Chapter 433: Giabella City (8)

Chapter 433: Giabella City (8)

Eugene’s face twisted when he heard the word ring. Why would she suddenly bring that up out of the blue? Eugene was just about to let out a curse, but a sudden thought passing through his head caused him to flinch.

Could it be that memories from her past life, which hadn’t completely been erased and had instead been buried somewhere deep, had suddenly pricked her heart?

‘A ring?’ Eugene thought.

He recalled the final moments of the Twilight Witch. Agaroth had given her his ring, his holy relic, and ordered her to flee. However the Twilight Witch had rejected his divine commandment. Instead of accepting the ring, she had returned it and then requested a kiss and expressed her last wish to be able to die at his hands.

After snapping her neck with his own hands, Agaroth had placed his ring on the Twilight Witch’s chest. Then he had turned his back on her corpse and went to face the Demon King of Destruction.

What could have happened to the ring after that? The world had been destroyed. A fog followed by a giant wave had engulfed the whole world, leaving only corpses in its wake.

After that, a long, long time had passed. Although the details weren’t fully known, the world was reborn once more. Perhaps the ring had been buried deep beneath the sea, or maybe it was carried along by the ocean currents.... Eventually, the ring had fallen into the hands of a dragon before it had been fatefully returned to Eugene.

“Why a ring of all things?” Eugene eventually asked. This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

There was no way that Noir Giabella could have retained any memories of her life as the Twilight Witch. No matter the fact that Noir Giabella was a being who possessed truly absurd levels of power, there was no way she could still have memories of her past life, which had ended with her previous death.

“Who knows?” Noir said with a shrug.

It was just as Eugene had guessed. Noir really didn’t have any memories of her past life.

She didn’t remember Agaroth’s name, the Twilight Witch, or anything at all, really. However, after seeing how Eugene’s divinity had grown stronger and more distinct... her soul had just seemed to react on its own. Even then, her soul hadn’t awoken any clear memories or even the broken fragments of a memory.

It was just a feeling.

A very vague and fleeting feeling. Noir felt an inexplicable desire to possess a ring. She simply couldn’t tell why she was having such an unusual feeling.

“Why a ring of all things?” Noir repeated. “I wonder why.... Earlier, I just suddenly had the thought that I wanted one.”

When she thought about it, most of the emotions that had come over her today were sudden and impulsive.

However... Noir didn’t think that this was particularly strange. Because she had always been like that. She was the Queen of the Night Demons. She had already been impulsive, lustful, and emotional for the past hundreds of years now.

“That’s right, come to think of it, Hamel,” Noir turned to look at Eugene, having suddenly realized something. “Didn’t you also wear a ring?”

Noir was also able to clearly recall what kind of ring it was.

Eugene had worn that ring on the ring finger of his left hand. It was no ordinary ring. Noir hadn’t known what its exact identity was, but she had guessed it was probably a genuine artifact. It wasn’t an item that had been enchanted with magic either, but instead, a holy relic with connections to an ancient god.

“A ring?” Eugene feigned ignorance.

“Are you really pretending to have forgotten about it? I’m talking about the ring that was destroyed in your battle with Iris. It had the ability to heal injuries,” Noir reminded him with a grin.

Noir could clearly remember seeing it at that time as she watched Eugene and Iris fight.

Instead of replying, Eugene just glared directly into Noir’s face.

Right now, Eugene was experiencing a huge inner turmoil. This was because of Noir’s desire to own a ring and also because he couldn’t fully see through her intention to ask about Agaroth’s Ring.

There was no way; he didn’t think it was even possible, but... could it be that Noir really had recalled her past life? Were her current actions prompted by those recollected memories?

‘No way, there’s no way,’ Eugene tried to convince himself over and over again.

In the first place, if Noir really had managed to remember, she would have addressed it head-on instead of probing around indirectly like this.

Eugene calmed his inner turmoil and began to speak, “I’m not pretending to have forgotten. It’s just that you started asking about my ring without any warning.”

“Is that so?” Noir said doubtfully. “Hmm, it just suddenly occurred to me. Since I’ve decided to get a ring, I thought it would be nice if I could get one similar to yours. Ah, that’s right. This actually works out for the best. How about it? Should we get an identical pair of rings?”

Although she had just come up with the idea herself, Noir couldn’t help but picture the beautiful and wonderful image that would make. Noir turned to look at Eugene, both eyes sparkling with light, as Eugene’s face instinctively twisted into a disgusted scowl.

“I—” Eugene began.

Only for Noir to interrupt him, “You’re going to say that I’m crazy, right? Fufu, Hamel, I can already predict everything you’re going to say. Of course, you don’t want to wear the same ring as me.

Noir walked past Eugene, her hips swaying as if she was dancing.

While staring down at Eugene’s completely bare hands, she laughed and said, “I also feel like it would be fun to try and force it onto your finger. Don’t make that face, Hamel. I’m not going to try and force it on you now, you know? I’m saving that for later, hmm, that’s right, for later. When you eventually die in my arms.”

“...,” Eugene held his tongue and the mounting irritation.

Noir smiled brightly, “At that moment... I will put the ring on your finger as you die in the throes of your own despair. As I slip it on, I will whisper into your ear and say, ‘I love you.’”

“Crazy bitch,” Eugene cursed.

“But I think that would be quite a beautiful and romantic gesture, no? Of course, you won’t want to accept that ring, but... fufu, at such a moment, you won’t even have the strength to refuse it. What do you think, Hamel? If, and I really do mean if, when the two of us reunite to try and kill each other, if, in the end, you are the one who emerges victorious...,” Noir tilted her head to the side as she looked up at Eugene.

Beneath her long and thick eyelashes, Noir’s purple eyes, which were as beautiful as jewels, sparkled with intense anticipation.

“You and I, at the moment when our long, long relationship comes to an end... is there anything that you would want to give me as a final gift?” Noir asked.

“There’s nothing,” Eugene flatly denied.

“Even if I say it as my last wish?” Noir pouted.

“It doesn’t matter to me what your last wishes are,” Eugene answered with a surly expression.

Noir snorted, “Hmph, well, I also predicted that response.”

Eugene couldn’t sense any real disappointment coming from her. Even if Eugene wasn’t going to prepare a gift to commemorate her final moments, couldn’t Noir herself just prepare one for him to give her? Since she had already decided to buy a ring, Noir decided to just buy a pair at the same time.

Then, when she someday killed Hamel....

“I will place the ring on my own hand. Then I will place the other ring on your hand as you lie there dying. Also... after you die, I will remember you for all eternity each time I look at the ring on my finger,” Noir said dreamily.

“...,” Eugene stayed silent.

“Well... you’ve heard the phrase, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, haven’t you? I’m sure that Amelia Merwin will have no choice but to feel upset when she learns that we’re close enough to buy rings together,” Noir tried to convince Eugene.

Eugene eyed her suspiciously, “Are you being serious right now?”

“Hey, of course, I’m not being serious. I’m just talking for the sake of talking,” Noir said, sticking out her tongue with a playful smile.

Eugene suppressed the thought of going up to her that very moment and kicking her in the chin, thus chopping off said tongue.

“If you’re done looking around, can we head out already?” Eugene asked impatiently.

“Why are you in such a rush? After all, the night is still long. Also, Eugene, If we leave now, it’s not like there’s anything else for us to do, no?” Noir pointed out, wriggling her fingers as she looked at Eugene.

Perhaps realizing what it meant for a gaze to feel like it was ‘burning,’[1] Eugene was so disturbed that he started getting goosebumps.

“Of course...,” Noir slowly drew out. “I could make this long night seem to last for both a moment and an eternity. Eugene, no matter how arrogant you may act, when you climb into my bed, I—”

“Grrrr,” Eugene growled in the back of his throat.

Noir sniffed, “Hm, I could have made sure for you to not have any regrets. Fine, fine, I won’t say anything more about taking you to my bed, but instead, come here and stand next to me.”

“I can see everything clearly from right here,” Eugene insisted.

“Even if that’s the case, it would still be better to see it from up close, right? After all, this has to do with the final moments of both of our lives, so I don’t want to make the choice all by myself,” Noir said persuasively.

“You’re just going to do what you want, anyway,” Eugene said, not moving from his spot.

All ten of Noir’s fingers now had rings adorning them, and she had already spent quite some time picking out these rings. Moreover, these ten were left after Noir had extensively pruned her selection. Even going back just a few dozen minutes, Noir had been considering dozens of different rings.

These ten rings were what had been left after a long and lengthy filtering process.

They all had similar shapes. None of them had any large jewels embedded into them, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a few smaller jewels used in their design. Most of the rings had simple designs without much embellishment. Honestly speaking, they were all ordinary-looking rings that were difficult to distinguish from each other at first glance.

“They seem a bit too plain for you,” Eugene eventually gave his opinion.

“Right? I think so as well,” Noir agreed.

“Then you should just choose something different,” Eugene suggested.

“However, for some reason, I feel like I’m being drawn to rings like these,” Noir muttered, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

After continuing to think about it like this for some time, Noir made up her mind and chose one of the rings. The ring that Noir chose was a gold ring that gave off a soft glow. She nodded her head with a satisfied expression.

Noir turned to him, “Eugene, you should try wearing one as well. Since it will need to be able to fit on your finger.”

Eugene scowled, “Get—”

“You’re going to say ‘get lost,’ aren’t you?” Noir spoke over him. “Fine, I get it. I’ll make the choice on my own. Even without you wearing it personally, I can roughly tell what your ring size is just by looking at your fingers, you know? In fact, there’s no need to even measure it. It’s not like this is some cheap ring, so it will be able to adjust to the circumference of your finger no matter which finger it is put on.”

Noir clapped her hands, and one of the waiting staff stepped forward.

“There’s no need to wrap the rings up. We’ll take them away like this,” Noir instructed.

“If you desire it, we can also engrave the rings, Your Highness,” the staff offered.

“Engrave? An engraving, hmm...,” Noir pondered the possibility for a few moments before smiling and shaking her head. “I’ll just do it myself.”

Noir could have had the store engrave Eugene’s name onto her ring, but rather than that name, she wanted to engrave the name ‘Hamel’ instead.

The rings floated above her palm as they were wrapped up in layers of her dark power. It didn’t take much time to engrave his name on the inside of one of the rings.

“This one is mine,” Noir said with a bright smile as she held her ring up towards Eugene.

The name ‘Hamel Dynas’ was written on the inside of the small ring that was sized to fit around Noir’s ring finger.

“And this one is yours,” Noir said, holding up the other ring.

This one had the name ‘Noir Giabella’ engraved on the inside. While watching as Eugene’s expression twisted, Noir giggled and placed her ring onto the ring finger of her left hand.

“I’ll keep your ring with me,” Noir informed him. “Because if I give it to you, you will definitely just throw it away.”

Her long, outstretched fingers pulled out a strand of her own hair. The broken strand of hair was pulled through Hamel’s ring and turned into a black necklace.

In fact, Noir wanted Eugene to hang this necklace around her neck, but Noir was well aware that there was no way the man would be willing to do so. So she hung the necklace around her neck with her own hands as she walked over towards Eugene.

“Let’s go,” Noir said.

“Where to?” Eugene asked.

Noir smiled, “Since we’ve already come to the department store, wouldn’t it be a shame to end our shopping trip and return after just buying some rings? Isn’t there anything that you want me to buy for you?”

“There’s nothing,” Eugene flatly denied.

“I feel like those two kids have a lot of things they might want, though,” Noir teased.

“I’m also very wealthy,” Eugene said defensively.

“But there are some things that even money can’t buy,” Noir said as she walked past Eugene.

Although he didn’t have any desire to follow her — in the current situation — Eugene had no choice but to do so.

Eventually, Eugene let out a sigh and followed Noir out of the store.

1. The original text uses ‘sticky’ instead of burning, but since that isn’t really a thing in English, I felt it was best to change it to this. ?