Chapter 434: Giabella City (9) [Bonus Images]

Chapter 434: Giabella City (9) [Bonus Images]

Eugene wandered around the department store, getting pulled to wherever Noir wanted to go. To be honest, he tried to keep his distance so that he wasn’t considered part of the same group as her, but Noir wouldn't allow him to play such a trick.

With a mischievous smile, she would call Eugene’s name out loud, get close to him, and pull on his arms as she clung to him.

After this was repeated several times in a row, Eugene eventually just gave up. While keeping half his attention on following Noir around, carrying her luggage, Eugene was rolling a few ideas over in his head.

He was thinking about his remaining two questions. What kind of questions would be the most meaningful? As planned, should he ask about the private army she might be harboring?

No, there wasn’t much meaning in doing so. To be honest, Eugene wouldn’t really be surprised if something like that did pop up when he returned to this city, but no matter how many troops were stationed here, in the end, the biggest challenge was Noir Giabella herself.

‘I also feel like it would be a good idea to turn the investigation towards the Demon King of Incarceration or Gavid Lindman,’ Eugene considered.

For example, he could ask her for the Demon King of Incarceration’s weak point.... Eugene unconsciously laughed as this thought popped into his head.

The Demon King’s weak point? Could there even be such a thing? Even if it did exist, Eugene didn’t think it was likely that Noir would know about it.

“What kind of thought is leaving you so distracted?” Noir asked curiously.

“I’m thinking about what to ask you,” Eugene answered with a blunt demeanor.

Eugene was getting annoyed by the music flowing in his ears.

Instead of listening to such music, Eugene even thought that it would have been better to just keep wandering around the department store while shopping. At least there, he had been able to keep moving. However, now, Eugene was forced to just sit in place.

After they had finished shopping, Noir and Eugene had arrived here, at a bar with a nice atmosphere, the soft sound of music in the background, accompanied by the rustling of cocktail shakers. Eugene and Noir were sitting in a corner seat, facing each other.

“You don’t need to ask them all today; it’s fine if you just ask me next time,” Noir said with a laugh as she shook her drink.

There was also a drink set in front of Eugene, but he had yet to pick it up. By now, the night had already started to give way to dawn, and the sun would rise in just a few hours.

Eugene harshly rejected her, “I have no intention of hanging out with you ever again.”

“You really are such a consistent person. I actually like that about you, but as a date, you aren’t fun at all,” Noir complained.

“A date?” Eugene repeated.

Noir smiled teasingly, “If what you and I are doing now isn’t a date, what else could it be?”

He didn’t have any energy left to try and refute her. Eugene let out a heavy sigh as he idly tapped his drink with his fingertips.

“I don’t understand you,” Eugene confessed.

“Oh, I’m so happy, Hamel,” Noir said cheerily. “It seems you’re finally willing to converse with me?”

Eugene didn’t show any reaction to Noir’s outburst. He just raised his head and stared straight at her.

He saw a smile on Noir’s face, which was illuminated by the warm colors of the lights above. Instead of saying anything, she also just waited for Eugene to speak.

“Converse? A conversation, huh...? Maybe, but I’m more in the mood to air some grievances,” Eugene muttered as he picked up his glass.

Noir felt moved by this action, and her lips stretched into a wide smile as she asked, “Hamel, are you actually willing to drink with me?”

Eugene denied this, “I just want a drink because I’m feeling like shit.”

“So that’s the case! Understood. Hamel, you can just keep drinking alone like that, and I will also keep drinking here by myself. Even though we’re sitting across from each other like this, we’re not actually drinking together,” Noi said with a giggle as she raised her glass.

Her drink casually approached his to try to clink their glasses together, but Eugene ignored her approach and just poured his drink straight into his mouth.

Noir returned to the topic, “So then, Hamel, what is it that you don’t understand about me?”

“Everything,” Eugene replied.

When Eugene lowered his empty glass, Noir promptly picked up a bottle and refilled it as if she had just been waiting for the chance to do so. As a strong, tan-colored liquor filled his glass about halfway, Eugene didn’t bother trying to stop her.

“Like why you keep fucking with me,” Eugene specified.

“That’s because I love you,” Noir claimed.

Eugene added, “I also don’t understand all the effort you’ve put into this city.”

“Heehee, you don’t understand it? I’m the one who doesn't understand what you mean by those words, Hamel. Haven’t I already told you what this city is for? In that case, isn’t it only natural that I put in my best effort to develop this city?” Noir asked as she leaned over towards him.

The new dress she had changed into had a low-necked design, so when she bent over like this, her cleavage was clearly visible. However, rather than her cleavage, Eugene’s gaze was drawn to the necklace swaying above it and the ring on the said necklace.

“I have seen your city,” Eugene said, “and it is overflowing with an incomprehensible level of narcissism. So much so that most of the things within this city have your name attached to it.”

The city’s name was Giabella City. Its theme park was named Giabella Park. The flying heads were called Giabella-Faces, and even the Castle’s name was Giabella Castle. The only exception was the trains, named the Dream Trains, but... apart from those, countless other things still had been named after Giabella.

“It’s said to be the greatest tourist destination in the entire continent, and it is indeed crowded with people. I also saw a lot of young children,” Eugene observed.

“....Ah,” Noir’s eyes widened as if she had realized what Eugene was trying to say. “Are you going to ask if I perhaps feel guilty?”

“I don’t necessarily want to focus on just that emotion,” Eugene said vaguely.

“Sorrow then?” Noir said with a giggle. “Or perhaps regret? Something like that?”

Noir’s desire for his death was motivated by pure love, without any hatred coloring it.

Eugene couldn’t really understand what Noir was talking about, but he didn’t have to think too deeply about it. He just gave up on trying to understand her.

Eugene felt himself relax once he had done so, “Hah.”

There was no point in feeling any regret. Eugene was relieved as he now knew that there was nothing wrong with his thoughts and the decision that he had come to.

“Haha, hahaha...,” Eugene burst into laughter as the tight pressure around his heart disappeared.

He thought it was fortunate he had decided to have this conversation with Noir.

As Eugene began to laugh without restraint, Noir also let out a graceful chuckle as she covered her mouth with one hand.

Noir sighed in pleasure, “Ah, even so... I’m quite grateful for our current peace, as it is all thanks to it that a day like this has come. To think that there would actually be a day where I could laugh with you over drinks.”

This current situation was one of the things that Noir would have never been able to imagine by herself, just like her own death. Hamel, who held such hatred of demonfolk, would sit down like this while facing her and share a drink with her. It wasn’t simply unimaginable but impossible, at least till now.

“It feels like a dream,” Noir said as she rested her chin on her hand and stared at Eugene.

She was the Queen of the Night Demons. She knew better than anyone else that there was no such thing as an eternal dream. She could give the illusion of eternity to those humans who longed for such, but in actuality, she was still held back by the restrictions of their reality.

There wasn’t much time left. After just a few hours, this romantic dream would be over. She felt like she had gained a slight understanding of why the human heart could be so greedy.

Indeed, wasn’t it because they hated this feeling of disappointment that they wanted their dreams to last forever?

While enjoying this feeling of disappointment, Noir whispered to Eugene, “There’s still some time left. Would you like to come up to my room?”

“Get lost,” Eugene grunted.

Noir wasn’t phased by his rejection, “Then let’s just talk about the old days together. That’s right, how about this? When I first met you in your dreams—”

Crack!

The glass in Eugene’s hand shattered into pieces.

* * *

Noir’s stories made the time pass quickly. But the stories from the old days that Noir wanted to talk about were all from the war era that only served to further stoke Eugene’s murderous intent, so in the end, they didn’t really fit the topic of nostalgia.

However, they did end up sharing quite a few other stories. Though more accurately speaking, Noir was the only one doing the talking as Eugene mostly just listened quietly.

Noir shared a few stories about the dawn of the new era.

The story of how Helmuth became an empire after the war had ended. Of how Noir had risen to the seat of a duke and how she had expanded her influence. She also revealed how many enemies she had devoured in pursuit of her own ambitions and desires.

“About Raizakia, that idiot was actually my biggest target. After that bastard had eaten his own children and had grown stronger. Right as his arrogance would have reached its peak, that was when I was planning on taking him down,” Noir said with a sigh.

Because of all the bright street lighting, the actual color of the sky was hard to see. However, both Eugene and Noir could sense that dawn was currently approaching.

“He could have eaten you instead,” Eugene pointed out.

“Eaten me? Ahaha, how absurd. Hamel, you also fought with Raizakia, didn’t you? That stupid and arrogant dragon, apart from being a dragon, didn’t actually have any other talents,” Noir said with a cackle as she walked right next to Eugene.

Every time she stepped forward, the lights in the surrounding buildings were switched off.

Noir paused thoughtfully, “If I had failed to hunt Raizakia... hmm, and if you hadn’t been reincarnated, I would have probably become a Demon King and challenged the Demon King of Incarceration. You didn’t know that, right? The reason I didn’t become a Demon King is solely you.”

Eugene grimaced, “You’re saying that as if you could become a Demon King whenever you wanted.”

Noir threw her head back and laughed, “Ahaha! That waste, Iris, was also able to become a Demon King, so what am I lacking to stop me from becoming a Demon King as well? Also, I already know the method to become a Demon King. I just don’t want to do it.”

Hypothetically, after she fulfilled her desire to kill Hamel, then, at that time—

Noir grinned and turned her head towards him to confess, “Hamel, I... I hate the dawn.”

She hated how the morning would wake people up from their dreams.

“I’ve always hated it in the past, but I feel like I will hate it even more from now on,” Noir said.

At some point, all of the city lights that had been centered on Noir and Eugene had been turned off. However, none of the people walking in the distance seemed to question this strange phenomenon.

As dawn lit up the streets, Noir felt her chest begin to pound at the sight of Eugene being touched by its faint light. Other emotions welled up within her and combined with those already present.

Feeling an inexplicable sense of deja vu, Noir whispered, “I wish it was twilight right now.”

If it were twilight, the time when the sun set and night began....

Her throat felt like it was burning with longing. Strangely enough, her eyes felt cold, and tears began to flow down her cheeks.

“Ahem,” Noir sniffed, to think that she would actually end up crying.

Noir couldn’t help but misunderstand the reason for the tears currently flowing down her cheeks.

Could it be that the end of a dream was really this disappointing? Noir chuckled as she held her left hand in her right. She stroked the ring on her ring finger.

Noir took a final look at Eugene, who was just standing there with a surprised expression, before turning away with a smile, “Well then, goodbye, Hamel.”