DKFTI 114

When Sibel collapsed, Leviathan lightly caught him in his arms. But at that moment, a breeze mixed with a sweet scent blew.

Caw, caw.

A crow cawed in the sky.

Lilianthes appeared in the air with her robe fluttering. Sitting cross-legged in midair, she reached out and brushed Sibel’s disheveled hair.

“You really are a dreadful being, Leviathan.”

“To think that’s all you can say. Your judgment of me is always generous.”

Leviathan replied to Lilianthes’s words with a jest, but a keen wariness showed in his body.

Lilianthes raised one corner of her mouth and withdrew her hand that had barely touched Sibel’s hair. Her red eyes sparkled.

“How do you feel before your judgment?”

Although she was smiling, Lilianthes’s voice sounded heavy.

“Your sin that buried this world in filth will spread across all creation.”

Leviathan couldn’t answer her words.

“I thought you would act a bit more cunningly. You covered his eyes, you blocked his ears, and you made everything go as you wished.”

Lilianthes possessed the power to enchant others. The world used to call her a demon king with a snake’s tongue.

“I’m disappointed.”

She thought Leviathan might have gone mad while waiting for an unfathomably long time that no one could measure. Otherwise, there was no reason for him to face his own sin directly when there were countless easy paths he could have taken instead.

“Is it because of the shackle that wouldn’t disappear even if you died and were born again?”

Lilianthes could see the chains coiled around Leviathan’s body. Others couldn’t see them, but her eyes possessed a special power. That was why she had recognized Sibel from the very first moment she saw him.

“If you were bound to be exposed, did you dislike lying from the start?”

“It was simply unnecessary.”

“Hmm, so you’re saying he’s that special? That arrogance that he would willingly overlook your sin… something like that?”

Leviathan’s hand that held Sibel in his arms twitched.

“Should I call it complacent, or should I call it naive? Well, perhaps the being of the beginning is always pure by nature.”

Normally, Leviathan wouldn’t have watched Lilianthes’s mockery in silence, but today he quietly listened to her.

“You’re feeling fear. Yes, I can smell it on you. Fear… anxiety, delight, and awe, all surging in a storm. How is it? Do you finally feel alive now?”

Lilianthes inhaled and laughed aloud. For the first time, Leviathan felt alive to her. Until now, he had been like a calm shadow cast across the world, but this was a different side of him. She had never thought she would see it while still alive.

“Does it feel like you’ve regained your lost heart?”

Her crimson tongue ran over her lips. Her shining eyes were filled with curiosity.

“You’re quite interested.”

“For demons like us, who live dull lives without amusement, isn’t it only natural? I’m almost driven mad with curiosity. It’s an emotion I’ll never experience myself.”

Lilianthes smacked her lips in regret. A heart filled with demonic energy turns rigid. To gain eternal life and lose emotion may seem like a small price to pay, but after living for so long, there come days when you begin to question if it really is a blessing.

That was why Lilianthes felt great envy toward Leviathan at this moment. The fact that she could feel envy again after such a long time made her feel indebted even to Sibel’s existence.

“Why wouldn’t there be a chance? At least once.”

“Hmm.”

“If you keep bothering me, I might create that chance for you.”

At Leviathan’s words, Lilianthes let out a small exclamation.

“So you’re threatening to erase me?”

Understanding his meaning, Lilianthes clutched her stomach and laughed. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes as she laughed in genuine amusement.

“It seems certain we’ve come under His influence. The emotions that had died are coming alive like this.”

After wiping her tears and calming her laughter, Lilianthes erased the smile from her lips.

“So I won’t let you repeat the sin you’ve committed. Leviathan. This is both advice and warning.”

Lilianthes knew she could never match Leviathan’s power. But even if she had to face annihilation, she had something she must do.

“So accept His will. Even if He commands you to rot, buried in the abyss.”

From long ago, Lilianthes strangely had great interest in Leviathan. At some point, her senses always watched Leviathan. For about three thousand years. Because of that, even though he never once spoke about himself, she could infer that he had existed since the beginning and that he had once committed a great sin.

In this world, there are things that don’t disappear even after a long time passes. The spirits dwelling in the wind, the thoughts of darkness, or unerasable sins that are engraved into the heart. They remained as stories.

When she came to know what the living beings of this land had lost because of that, her stone heart started to beat again.

“Compared to your sin, this punishment is nothing.”

There was no change on Leviathan’s face as he looked at Lilianthes, who was smiling. It was always the same.

She had wanted to crush that face one day, and that day didn’t seem far off.

After Lilianthes finished speaking, black smoke slowly coiled around her body. Until she disappeared, she watched Leviathan, who held Sibel tightly in his arms.

Her curiosity nearly drove her mad. What choice would the god who had been betrayed by the lowly being he loved most make?

If he tore that arrogant being to pieces, it would be quite a sight.

Just imagining it brought her joy. She wanted to watch Sibel’s confusion and sorrow up close, but she regretted that she couldn’t because of Leviathan’s temperament.

Would he fall into great despair? Or would he completely collapse? Either way, both were welcome. So she hoped that the one peacefully sleeping now would have a good dream.

When he opened his eyes, hell would greet him.

‘I am starting to feel sympathy, and it’s troubling.’

Lilianthes’s figure vanished completely from the air.

***

Half of the Demon King’s castle was blown away, but even amid that chaos, small pieces of peace settled here and there. Aizen’s recovery went smoothly.

“You have recovery like a monster.”

Shanti looked at Aizen, who was idly reading a book, and spoke. Shanti was faithfully following the order Sibel had left, to look after Aizen while he was away for a while.

Shanti spoke as he moved to change the bedding.

“Move your feet.”

“How can an injured person lift his feet?”

There’s not a single thing about Aizen that pleases him. Shanti pushed Aizen’s unmoving body away.

“The dragon is bullying a human.”

“You’re not even human anymore.”

Shanti pouted.

“So you’re saying I count as one of your kind now?”

“How dare you, a mixed creature, speak as if you can compare yourself to a great Black Dragon!”

“Don’t you feel embarrassed adding ‘great’ when speaking of yourself?”

“I don’t!”

Shanti proudly puffed out his chest. His curled fur looked soft and fluffy as always. Shanti worked hard with his small body to arrange the blanket.

Because of that effort, Aizen could spend his days in comfort without needing to worry about bedsores.

“You obey the Demon King well. Even though you weren’t a demonic beast created by Sibel’s hand.”

“Hmph, you don’t know anything. Every being on this land lives thanks to our Demon King.”

Aizen quietly examined his expression as he heard those confusing words. Thinking about it, Shanti was strange. It was unheard of for a Black Dragon that wasn’t one of the Demon King’s vassals to call himself a demon and follow him voluntarily. Dragons were a race so proud that they would rather die than serve under another.

“What kind of charm does he have to make everyone fall for him?”

Aizen frowned.

“You’re jealous again!”

Shanti trembled at Aizen’s behavior. This hero’s emotions changed too quickly, and his imagination spread with frightening speed.

“Anyone would love him. The only difference is in how long it takes to accept that.”

“Hmm. A demonic charm, is that what you mean?”

“That’s not it. It’s engraved into our souls!”

Aizen understood even less as he looked at Shanti.

“Too bad for you. No matter how much you all like him, the lawful spouse is me.”

“…Where on earth did you learn that filthy phrase? From one of those gloomy books you’re holding, right?!”

Shanti pointed at him, and Aizen laughed heartily. His hair fluttered pleasantly.

“But listen. Even if we set aside nonsense like spouse, there’s something we have to make clear.”

His face suddenly turned serious.

“What is it?”

Aizen’s tone also became cautious in response.