Queen of Revenge - Chapter 36

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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 36
* * *
The day after Lucian returned, he resumed his original position. He was Iolet’s dedicated Guard Knight.
Of course, it had become difficult to call him a knight anymore, but neither Lucian nor Iolet broached the subject.
“You’re awake? Your fever has come down a bit.”
“It’s so bright….”
“Just take your medicine and rest again.”
The man who had maintained precise boundaries just days ago now carried himself entirely differently.
The hesitation at the threshold of Iolet’s bedroom, the careful restraint about touching her—all of it had evaporated without a trace.
Yet this did not mean he had become discourteous. He was naturally incapable of rudeness toward others.
The moment Iolet stirred, Lucian seemed to know and knocked at her door at once.
While she washed with Bara’s assistance, he inspected the fireplace and brought her meal and medicine.
Iolet had no need to move a single step from her bed.
“Does the wound cause you pain?”
“It improves somewhat when I take the analgesic.”
He looked unconvinced. Even when the Military Physician came to examine her, Lucian remained at her side.
Since the wound lay near her heart, she had no choice but to pull her garment down to her chest. Iolet fidgeted with the buttons of her front placket and glanced at him sideways.
The impatient Military Physician pressed her.
“If you keep waiting, the wound will fester and burst. You there, boy. Help the Princess undress.”
“No. I can manage.”
Iolet reluctantly unfastened the buttons and drew her collar back.
But the moment she saw the wound covering her chest, all embarrassment vanished. She immediately understood why the Military Physician was so insistent.
“It’s truly miraculous that you survived….”
“If you understand, then please cooperate, Princess.”
The Military Physician peeled back the gauze and began disinfecting the wound. The searing pain left her mind blank.
“Don’t just stand there watching. Hold the Princess steady. It’s remarkable she endures this much while I work on living flesh….”
Each time the Military Physician touched the wound, Iolet’s thin shoulders flinched. Gooseflesh erupted across her pale skin.
Seeing her distress, Lucian’s hesitation fell away. He sat behind Iolet and let her lean her back against him.
“Ah, ugh….”
“Stay still. Just a little longer. It will be over soon.”
While Lucian steadied her so she could not move, the Military Physician quickly finished the disinfection.
As he reapplied the gauze and wrapped the bandage, Lucian cradled her small shoulders and patted them gently. Until her trembling ceased entirely.
“All done. I’ll return at this time tomorrow to check. You’ve endured well, Princess.”
Tears streaming down her face, Iolet answered only with the shape of her lips. The pain had robbed her of the strength to speak.
‘Perhaps beheading would have been far preferable to this….’
While Bara wiped her face with a damp cloth and Lucian tidied her garments, Iolet slumped against his chest, breathing heavily.
As the medicine began to take effect, her tears subsided.
When Iolet sniffled, Lucian spoke quietly.
“Never do that again.”
She nodded, nodded.
“You said you didn’t want to die pathetically, didn’t you?”
I nodded.
“What kind of person throws away their life to sway a single individual? Don’t use your life as a means to an end. You mustn’t. Your Highness’s life is not so worthless as that.”
I hadn’t died because I wanted to, but regardless, I nodded in agreement.
‘It seems they won’t pry into the matter of dying and coming back to life…’
Since I lacked the energy to explain anyway, it was rather fortunate.
Lucian carefully laid me down on the bed.
He gazed at me with concern, then began tidying the bedroom. That was when he discovered the burlap sack still sitting before the fireplace.
“Are you planning to keep that demon’s head here indefinitely?”
“Yeah… It might come looking for it.”
I rasped out my response. The medicine was already pulling me halfway into drowsiness.
“I’ve rested, so I should get back to work…”
Mumbling with a sluggish tongue, I tumbled into sleep in an instant.
My prediction proved precisely accurate.
Less than two days after Lucian’s return, a demon crossed the border of Elovis.
* * *
[My name is ▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️.]
On a night shrouded in darkness, the demon that shattered my bedroom window and invaded announced its name without preamble.
The demon’s name was impossible to pronounce with human vocal capabilities. The closest approximation would be something like “Iherah-Lrihparam.”
[You can just call me Epharam.]
The moment Bara sensed the demon’s approach, I sent Lucian on an errand.
It seemed unwise to have the one who had slaughtered a demon face another of its kind.
Instead, Bara stepped forward confidently to block my path. It was reassuring.
“So, Epharam. I’d like to hear why you’ve come all this way.”
I clicked my teeth together and wrapped a blanket around myself. A blizzard howled through the shattered window.
“But first, get down from there. And restore my window to its original state. If you don’t, I’m going to roast that head right now.”
Just moments before, I had skewered the demon’s head on the end of a long pole that Bara had brought.
I had made such a fuss about it, feeling sick just looking at it. In the end, Bara had helped me.
The head, threaded like a piece of meat on a skewer, was being roasted evenly above the fireplace.
I moved the pole end threateningly. The demon clutched both its cheeks and shrieked.
[Ahhh, don’t burn it! If you burn it all like that, it takes forever to regenerate!]
“It just takes a long time? Is there another method? Like… returning to life, perhaps?”
[What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean by returning?]
The demon glared at me with wide eyes. It genuinely seemed to have no idea.
‘So regression isn’t a demon ability?’
The first question I had wanted to ask the demon became utterly useless. I pressed my lips together in disappointment.
Epharam twitched the tips of its pointed fingers.
[Fine then, let’s make a contract over that head. That was my friend, you see—my comrade from 200 years ago when we came through the gate together. And besides, he saved me from that Kalande bastard not long ago, so I owe him a debt I must repay.]
“So demons really do maintain active relations with one another.”
[I’ve been searching for where his head went. So, will you make the contract or not?]
As Epharam stomped his feet, the bedroom trembled as if it might be uprooted entirely.
“I’ll do it. Your contract condition is to get this head back, right? Then I’ll set my own terms.”
[Speak then, you hollow defective.]
To the Demon’s eyes, I must have appeared completely empty. It made sense—I was living on borrowed time from my mother’s lifespan.
“There are two conditions. First, you’ll rescind the living sacrifice contract with Commander Marcel Lefebvre. Second, you’ll hand over something I want.”
Epharam scratched his head irritably.
[Ha, fine. That living sacrifice contract was quite profitable, but it’s not like I’ll die without it. Next, what do you want?]
“I’ll figure that out as we go. First, how old are you?”
[245 years old. Why?]
“You haven’t always lived in the Unregistered Territory, have you? What did you do before that, and where?”
[I’ve done countless things. More than a young human girl like you could ever imagine.]
“Is that so?”
If a Demon had integrated into human society and lived as quietly as a dormouse, there was one thing they would have needed most.
Iolet seized the opportunity without hesitation.
“Then, do you have anything valuable? Anything that could be sold?”
[Ah, so you’re blinded by material wealth. If you need money, I’ll shower you with hundreds of millions. Shall I fill your nation’s treasury to bursting?]
“I don’t need money. I’m asking if you have merchandise that could be sold. How have you been making money all this time?”
Epharam countered as if hearing the most absurd thing.
[How did I earn human money? By digging the earth, of course.]
“Digging the earth? You dug up the Unregistered Territory? Did something like those jewels around your neck come out?”
[Are there only demon stones, you foolish human? All manner of gems and gold are buried there.]
Epharam seemed to think more simply than his counterpart. As Iolet showed interest, he puffed up with pride and began elaborating.
[Do you think a masterless land would have endured only howling winds and snow for thousands of years? The land you call the Unregistered Territory is a place where magical energy has boiled intensely and cooled countless times over millennia. The surface is covered in snow, but beneath it, lava churns. Bubbling and seething.]
“So no matter where you dig, you strike treasure.”
Iolet summarized it in a single line. Then she fell into thought.
‘Gold, gold, you say?’
In truth, what Iolet had hoped for were jewels like her mother’s heirlooms. The dark crimson crystals that dangled from Epharam’s neck even now.
Since I was merely human, I couldn’t imbue them with magical power or Demon abilities, but jewels were still money regardless.
But gold?
A smile spread across Iolet’s lips that she couldn’t hide.
‘What a windfall this is.’
More than good, even. It was the best possible outcome.
“Alright. Then I’ll state my second condition.”
She shook the pole with the Demon’s head impaled upon it as she made her proposal.
“In exchange for this head, give me some of that land.”

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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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