Chapter 102 (1/2)

Translator: Wawaa

Editor: WilsonWilson

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

The coachman gave Lara and Demian a ride to the forest outside Dandelion. As it was snowing, the cold weather meant there were few people on the street. Only the sound of their carriage was heard on the empty road.

Lara stopped the carriage inside the forest. She grabbed Demian’s hand and told the coachman.

“Please wait for us here.”

“Yes, milady.”

“It’s cold so rest inside the carriage.”

Lara was wearing a heavy coat and a thick cape. She made Demian wear the same cape. Then, they walked into the deep forest.

“I feel like I’m being kidnapped.”

“How did you know?”

Lara smiled. Whenever the two stepped on the snow, a crunch sound could be heard.

“Where are we going?”

“Where no one is.”

“There’s already no one here, Lara.”

“Where there’s no star or moon.”

Lara’s voice sounded like a song. Demian decided not to ask more questions. A sweet heat rose from the hand he grabbed. He wanted to touch her fingers, he wanted to tickle her wrist and sweep her shoulders. He wanted to listen to her beating heart and breathe along to that beat. As he was having such thoughts, Lara suddenly talked to him.

“I have a question.”

“Ask me.”

“Who gave you your name?”

Lara asked. She was walking across the dense forest of trees. A small snowflake that fell through the branches flowed down her cape.

Demian replied.

“Me.”

“You named yourself?”

“I wouldn’t say it like that. It just came to my mind one day. It was just like someone…told me of a past that I don’t even remember.”

“I heard you saw the demon in person in the North.”

“I did.”

“How did you feel?”

Demian recalled the demon he encountered in the North. White hair fluttering like a ghost, speed and strength that humans could not keep up with, and she even had the appearance of a beautiful woman.

Originally, it was only normal for predators not to disguise themselves as one. But this demon was strange, while hunting, she enjoyed distracting humans by using the form of a beautiful woman.

“I was angry.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I only had the thought that I had to fight her and win. I feel bad for Acerus for saying this, but I just ended up saving him while I was dealing with her.”

“Did you win?”

“Yeah.”

This time, Lara was surprised. She stopped her steps and looked back at him, her pale face looking somewhat flushed. Demian put his palms to her cheeks and melted her icy figure. Lara asked again.

“Did you kill her?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because she swore to obey me.”

“Why… Who and why? What did the demon…do to you?”

“She said she would obey me.”

“So you spared her.”

“Yeah.”

Demian did not tell anyone about it, he had forebode that something troublesome was about to happen. Instead, he told the Northern demon not to run wild and she did what he told her.

Lara raised her head and looked into Demian’s face. Her red eyes stared intently into his dark blue eyes.

“Demian.”

It was a voice full of conviction.

“I like you.”

“Lara?”

“Do you know how much I like you?”

“Lara, what’s wrong?”

“Even if you tell me to die here and start over, I can do it. I can drink that black potion again. If you end up like what I saw… I can start over ten times, no, twenty times.”

Demian’s face shone bright, then darkened again. The moon—revealed through the clouds—was playing hide-and-seek above them. It snowed, then stopped, and then snowed again.

Demian put Lara’s hand inside his clothes. Then, he pulled her waist tight and hugged her.

“Are you testing me to see what I can do for you?”

Lara’s eyes shook wildly. She calmed down in Demian’s arms and took a long deep breath several times. Then, she told him as if she was notifying him.

“You could turn into a demon someday.”

“What?”

“In the future I saw… You were a demon lord and led this world to destruction.”