Chapter 23: The Vow
Nelly was stunned. She stared blankly as the Demon King’s fair, slender fingers elegantly produced a beautiful red rose and held it out to her.
It took her a long time to find her voice. “Is… is it alright for you to leave the Demon’s Lair?”
Hearing this, the corners of Karsus’s eyes curved, and he looked a little shy. “It’s fine.”
Doubt flashed through her mind for only a moment, but bewilderment ultimately won out. Nelly belatedly became embarrassed, her face flushing as she looked out the window. The gentle, fine snow was being swept into the room by the fluttering curtains, and a thin layer of sugar-frost-like white had accumulated on the windowsill. Somewhere, someone was singing a ballad in the winter streets, the sound drifting faintly on the wind.
Nelly really wanted to confess that she had to leave this world eventually, but the words got stuck in her throat and came out differently. “I… I’m very happy.”
As soon as she said it, she suddenly realized: she liked Karsus. Even though he was the Demon King, the scourge of the world in everyone’s eyes, she had still fallen for him. Because the Karsus she knew was just a shy young man, curious about everything in this world, yet also clumsy.
She didn’t think such a person would really destroy the world.
“Nelly, would you… be with me?” the black-haired, red-eyed Demon King asked softly, his tone quite coy. As he spoke, he dropped to one knee, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks. He looked at Nelly and asked again, seriously, “Nelly, would you be willing to return to Sloth with me and become my wife?”
W-wait a minute! Isn’t it a bit too fast to propose right after confessing?!
Nelly had already forgotten that she was supposed to answer.
Karsus clearly became uneasy. He lowered his head slightly, and his tone was actually quite wronged, like a student who had answered a question incorrectly. “Is this not appropriate? I read in a book that the best way to express love is to be willing to give up one’s freedom for the other person, to share everything one has and the rest of one’s life.”
“Ahem,” Nelly held a loose fist to her lips, her gaze wandering as she explained, “While that’s true, it’s… it’s a bit too fast.”
Karsus looked up at her, his gaze fiery. “I am willing to wait.”
At that moment, Nelly felt extremely cruel. Why did she have to teach him human emotions when her own wish could only be granted with his death as the price? If she agreed to Karsus, responding to his feelings with a temporary pretense, and let him wait with hope for the day she would say yes, she might be able to persuade the Demon King to let the heroes pass, and she could go home sooner. But… she couldn’t do it. The guilt of using someone’s feelings was too heavy a burden for her to bear.
If she didn’t do that, Nelly could only completely reject Karsus, or… stay.
The demon king who looked like a young boy gazed at her quietly and gently. He had already retracted his demonic form and looked like nothing more than a slender, sensitive, handsome young man.
Karsus’s gaze silently conveyed feelings more magnificent than any poem. Nelly could clearly read from his eyes that she was the joy of his existence, the light that had enlightened his dark world. She didn’t dare to imagine what would become of these eyes, more beautiful and charming than the deepest gems in the Red Keep of the capital, after she left.
Her thoughts raced, and Nelly knew she had already made her decision. Go home or stay. In an instant, she had chosen the latter. She felt that she could stop Karsus from falling into the abyss, that as long as the two of them worked together, they could surely find a way for the world and the Demon King to coexist.
She took the fiery red rose. “I understand. There’s only one condition: if one day you harm this world, I will leave.”
Karsus’s entire face lit up at Nelly’s words. His joy was so easy to read, so obvious, that Nelly was left speechless for a long moment.
“May… may I hug you?”
The brown-haired girl bit her lip, and with a blush, she bent down and wrapped her arms around the black-haired young man, who was still kneeling on one knee.
Her soft hair brushed against his cheek and fell on his chest.
Karsus took a strand of her beautiful hair and brought it to his lips for a kiss. He returned the embrace, his forehead resting lightly on her shoulder as he said softly, “Nelly, I love you.”
That was the happiest time Nelly had had since coming to Wildia.
She said goodbye to the hero, turned off her communication with the system, and returned with Karsus to the lonely fortress called Sloth.
A jumble of happy memories surfaced one after another. Karsus blindfolded Nelly and led her into the library. Seeing Nelly’s joyful surprise, he seemed even happier than she was.
They came to the long-unused cruciform ballroom. Karsus just snapped his fingers, and the crystal lamps on the walls lit up one by one. Although they were only in their everyday clothes, as they danced in each other’s arms to the music played by the familiars, they were happier and more carefree than any nobles in their fine attire. Their dance steps went from clumsy to skilled. They drew an endless circle with their steps in the hall, and their shadows on the floor gradually drew closer and touched.
Time also seemed to have entered this circle with no exit, no end. There was only happiness, only being together, and it would last forever, undisturbed.
Nelly fiddled with ingredients in the kitchen, making the familiar in charge of meals tremble with fear, afraid that she would cause a huge explosion at any moment. Karsus just smiled indulgently at this, waving his hand to signal the familiar not to be nervous. He personally brewed warm, fragrant red tea for her, and ate the scones that Nelly herself wouldn’t touch without a change in expression, praising with a smile, “It’s delicious.”
When she was burned by the edge of a hot pot, he would be more nervous than she was, holding her finger and casting spells and blowing on it. Then, the flustered Demon King would always silently turn his face away under Nelly’s helpless gaze, the tips of his ears also turning red.
Their two hearts gradually came to understand each other. She used words to open up a world for him that was more vivid and vast than any written description. He listened attentively, asking questions like the most eager of students. His questions were sharp, but his attitude was good, and he often left her speechless.
Not only that, but Karsus’s understanding of human emotions went from a literal knowledge to comprehension, and then he gradually began to master it himself. He would always speak the most ardent and beautiful words of love with a nonchalant expression, looking at Nelly’s flushed cheeks with what seemed to be confusion, as if he thought it was the most normal thing in the world to express one’s feelings in words.
Karsus also taught Nelly many things. He carefully taught her every trick of cultivating roses. He translated difficult ancient languages, telling her the forgotten epics and legends of Wildia. He also let Nelly understand more about what a demon was: on the entire continent, he was actually the only demon. The familiars were just a product of his will. Before, the only one who had accompanied him was himself.
He was the Demon King who ruled over a non-existent retinue, his only subject and monarch being himself.
He was a true solitary king, waiting in the cycle of time, lonely behind stone walls for the hero who would come to kill him.
“But it’s different now.” Karsus turned back, holding a pure white rose.
He looked at her cautiously from under his lashes, the color of his eyes redder than fine wine, redder than the blood roses beside him. “Power, the castle, the throne—half of it was already reserved for you. If you want, I can offer you all of it.”
How did Nelly answer then?
She reached out and gently brushed away a petal that had fallen on the tip of his hair, and answered with her eyes downcast, “I will share the strength and loneliness of Sloth with you, and that is all.”
Karsus was stunned for a moment. He caught the hand that had not yet left his hair and lowered his head to place a light, reverent kiss on her palm. He looked up at her, his voice a little hoarse. “Do you really understand what this means, Nelly?”
“I know,” Nelly paused, then smiled, her voice soft but firm. “I am willing to give up my humanity for you, to accept the power of a demon, and become a half-demon.”