The Incubus Archduke Dreams of a Pet Human - Chapter 64

“Je……, Jess?”

Jess was nowhere to be found. When a panicked Theticia turned back to Asmod, Glacia was being lifted into the air by his gesture.

“Glacia……!”

Fearing what he might do, Theticia quickly snatched Glacia and held her in her arms.

‘Why on earth is he so angry……? I have never once thought of betrayal.’

The coming-of-age ceremony had ended peacefully, and life had been ordinary since then. If this was a tantrum caused by hunger, her mana supply had been more than sufficient.

Dazed, Theticia hugged Glacia tightly.

“Ah, Lord Asmod, I do not understand what you are talking about.”

“Do not ask me, ask Glacia. Ask what she has done to you.”

At the cold response, Theticia looked down at Glacia hesitantly.

“How long did you think you could hide it? Do you also think of me as half-baked, Glacia?”

“Archdukie……. It’th not like that…….”

Glacia, hanging in her arms with her tail curled, avoided her eyes and licked her nose as if embarrassed. Theticia squeezed Glacia, who was shivering uncontrollably.

‘Even though she is this large, she is as frightened as a child…….’

Seeing her sympathetic gaze, a deep furrow formed at the tip of Asmod’s jaw. The air grew heavy, pressing down on the entire room.

“Explain it with your own mouth.”

Glacia glanced up at Theticia once and then muttered as if giving up.

“I wath……. eating Tishia’s mana.”

“My mana?”

This was a point she had never considered. She had simply noticed that Glacia had been licking her often lately, but she had assumed it was because they had grown close.

“Tishia gave me a name, didn’t she?”

“……Eh?”

Theticia, asking back in confusion, searched her memory. Immediately after the ball at the Demon King’s Castle, she had told Glacia to call her by a nickname, as Glacia had been despondent over failing to protect her. She had only suggested it because being called ‘Shon-ni, Shon-ni’ felt too distant.

“Are you talking about when I told you to call me by a nickname?”

“Uung. But I only ate a little bit!”

Glacia licked her nose frantically as if it were unfair. Theticia wondered what the problem could possibly be. Even if she had given mana, she had been providing it to Asmod all along, and her body had never suffered for it.

However, the protest that had begun to form in her mouth was swallowed back down the moment she met Asmod’s eyes.

“……Are you saying you were the one who gave the name first?”

Asmod’s aura became even more savage than before. It was clear that he was gripping his crossed arms with renewed force.

“Ye……. Yes. I was the one who told her to call me that.”

“Glacia. Return the mana to Theticia.”

Asmod’s voice was vibrating with suppressed fury. Glacia, who had been shaking like a leaf in Theticia’s arms, peeked her head out.

“I’ll give it back……. The name, too.”

A white mist suddenly billowed from Glacia’s snout. The smoke hovered in the air as if reluctant to leave, circling Glacia before sinking into Theticia. Immediately, her heavy body felt lighter, and the aches throughout her frame began to loosen.

‘To think that simply asking to be called by a nickname was such a major issue.’

Asmod turned a look of utter, pathetic disappointment toward Theticia, who was dazed and rubbing her forehead.

“To a demon, a human is nothing more than prey. Did I not tell you not to give anything of yourself to anyone but me?”

“You, you did. Certainly.”

Her memory was hazy because she had been in the middle of a mana supply, but she was certain they had shared such a conversation. Theticia’s voice trailed off.

“Giving a name means deciding your master. Do you dare attempt to serve a master other than me?”

“I…… I didn’t know. I didn’t know it carried such a grand meaning.”

To think that after boldly refusing a contract with Levia, she had already been giving her mana to someone else. Theticia broke into a cold sweat at the humiliating realization.

“Watch your conduct. Do not touch just anything, and do not follow just anyone. Do not give anything to anyone. Are those words so difficult to understand?”

Theticia’s shoulders slumped at the sound of his scolding, which felt like a reprimand for a pet that had picked up and eaten something off the ground during a walk.

“……I am sorry.”

The apology slipped out involuntarily. Asmod had warned her sternly several times, yet she felt her heart shrink at the thought that she had repeated the same mistake.

“Or is it? Are you wishing for me to annihilate your soul?”

Until now, she had thought that being expelled from the Demon Realm would be the most terrifying punishment. But finally, a truly horrific threat had spilled from Asmod’s lips.