Addicted to you

"Low-rank demons are easy to manipulate," she answered without hesitation. "Besides... they are boring."

Faris chuckled, a sly smile tugging at his lips, but he said no more.

Only later did Jewel realize they were not heading back to the palace at all, but away from it.

Faris’s polite mask slipped, revealing a sharper edge of contempt, of defiance. His voice grew heavier, carrying the weight of a man who had fought beside an emperor long before he was crowned.

"Empress Jewel, you have the ability to hide the forbidden forest, do you not? It was never that the Emperor could not find you, nor that the ancient seal weakened. You allowed him to find you and later, you let him despair when he could not."

Though the empire appeared peaceful, Faris could see the gradual change.

The Hexion Richt Svade he once followed, the Demon King of the North, who sought sovereignty, strength, and the unification of the realm was now someone whose gaze lingered on Jewel.

A dangerous shift.

Jewel seemed harmless, frail, and ignorant, but Faris refused to believe it.

How could one who had lived for thousands of years, who had witnessed countless emperors rise and fall, who had worn the title of Empress time and again, be innocent?

No. Every word, every step, every flutter of her lashes was deliberate. Calculated.

She was waiting.

Biding her time.

Jewel blinked, her eyes wide with practiced innocence. "What does Faris mean?"

Her gaze drifted, only then noticing the absence of the imperial guards.

"Don’t bother looking for them," Faris said. His heavy aura spread like a storm, pressing down upon the clearing. "I dismissed them. It is only us now." His tone sharpened. "I do not know what you truly want, but I will not allow you to harm the Emperor."

His sword sang from its sheath, aura crackling across its edge.

Faris felt the hostility within him rise. Like Jewel, he was an incubus, and he knew well that their true power was not in blade or fist but in mental fortitude.

The difference was that Faris excelled in both and though Jewel appeared delicate, a succubus who had survived thousands of years was never to be underestimated.

He would not wait for his Emperor to suffer the same fate as the rulers before him.

"They say you are immortal," Faris said coldly. "Shall we put that claim to the test?"

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Jewel tilted her head, lips curving faintly. "Faris, you are very mean. Do you know sword wounds hurt a lot?"

But Faris was unmoved. His blade slashed with full force, aura tearing through the air. Trees toppled, the earth split.

Blood sprayed and the strike had nearly severed Jewel’s arm.

She looked at the wound, then at him. "Ouch~," she murmured softly, as though he had merely pinched her.

Faris narrowed his eyes. He had expected her to resist or evade. Instead, she welcomed the strike.

Still, he did not relent. His intent was clear: Jewel had to be erased.

He lunged again, only to feel the world twist.

A suffocating, malevolent aura wrapped around him. Pain blossomed in his gut. Looking down, he saw a sword buried deep into his abdomen.

Golden blood spilled, glowing like molten sunlight.

A glaring difference between Jewel and all demons, their blood.

Jewel’s eyes lit up. "So beautiful~," she whispered, delight flashing across her face.

Faris’s teeth clenched. He knew this wasn’t real. The Emperor himself was not here, this was Jewel’s hallucination barrier.

And yet, even as one of the strongest demons alive, second only to the Emperor, he struggled against her snare.

"Faris~," Jewel sang, giggling, "tell me, what do you fear most? That the Emperor you swore to serve would end your life without hesitation?"

Her words laced into his mind, twisting his thoughts, forcing visions into his eyes.

The clash between them rattled the ground, but before the battle could turn fatal, the imperial guards accompanying Emperor Svade stormed into the scene.

"What is happening here?!" one shouted.

At once, Jewel released her hold, retracting her power as though nothing had occurred. She blinked up at the Emperor, her eyes wide with innocence.

"It’s... dueling," she said sweetly.

Emperor Svade’s gaze swept over her bloodied arm, then to Faris’s trembling figure. His fury surged.

"Faris Helle," his voice thundered, "have you lost your mind?!"

Faris fell to one knee, stabbing his sword into the ground in a show of respect. "Forgive my insolence, Your Majesty... but the Empress is not as weak and ignorant as you believe."

"And you chose to prove it by wounding her? Do you understand what you’ve done?" Emperor Svade’s voice cut like iron.

Faris bowed his head, offering no further defense.

The matter ended with Faris imprisoned in the eighth level dungeon for a year. Jewel was confined to her chambers for breaking palace law by slipping beyond its walls.

---

Yet peace was short-lived.

Soon, Jewel’s attention wandered, this time toward a palace knight. The Emperor’s fury burned at the sight.

"You sent my knight to the North? Why?" she asked, pouting.

Emperor Svade seized her arms, his grip iron. "Jewel, do not mistake my tolerance for affection. You are my Empress. Do not forget your role, your duty. Your attention belongs only to me. I took you from that forbidden forest therefore, you are mine. Remember this."

Jewel blinked, then smiled faintly. "...Jewel understands. Jewel likes Hexi the most."

The Emperor’s anger dulled, though unease never left him. He knew she was deliberate in all things. She provoked him, toyed with the council elders, unsettled the palace.

At times she would interrupt meetings, drape herself on him coquettishly, or vanish so thoroughly that he nearly overturned the Imperial City searching for her.

When Faris was released from prison, the realm prepared for the Moon Worship, a thousand-year ritual.

When the twin blood moons merged, their light could strengthen all demons. The preparation was meticulous, requiring flawless seal formations and the Emperor’s own aura.

But at the very height of the ceremony, Jewel destroyed the formation. The backlash crippled the palace mages, and the ritual failed.

The realm was furious. Even the Emperor’s wrath could not mask the outrage of his people.

In a moment of cold judgment, Emperor Svade cast Jewel into the Abyss.

The Abyss was every demon’s nightmare. A living void that consumed all, stripping flesh, soul, and memory until nothing remained.

As the abyssal chains groaned and the cliff-edge yawned open, Jewel stood at its edge.

For the first time, her composure cracked. Her eyes gleamed with genuine fear.

"Your Majesty... you don’t want Jewel anymore?" Her voice trembled, carrying both plea and sorrow, recalling the many times she was also thrown down the abyss years ago.

One elder sneered. "The Empress does not understand the sacred rite. Let her be devoured. May this curse finally die!"

Curses and rage from other demons followed.

But the Emperor’s aura lashed out, silencing them at once. His tone was cold, detached as he spoke to her. "Endure it for a moment. I will retrieve you once the ritual concludes."

Jewel tilted her head, her fear melting into her familiar smile. "This is the first time Your Majesty has killed Jewel."

Without waiting for a reply, she stepped forward and jumped into the abyss.

Emperor Svade flinched, a sharp pain lancing his chest, though he showed no outward sign. He alone knew the truth, every time he punished her, a part of him suffered as well.

Unknowingly, this was the point where their relationship shifts from fragile balance into destructive obsession.

---

After Jewel leapt into the abyss, he stood frozen, his hand half-raised as if to pull her back.

For the first time in centuries, his heart trembled with something he did not understand: fear.

The abyss was meant to break even the most resilient demons, and though she was immortal, the thought of her body swallowed by chains and her mind devoured by that void gnawed at him.

But he could not admit it.

Not to his court.

Not to his generals.

And most of all, not to himself.

The Emperor buried his unease beneath a mask of coldness. He told himself she deserved it, she had defied him, humiliated him before the entire realm, and jeopardized the moon worship.

Yet in the sleepless nights that followed, he found himself hearing her laughter in empty corridors, her mocking tone lingering in his study, her footsteps vanishing around corners that were deserted.

His guards once saw him wander the palace gardens past midnight, searching, as though she might have escaped the abyss and returned to tease him again. He dismissed them harshly, but their rumours spread: The Emperor is restless.

Upon Jewel’s return, dragging her from the abyss with his own hands, she was smiling, eyes glassy yet mischievous.

That smile pierced deeper than any sword. He should have scolded her, but instead he gripped her tighter, torn between rage and relief.

From that day, their torment of each other became a silent game. Jewel knew exactly how to pull at the threads of his restraint, wandering too far, showing favor to others, testing the limits of his jealousy.

And Hexion, though he punished her, though his voice turned cruel and his grip bruised her arms, he was always the first to break. Always the first to search. Always the first to ache when she vanished.

It was a consuming fire.

A cycle where neither could win and neither could let go.

The court watched in wary silence. The Empress, fragile yet untouchable. The Emperor, mighty yet ensnared.

The realm itself began to mirror their unrest and the once-steady empire trembling at its roots.

---

When Shin woke, it felt as though he had been asleep for years, buried in a slumber so deep it reached places even dreams could not touch. Yet when his eyes caught the faint morning glow bleeding through the curtains, he realized only a single night had passed.

He sat at the edge of his bed, relief, foreign and unfamiliar lingered in his chest. Whatever the reason, Shin did not dwell on it long.

There was something far more important waiting for him.

With quiet efficiency, he prepared himself for the day.

When Butler Hong entered, Shin was fastening his watch.

"You’re leaving for the hospital, young master?" the butler asked, his voice polite.

Shin gave a small nod. "Yes. Prepare the rose tea."

"Rose tea?" Butler Hong tilted his head, mildly surprised.

Shin’s lips curved ever so slightly, a rare softness flickering through his otherwise impassive features. "I remember she likes it."

The butler’s face warmed into the faintest smile. "At once, young master."