Chapter 72
“I’m going to die soon anyway. Just kill me now instead…….”
“Are you threatening me with your life, too? I might fall for it with the demons, but I won’t fall for it with you!”
“I don’t care…… just kill me…….”
“Damn it……!”
This was a total ‘screw you’ attitude. Heesu let go of Izzen in annoyance.
“Cough!”
Izzen screamed as his body hit the floor. Violen watched with a troubled expression, and Rufus with an anxious one. Only Edstan had sparkling eyes, watching enviously. He still had enough sense not to voice his envy and just sucked on his fingers.
“You said I could quit being a magical girl anytime…….”
Heesu muttered with a desolate expression. That promise was probably still valid.
But, at the same time, it wasn’t.
Heesu looked at Violen, and at Rufus. She also looked at Edstan, the chrysalis, and Button. If a demon is abandoned by their master, they die. In other words, the moment she quit being a magical girl, they would all die. That phrase she had heard once pierced her heart like a sharp blade. It bound her tightly, like an invisible shackle.
Of course, she could just pretend she didn’t know. Maybe it would be better to do that even now.
But to Heesu, her old memories felt incredibly distant. The days when she was cooped up alone in her small studio apartment, watching anime, without them by her side.
She had become too used to this. Now, returning to that old routine felt impossible. She felt she wouldn’t be able to bear being left alone again.
“From the beginning, this was a trap…….”
A trap that, once you stepped into it, you could never escape.
“Master…… are you angry because of me?”
Rufus carefully approached her and nervously watched her. He had his wide shoulders hunched, his head lowered, and was only watching Heesu’s reactions.
“Don’t be angry. I said it then, but I’ll run far, far away before that happens…… I’ll even jump in a river so that doesn’t happen…… so…….”
Rufus said weakly and drooped his head. He looked sullen. A faint whimper could be heard from his throat. The sight made her heart ache, as if he was begging her not to abandon him.
The look of a puppy afraid of being abandoned by its owner. She was caught by this image. And yet, she was caught again. She ended up reaching out her hand again.
“No, I’m not angry at you.”
Heesu reached out her hand and stroked Rufus’s head. The touch of his hair and ears against her fingers still felt pleasant. Rufus, with his cheeks flushed and silently enjoying her touch under her palm, was also cute. He was truly, so cute.
“What have you done wrong?”
Heesu smiled with an expression as if she were about to cry.
It was already too late. She had already taken on a bunch of responsibilities and grown fond of the things she had to take responsibility for. Therefore, now, she could not escape.
“Let’s go.”
Heesu took Rufus’s hand. She pulled his hand and headed for the bedroom.
***
After bringing Rufus in and closing the bedroom door, Heesu let out a quiet sigh.
She had done it right away because it was something she had to do eventually, but she still needed time to prepare herself mentally. The thought that everyone outside the door knew what she was about to do felt a bit distasteful, but it would be the same no matter when she did it. What felt even more distasteful was to prolong the time, leaving Rufus, who was already starting to lose his human form, to a state where he might turn into a beast at any moment. She absolutely did not want that.
Heesu opened her compact. And then, just like Violen had done before, she closed it in the middle of her transformation.
Heesu, now in the form of a magical girl with nothing on but her underwear, looked at Rufus. He didn’t know where to look and seemed at a loss, then he lowered his head and stared only at the floor. The nape of his neck, visible between his hairs, was red.
“Rufus.”
Heesu reached out her hand, cupped Rufus’s cheek, and forced him to raise his head and look at her. The face cupped in her palm was flushed red, his eyes flickering and wandering intensely. He had a childlike expression.
“Do you want to do it?”
Heesu asked with concern, feeling a sense of guilt as if she was doing something bad to a child. Now that she was actually about to do it, she was worried.
Rufus had lived as a werewolf since birth, so that form might be more natural for him. The idea that his human form was better might just be Heesu’s perspective as a human. She might be trying to forcibly change that under the pretext of preventing his rampage. Rufus might not want it at all.
“Ugh…….”
At her words, Rufus flinched and then dropped his gaze to the floor. He tried to speak with his mouth, but only a mosquito-like voice came out.
“I-I… want…… to…….”
Then he squeezed his eyes shut, and after hesitating again, he added with difficulty,
“Actually…… for a long time…… I’ve always wanted to be…… like alpha…….”
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