Chapter 192 : Chapter 192
Chapter 192: The Princess Cannot Sleep (3)
The first time I met him was when I went to pick up a child who caused trouble in the world of humans.
Lilith said.
At the same time, the ‘memory’ of that day began to be vividly depicted before our eyes.
“When I went over the wall to pick up that child, the Inquisitors had already caught her a step earlier. So, I stood in front of them to save that child.”
‘Lilith in the memory’ appeared in front of the Inquisitors who were escorting a half-blood succubus with a shabby appearance tied in chains, emitting strong magic power.
She must have intended to put them all to sleep and take that captured half-blood succubus.
“That time was the first.”
If not for the one Inquisitor standing fine, enduring her magic power alone.
“That I saw a human endure my magic.”
Naturally, he had the familiar face we saw until just now.
Unlike other Inquisitors who lost consciousness and collapsed, he stood fine on two legs and faced Lilith with determined eyes.
Clasping the symbol of Sistina Church hanging on his neck tightly with one hand, as if asking for courage.
Of course, even so, he was just one cleric.
For Lilith, the Succubus Queen, even if ‘sex appeal’ didn't work, dealing with him would have been a fairly easy task.
Moreover, since she even brought guards, it would have been enough to just order them to physically knock him down without stepping forward herself.
“I became interested.”
But Lilith attempted ‘conversation’ first.
“So, I spoke first.”
Due to that small interest in that brief moment.
“And I realized that he didn't want a fight either.”
And thanks to that, she got a chance to ‘understand’ him.
─ ...Please take her.
He said.
─ We have no right to punish her.
“It wasn't begging like... giving whatever I wanted so spare my life.”
If it were begging, she would have knocked him down exactly the same way immediately.
Lilith continued.
“He said do whatever you want with me, but please take that child and take care of her.”
But he said that sincerely.
“That child went berserk because she had been starved for a long time, and was captured for the sin of draining people's vitality without even knowing it herself, making all the people in a village collapse.”
At Lilith's words, Lily flinched and trembled for a moment.
Because she had a similar experience too.
As a half-blood succubus who went berserk after being starved for a long time.
And she must have thought that if we hadn't intervened in the middle, Sista Village would have surely met a similar end.
However, the ‘fundamental cause’ of that incident was a little different.
That was something Lily had never experienced.
...And something no one should ever experience.
“That child was a slave of humans. While hiding and living with her mother in the world of humans, she was kidnapped by slave traders along with her mother.”
Saying it was a common occurrence, Lilith added.
“So even before her instinct as a succubus manifested, she had to continue unwanted relationships. After accidentally escaping from the owner, she was in a situation where she refused that act, which is a meal for us, due to the trauma from that time.”
But because she starved for so long, her survival instinct, her power as a succubus went berserk.
Due to that, upon the news that a village was almost devastated, Inquisitors came to catch the ‘devil’ who did such a thing.
“I could access that child's memory and know the truth. But, for some reason, he also knew that fact.”
So at first, she thought he might have some connection with that child.
But, it wasn't so.
“He said he saw her for the first time that day. Of course, that child didn't know about him at all either.”
Yet he knew the whole story.
Because, he tried to know.
“Before coming to catch that child, he tried to understand that child first. Why such a thing happened. Why it had to happen. So he investigated about that child himself, and came to know the truth.”
Exorcise the ‘devil’.
That was the job of Inquisitors.
And because it was such a natural thing, no one questioned their own actions.
Because they are ‘evil beings’ by nature who tried to kill the god they believe in.
But, nevertheless, he harbored doubts.
Are they really ‘devils’?
At first, it wasn't compassion for the demon race itself.
He just wanted to know the truth of the incident.
Because after becoming an Inquisitor, the ‘devils’ he encountered in the field were quite different existences from those ‘evil beings’ he learned about.
Perhaps he started to feel suspicion that ‘devil's deeds’ had been used conveniently── in other words, politically.
Thinking, isn't it that humans are passing their own ‘evil deeds’ onto ‘devils’, who are convenient targets of criticism, and as a result, those who truly sinned are not being punished?
After seeing directly that an incident where there was obviously another real culprit was concluded as the deed of some demon who had never caused any problem until then.
So, after having such doubts, he always tried to uncover the truth of incidents, she said.
And thanks to such thorough investigation, he could also come to know the ‘truth’ about that half-blood succubus.
That she was not a ‘devil’ by nature, but actually a victim created by them ‘humans’.
“That too, was also the first. Until then, humans, especially Inquisitors, were not interested in ‘why’. They just heard the story that there was a devil, came, and only dealt with the devil as ordered.”
But he tried to understand, Lilith said.
“After knowing why that child had to do such a thing, he thought he must save her.”
Yes.
“He went to save that child from the beginning.”
He was in a situation where he even set up a plan to help her escape secretly from others.
“Even if I hadn't intervened in the middle, he intended to help that child escape even at the risk of his life.”
Because that is, the ‘teaching of God’ he learned.
─ God has never told me to ‘punish all devils’, not even once.
However, he repeatedly told me to ‘help those in need’.
And Lilith confirmed through the ‘dream’── through his memory that these words were sincerity without an inch of falsehood.
“Since bringing that child safely that day, I entered a cooperative relationship with him.”
As an Inquisitor, he could easily access rumors about ‘devils’.
Thanks to that, receiving his help, Lilith could find kin beyond the wall whom they couldn't find until then more easily and bring them ‘before they caused problems’, she said.
“And he too, sometimes received my help. Especially, I helped him solve ‘human problems’ that he couldn't do anything about with his power alone.”
For example, incidents where the truth was hidden disguised as ‘devil's deeds’.
Lilith approached through dreams to dig out the truth, and he revealed that truth to prevent innocent victims from being created.
Especially, they could protect demons and half-demons who were often pointed out as culprits falsely and hunted.
“Our actions were clearly something to be accepted as ‘collusion’ by both demons and humans. But thanks to such collusion, we could save many people.”
Of course, the relationship between the two didn't stop at just such a ‘cooperative relationship’.
“Also, every time I met him, I seduced him. Of course, he didn't accept it saying he was a cleric or whatever though.”
Lilith, who started showing directly before our eyes the scene where she seduced him and he rejected that seduction, suddenly let out a chuckle.
“He was the first in many ways really. Simply put, there wasn't anyone who endured my 「Charm」. But even those people couldn't endure my ‘seduction’.”
But he endured even that, Lilith said nostalgically while directly looking at his appearance rejecting her seduction in the past.
“He pretended to be unaffected when I brushed my body against him, but trembled only after falling apart and prayed for patience... how really cute that was.”
At first, it was simple interest, she said.
Wondering when he, on whom neither her 「Charm」 nor ‘seduction’ worked, would fall for her.
“So whenever we met for ‘cooperation’, I seduced him playfully. Won't you fall for me even with this? I felt quite defiant too. I have pride as the Succubus Queen, you know?”
However.
“But from some moment, I just wanted to meet him. I discovered myself wanting to see him just because I wanted to see him, not for ‘cooperation’.”
It was no longer a joke.
“That was when I realized my heart. ──Ah, I have come to love that person.”
And Lilith showed us all of that ‘moment she realized love’.
Whoever saw it, Lilith in the memory right now was making the expression of a person in love.
“...He must have noticed too that I became sincere.”
Like that, revealing her sincerity without hiding, she was saying all this was truth.
“Actually, because of my pride, I didn't want to admit it first back then though. ...But when he honestly told me that he felt the same as me, really...”
Suddenly, Lilith's words cut off.
Then as if speechless, she let out a long breath for a moment.
“...Really, I was so happy.”
When she opened her mouth again eventually, we couldn't see that ‘happy moment’ she talked about at least.
Because she didn't show it.
Unlike until now where she revealed everything without hiding.
“I was happy enough to think that I was born for this moment.”
Only that memory, she didn't show until the end.
As if she wanted to keep it as her own precious memory forever.
“I wanted to be with him for a lifetime even if I turned my back on the whole world.”
So, she turned her back.
Lilith said.
“We left everything behind together and left. To a place where no one could recognize us.”
Like that, the Succubus Queen and the High Inquisitor ran away for love.
Only the two── no.
─ Lily.
If there were three including the child in the belly, that alone was enough.
─ About this child's name, if it's a daughter, how about Lily?
─ Lily?
It's almost the same as my name?
─ Yeah.
That's why I feel more affection for it.
Returning to the first memory again, he, who was stroking Lilith's belly, smiled brightly and said.
─ If it's a daughter, I want her to resemble you a lot.
“Those few months were... indescribably happy.”
...But unfortunately, the happiness of the two didn't last very long.