Pretending to Be Human Is Exhausting Again Today - Chapter 132

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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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Pretending to Be Human: Episode 132
“…Before I answer, just tell me one last thing. Please.”
Adding conditions to a soul-binding contract was dangerous. Yet Asmo-rina posed her question anyway.
She had to know this, even if it cost her life.
“Does Asmodina know about this conversation? About your questions?”
Gregory’s eyes dimmed for a moment. After a brief pause, he shook his head.
“She does not. I alone know the truth about the Jins Kingdom incident.”
“How exactly did you… No, you won’t answer that either, will you?”
At least she’d learned that Asmodina didn’t know the truth about the Jins Kingdom. That was enough.
Asmo-rina exhaled softly before responding.
“Your suspicion was correct. The Jins Kingdom sacrificed its citizens for decades, trying to summon ‘the strongest Demon.’ But it wasn’t Asmodina who answered the call—it was me.”
“When were you summoned?”
“I don’t know the exact date. I don’t keep track of such things. Roughly… more than twenty years ago.”
In other words, more than two decades had passed since Asmo-rina fell into the Human Realm.
Gregory’s brow furrowed.
“I received reports from the 2nd Legion Commander right up until the summoning.”
“What’s in the Demon Realm now is my avatar. I left it behind at headquarters when I set out to find Asmodina.”
After the armistice, the Demon Realm’s legions scattered to their respective territories.
The 1st Army Commander Gregory and the 2nd Legion Commander Asmo-rina had barely seen each other since then.
So he had believed she was still at her post.
“Then it was the 2nd Legion Commander who aided the Jins Kingdom’s rebellion. But why did you remain in the Human Realm for decades? Was it truly to find the Commander? And how has information not leaked all this time….”
“That’s enough.”
Asmo-rina spread her palm flat, blocking his face.
“You asked only about the outcome of the summoning. If you want to know more, we make another contract. I have plenty of questions myself.”
Gregory likely wondered why she had only now begun to act, how the Jins Kingdom’s rebellion had unfolded.
But contracts had to be fair.
‘I have mountains of questions too.’
For instance, whether the current Asmodina had been reincarnated as a human, or if she possessed someone’s body instead.
Gregory fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.
“…No, I’m ending this contract now.”
“What?”
Asmo-rina’s eyebrows shot up. It was completely unexpected.
Gregory brushed her hand aside and spoke calmly.
“The most critical question has been answered. Giving you more information when you’re destined to become the Commander’s enemy is too dangerous.”
“You’re backing out now? You answered just fine before!”
“Your questions were all about the past. But if you ask about the Commander’s current state or location, that changes everything.”
“…Ah!”
Now that she thought about it, she should have simply asked where Asmodina was from the start.
Fury rose to her scalp at Gregory’s evasiveness, and in her anger, she’d thrown away a precious opportunity by asking the wrong question.
‘I should have just captured Asmodina and asked her directly!’
Amid her anger at her own foolishness, a memory of the emotional conversation from moments before suddenly surfaced.
‘Wait… Could it be that she provoked me from the start for this very reason?’
The frustrating questions without answers, the condescending tone as if treating her like a child—suspicion crept in that it might all have been an act.
Asmo-rina bit her lip and glared at Gregory.
“You’ve really changed a lot.”
“The 2nd Legion Captain has changed too.”
Though hidden behind the mask, she could discern from his voice that he was smiling.
Gregory stepped back and spoke.
“Now do you understand why I won’t send the Captain back to the Demon Realm? For the Demon Realm’s sake, for her sake, she must abandon her life in the Demon Realm.”
If Gregory’s words were true, then the war in the Demon Realm had ceased because Asmodina had left.
Simultaneously, it meant that Asmodina had finally gained an opportunity to escape from war.
Asmo-rina bit her lip.
Yet there remained an emotion she could not yield on.
“So you’re telling me to return to the Demon Realm? To a Demon Realm where no family remains?”
“That is…”
Gregory hesitated in his response.
The Demon Realm was currently at peace. War had ceased, and its inhabitants had regained their vitality.
But Asmodina was not there.
A daughter who had endured centuries alone, vowing never to sacrifice her mother, had lost even the place to return to.
Gregory, watching over both from the sidelines, ultimately could not answer that question.
‘Surely, Asmodina would tell me to return to the Demon Realm and live peacefully. That war has vanished, so there’s no need to fight anymore.’
As if she understood why I became a soldier in the first place.
Asmo-rina spoke in a coldly settled voice.
“Let me meet Asmodina. I cannot accept your explanation alone.”
“That is not something I can decide.”
Gregory retreated toward the cave entrance, as if unwilling to continue the conversation.
“If the Captain expresses her will to meet you, I will bring word. Of course, only after you swear not to harm the Captain.”
“Do you think she’ll allow it? She’ll probably just think I’m running wild again and won’t even care.”
At Asmo-rina’s self-deprecating words, Gregory muttered with utter bewilderment.
“Mother and daughter alike, neither knowing the other.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. In any case, when the time comes, we shall meet again.”
With that, Gregory left the cave, and Asmo-rina was left alone.
“”
The emotions she had been holding back surged forth all at once. Asmo-rina struck the ground with her fist with tremendous force.
‘Damn it, what am I supposed to do?’
She had thought everything would be resolved if only they returned to the Demon Realm together.
She had believed she could finally grant the peace that Asmodina desired.
Yet all that effort had meant nothing.
It felt as though even the reason she had endured for centuries was being denied.
‘Then what reason do I have to remain by her side?’
Asmodina would not return to the Demon Realm.
She was living happily in the Human World.
If that were the case, then didn’t it mean there was no reason for me to stay beside Asmodina in this world?
She squeezed her eyes shut against a question that yielded no answer.
The nights of the Human World were deeper and lonelier than those of the Demon Realm.

* * *
Far from the cave where Asmo-rina had been, Gregory gazed up at the night sky and murmured to himself.
“Tell him the conversation is over. I will keep watch over Asmo-rina.”
In that instant, the shadow beneath his feet writhed. It was Coco, the spirit of darkness that Grid had placed at Gregory’s side.
[But you should tell me what you talked about too….]
“I refuse to answer.”
[Ugh, o-okay.]
Coco hesitated for a moment, then vanished from sight. It seemed to have returned to Grid’s side.
Sensing the spirit’s presence fade, Gregory murmured quietly to himself.
“Pointless meddling, Grid.”
He had not anticipated that Grid would relay Deina’s orders through the spirit. Had his interference not occurred, he could have sent Asmo-rina back to the Demon Realm through death.
‘Still, it’s fortunate that I could uncover the secret of Asmo-rina’s summoning.’
Without her testimony, he would have had to cross into the Jins Kingdom directly and interrogate the nobleman there.
In that sense, it was not without merit.
‘…No.’
That was a secondary matter.
What truly eased his mind was the fact that he had not killed Asmo-rina by his own hand.
Though they had acted as adversaries, Asmo-rina remained a comrade to him.
Those who had been willing to sacrifice their lives for the Captain, yet survived through her sacrifice alone. Incompetent subordinates who owed their lives to the Captain’s death.
No matter how much it was for Deina’s sake, he could not bring himself to draw his blade against such a comrade.
He recalled the sensation of cutting down Asmo-rina and murmured softly.
“It seems I am not the perfect soldier His Majesty expected.”
After that brief moment of regret, he resumed his journey forward.
Deina would be occupied with matters concerning the Direct Dominion, so he had to resolve her problems in her stead.
‘The Jins Kingdom sought to summon a being from the Demon Realm. Yet the reason behind it remains unknown.’
The preparation period had been far too long to dismiss this as the act of a mad king. Moreover, most of the Royal Family, save Princess Chloe, had been implicated in this affair.
This was not an incident that could be attributed to personal deviation.
There had been someone.
An entity that had instigated the summoning magic in the Jins Kingdom.
Uncovering that being’s purpose was the priority.
Gregory began walking slowly, then suddenly looked up at the sky.
And he murmured softly.
“It seems the time has come for chaos to visit this world as well.”
In any world, when the strong reveal themselves, chaos inevitably follows in their wake.
Gregory fervently prayed that Deina would emerge as the victor from this impending turmoil.

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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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