The Ring of Bondage - Chapter 3.9

What a shady thing to do. As expected, whether they were servants of God or servants of demons, humans all seemed much the same. That must be why Mikhail Becker beside her was f*****g a demon despite being a theology student.

When Leticia’s thoughts reached that point, another question occurred to her.

“Is it alright for you to just tell me things like that?”

“What does it matter? I dropped out of the theological academy anyway.”

“When?!”

Leticia sprang upright and asked. The blanket slipped down, but she didn’t particularly feel like covering herself. In truth, whether he dropped out or smashed a divine statue had nothing to do with Leticia, but his words simply felt too strange to her.

Was it because his face looked believable even as a saint or an angel, much less a theology student? Leticia knew very well that Mikhail wasn’t a devout or good-natured student, but the position of priest wasn’t necessarily won through only such qualifications.

“The afternoon of the day you appeared.”

Seeing Leticia’s eyes widen in disbelief, Mikhail chuckled.

“Are you disappointed that the one who came inside you so much wasn’t a theology student?”

“That’s not it, but to humans, being from the theological academy is a position that more or less guarantees success…”

“Leticia. All I need is your love.”

At the sweet whisper, Leticia made an expression of sincere bewilderment. As an added bonus, Mikhail burst into laughter at the sight and rolled around on the bed. What was he doing, pretending to be the romanticist of the century when all he ever did was parrot back, ‘Liar’?

After a long while, Mikhail, whose eyes had even filled with tears from laughing, hugged Leticia and whispered. The laughter still soaked into his voice was irritating.

“Leticia. Let your wings out.”

“Why my wings?”

“Because I want to see them.”

Mikhail said, pressing a kiss to her white shoulder blade. If she brought her wings out and spread them right here, could she smack that pretty face with them? It was an extremely tempting thought, but Leticia soon gave up the temptation and slowly brought out her red wings.

The skin over her shoulder blades, which had been closed without a trace, split open, and she felt a stinging pain, but it was nothing remarkable. It was a familiar sensation too.

Before long, Leticia was able to spread her wings fully. When she flapped the wings she had brought out for the first time in a while and stretched, her stiff body seemed to loosen a little. Recently, she hadn’t moved much except to roll around with Mikhail Becker, so it was only natural that her wing bones had stiffened.

“They’re beautiful after all.”

“Spare me the flattery.”

They were ordinary wings, merely red without end. If her tail or horns were in some stylish shape, she might have been willing to count them together, but…

“Bring out your horns and tail too.”

At Mikhail’s continued urging, Leticia furrowed her brow. She should have slapped him away from the moment he asked her to bring out her wings, so why had she listened to a man like this just because he called them pretty? The sudden feeling of becoming a spectacle also contributed to her displeasure.

“Why are you asking for so much?!”

“The person who loves you says he wants to see them. It’s not a difficult request, so what’s the problem?”

“And who should be the one accusing who of lying now?”

“If you show me, I might believe you.”

Nonsense. He was someone who calmly told obvious lies without a shred of guilt. Compared to that, wasn’t her confession of love a far more sincere falsehood? At the very least, she was thinking it over in her own way, adding reasons, and speaking of love. Enough that it felt unfair when he wouldn’t believe her.

“Now, hurry and show me. Don’t tell me you’re going to claim those are more private than the place between your legs.”

Leticia firmly suppressed the urge to kick him. In truth, she really could kick him, but he was human. If he happened to get hurt, it might cause problems with the contract. It would hurt too. Hurting him while knowing he would be in pain didn’t seem like a convincing form of love.

“I don’t have a tail. I was born with it twisted badly from a deformity, and it got injured during the war too, so I cut it off.”

Feeling that the story would grow long if she spoke about the war, Leticia added only a brief explanation. There was no need for a human to know about the war between the Demon Realm and the Heavenly Realm.