Chapter 82

It was the first time. My heart pounded, and my blood boiled. This feeling was undoubtedly love.

The love the Old King told me to find. Was this what he meant? This joy that brings a smile to my face, the pleasant resonance of my thumping heart, the crimson hue of my emotions.

I felt so happy that tears welled up.

“Ah…”

I caught his fist, which was about to smash my face, and spoke.

“Your name is Raul, right…?”

“That’s correct.”

“I like you. I love you. Be my companion. Fight with me forever.”

At that moment, his movements stopped.

“Personal opinion, but when having a conversation, cutting out the middle and only stating the result is a bad habit.”

“This heartbeat! My vision turning red like my heart! My trembling body! If this isn’t love, then what is?!”

“You’re insane. Completely.”

I spread my wings and soared, then unleashed flames hot enough to melt steel using the Old King’s power.

Yet, he easily blocked my breath attack with the staff he was holding. Even the Demon King would have suffered minor burns from those flames, but he deflected them with a staff imbued with resonance.

He was adorable. I was certain he was the only one who could end my boredom. I didn’t want him to be taken by other insignificant beings.

I was simply grateful to the Old King. Thanks to the power he gave me, I could experience this love.

“Today… I… couldn’t prepare properly. Next time, I’ll put on makeup, gather my strength, and we’ll meet in the best environment where we can both go all out. My love.”

“If you mean cremation, I can do that right now.”

He couldn’t fly.

Unlike the prince who could fly using the heat of flames or electricity, or that blue-haired brat, my love’s ability was limited to vibration.

“…Next time we meet, I’ll definitely kill you. First, I’ll tear off those wings so you can’t escape.”

“I’ll gladly listen to your romantic words of love.”

And so, our relationship began.

The Empire’s Giant Hunter, the Sea Shaker, the Slayer of the Beast King… That’s what he’s called, but I gave him a new title.

‘The One Who Stole the Queen’s Heart.’ Truly romantic. I ordered my subordinates to call him that, and soon it became his second most famous title.

Of course, he hated it, but strong denial is strong affirmation, so I took it as an acceptance of my confession.

And so, we exchanged love several times. For us, pain was love, and exchanging it was both mating and a confirmation of affection.

In the next battlefield, I defeated and captured him. I heard humans value chastity, so I defiled it. If that blue-haired girl filled with rage hadn’t come to save him, I would have gone all the way.

In the next battlefield, he broke my limbs and hung me on a pole as a spectacle. If the King of Specters hadn’t come to save me, I would have died.

In the next battlefield, I took away the one he loved.

Filled with rage, he cursed me.

“…I will repay this. I will trample and kill everything you’ve built—your past, your present, and your future.”

It was ecstatic. Sweeter than any words of love. Every word of his curses and insults was utterly adorable.

The resonance of his words, piercing like daggers, made me wet between my legs.

And he kept his word. He attacked our nest, slaughtered 60% of my people, destroyed and burned all our unhatched eggs, and desecrated the Old King’s remains.

“…Was it necessary to desecrate the Old King’s grave? He was our leader, after all.”

“Didn’t I promise? To make you feel exactly what I felt.”

“Truly… truly… truly ecstatic. This sensation in my chest… it’s love like I’ve never felt before.”

“The step after love is death.”

“Next is the girl’s turn.”

We exchanged pain several times. We inflicted the greatest humiliations and losses on each other’s lives. I influenced the lives of his people, and he did the same. Just thinking about it made my whole body feel drenched.

I injected him with the Dragon King’s Poison, which could never be cured, and he took my wings and arm.

Exchanging pain with him was good, but I couldn’t fight with a body missing an arm and wings. I couldn’t maintain my throne with such an incomplete body.

So, I used the remaining remains of the Old King. Using his remains and the remnants of his soul as a catalyst, I sacrificed 40% of my lifespan to regain my arm and wings.

I wasn’t interested in maintaining the throne. I just wanted to fight Raul with a complete body.

And that devotion to love has brought me here.

“…I truly can’t understand you.”

“Even humans can’t fully understand each other. What makes us any different?”

“Why are you taking from me? Why are you staining what little life I have left with misery? I… I…”

Cold rain streamed down his cheeks.

It looked like he was crying.

But I knew better. He couldn’t shed pure tears. He could bleed from his eyes from excessive pain, but he could never shed tears of sorrow.

“I… just wanted to be happy like everyone else.”

“You know better than anyone that’s impossible. Such things aren’t allowed for you.”

“I didn’t want to go to the battlefield. I’m human too. Of course, I’m scared of dying and pain. I didn’t want the position of Family Head either. It’s a position full of burdens and responsibilities, something I’d rather give to a dog. But I accepted it. Because it was my duty. As someone who inherited the blood of the Count’s family…”

A person who, despite sorrow and suffering, never lets go of their weapon. A person both ecstatic and adorable. Yet, astonishingly strong.

A pitiful person who, despite sorrow and suffering, never sheds a single tear. Yet, the expression of enduring pain is unbearably cute.

A monster born from a mother who wasn’t much of a mother and a harsh environment. A monster that reminded me of myself before I met the Old King.

“But I couldn’t inherit that blood… Now, I really don’t know…”

He was desperately holding back tears.

I wanted to make him break.

I wanted to see him cry and give up everything. I wanted to make him mine after he abandoned everything.

I wanted to make him my companion, to fight and inflict pain on each other forever.

“Then, become part of my kin. If you become my companion, I can grant you anything. I can burn down the Empire that drove you to the battlefield, kill those who pointed fingers at you, even your abusive mother…”

At that moment.

A sharp pain slashed across my cheek.

“…”

“…Hah.”

I wiped away the blood diluted by the rain streaming down my cheek and spoke.

“This side of you is disgusting. Soggy and all.”

“Feel free to insult me.”

“Even in this state, you still can’t let go of your mother? You can hate her, but you can’t bring yourself to kill her? You know it in your head, but your heart can’t accept it?”

I grabbed Raul by the collar and punched his disoriented face repeatedly.

Even as red blood gushed out, his expression didn’t change.

This was the expression I hated. The expression I desired was only two things: a face desperately enduring the pain I inflicted, and a face giving up everything in despair. Only those.

I hated this expression of him enduring pain not from me. I couldn’t tolerate him thinking of someone else while I was right in front of him. That’s infidelity.

I couldn’t forgive anything that interfered with our love, completed by inflicting pain on each other. He should only focus on the pain I give him.

“Your mother abandoned you. You accepted that. You gave up hope in her. You decided not to call her mother anymore.”

Even as my fist broke his nose, he was still focused on the pain his mother gave him, not the pain I was giving.

“Your mother doesn’t deserve to be called a mother. What are you even expecting?”

“…I don’t know. I really don’t.”

“Are you a foolish man who doesn’t even know what he wants? Then starve in that ignorance.”

As I reached out to break his neck,

My left eye, which was looking at him, burst.

“Huh…?”

I didn’t expect him to extend a vibrating hand in that brief moment to burst my eye.

“Now, it doesn’t matter what I don’t know. Knowing what I do know is enough.”

And then.

His expression seemed to return to that of the old days.

That calm, burning hostility, the expression of someone who had honed their consciousness. It was unmistakably the expression from the days when everyone feared him.

The adorable expression from the days when he was called the One Who Stole the Queen’s Heart.

“I thought I’d never see it again…”

Everything was truly adorable.

He burned with murderous intent towards me and extended a vibrating hand blade, saying,

“Until now, I lived to hold onto things I couldn’t understand.”

“Then, what do you plan to live for now?”

“Now, I’ve decided to live without thinking about those things. With people who understand me.”

“Perfect. A perfect answer, my love. No, the One Who Stole the Queen’s Heart.”

The expression of blatant disgust towards me was also the pinnacle of adorableness.