Chapter 7

“My father is very good.”

“……?”

“Because he’s a son of a bitch.”

How could a young noble lady make such a vulgar remark without batting an eye?

A lady of her age would shake their hands at the slightest swearing. It was a virtue of a noble to pretend to be elegant in a society with nothing but pretense and hypocrisy.

But this woman was different. While displaying perfect manners, she was rude, so it felt contradictory to see her spit out curses in an elegant way than anyone else.

It was quite interesting. He doesn’t know her story, but isn’t he as crazy as this woman who is trapped in the tower? That’s what Kayden thought.

“Did the count go bankrupt by any chance? You’ve come all the way here at the disposal of Count Collins.”

It was a reasonable guess in its own way. Selling out a daughter under the name of marriage has often happened regardless of status. No, rather, in the aristocracy, it was worse.

Whether it was only for money or for desire for power, marriage was bound to have some purpose in the aristocracy.

Even so, which psychopath would sell his daughter to a monster?

It was Kayden Blake, who was not only a half-blooded demon, but also had his blood boiling over and confined himself.

If that madman was this woman’s father, he could understand to some extent what he heard earlier.

Even if he is the Duke’s heir, he didn’t know when he would die.

There’s no way there’s a woman who would voluntarily crawl into this demon’s den.

“No, I’m here to propose, not to be sold.”

Such a crazy woman was right in front of him. Isabella said the word “propose” with great emphasis.

Kayden found this ridiculous situation quite interesting.

“Then you crawled in here on your own feet.”

“…….”

“Is the lady’s taste unique? The more dangerous it is, the more attractive it is to you?”

Kayden’s eyes filled with interest. He was like a predator whose laughter completely disappeared.

“You can’t handle me. My body is completely evil.”

His red eyes roared with magic. With a grotesque rupture sound, black wings protruding from his back spread wide.

A body that has already been consumed by his demonic blood. He is holding on to faint reason with a determination not to let go of himself. However, he was like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any time.

“…what does it feel like?”

“What?”

Isabella’s eyes shone with curiosity.

“What does having a demon’s body feel like?”

She asked with a blank face. She’s not embarrassed to see the demon’s blood boiling right in front of her.

Is she asking because she’s really curious, or is she not going to give in to whatever he says? He was confused about what she really meant.

“Well, if you read my mind now, will it be helpful?”

Anyway, Kayden didn’t intend to back down either. If she doesn’t budge, he has no choice but to push her until she is forced out.

“I want to mess everything up. I want to break everything. I want to rip everything apart.”

“…….”

“I don’t know how to control this damn power. If you want to experience it yourself, I won’t stop you.”

When Kayden looked down at her with an arrogant face, Isabella felt a strange sense of wonder.

‘That’s exactly what the demon told me.’

Isabella recalled the demon’s three desires.

The desire to destroy the pure, the desire to possess the coveted, and the desire to destroy the strong.

‘I might have been flustered if I didn’t know.’

As the demon told her, it was a situation where trust would be built on the basis of the information she had.

“You warned me personally, so that I’m fully prepared. Then can I assume that you accepted my offer?”

She was determined as he pushed, and she didn’t seem to be fazed at all.

Can she hear what she’s saying? Kayden burst into laughter because he was speechless.

“Let me ask you why. If you were determined to ruin your life, why do you want to be the bride of a demon cub like me?”

“I need you.”

Necessity, indeed, was a simple and clear reason.

But Kayden was confused. It’s a fact that he’s going to die soon. What is she intending to use him for?

“I don’t know when I’ll die.”

“Live just one more year. This time as a demon.”

Kayden’s face stiffened sharply. It was understandable.

He is refusing the contract because he refuses to become a demon, so living a year as a demon was ridiculous.

“If you can be my husband for a year, I’ll give you what you want the most.”

Besides, she was making a ridiculous offer to be his wife.

“Funny. It’s cheap lust. If we do it now, it will be enough. Do you think I want something from you?”

“Demon King Hella Lucifer.”

It was a low voice. Kayden doubted his ears for a moment as the name no one dared to bring up caught his ears.

A demon who married into the Empire as a hostage. The demon who abandoned her son and went to the demon world and is now the demon king.

“I’ll let you meet your mother.”

Kayden’s eyes fluttered fiercely at Isabella’s suggestion.

Referring to the demon, Hella Lucifer, was tantamount to touching Kayden’s trigger.

When she first left the Duke’s residence and crossed the border, Kayden was just a boy.

When demons and monsters crossed the border, it was often of no significance.

Demons were monsters without reason, and demons lived on human desires. In a way, it was their natural instinct to find where humans were.

The war against the demons was long over. There are only sporadic intrusions every now and then. The troops stationed there were enough to prevent them and there was no significant damage.

Kayden cut the demons and the monsters obsessively. He killed and killed them again, as if he intended to dry their seeds.

It was Kayden, who was born into a peace agreement between the Empire and the Demon Realm. Everyone thought he was crazy when he acted bizarrely, a symbol of peace and a hostage of both countries.

Isabella seemed to know why.

“I mean it, this is not a threat, so listen carefully.”

Kayden said in a chilly tone. He was staring at Isabella like he couldn’t control his boiling anger. It was his last warning.

“I hate that name as much as you hate your father, or even more than that, so please don’t provoke me.”

“You have something to say to the Demon King.”

“…….”

“Is the reason why you killed so obsessively at the border only because of your demonophobia?”

“…don’t.”

“Then I think you have to meet her at least once.”

“Stop it!”

shouted Kayden hysterically. Isabella just stared at Kayden with an expressionless face because she already expected his reaction.

He has no choice but to scream because she is digging through his wound. However, she could not just leave it to rot when it was festering.

Of course, Isabella does not have a sadistic personality. She doesn’t enjoy hurting people and seeing others in pain.

It was also impossible for her to fully understand what Kayden was suffering from. But she has a speculation.

‘Cause I’ve been like that before.’

When Isabella was a child, Count Collins was always away.

He often left home for a few days under the pretext of work, and was not interested in his only daughter at all.

Isabella once craved the attention of the count like any child.

However, no matter how cute she acted and no matter how she is a good child, the count did not even look at her.

One day, she waited for her father. By mistake, she broke his most cherished pen.

“Bella, did you do it?”

It was only then that she could get the count’s attention.

From that day on, Isabella often broke something in the count’s room to draw his attention on purpose.

They could meet if she threw and broke his cherished things one by one.

“What’s the problem?”

She would’ve felt better if he had been angry at her and she was punished. But his eyes were eerily insensitive.

One day, she broke all the decorations on his bookshelf, but he didn’t call her.

The next day, she went back, and it was replaced with the same ornament as if nothing had happened.

‘He’s a man with no answers at all.’

Isabella finally admitted that her father was beyond redemption, shattering her vain expectations.

But Kayden didn’t seem to be able to do that.

There was nothing strange about him. How can he give up his mother whom he doesn’t even remember?