Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 66

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 66
There’s a saying people often repeat.
The soul dwells in the heart, flows through the blood to every part of the body, and animates life itself.
Therefore, offering one’s heart means offering one’s entire soul.
In other words, it signified absolute obedience.
When knights swore loyalty to their lord, they placed their sword-wielding right hand over their left chest for the same reason.
I found myself wondering if that connection might mean something here.
‘In the end, is the purpose to make me kill as many people as possible?’
If that were the reason behind the Curse tormenting Deyan, it would certainly be a desire befitting a demon.
But when I thought of Beval, the logic shifted entirely.
His purpose was to capture and deal with the demon that had brought chaos to Hell.
He’d attempted to seduce me with his graceful features and honeyed voice, but his intent in staying here was surely nothing more than to find that demon—no other meaning lay beneath it.
What was it that the demon contracted with Deyan truly desired?
And what had Beval pursued before losing his power?
What was the task Sariel was supposed to accomplish?
“Hmm.”
After setting down my cooling teacup, I went through each question one by one, following the tangled thread of uncertainties.
“If Beval were beside me, I could simply ask him.”
Since no answers came, frustration spilled from my lips in a murmur—and that was the moment everything changed.
“Ah…!”
Suddenly, my neck flared with heat.
What had begun as a sharp sting—like an insect bite—swelled into unbearable pain.
I pressed my palm against my burning neck, my face contorting.
“Ugh!”
“What’s wrong?”
“My neck…”
“Your neck? What about it…?”
“Cold water, please… Ah!”
The pain descended heavily down my spine.
My vision flashed white, and every ounce of strength drained from my limbs.
Then, as though I’d been doused in ice water, the agony vanished in an instant.
[Damn, you… I thought you’d kick the bucket.]
A voice rough as grinding stone and laced with profane words pierced my eardrums.
I turned my head reflexively.
Beval sat crumpled in the direction the voice had come from.
“Beval…?”
[Long time no see, my love.]
He was drenched in blood.
From his anguished expression to the hand pressed against his chest and the quantity of blood rapidly staining the floor, one thing was certain—it was his own.
‘Who could possibly do this to a demon…!’
Before I could finish that thought, the answer came.
“Could it have been Sariel?”
[Don’t even speak his name. That contemptible pigeon. How dare he hide such a thing? I’d drink him dry and still not be satisfied…]
“What happened?”
“Where is Glay?”
My question was swallowed by Deyan’s.
I realized then that his expression blazed with murderous intent, rage, and desperation.
“Where is my lieutenant?”
[Damn it! Why are you asking me that?]
“You’re under contract with me, aren’t you!”
[I don’t know, you fool! That… he forcibly interfered with the contract! Damn it. Damn it!]
Beval slammed his fist against the floor in fury.
With each blow, blood welled up from the wound in his chest.
Such an enormous volume poured out that any human would have long since departed to the other world.
“Let me look at your wounds first.”
I hurried to Beval and examined his injuries.
When I moved the hand clamped over his chest, a gaping hole came into view.
In a space that yawned nearly hollow, right beside it and precariously close, his dark heart pulsed weakly.
From severed vessels hung limply downward, blood wept steadily, and exposed muscle fibers writhed.
“Good heavens.”
My body froze at the severity of the wound.
I had no idea where to even begin.
Could this even be healed?
Divine providence might follow, but it seemed the best that could be hoped for was a swift death without pain.
[Idir.]
“How do I… Is there any way?”
[Give me your blood. And make a contract with me.]
“What? But a Double Contract is impossible, isn’t it?”
[Hah.]
Beval twisted his lips into a harsh laugh.
In his deep crimson eyes, a thick darkness rippled.
[I was mistaken.]
“What do you mean?”
[I should have suspected it from the moment order was first disrupted.]
Veins stood out across his clenched black hand.
[My contract with Glay has already been terminated.]
“Is Glay dead?”
The one who asked was not me, but Deyan.
He’d risen from his seat and stepped into the pool of blood, staring down at Beval with an expression of despair.
[Are you deaf? I said that angel forced his way into my contract! He and that winged bastard teamed up and stabbed me in the back. You’ve been betrayed too, you fool! Damn it all! Damn them!]
Beval ranted, his words dissolving into an incomprehensible tongue.
It sounded like Hellish profanity.
‘Contract termination? That’s impossible.’
No angel, no matter how powerful, could interfere with a demon’s contract.
That was precisely why the Demon Contract held such absolute sway.
When I’d forced the contract between Beval and Glay, Sariel had only offered a few words—he’d never intervened directly.
I’d assumed it was because such meddling wasn’t possible…
‘Was it all deliberate?’
The entire plan had fallen apart.
Where it had twisted was obvious.
‘I should have done it myself from the beginning.’
I bit my lip.
Impulse moved faster than rational thought.
I seized the Letter Opener from the desk.
Seeing what I meant to do, Deyan quickly grabbed my wrist.
“Your Highness, you cannot!”
“Don’t touch me!”
I wrenched my hand from his grip sharply.
Deyan’s face contorted helplessly as his arm fell away.
He too seemed confused.
I passed him and returned to stand before Beval.
“We’re binding in blood, yes?”
[You’ll really do it?]
“If you promise you won’t die.”
[Demons who’ve risen to the mortal realm gain strength from human contracts. If you contract with me, I can heal the wounds—slowly, perhaps, but I can. And if you’re generous enough to let me take a few more sips…]
Beval spoke with a rough groan, as though playing.
I nodded and lifted the hem of my dress.
“That’s fine then.”
[Good for me, but what are you doing?]
“A visible scar would be troublesome.”
The last thing I needed was to advertise that I knew how to fight.
So if we weren’t to be openly intimate anyway, it was better to cut somewhere unseen.
“Besides, the thigh produces more blood.”
Without hesitation, I drew the blade across my thigh.
The skin parted shallowly, and crimson liquid began to pool in the gap.
[Damn.]
Beval’s eyes deepened in color.
The demon bent low before the blood could drip from the wound onto the floor.
Pressed against my leg, he drank the flowing blood with desperate hunger.
‘It hurts.’
I kept my eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the dull sting to fade.
After drinking a few mouthfuls of my blood, Beval traced a pattern onto the wound with his fingernail.
It was his name, carved into the Summoning Circle that had brought him forth.
[—, —— — ———— —.]
Beval murmured something like an incantation in an incomprehensible language, then reached toward my neck.
The spot where he’d inscribed the Summoning Circle grew hot, then quickly cooled.
“Hgh.”
[If you have two Circles on your body, they’ll collide. I can’t have my precious contractor’s body tear itself apart, so I’m erasing this one.]
I massaged the back of my neck, which still seemed to radiate lingering heat.
Beval looked considerably more at ease.
“Is it done?”
[Yes. Look.]
Beval smiled with bewitching allure, his lips curling upward.
Simultaneously, the gaping wound in Beval’s chest began to writhe and shift.
Cell by cell, they swelled like foam, rapidly filling the void.
[I’ll stay like this for a moment. Rest a little, and I’ll be fine soon.]
“No.”
I firmly grasped both of Beval’s cheeks, preventing him from leaning against the wall to rest.
The friction of skin on skin produced a sharp sound, but the demon did not rebuke me.
“Tell me what happened. Why did Sariel appear before you and attack? What was his purpose? And Glay—!”
[Ask one thing at a time, darling.]
Beval whispered in that honeyed voice, gently cradling my cheeks in return.
His expression seemed that of a lover gazing at the beloved, yet the darkness and fury hidden behind those crimson eyes were unmistakable.
[There was someone helping the demon. That bastard was an angel.]
“You mean Sariel is aiding the demon?”
[No. A different angel.]
“So what you’re saying is…”
[The number of angels I need to crush has doubled.]
Beval let out a low, mirthless laugh.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————