Chapter 234 234: Continuity!
"...Tired already?" Arial asks, now that I've stopped after yelling and cursing at her for a long time, venting all the rage and frustration that had been building up for months but that I had no place to unleash.
Arial manages to be so irritating, frustrating, and miserable that I couldn't have any other reaction to someone so venomous.
"..." I look at her as she watches me like I'm an interesting lab rat. It's so frustrating and makes me feel kind of pathetic for falling right into the reactions she wants to see.
"Since when did you know I'm a nymph?" I ask, calmer now. I never imagined I was a nymph since, to me, I'd always been a demon, and there's a big difference between demons and monsters. I wonder if the 'Evelyn' from the game, on the route where she awakened her ability's potential, was also a nymph, because it seemed like she was.
And if she really was a nymph, it explains how she was the only one among the throne candidates capable of facing Esther on equal footing in a fight with Esther at her peak, since Esther has a blessing from the seventh layer.
"Not that long ago, you know? I didn't expect you to be a nymph either. I'd say I found out about a month ago. So there you were, being tortured, while I carefully thought about everything I'd seen regarding you," she says as if it were the most normal thing to do.
"Hmmm... I see... but don't treat this as if we're close just because I'm also a nymph. We're nothing to each other..." I won't let her use this fact to try and get close to me.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, Evelyn. This changes everything, because now I'm not going to kill you anymore."
"...!!?"
"Hahaha, don't look so shocked. Obviously, I was going to kill you when I lost interest in you. I'm a nymph; I don't let prey I've captured escape. You were caught by me in that lake."
"And when I was done with you after losing interest, I'd kill you. But now that I know you're a nymph, I won't kill you. Nymphs don't kill nymphs. When one nymph finds another, we either avoid each other, or we stay away, or we become friends!"
"..." Damned freak. That's all I can think about her. She just admitted she planned to kill me. Although I already expected some malice from her, I didn't expect her to plan on killing me.
"Why would you do that?"
"Because nymphs obviously don't let their prey go. Not after catching them. I doubt you can find many cases of people who entered a nymph's danger zone and escaped alive to tell the tale."
"The others only survive when they don't get too close. You were literally swimming in my body. Your escape was already unrealistic. But lucky you, now that I know you're a nymph, things have changed! Good for you! You're like my cute little junior apprentice little sister!" I get off her, breathing deeply.
"Don't call me little sister. It's unpleasant."
"O-Ow, that hurts. Why are you so mean, Junior? You're such a feisty little fruit."
'Will it take much longer for me to wake up and get out of here? I don't want to have to stay with her...' I sit on the ground. The water doesn't get my clothes wet and feels solid, but it's still strange to look down and not see the bottom.
"Are you going to ignore me?" she asks when I don't look at her.
"You said you'd be quiet. I answered what you wanted, and you already said what you wanted. Can you be quiet now?" I say grumpily as she smiles.
"Ah, but I don't want to. Sorry about that, I lied. You know how it is, right? I can't stay quiet when I'm this curious. The confirmation that you're a nymph is like the best thing that's happened so far!"
"..."
"Oh, come on, I can teach you lots of things! You know a standard ability that nymphs unlock? It's seduction! It's not hard to learn! Wouldn't you like to learn? It's really useful, and not just in the erotic sense."
"You can use seduction passively in negotiations, conversations, in daily life to make people more receptive to your opinion. Actually, if you want to become a queen, using seduction will make the people accept what you say even more easily."
"...Teach me."
"Yes!! I knew you'd be rational. This is really useful for you, after all! But know that it's a permanent passive that doesn't deactivate once you learn it. Now, let's begin!"
"..."
"..."
A few minutes passed with her explaining everything and teaching me, and it's less complex than I expected.
It turns out nymphs use the natural release of Hikishin from their bodies, and just slightly alter the 'composition' automatically, similar to when Esther gave me her Hikishin to drink. The difference is that with a nymph, this is constant, costs practically nothing, and affects everything around you.
Trying to do it, I easily learned how it worked, its function, and its activation, which only solidifies the fact that I'm a nymph.
And now in my system, a new ability has appeared, and unfortunately, as Arial said, I can't deactivate it anymore. I look to see what I gained through Arial's teachings.
Nymph's Seduction (Description = A passive ability of every nymph, which converts the Hikishin released from the body into a faint magical wave that affects your voice, appearance, and actions in the eyes of observers, passively able to affect the minds of others by applying a 'suggestion' to the target's mind so that they accept what they are seeing, hearing, or perceiving about you.)
'I see... that explains a lot... it also explains why Arial's words are so persuasive...' It's not brainwashing or mind control like I expected; it's more like a 'hypnosis' that makes people suggestible to the actions and words of nymphs.
"You're so talented, Evelyn!! You learned already? Just from my general description and one try!!" she says, all excited as if it were something incredible.
'Talented?... I never expected the first person to call me talented so enthusiastically would be Arial...' Not even Esther called me talented with such excitement. She's said I'm capable, and has even said once or twice that I have talent in leadership if I try, but she didn't say it excitedly, as if I were truly incredibly talented.
"Now you can seduce your beloved wife even more, keeping your loving honey trap," she says with that seductive air, as if she can't wait to watch.
"Or she might get even more controlling when she realizes I'm attracting attention," I say sarcastically.
"Well, maybe, who knows. But now your voice, your appearance, and your actions will draw people's focus, and it'll allow you to influence them better. Whether you influence them for better or worse, well, I don't know anymore, hihihi..."
...
...
...
"Hmmm..." I gently lick the face of the sleeping Evelyn, breathing and inhaling deeply her sweet odor, while watching her chest rise and fall gently with her breathing.
"Evelyn, it's so hard to restrain myself seeing you so vulnerable," I murmur, hugging her tightly, the bedsheets merging the warmth of our bodies.
I've finished dealing with the problem of Evelyn's imprisonment, and I also found out that someone used some sealing magic on Adam, trapping him near my mansion, and I've already freed him.
'The Demon King is probably alive...' I looked into everything about the case while Evelyn was passed out from exhaustion. It was 3 days of intense activity, and that 'Crimson' person is, without a doubt, the Demon King.
Since no one knew the Demon King's appearance, Crimson managed to go unnoticed, but I, who had already seen their appearance, know the truth. But one thing I don't understand is the 'why' behind all this.
Why did the Demon King try so hard to disappear? Throwing the blame on Evelyn and faking their death? That still doesn't make sense to me. But whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. One day, I will kill the Demon King, when I obtain the position of Demon Queen and kill every living being except Evelyn.
"Evelyn... I wish so much I could chain you up in a place that's just ours..." I run my fingers gently over her body, feeling its softness and smoothness.
"How I would love to isolate you from everything and make you live only with me." My Ghoul instincts are on edge. Resisting hunger for over a month really messed with my mind.
I can't stop thinking about Evelyn's delicious taste, nor can I restrain myself so well when it's time to eat anymore. Maybe my obsession with Evelyn is the reason; it made everything else seem like trash.
In the end, nothing much changed physically or progress-wise, but on the emotional side and regarding our relationship, everything changed.
"I wonder, Evelyn, do you have some strange romantic interest in people who hurt you?" I poke her cheek. Evelyn provokes me and brings out the worst side of me.
And she knows I'm dangerous, yet she does it. If she wants so badly to see my worst side, then she can't complain now that she's got it, right? It's her fault too, that I can't restrain myself anymore.
I really changed what the 'Focus' of my plan was. In the past, I wanted to kill everyone to free this fake world, free myself, and destroy the fun of whatever is watching us as if we were toys.
But now that hardly matters. I have the only one who's real like me, and now I want to annihilate everything on this planet to give it to my beloved.
"Poor thing... I'm sorry, Evelyn, but I can't let you be the queen. I'll definitely crush and trample your dreams and desires. I hope you don't mind too much." I kiss her, satisfied to have her so close to me.