still held the coolness of early morning, accompanied by the soft sunlight filtering through the curtains. The room temperature was just right, and you could even hear the gentle rustling of the wind against the windowsill.

Gerald suddenly sat up.

"Darling?" Seeing her lover's unusual behavior, Ramalen was startled and quickly went to his side to check on his condition: "Are you alright? Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?"

Pegasus's consciousness had not fully recovered, and the mental damage caused by the pain was still lingering in his mind. Therefore, Lamaren could clearly feel the trembling of the person in front of her.

"I'm fine, I'm alright." Gerald quickly brought his attention back, gently hugged the body in front of him, rested his head on his lover's shoulder and sighed: "It was a beautiful dream with a not-so-happy ending, I feel a bit disappointed."

He now understands exactly where the missing portion of time flow went after activating the Banshee's Kiss.

Chapter Ninety-Six: A Punishment Worse Than Death

Pegasus is very worried about Blood Demon's education.

He didn't think that fighting for several hours would raise his skills to an incredible level. After all, the Blood Demon Lord's combat skills were almost entirely based on his sorcery. In reality, what truly benefited him were his reaction, intuition, and senses; his combat skills were basically better than nothing.

But if things continue like this, he will soon be facing a robot that can only repeat its moves.

Lamaren's recent tactics have been superb. When the Banshee Queen realized that her lover could sever the curse with his swordsmanship, the situation instantly shifted from an overwhelming offensive to a highly assassin-like battle. From countermeasures to deception, she employed a variety of strategies, almost always introducing new ideas and limitations on his swordsmanship, forcing the situation to steer in her favor.

Therefore, the feeling of sparring with Lamaren is almost never boring. Although each time the fight is only lasted a short while before she restricts us to her garden and takes us to bed, the feeling of sparring is much more enjoyable than the simple battle that lasted more than ten hours.

These next few days we can think about how to solve this problem and squeeze the Blood Demon Lord's value to the limit.

—While Gerald silently pondered this thought, his hands never stopped, massaging every nook and cranny of Lamaren's body with a respectful attitude.

"Darling, are you satisfied with the force?" He whispered in the banshee's ear, "I might have a medical check-up at Rhodes Island today, and I'll also check on Aifanil's condition while I'm at it. Perhaps we can stop the punishment here for now and continue it when I get back tonight?"

“No.” Lamaren lay leisurely on the soft bedding, easily seeing through the other’s idea of ​​trying to escape punishment by stalling for time: “Although I am willing to forgive everything for your return, I have not yet settled accounts with you for what happened to Aifanil. If you are not willing to accept this punishment, I can also let you and that child do something else together.”

"Something else?"

"For example, I'll install a spell detection device on you and your father. If either of you has the thought of fighting again, I'll put all of Aifan's embarrassing moments from childhood on the biggest screen on Rhodes Island and play them on a loop."

Pegasus's hand movements froze for a moment, then he smiled and said, "That's a bit difficult. I need to think of a way to counter that child's spell while keeping the image on the screen... It doesn't seem like it will be easy. After all, his talent in magic is definitely far superior to mine."

Snapped.

Lamarle turned to the side and gently patted Gerald's arm: "Be serious, let's talk about proper punishment."

“But I also want to see what Aphrodite looked like as a child.” Gerald hesitated. “It’s not good to skip his childhood and see what he looked like as an adult.”

Although this system of collective punishment might slightly strain the relationship between father and son, he felt it was still worthwhile.

Worth it...hehe, it's definitely worth it.

"Next time we come to the valley, shall I show you each of the paintings?"

Seeing that Pegasus seemed to have his mind elsewhere, Lamaren didn't scold him too much. She simply put on the undergarments and top that were placed aside and said, "The children brought a lot of new and interesting things. I've learned a few things from them, and they're all very interesting. Later, the sisters might bring some of their latest inventions."

“Yes, I saw Nasti, and she looks fine.” Gerald immediately moved off the bed upon seeing this; if he hadn’t been quick-witted yesterday, the lining of his clothes would have been torn to shreds by the banshee. “The valley has been preserved, and everything is moving in a positive direction.”

"Oh, right, speaking of Nastya—"

dong dong.

……

The knocking interrupted Gerald's next words.

He glanced in Lamarle's direction, and after confirming that she was dressed, he used a wisp of wind to bring in the aura from outside the door—a rather ordinary aura, and that of a blood demon.

Blood demon?

Gerald blinked, walked to the door, and unlocked it.

The banshee's spell transformed the entire room into a wooden structure; the door is now a fusion of wood and metal, protected by an additional layer of incantation.

Therefore, the first thing the Blood Demon said after entering the room upon seeing this was:

"...Where did you throw this at me?"

The door behind him closed again as the incantation was activated, indicating that even after being modified by the spell, its original function still worked. This startled the blood demon, who then began to scrutinize his surroundings once more.

Especially when her gaze fell upon the two people in the room.

“Oh my, no wonder Kal'tsit called me over.” Blood Demon’s gaze momentarily lingered on Gerald, and when he saw Lamaren, he became even more stunned. “It’s true, if I had to send you guys to the medical department, I’m afraid I would have been scared to death on the way to the surgery.”

Although the attitude was friendly, it was quite distant, and there was no particular reaction.

They probably don't know him at all, and may not even have heard about what happened at the training ground yesterday.

Gerald thought to himself, and breathed a slight sigh of relief—it was rather terrifying to run into someone who knew him every few steps inside Rhodes Island.

“I’ve heard of you, Warfarin.”

Instead, Lamaren directly stated the name of the Blood Demon in front of her: "A Blood Demon who lives far from war. When the civil war broke out, some people cursed you by putting your name together with that of a banshee. It seems I should indeed ask Kal'tsit about some of the members within Rhodes Island, otherwise our meeting wouldn't have been so awkward."

She then smiled again: "And, although this is our first meeting, I'm sure you've helped Aifanil many times before."

“Huh?” Upon hearing the name, Warfarin’s face showed a somewhat subtle expression. “Ah, um, yes, Logos and I… uh, have had quite a few interactions in one place.”

Although that place is called the Rhodes Island Bridge.

But then again, what's going on here?

Warfarin shook her head to clear her jumbled thoughts.

Oh, Kal'tsit told her to call the new operator for a medical check-up, and then hurriedly went to handle other matters. She didn't even tell her that the moment she opened the door, she would see a former Banshee Queen and an entity whose sweet scent almost made her suffer a bloodthirsty outburst on the spot.

This was probably only the second time in the hundreds of years since she fled from the royal court that she had felt this way—the last person who gave her this feeling was still eating instant noodles in the Rhodes Island command center.

"In short, I came here to submit the pre-medical examination instructions for the new operators and to get a feel for their mental state in advance."

Warfarin quickly recovered. After all, she had met many important figures in the royal court hundreds of years ago, and aside from the initial shock, the only novelty seemed to be the people beside this sorceress queen.

“Gerald Wind Chaser, is that right?” She looked up at Pegasus beside her, a hint of sympathy in her eyes. “Your physical exam is this afternoon. You didn’t eat anything this morning, did you? Dr. Kal’tsit will personally arrange the exam for you. It’s just a few blood draws to check the crystal density in your body. There’s no need to be too stressed.”

Judging from the sensation of blood, Kuranta, who is only about twenty-five years old, is being kept by a woman who is over three hundred years old, and even has a son who is older than him.

It's easy to imagine that this former queen of succubi probably orchestrated a whole scheme to capture her prey, allowing her to easily win over the heart of this poor pegasus—which is why she hates all sorts of sordid things in the royal court.

“Okay, I understand.” Gerald nodded obediently. “May I ask if I am now free to move around Rhodes Island?”

"Didn't the HR staff give you a tour yesterday?" Warfarin frowned, then nodded and said, "I'll tell Kal'tsit later. They're all... I can't trust them."

dong dong.

……

There was another knock on the door.

This time was different from before. When the wind carried that familiar scent into the room, the expressions on the faces of the three people changed quite a bit.

Warfarin's doubts were the most prominent, prompting her, who was closest to the door, to push it open.

The speed was so fast that even Pegasus couldn't react in time—because his brain momentarily froze the instant he smelled the scent, causing him to miss a precious opportunity.

Warfarin, however, simply looked at the Vyvan outside and asked with a puzzled expression:

“Ms. Seria, have you come to the wrong room? This room should be quite far from yours—”

"No, this is the room I'm looking for."

The moment Vayvan saw the scene inside the room, he walked in without hesitation and stood silently in the room.

He looked at the succubus sitting on the bed, who suddenly chuckled.

“Oh dear,” Ramalen slowly stood up, walked up to Saria, and stared intently at the expressionless Vayvan. “Heh, you seem to know me, don’t you?”

“Thorns, bone pen, temperament—you have many characteristics that identify you.” Saria felt no pressure at all; she had long been prepared, and now it was time to put those preparations into practice. “He told me about your existence and bluntly told me to keep my distance from him.”

“But you didn’t do that.” Ramallen narrowed her eyes, her expression warm as she continued to ask, “Why, little Vaiva?”

“You know about his abnormality, and you are the person directly involved in it,” Saria judged bluntly, but unusually avoided the topic. “He only came to Rhodes Island with me yesterday, and then he met you today. Such coincidences are rare in the world, especially since some people can arrange everything perfectly.”

"Therefore, this can only be an inevitability, an action taken knowing the outcome—the sword is the best proof."

After saying these words, Saria was silent for a moment, her gaze lingering on Gerald beside her for a second, and he was looking at her in return.

No one wanted Geraldton to make a statement at this time, nor did they want him to interfere.

This is destined to be an outcome that they need to reach through their own communication.

"……not to mention."

She took a deep breath, met Ramalyn's gaze resolutely once more, and said, "My feelings for him are not merely romantic love. Even if I sever those feelings, I will still walk alongside him—just as he understands my thoughts and made the promise I made."

Lamarle's expression seemed to have become even fiercer... although Gerald thought this fierceness was very clumsy. After all, if she were really angry, she should be wearing some kind of unique smile, not making it seem like she was testing the other person as if she wanted everyone to know.

But her subsequent remarks showed no sign of clumsiness.

"you are lying."

Ramallen carefully analyzed Saria's actions, her eyes slightly curved and the corners of her mouth turned up, making her expression even more composed: "But not about the part about traveling together, but about everything you showed physically... unease, anxiety, hesitation, fear."

"It's like an ordinary person with no defenses encountering robbers. You're afraid your treasures will be stolen, so you deliberately put on your usual invincible appearance in an attempt to deceive the robbers."

"After all, you have no confidence that you can keep the treasure. There is little you can do. You may even need to look at the luster of the treasure to gain some courage and strength."

The banshee tilted her head slightly, her silver hair sliding down her neck and framing her slender white skin. Her lips, once reserved for uttering incantations, now transformed into precise blades, slowly slicing through the flesh surrounding Saria's heart.

“Tell me, Vayvan.”

"—What were your thoughts the moment you realized the treasure never truly belonged to you in the first place?"

Suddenly, Lamaren grabbed Pegasus's hand and forcefully twisted his body halfway between them, using the momentum to move him between them.

Gently tiptoeing, I placed my lips on that soft spot.

Then he returned to his original position and stared curiously at the expression on Saria's face.

……

Upon witnessing this scene, Saria's expression remained unchanged, but a barely perceptible ripple flickered in her dark eyes.

"...Isn't it pathetic to be bound by love?"

It perfectly matched Lamarle's expectations.

Although Vayvan's expression remained calm and her breathing remained steady, her subtle changes—whether it was her slightly tense knuckles, her wrists that were slightly stiff from unconscious exertion, or her lips that pursed for a moment—all indicated that her heart was not as at peace as it appeared.

Although that moment of imbalance was fleeting, it was all captured by the banshee.

Then, Lamaren smiled.

She raised her chin slightly, her smile carrying a hint of provocation: "I don't think so. My troubles have been mostly resolved in the past two hundred years. In other words, I've reached the point where I can be bound by love."

"But what about you?"

She slowly moved closer, her voice carrying a gentle yet sharp edge:

"But you will still be entangled in all sorts of troubles and unable to get away."

"It goes against your bloodline, and you can only seek release and solace through him. How long will this continue? When will you finally gain the freedom that your subconscious craves?"

"And, after everything is over, how will your thoughts change? Will they still be the same as they are now?"

Centuries of experience and expertise allowed Ramalyn to easily see through Vaiva's biggest problem at that moment. In a sense, every word she uttered resembled her incantations—precise and deadly.

However, unexpectedly—

"Ah, yes."

Contrary to Ramalen's expectations, Saria's last line of defense was not completely torn apart by those words.

Instead, she paused, as if she had calmed down completely in a moment.

The previously shaky emotions were forcibly suppressed at that moment, thoughts were reconstructed in the mind, and the chaotic ideas returned to calm.

She slowly let out a sigh of relief, her previously tense fingertips gradually relaxed, and it seemed as if she herself had repaired the emotional rift.

"In other words, he will stop for you, who has no goals left, and that is all he can do."

Saria said, word by word, "But he can go with me, and I can go with him. For the same goal, or for some future we hope to achieve."

"Isn't it sad to just talk about things that should stay in the past, Banshee?"

……

Lamaren was not truly hurt by Saria's words.

If you look closely, you'll notice that her originally sharp aura has subtly softened at this moment.

The succubus simply blinked and smiled with satisfaction. Her voice returned to its original gentleness, soft as the breeze in the courtyard: "I see, I share the same view."