Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 80
In the end, I didn’t sleep.
I didn’t bother asking whether Deyan had a hangover or if his stomach was upset—I saw no point in it.
I avoided looking at his face, afraid that meeting his eyes would only make things awkward between us.
Still, one thing nagged at me, so I probed gently through Nancy to confirm: he didn’t seem to have forgotten last night’s conversation despite the wine.
That was enough.
I’d expressed my acceptance of his proposal and apologized; there was no reason to speak with him further.
It was the second day I’d deliberately kept Deyan at a distance.
Beval had retreated into the Underground Warehouse where no sunlight reached, claiming he needed to recover, and no new word had come from him.
I drifted through another day suspended in a lukewarm tension.
In that time, an interim report arrived from the knights who’d accompanied Glay.
They’d crossed the Border and entered the Count Nemanic Fiefdom.
I read the letter Giselle brought me once, then burned it to destroy the evidence.
As I tried to refocus on my work, ink spattered from the pen nib.
Looking more closely, the nib was quite worn.
“Blast.”
I should have checked beforehand; now I’d ruined the papers I’d been writing.
I suppressed my frustration and opened the drawer to fetch a new nib.
Clack.
“Hmm?”
But as the drawer slid open smoothly, I heard something rolling inside it.
Judging by the weight of the sound, it had to be a fairly heavy object.
I pushed my hand deep into the drawer and felt along the bottom until my fingers closed on something.
Cold stone. Rough texture under my fingertips, with grooves and ridges. A thick, coarse cord wound around my fingers.
‘No. It couldn’t be.’
I gripped it tightly.
A sense of déjà vu washed over me.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to dispel the ominous image, then opened them.
Still, the sensation in my hand didn’t fade.
A sudden urge not to look struck at my throat.
I pulled my hand out slowly to confirm what I was holding, then pushed myself up so hard the chair scraped backward.
The chair fell with a loud crash and clatter.
“This can’t be real.”
It was an Angel Statue.
Long, neatly arranged hair. A cloth covering more than half the face. Hands holding a book, hands turning pages.
It was definitely the Angel Statue in the exact form Sariel had manifested in when I’d first summoned Beval.
‘I’m sure it was gone.’
If I hadn’t been dreaming, this Angel Statue had vanished along with Sariel’s manifestation.
As if it had never existed in the world at all.
When Sariel suddenly disappeared, I’d searched the entire mansion, so I was certain of this.
I’d even wondered if it had somehow returned to the woman who’d sold it to me in the first place.
So why was it now in my desk drawer?
What could this mean?
Before I could finish the thought, my body moved.
I clutched the Angel Statue in both hands and ran toward the Underground where Beval had shut himself away.
“Beval!”
Beval was in the disused wine cellar beneath the mansion.
The narrow, cool space was pitch-black, visibility reduced to nothing.
‘Why is it so dark?’
I felt along the wall for a candleholder, thinking to light even a small lamp.
Soon my fingers found something smooth and cold.
I managed to find a small match and struck it against the wall.
It flared bright, casting a small flame that illuminated the darkness for a fleeting instant before dying.
That’s when I understood.
‘It’s not dark at all.’
Something black was filling the Underground completely.
And its identity was obviously…
“Beval?”
[Oh, Idir]
At my voice, the black mass rippled like waves.
The match I’d barely managed to light was already long out, and all I could see was absolute blackness.
[How dare you waltz in here without permission. Such bad manners.]
The Demon’s voice rumbled low.
It was nothing like a beast’s cry—a voice that couldn’t be described in words.
The moment his voice pierced my eardrums, my skin crawled.
Fear rose in me so fast I couldn’t control it, forcing my heart to race wildly.
[Oh.]
The Demon let out a soft sigh.
[Are you frightened?]
Click. Click. Click.
I thought I heard something striking from somewhere, but it was the sound of my own teeth chattering.
My body shook uncontrollably beyond my control.
[Don’t tremble so, Idir. I won’t hurt you. Though….]
The black form flickered like flame before compressing into a smaller shape.
It reformed into a seductive human shape and stood before me.
Pink hair that curled sweet as dessert, and fuchsia eyes that gleamed vividly even in the darkness.
The split pupils contracted, taking on a rounded form.
The black hands that had been terrifying to behold transformed into human ones in an instant.
The warmth of his skin against my cheek made me mistake him for human.
[How bold of you to peek at my true form without permission.]
Beval pushed me against the wall.
His movements were smooth and decisive, but they didn’t hurt.
He was controlling his force just enough to keep me from fleeing in terror.
For the first time, I felt utterly helpless in his grip.
I seemed still trapped in that awful darkness.
[What if I simply devoured you whole and swallowed? What then?]
His arm wrapped around my waist, and he exhaled a soft breath against the nape of my neck.
[So? The reason you came looking for me in such a hurry was….]
A large hand covered mine.
Beval smoothly took the Angel Statue I’d been gripping as my last hope and threw it to the floor.
[All this fuss over this wretched piece of stone?]
“The Angel Statue was in my drawer.”
[Obvious, really.]
I barely managed to open my clenched throat and speak when Beval chuckled lightly.
[That annoying feathered bastard. So full of himself, but he lost after all.]
“Lost? What do you mean?”
[Just what I said. Though he didn’t disappear completely, it seems. Should I be grateful or annoyed?]
Beval drawled his words lazily.
His hot hands, their sharpness hidden, brushed lightly against my earlobes, sharpening my senses to a knife’s edge.
[When a Fallen Angel who’s abandoned his Mission fights an Angel, eight times out of ten the Fallen Angel wins. Do you know why?]
The hand that gently traced my ribs was almost a caress.
Standing pressed so close, his lips moved softly.
[Angels are such tedious creatures that they can’t act beyond their regulations. But Fallen Angels have broken free from those restraints, haven’t they? It’s natural that the unrestricted one wins.]
“Then what happens now?”
[What happens?]
Laughter threaded through his measured voice.
He touched my cheek gently as if finding my anxiety endearing, swept my hair back behind my ear, and spoke sweetly.
I tried to twist away from his hands.
[Why are you so afraid, so anxious? In the end, what you wanted was revenge, wasn’t it?]
The Demon tightened the arm around my waist and pulled me flush against him.
[You have nothing to worry about. I’ll find the one who caused you pain—find him for you. All you have to do is share a very small part of yourself with me.]
The Demon’s temptation whispered at my ear.
My mind grew hazy.
I bit the soft flesh inside my mouth trying to stay lucid, but my knees went weak.
[Once we deal with that Demon, you’ll regain your strength. I’ll show you the secrets of your past that you want to know. You’ll have your revenge, and chaos will come—or won’t. Why not seize a tremendous power in that very chaos?]
“No. If war breaks out, it’ll all go according to the wishes of that fallen angel and that Demon.”
[No, it won’t. Their aim was to gain advantage in the chaos, right? You just have to be the one who gains the advantage. And you already have quite a useful tool in your hand, don’t you?]
Beval laughed playfully. Between his red lips, sharp white fangs glimmered like blades.
The pointed tip pierced my wrist.
And as red blood flowed down my arm, he licked it up deliberately.
[Do as I say, Idir.]
His fuchsia eyes shone with dangerous beauty.
‘That’s right.’
He’s not even human anyway.
There’s nothing a mere human like me could do, no matter how hard I try. So instead….
[That’s right.]
In the moment the Demon’s lips curved upward seductively, I suddenly came to my senses.
“Stop spouting nonsense!”
I slapped the tempting Demon’s cheek.
‘How dare he—’
[……Wow.]
Beval held his cheek with a disgruntled expression.

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