"Gggggkk—!"
Scarlett's silent scream echoed. Her tongue had been severed, and the arm with the mouth had also been cut off and lay on the floor.
Yet even in agony, her hazy eyes burned with hatred—fixed on Liana and Isaac.
THUD!
But it didn't last.
A single kick from the Grand Master sent Scarlet's body flying out of the house.
"S-Scarleeeet!"
"Nooo!"
The men wailed as their beloved was reduced to wreckage—yet none dared step forward.
Their love, it seemed, had limits.
"Haaah… Isaac… Your Adam's apple is so sexy…"
Isaac adjusted his grip on Liana, deliberately ignoring her murmurs as he addressed the Grand Master.
"Is she a Transcendent?"
"No. Not quite."
The Grand Master strode outside, villagers parting like the Red Sea.
Even as Scarlet lay crumpled at the end of the path, fear kept the men paralyzed—a small mercy, sparing unnecessary bloodshed.
"She was human once. Then she gave herself to them."
"…So it's not just nobles."
The Grand Master nodded.
"Well, they're in no position to pick and choose between noble and common blood now. But what I find odd is whether that woman can control the subjugation."
"That's true."
The woman lying on the ground ground her teeth and glared in their direction.
It was a pitiful sight for someone rumored to have enthralled the village's men.
The Grand Master rested her greatsword on her shoulder, grinning.
"Now that I think of it, I had a lot to ask her—but I went and cut off her mouth."
The woman, bleeding profusely, stared with pure hatred, wearing an expression that said she couldn't understand anything.
"Got any other holes that can talk? I'll wait."
"Shut uuup!"
Shockingly, her severed tongue formed the words perfectly. Had it already regrown?
Not Transcendent, but no longer human.
Much like Galenia from before.
Squeeze.
There was a risk she could go berserk again if that woman's command to the subjugation spell reached her.
"Hnn…"
Liana, on the other hand, seemed to be feeling a different kind of stimulation.
Though she wasn't running, her breathing was ragged, and a light sweat formed on her skin.
Her tension—or excitement—was transferring to Isaac's heartbeat.
Slurp.
Isaac's eyes widened at the sensation on his neck.
It felt like something was sliding up his skin—specifically, a tongue.
Liana had licked up from his Adam's apple with her tongue, stimulating him.
"…Lia?!"
Shocked, Isaac instinctively tightened his embrace instead of letting go.
He had been startled, but logic dictated that releasing her now would be unwise.
"Haaaah…"
The logical decision had led to a very emotional and sensual result, and it flustered him more.
"…What the hell is wrong with those two?!"
Even Scarlett seemed baffled, yelling as she looked at Isaac and Liana.
To her, the Grandmaster replied awkwardly.
"You made them that way. My disciple here is having quite the time. At this rate, they might even skip straight to family planning."
It sounded half-joking—but only half.
The Grandmaster was starting to suspect that Liana Helmut's change wasn't simply because of the subjugation spell.
And when the subjugation state ends, will she return to her original self?
The Grand Master doubted it.
"Now then, speak. No matter what you say, that woman is too absorbed in lust to hear anything."
"Just kill me."
"That wouldn't be a bad idea. But there's something you need to know. Your so-called master has abandoned you."
"…What?"
The woman's eyes trembled. Her blood-and-tear-streaked face revealed reddened, ambiguous eyes.
Just that alone showed she existed in a murky place between human and Transcendent.
"Let me guess—your master told you to come find us, right? That means they're nearby. But they must know our strength. There's no way they'd send you in blindly."
Isaac nodded—same conclusion.
Sharen, standing beside them and completely unaware, suddenly looked around frantically and gripped her greatsword tightly.
"I was… abandoned?"
"They probably wanted to see how we'd react. To them, you're just a human—cheap to sacrifice."
This wasn't the first time. Back with Hellerwain, the Blood Demon likely never expected the Viscount to actually harm Isaac's group.
It was like a game of chess—pushing pawns forward just to see how the opponent would react.
"A… discarded piece?"
But pawns never realize they're disposable.
Scarlet's face twisted in shock, then despair. Collapsed on the ground, powerless, she wailed like a tragic heroine.
"Th-That's impossible! I served her for years—offered her countless men! Thirty years! I went from a shriveled old crone to this—!"
A snapping sound was heard from somewhere.
It was like the end of a performance, as if there was no longer any place for her.
Or, it could be taken as the simple 'plop' of an apple being picked from a tree.
That was the end.
Scarlett's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed backward.
The Grand Master's gaze didn't linger. Her ears pricked toward the source of the sound, tail stiffening.
Perched on a rooftop, legs crossed, sat the Blood Demon.
Her smile was light, almost playful—but the air around her was anything but.
The Helmut family was often compared to roses.
But this woman?
She was closer to dried blood.
Where Helmuts blazed crimson, she was the blackened stain of death.
"How pitiful. She swore she'd do anything to reclaim her youth's beauty, but—"
The Blood Demon's lips curled, stained with irony.
"Truthfully? She was never beautiful to begin with. Perhaps that's why I left her like this—despair has its own charm."
Scarlet had abandoned her humanity, her past, her memories—all for this.
And for what?
"What nonsense are you spouting? Save it for the grave."
The Grand Master wasn't moved.
But as usual, people like her didn't expect others to understand their artistic values or pathological tendencies.
They simply acted.
Isaac's grip tightened on Liana.
If Liana was right, it wasn't Helik who'd controlled the subjugation spell—it was her.
"Did you come to take Liana?"
The Blood Demon laughed.
"Among other things. I never expected her to survive, you know. Whether the princess lived or died—Liana was meant to perish."
Yet here she was.
Alive. Fighting the curse.
"A losing trade for me. Though you seem to be enjoying it."
"..."
Liana, still in Isaac's arms, gnawed silently on his shirt—drool dampening the fabric.
A futile resistance, but one that radiated… something else entirely.
"She's struggling."
"..."
Sharen tilted her head.
"I've… never seen Sister look this happy before…"
Isaac ignored her.
"Pfft. If you say so."
The Blood Demon swung her legs lazily.
"Well, Liana's just secondary. Whether some pathetic guy who can't forget an old flame loses his left arm or not—what's that got to do with me?"
"..."
"I only have one question."
She pointed at Scarlet's corpse.
"That boy—Jonathan. The one who resembles me. Is he truly a half-blood? Or just another tool like her?"
"..."
Now it made sense.
Scarlet's ambush had been a test.
A comparison—Jonathan's blood against Scarlet's.
To see if he was truly hers.
"..."
To her, it seemed to matter more than anything.
As Isaac hesitated—
"If you tell me…"
The Blood Demon offered another possibility.
"I could teach you a way to break the subjugation spell without death. That curse originated from us Blood Demons, after all."
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[TL Note]
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