That’s Not What Kissing Means! - Chapter 125

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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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That’s not what kissing means!
Episode 125

The Envoy’s lips curled upward as he gazed upon the inferno before him.
Black smoke billowed skyward alongside the roaring flames, dancing with wild intensity.
His eyes gleamed with a frenzied, ravenous desire.
“If magic won’t work… then I’ll simply burn it all away.”
Without hesitation, he seized the torches from the fishermen and sprinted toward the Hunting Grounds.
The moment he hurled the flames into the verdant foliage, the surrounding area erupted in fire.
Wind-driven inferno engulfed the Envoy in a circle of destruction.
Gazing at the crimson blaze, he withdrew a single sheet of parchment from his robes.
He had brought an intricate ritual diagram, just in case.
The Envoy placed the diagram upon a rock and began chanting dark incantations.
His voice emerged low and grotesque as laughter spilled from his lips.
The flames crept ever closer, threatening to consume him entirely.
Yet the Envoy felt no fear. Instead, his eyes blazed with anticipation of what was to come.
Whoosh!
In that instant, the fire surged skyward. Once, and then again.
Calimedes had answered.
The Envoy’s voice trembled with fervent excitement as he addressed the god of death.
“Hear my desperate prayer, Calimedes!”
He lifted his gaze and continued his chant.
“Not far from here lies a sacrifice prepared for you. I have gathered souls—come and claim them.”
The Lord’s Castle was not distant from the Hunting Grounds.
With Calimedes’ sacred sigil carved upon it, it would be easy to find.
All preparations were complete. Even if imperfect, it mattered not.
The Envoy reached into his robes and withdrew a small glass vial.
It contained ash, blackened and charred.
He had set fire to the Estate where a fragment of Calimedes lay buried, then collected the ashes bearing his essence.
And into these remains, he had embedded a summoning incantation to call forth the god.
“Calimedes…!”
The Envoy’s fingertips trembled with exhilaration.
That was when it happened.
“Extinguish the flames! The Estate’s people could be harmed!”
The Knights guarding the Hunting Grounds cried out in alarm.
The Envoy glanced around. The fire had begun at his location and was spreading outward with terrifying speed.
Beyond the towering inferno, Knights surely filled the space.
‘There’s no time.’
The Envoy hastily uncorked the vial.
Black ash scattered across the flames.
Witnessing the immortality ritual finally complete, the Envoy drew in a sharp breath.
In that moment, a low, damp voice echoed from within the fire.
“…Who has summoned me.”
A tremor seized the Envoy’s body.
It was the voice I had yearned for endlessly, waited for without ceasing.
“It was I! I summoned you, Calimedes…!”
He cried out, overwhelmed with emotion.
“I have sought you out across the long ages, scattered as you were, and prepared this ritual! I have searched for so much, desperate to meet you…!”
The Envoy fell silent. The thought of achieving his grand ambition choked his throat.
The flames before him began to distort. The form fractured and splintered, and something faintly emerged from the inferno.
Long crimson hair, eyes gleaming with an eerie brilliance sharper than the flames themselves.
It was Calimedes’ manifestation.
Yet the form was incomplete.
Because the ritual was imperfect, the manifestation wavered as though it might vanish at any moment.
Calimedes confirmed the Envoy’s presence and asked.
“So it was you who summoned me. What do you desire.”
Even as Calimedes posed the question, he already knew the answer.
“You seek eternal life, do you not.”
The Envoy answered without hesitation.
“Yes, that is correct. I desire immortality.”
Hearing the obsession saturating his voice, the God of Death laughed low.
“If you accept the life force contained within a soul… you will also absorb the memories within it.”
“….”
“All the pain, sorrow, and recollections will be implanted into your flesh.”
A piercing gaze pierced through him.
“Can you endure it.”
“I can endure anything.”
The Envoy was desperate. The goal he had dreamed of his entire life lay before him, within reach.
At his unhesitating response, Calimedes fell silent for a moment.
Then he laughed aloud with genuine amusement.
“They all say the same thing at first.”
He wore an expression of sincere entertainment, remarking that you mortals never change, no matter how much time passes.
Then he tilted his head to the side.
“But this ritual is far too incomplete. I cannot endure in this state.”
His casual demeanor only deepened the Envoy’s anxiety.
Seeing his desperation, Calimedes asked.
“I need a vessel to inhabit for now.”
Calimedes continued speaking.
“I will borrow your body. Until I grant you eternal life.”
A dangerous voice burrowed into the Envoy’s ears.
Until I obtain eternal life?
When would that be?
What happens if I surrender my body?
Amid the confusion, the cries of Knights echoed through the air.
“Bring more water!”
Now that I looked, the flames were already subsiding. There was little time left to restrain the God of Death.
Calimedes, observing the hesitant Envoy, made a proposal.
“In exchange, you will gain divine power. The strength I possess.”
“…Divine power, you say?”
Calimedes too was a god who walked alongside Goddess Yulia in ancient times.
His divine power was surely formidable.
“Very well.”
The Envoy accepted the God of Death.
My entire body trembled at the thought of taking lives and wielding divine power. My mind flooded with exhilaration.
Before I could finish my answer, Calimedes’ manifestation turned black.
It rippled like a shadow before beginning to bore into the Envoy’s body.
“Gasp…!”
A sensation as though my flesh was being torn in half surged through me.
But simultaneously, an intensely powerful force I had never experienced before filled my body.
It was when the Envoy exhaled a satisfied breath at the overwhelming divine power.
“Ugh…!”
Something invisible invaded my body all at once.
They were countless souls contained in a box.
Calimedes had drawn the souls from Aila Manor with his own power. And through the Envoy’s body, he savored them one by one.
“Ahh…”
The Envoy’s eyes grew hazy as he released an ecstatic sound.
Calimedes consumed the souls he had tasted after so long, then granted the Envoy vitality.
The Envoy’s expression, which had been smiling as he felt him, soon hardened.
“What… what is this…?”
Unfamiliar memories began to seep in.
The lives of others and the pain leaking from them felt vivid and clear.
Countless emotions and memories crashed down all at once.
The Envoy staggered, clutching his head.
Along with the overwhelming headache, my consciousness began to crumble.

* * *

At the Lord’s words that fire had broken out in the Hunting Grounds, the Interior froze.
In that instant, the metal box beside me trembled violently.
Thud! Thud!
Dull sounds accompanied an eerie shriek that pierced the air.
At the anguished cry, Evelyn’s eyes flew open.
Simultaneously, the sealed window burst open as if shattered by force.
A fierce wind swept in, swirling around the box at its center.
It was a violent movement, as though something were being torn from within.
Theo pulled Evelyn close, shielding her with his body.
Before long, the wind subsided.
“The Envoy… summoned Calimedes.”
Evelyn spoke, her expression grave.
“My Lord, we have extinguished the fire in the Hunting Grounds! Fortunately, there was minimal damage.”
A Knight from Aila Manor delivered his report.
The Lord released a sigh of relief upon hearing him.
“The remaining Knights are pursuing the Envoy. However… despite having flames engulfing his body, he appeared strangely unharmed.”
“….”
Evelyn nodded slowly.
“Fire is Calimedes’ symbol. It seems the summoning was successful.”
Now it was no longer merely the Envoy who posed a threat.
Both Calimedes and the Envoy had to be vanquished simultaneously.
How could I possibly…
As I grappled with this new trial, Theo’s voice cut through my thoughts.
“Evelyn.”
Theo called to me urgently.
Yulia’s Stone hanging from his neck was glowing.
Our eyes met.
This was the fourth prophecy.
I could sense it instinctively.
That Goddess Yulia was revealing to us the means to vanquish both Calimedes and the Envoy…

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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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