V2 Chapter 152
“W, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“…Let me ask you directly… are you prepared to be with him, even after knowing you need to fight the world for it?”
Sibylla muttered with an indifferent expression as if she was saying was not important at all.
“…?!!” Levelia's eyes widened in anxiety. What is this woman talking about? The words 'fighting the world for it' caused an inexplicable feeling to appear from deep within her heart. And this causes her heart to palpitate violently. A sudden foreboding appeared inside her, a premonition of something worse than becoming a mistress without warning.
“It doesn’t interest me what you are, whether you are noble or not, or whether a human or not. It doesn't interest me what you do for a living or what you can do. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing."
“…wha-what are yo—?!!”
Levelia endured the restlessness and nervousness feelings welling up in her heart, but still, she couldn't move a single muscle, and could only stay there rooted on the spot as she stared at the beautiful girl in front of her in a mixture of shock, fear, and trepidation. She held her head as she felt a wave of pain coming from her heart.
But the beautiful woman in front of her continues speaking as if she had not noticed her expression, or whatever she was feeling right now.
"It doesn’t interest me how old you are, or how capable you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive and following what your heart dictates rather than what your mind suggests. It doesn’t interest me which corner of the world you crawl from, even if it’s a rat’s hole. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! If that’s the case, then you can turn around and leave, never coming back."
Sibylla then stared at Levelia, her eyes locked into hers, and her lips curved upwards. With her lips smiling, it was completely different from the terrifying, icy cold demeanor she had displayed just a few seconds ago. "...However, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal; if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy. Then, come aboard, our grandiose ship to the future.” She said as she stared at her with a serious complexity that Levelia could never understand. “That is all I want to know. Are you prepared to go against the world, just to be with him? Yes, that’s the only thing I wanted to know…and your answer will depend on everything that will follow after. So what is it?”
“I don’t understand what is it that you really wanted from me!?” Levelia stood up, somewhat agitated. For some reason, although she couldn’t understand what she was trying to say—she was freaking out. What? Just what did she meant by that?! Go against the world? Can it not be so dramatic?!
Strange, strange, it’s really too strange! Levelia gradually feels apprehensive, becoming more unsettled the more she thinks about it, yet she can’t put her finger on exactly which part she finds strange.
Her female intuition is telling her things aren’t so simple.
Just who was he…?!
Who was Cian Jekyll?!
Sibylla’s indifferent expression didn’t change at all. She just stared at her calmly; “He might perhaps, want to reveal this to you himself in a proper time. But I will take this matter in my hands…after all; it would be bad if you were taken off-guard and hurt him, accidentally or intentionally in the process. If you ever make him feel even unsettled, much less hurt him…even the Great God you worshipped wouldn’t be able to save you from me! So let’s be honest and settle this…woman to a woman. Right here, right now. Just you and me.”
“Say! Just who is he!!? Who is Cian Jekyll!?” Levelia gritted her teeth, but her heart is wildly beating that it’s as if it was going jumped out from her chest.
A bad premonition assailed her.
“Cian Jekyll…as usual, he made strange names. However, you, yourself should have realized that this name is nothing but a false name by now, didn’t you?” said Sibylla airily.
“STRAIGHT TO THE POINT!” Levelia cried out in anxiety that her voice unintentionally rose up.
Sibylla frowned, displeased from being yelled at. She’s still a prince consort, though. No one had the right yell at her. If this was on normal occasions, this woman’s head would have already rolled on the ground. However, as a woman, she somehow understands what Levelia must be feeling right now. So she didn’t haggle over it and continued; “From what I know, even in the human world, there is no surname that goes with the name Jekyll…”
Human world…?
What, what did she say…why did she call it, the Human World?
“…Cian Jekyll, the name you know of is indeed a false name he had made up. His true name is Aanuel... Heretarium, Vorn, Stormfury…”
Aanuel Heretarium Vorn Stormfury…?
S, S, S, S, to, tormfury…?!!!!
Levelia’s face paled.
Her eyes widened in shock.
Her body stiffened and before she knew it, she staggered back, and fell down on her butt, sitting there in a daze, staring at Sibylla, like a lost lamb. She would be an idiot if she didn’t realize who Cian really was after hearing that name.
Stormfury…there was only one family who bears that frightening name…
It’s not as simple as being famous, or infamous—It’s not just mere noble, nor any royal family either—it’s the surname that had been plaguing the world, and making the entire Continent tremble in fear for countless centuries.
“…indeed, Aanuel Heretarium Vorn Stormfury is the Second Prince of the Demon Empire, and my own beloved, as well as Fiancee…descendant of the very First Demon Emperor; Gura Hades Stormfury, and favored son of the Current Demon Empress; known as The Tyrant Blood Demon Empress—Sitana Mamanium Vorn Stormfury…and so on, and so forth,”
“Im, impossible!!”
Levelia muttered with frail words.
However, the strength behind her words seemed non-existent.
It’s as if she was just saying it to console herself, or trying to wake herself up from this nightmare.
Sadly, she could never…
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“Your choice…if you can’t choose him, then you can go, and never show yourself again. In any case, we are just here passing by. If not because he was suddenly gotten interested in the Basilisk, we would have been on our way…a long time ago!” Sibylla stared at Levelia with an expressionless face. “Now that I think about it, we had already made plans for this journey, only for all of it to become a waste, just because of a single…goddamn monster!” while speaking, Sibylla didn’t lose her attention on Levelia. And seeing her reaction, she knows that the red-haired woman was already a lost cause.
She does not deserve him and hence, she was prepared to do the next step. Even if Cian became angry at her, or that she might destroy a plan of his that he was trying to do, she would accept all the blame. However, she cannot allow any person that could be detrimental to him, or have the chance to hurt him ever exists in this world. This was Sibylla’s purpose and reason in life!
She exists solely to protect that small back of his…now and forever.
As Sibylla was prepared to make her move, suddenly, she noticed Levelia, who was still having a pale expression stood up and stared at her warily—
“What? You can’t believe what I’m saying?” she asked with a faint, taunting smile.
“I, I believe you…”
Levelia smiled bitterly.
Although she doesn’t really want to believe, she has no choice. Now she understands why at that time, when Dave had given him a healing spell, he suddenly stops, causing for him to be hit by the Red Crown Dragon Serpent’s attack. It was no accident at all! Rather, a friendly attack. And even after, he insisted not to let Dave heal him… it’s because Dave was a Light Magician and as a Demon, Light Magic is a poison for him!
However, what she wanted to know is not that—
Levelia glared at Sibylla. She was a beautiful girl that made even Levelia instinctively charmed. She was quietly observing her with eyes where no feeling could be felt.
“What are you trying to do here?!” she gritted her teeth.
Sibylla’s eyes narrowed. But she still replied expressionlessly; “Nothing. Like I mentioned before, we are just passing by. That idiot likes to go to some strange, interesting places, so I was accompanying him. An adventure he calls it. Pretty unbefitting for a spoiled, little caged prince. But yeah, believe me, he’s much more troublesome than he lets on in the surface. He likes recklessly going to dangerous places. Not even caring about the worries of those people who cared for him. He would go scurrying off somewhere once he was left alone. He’s always been this troublesome. This time, he was attracted to the Basilisk and just like you know, he comes running towards where it is…perhaps, at this moment, he was trying to look for it.”
“…why did he approach me?!” Levelia glared at Sibylla, her eyes moist and tears fell down like beads from a broken necklace.
“That, I don’t know…and the answer doesn’t concern me either.” Sibylla simply replied. “Who knows what goes into that head of his. He simply does things when he felt like it—on a whim; you can also call it like that. Following the flow or following his heart. Don’t try to read too much into it. You will be the one to get a headache.”
“… …”
“Even me, I’ve already given up trying to understand what goes in that crazy mind of his,” she shrugged.
Levelia bit her lips and glared at Sibylla. Her hands trembled, but she was at a loss on what to do. Should she turn around and leave? Should she attack this woman, and sent her to the guards for bounty..? That would be a normal reaction. However, for some unknown reason, that didn’t even cross her mind.
She was confused…
Totally out of sort…
What should she do?
“You’re starting to dislike him…I see,”
Sibylla stared at her coldly.
Her smile was as if she was looking down at her.
“… Eh?”
Sibylla’s words came all too suddenly, and yet it hit the core of the matter, making Levelia widen her eyes.
“Have you come to dislike him because of his true identity?”
Sibylla repeated the question to her.
She was neither condemning nor comforting her, but simply asking the question.
“I…” Levelia’s throat seemed dry. She wanted to reply, but she found out, she didn’t know what to say.
Sibylla chuckled coldly; “A Pity…well, whatever… as someone who loves him all the same, someone who cared for him so deeply, than ever you could or anyone else… I’ll give you a piece of advice, since I don’t want you misunderstanding him, mistaking him as a wicked person just because of his birthright when he is not,” then, her expression soured, revealing a hint of disgust and undisguised fury; “... It makes me quite annoyed when other people look at him as if they know him all his life. Judge him for all he's worth…not even using their eyes and ears as if they were non-existent. You’re not alone; this world is not an exception. But I still can’t accept it.”
She glared at Levelia in hate and full of heartfelt fury. “…Just because he was a Demon Prince, doesn’t mean he was wicked and evil like all of you think of him…”
“… ?!!”
“He was not part of this war, your people are playing…and whatever his family is doing is not of his concerns. He had never even participated in the war before. You should have seen him, known him, and understands him for what he truly is, by now. He never likes acting differently from his own. I can vouch for that. Judging from the fact, that you have some ambiguous relations with him, you should have, in this little adventure of yours manage to see even a small bit of that. And I can tell you that he was always like that, there’s neither pretense nor falsity in his character. He was just like what you think of him, see him with your very own eyes!”
“… …”
“…However, if you can’t accept him, then turned around and forget all of this happened. It’s also for your own—”
“Don’t … don’t make fun of me!”
After a short pause, Levelia answered stiffly.
The corners of her eyes slanted upwards. Her brown colored, completely lightless eyes sharply pierced through Sibylla.
“This, all of this just came so suddenly! I, I don’t know what to think!! You are telling me he was a demon and not just a mere demon at that! He was a noble Prince! A noble prince of a race that the world deemed as an accursed enemy!! How do you think I could accept that?!” Levelia cried out as she clutched her heart with tears wetting her face. “I, I love him!! But…but this is just too cruel!! I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to believe in!!”
“… …”
“I’m just a human… a normal human who thinks the demons are an enemy that must be purged for everyone’s happiness! I don’t have any noble goal or any heroic dreams… but even someone like me was filled with anger and hatred for demons, which I don’t know where it came from! All I know is that they are the enemies of my race! Of human beings like me! I’M JUST A HUMAN!!”
The tone of her voice as she said that was cold and hard, hinting at the strong will contain within.
“…and you still think I can choose him that easily?! When I even don’t know what he was truly thinking, or feeling at all?!”
“Perhaps…you are right. However, why are you thinking for other people…why don’t you think for yourself…what do you really want? Isn’t that so simple?” Sibylla muttered with an expressionless face. She faced Levelia with a firm and unyielding expression. “I really don’t understand why you humans are easy to reach to conclusions, so easy to believe what others say or do. That the opinion of the other is always that matters, not even trying to understand the very core of the issue. Really, you humans always prided yourself intelligent, but it seems like that’s just nothing but an empty boast.”
Hearing that, Levelia’s eyes became even wider, opening as far as they can go.
Levelia was struck dumb, speechless as she stared at Sibylla, not knowing what to say or do.
“I know you might hate me in the future, and you might know about me more…I just hope that even then, at that time, you will still choose to be with me. As I truly wanted you to be with me, forever.”
Levelia suddenly remembered Cian’s words at that time… did he foresee this moment? Just what does he want me to do?! Huh, Cian… are you really the man I thought you are? Please… tell me…!!
Levelia bit her lips. She closed her eyes and then suddenly snap them open and glared at Sibylla; “Why…why are you telling me this?! Aren’t you the one who should be pushing me away? To erase existence from your lives…?!”
“…think what you want to think. Human. Like I told you before since he has chosen you, then there must be a reason—something within you that attracted him. He rarely treats a stranger like he did to you, nor declares love after meeting them for just a few days. Last time I checked, he was not that fickle or careless. Furthermore, as someone who had loved the same person, I only want for him to be happy… not suffer in bitterness. If he wanted you, why would I stop him from getting you…” Sibylla replied with some asperity.
“… …”
“What about you? Can you forsake everything to be with him? If not, then get lost…!” Sibylla narrowed her eyes dangerously as she eyed Levelia like a predator staring at her prey.
“…you really love him, do you?”
Sibylla’s expression changed a bit. She thought Levelia would leave but she actually stays and even asked that; this girl…
“He’s my everything,” when she said this, Sibylla’s expressionless face become as sunny as the sky. Her lips curling into a beautiful smile, with a hint of pride and love flashing in her eyes. Her smile was so beautiful that it could turn any living creature upside down. And for Levelia, this expression was full of love, and affection...and for a woman, it was enviable.
“I'll l do what I must… my sole purpose and meaning in life, is to support and raise him to the highest peak!”