"Heh... hehe..."
Lily suddenly released her grip on Lucrezia Sylvania’s skirt, her entire body slumping into the pool of blood like a pile of mud.
Her head hung low, her shoulders trembling as she let out a series of intermittent, neurotic laughs.
"Hehehe... damn you... you did this on purpose! You’re a devil who enjoys toys with us...!"
When she looked up again, the pleading and remorse in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a desperate, venomous madness.
Since she couldn't live, she would at least make them sick to their stomachs.
"That's right... cough... we did it all..."
She looked at the pale Lucrezia Sylvania, her lips peeling back to reveal blood-stained teeth. In a sleep-talking, malicious tone, she spat out the truth:
"Arno was right... Akhtar is in chaos... it's full of fat sheep like you... it would be a waste not to kill you..."
"The last group... hehe... was also a family of three... said they were lost..."
"That baron resisted... Arno took his head off with one axe swing... that baroness... and their little daughter..."
Lily’s voice became thick and malicious:
"...Once we were bored... we threw them into the swamp to feed the crocodiles..."
"...Killed them all... only kept the valuables... and that set of clothes you're wearing..."
"You... you..."
Lucrezia Sylvania felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her stomach churned violently, and she instinctively clawed at the clothes she wore, as if they were covered in crawling maggots.
"Don't be in such a hurry to take them off... they fit so well..."
Lily’s dilated pupils locked onto Lucrezia Sylvania, uttering a final, spiteful curse:
"I saw how pretty you were... such tender skin... I even told the captain... kill the man... keep the little one..."
"...If we sold you to the slave traders... those perverts love fallen noble beauties like you... you'd be worth at least twenty gold coins..."
"Twenty gold coins... hehe..."
As the last sound fell, it seemed to drain the last of her strength. She panted like a dying dog, waiting for the final judgment.
Boom.
Lucrezia Sylvania felt the world spinning.
A day ago, this woman had held her hand, called her 'little sister' at every turn, and shared town gossip like a kind older sister.
This Lily, who had given her fruit, helped her pitch her tent, and whom she had even come to view as a 'dear big sister' in her heart.
Now, she was describing a plan to sell her like cargo in a voice more terrifying than a demon’s.
The clothes... from the previous family...
Sold...
An indescribable chill and a wave of nausea surged up from Lucrezia Sylvania’s stomach.
She recalled how she had actually been wearing a dead person's clothes, and how she had even accused Leo of being a 'cold-blooded demon' for the sake of these people.
In this moment, every previous question and accusation turned into a stinging slap, striking her own face hard, making her cheeks burn with a shame that left her nowhere to hide.
"...Give me... just give me a quick end..."
Lily seemed to have run out of tears, leaving behind only a numb plea.
Lucrezia Sylvania bit her lip hard until she tasted blood.
Her nails dug deep into her palms. She turned her head away, unable and unwilling to look any longer.
"Close your eyes."
Leo’s voice remained flat—no mockery, no comfort.
Squelch.
A soft sound.
With that sound, all sin and filth fell into silence.
Lucrezia Sylvania stood rooted to the spot, dazed.
Her emotions shifted from the initial shock and guilt to a burning anger upon learning the truth, and finally, as Lily drew her last breath, they transformed into an indescribable melancholy and the bitter ache of forced growth.
So, this was the real world.
There was no romance like in the knight novels—only bloody cannibalism.
"What are you staring at?"
Leo’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He wiped the blood from his dagger, his tone carrying a deep exhaustion.
"Come help me drag the bodies over there to burn them. The smell of blood is too strong; it'll draw real magical beasts soon."
"Oh... okay."
Lucrezia Sylvania snapped out of it and was about to walk over.
Suddenly.
"Ugh..."
Leo’s figure swayed.
The intense dizziness that had been suppressed by adrenaline finally surged from the depths of his brain like a burst dam the moment the crisis was resolved.
Excessive blood loss, mana depletion, and extreme mental tension.
Leo’s body had finally reached its limit.
His vision went black, and his entire body fell backward, stiff as a piece of dead wood.
"Leo—?!"
Lucrezia Sylvania was frightened out of her wits by this sudden turn of events and let out a terrified scream.
She scrambled over in a panic, only to find that her petite frame couldn't support the weight of an adult male. Instead, she was pulled down into the mud along with him.
"Hey! Hey! Don't you dare die!"
She looked at Leo’s face, which was as pale as gold leaf, and his tightly closed eyes. It felt as if her world was collapsing.
She was so anxious that tears began to fall. She slapped Leo’s face hard, shouting with a sob in her voice:
"Small fry! Bastard! Wake up! How am I supposed to get revenge if you die?!"
"You haven't even become my dog yet! How can you die! Waaaah..."
However, Leo gave no response, his body as heavy as a stone.
"No... it can't be..."
Lucrezia Sylvania’s heart nearly stopped beating. She tremblingly extended a finger, tentatively reaching toward Leo’s nose.
If he had stopped breathing here...
Two seconds later.
Huff... huff...
A warm, steady stream of air—even carrying a faint hint of a snore—blew powerfully against her finger.
"..."
Lucrezia Sylvania’s crying stopped abruptly.
The heart that had been lodged in her throat thumped back into her chest, but immediately after, a surge of humiliated rage at having her feelings toyed with rushed straight to her head.
Her red eyes, still rimmed with tears, blinked. As she looked at Leo sleeping like a dead pig, the grief on her face froze, then slowly cracked apart.
"He’s... he’s asleep?!"
"Huh?!"
Lucrezia Sylvania sniffed hard, messily wiping the tears from her face with her sleeve, and punched his chest in a fit of pique.
"Give me back my tears! You bastard!"
"You scared me to death... I thought you actually kicked the bucket..."
Though she continued to curse under her breath, her tense shoulders completely slumped. She sat paralyzed in the mud like she had lost all strength, exhaling a long breath of turbid air.
Thank goodness... he just fainted.
This scourge really wasn't that easy to kill.
"Hmph! You’re so heavy! Like a pig!"
After a brief rest, the girl sighed in resignation.
She struggled to climb up from the ground, grabbed Leo’s arm to drape it over her weak shoulder, and gritted her teeth, her face turning bright red.
"Up... up you go!"
Using every ounce of her strength, wobbling with every step, she slowly dragged and hauled Leo’s heavy body bit by bit into the one tent that was still relatively intact.
After settling Leo down, she did not rest.
She stood at the tent entrance, looking out at the mess of corpses and blood.
The girl took a deep breath, suppressing the fear and nausea churning in her heart, and stepped out of the tent.
She picked up a shovel and, in an extremely clumsy and amateurish fashion, began to clean up the mess belonging to the world of adults.
Rate on N.U.
