Chapter 149
“I mean it. I didn’t even want to touch him!”
Strangely, Payne didn’t say he wasn’t curious about such things. Instead, he found himself oddly relieved by Ashtel’s excuse. It was an unfamiliar feeling.
‘Why?’
Was it pity for Duvalkan, suffering at the hands of a succubus?
Payne knew better than anyone the psychological damage her cruel pleasures could inflict.
Maybe that was why Duvalkan had been weighing on his mind.
Frowning, Payne glanced at Ashtel before shaking his head.
He needed to shake off these thoughts. Right now, they didn’t matter.
“What do you plan to do with Sir Duvalkan?”
It seemed she had already gotten all the information she could from him.
The Cardinal was searching for Payne—enough to mobilize an entire knight order as trackers.
Since even Duvalkan didn’t know the details, no amount of Ashtel’s persuasion would yield anything more.
‘I need to use Duvalkan to find a way out of here.’
Ashtel would never let him go, but Duvalkan might be his only chance.
“Hmm…”
Ashtel briefly considered her options.
Of course, her initial plan had been to eliminate him after extracting the information—whether that meant killing him or erasing his memories.
‘If I kill Duvalkan, Payne would grieve, wouldn’t he?’
The belated thought made her lean toward the latter.
Slowly, she rolled her eyes toward Duvalkan, who was still panting heavily.
His skin glistened with sticky release, his chest rising and falling unevenly. The moment he sensed her gaze, he flinched and instinctively clenched his thick thighs together.
Payne himself was well-built from rigorous training, but Duvalkan’s body was something else—a sculpted mass of muscle, firm yet yielding under pressure.
Attractive, yes. But that was all.
With a derisive snort, Ashtel signaled to Jo.
“I’m taking Duval to the Demon Realm.”
“…What?”
“Excuse me?!”
“Relax. I won’t kill him.”
Payne visibly sighed in relief, but Duvalkan certainly didn’t.
“The Demon Realm?! What do you intend to do with me there?!”
As mentioned before, the temple never took back priests tainted by the Demon Realm.
Instead, they were either executed as fallen or declared dead. No matter how bold a paladin Duvalkan was, the thought of losing his future as a clergyman terrified him.
All traces of attraction towards Ashtel or dizzying pleasure vanished as his face paled.
“Miss Maid… There’s no need for this.”
“I’m not a maid.”
“Still! We’ve shared a bond over time…”
“What are you trying to find from a demon?”
Yes, this was the true demon.
A vile creature that couldn’t feel warm emotions, love, or the meaning of relationships.
Ashtel acted arrogantly, just as Payne had imagined a succubus would.
But something felt off.
‘…Why doesn’t it feel uncomfortable?’
No, on second glance, it was uncomfortable. It was a side of her he had never seen before, and for a moment, he felt nervous.
But there was a feeling of something missing.
That feeling was disappointment.
Payne’s jaw twitched.
He was so surprised by his own emotions that he couldn’t speak.
He was shocked to see Ashtel being cruel to Duvalkan, but he wasn’t disappointed.
Why? Perhaps because he didn’t think it was something to be disappointed about?
“…”
Payne covered his forehead.
Anyway, what mattered now was Duvalkan’s treatment. If they went to the demon realm like this, he could be killed immediately.
Hadn’t Payne himself almost been snatched and killed by a monster as soon as he arrived there?
Duvalkan had no demon to protect him, so his life was in danger.
“Miss Sue, will you let Sir Duvalkan die?”
“No, no. I told you he won’t die.”
As soon as Payne spoke up, Ashtel’s attitude shifted.
She lowered her gaze and responded,
“I’m going to take him to my Sis Juvia. I’ll erase his memory.”
“Juvia…?”
“Yeah. My second sister. You might not have seen her because you were sick.”
That seemed to be the case.
He racked his memory but had never met the succubus named Juvia.
However, the name sounded familiar, so Payne realized Ashtel wasn’t lying.
‘If it’s just a matter of losing his memory, then that’s probably fine.’
It was better for him to live as an ignorant knight than to get involved with Ashtel, whose older sister was the great demon Sermedes.
Even if it meant never entering the temple again…
Payne silently watched Duvalkan.
The situation had changed. It seemed that Duvalkan’s position was more urgent than his own that was trapped here.
“Father Payne, was the succubus who assaulted you Miss Sue?”
“…Yes.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
Duvalkan, whose face had turned pale, muttered curses under his breath.
Naturally, Jo was about to strike with the hammer of retribution, but Ashtel raised her hand to stop him.
“Sis Jo’s going to take you to the demon realm. As long as you stay near her, you won’t die, so don’t be afraid.”
“Please, can’t you just let me go?”
“No.”
“Miss Sue, if I’m kicked out of Mediale, I’ll be nothing. I can’t imagine what life would be like if I’m not a paladin.”
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