Chapter 174

146 Part 1

“My mother had called me a demon.”

“……”

I realized why she had felt familiar since we were both demons in addition to both being Green Skins. I began to understand why this woman had been friendly since the only difference between us was that her skin was white. As I had never seen a demon with white skin, her mother must have been of a rare species.

I opened my mouth as I stared at the horn stumps on her head.

“They have been cut.”

“Stop looking at them.”

While she would not know how we lived, being raised by humans, she seemed to have the instinct of being embarrassed by her horn stumps. Jang Ye Ri looked like she was envious of my large horns. I slowly approached her, and thankfully she did not avoid or take guard against me. While I had expressed that I would not attack her, it had to do more with her goodwill for me.

I touched her long hair to see the cruelly cut horns underneath. They could not be called horns, and the surface was rough to make me think they had been cut multiple times.

“Have you cut them by yourself?”

She did not speak at my question, which might be an affirmation. Jang Ye Ri might have done so to survive or it had been a drastic decision made to live among humans. She was an illegitimate child between the ruler of the east and a demon slave. I felt like I witnessed the reason why she was angry with her father and brother and the reason for the massacre.

“The horns would have looked nice if they were still on.”

While they were cut, the size was quite large, and the color pretty. She looked to be a high-class demon, and unlike my rough and drab horns, Jang Ye Ri’s were smooth and ivory.

“Yours are handsome, like my mother’s.”

Jang Ye Ri reached out on her toes, and I did not stop her. I saw some admiration in her face and her careful hands. She treated the horn on my forehead like a precious treasure, and I felt her nostalgia for her race and her mother.

“Is your mother alive?”

“……”

“I’ve asked an unnecessary question.”

“No, I don’t care. It has been a long time… My mother died when I was two. I clearly remember her dying from torture and affront.”

The Green Skins grow fast, and as children, a one year old can talk and run, it was not surprising that Jang Ye Ri would remember.

“I cut my horns when I was three to please my father and survive. It was also to live among humans. I participated in various experiments from when I was a year old and lived apart from my mother when I learned how to talk. I could meet her only once in a while.”

I thought that was when her father decided to raise Jang Ye Ri.

“That was when all this started.”

Jang Ye Ri must have become obsessed with the demon race then, and it was not me she had searched for in detail. She must have researched the entire demon race and had done so from when she could act on her own.

She must have become curious when she heard about a demon who could speak the human language since races other than orcs and goblins were rare in the first place. She would have found out about me and comprehended my movements. She must be the only person to know about me except for the people in charge of her individual route.

To be more specific, she was searching for her roots. While her horns have been cut, it would be impossible for her to become one with humanity. While she grew with humans, this demon considered herself to be one of us. I spoke to her again.

“I’m curious whether you can speak the language of the Green Skins.”

“……”

“I only know a few words…So, what will you do? I let you see everything I had, and now’s your turn to decide.”

Jang Ye Ri sounded like she was rushing as if she had little time remaining to use on this negotiation.

I had to think carefully, and I would have refused if I had not known about the future. However, I knew what the witch would do, and she would achieve her dreams in the end. The massacre that gave her the nickname was the evidence. The resistance Jang Ye Ri will create will succeed, and having a hand in it was not a bad decision.

“Green Skins do not lie, and I accept.”

“Is that so…thank you.”

I called on Baek Ahyeon in a long while feeling apologetic, because I had to borrow the Ring of Pledge.

[Baek Ahyeon]

[Yes, our savior!]

She sounded excited from having received a message through the ring, but her voice fell lower than the deep seas instantly on hearing that I had to borrow the Ring of Pledge.