Temptation in the Mansion (6)

The elf's face filled Lerazie's vision.

She wanted desperately to look away, but she couldn't move her head. Something like an enormous invisible hand held it in place, gripping her from either side. Instinct warned her that if she so much as turned, her skull would burst.

The magic bearing down on her was beyond anything she could counter with the power inside her own body. For an instant she thought she saw the great demon Baal in the elf's place, commanding the very space around them with effortless ease.

Perhaps it was only fear playing tricks on her. But the fear was real.

I'm going to die. I'm going to die…!

She had forgotten the knife through the back of her hand. A low sob escaped her as the elf leaned closer and spoke almost in a whisper.

“I hate creatures who don't know their place.”

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry…”

“I warned you. Yesterday and today. So why did you lay your hands on Master?”

Master… Theorad?

Lerazie finally understood. Perhaps it hadn't been Theorad who had made Seredi so impossible to control after all. Perhaps it had been the elf standing before her.

She tried to explain herself.

“I—I never meant to go against your wishes! It was only Theora—”

Ghk!

Her throat closed. Her fingers jerked helplessly as an invisible force strangled the words out of her.

“I didn't ask for excuses.”

“Spare… me… please…”

The broken pleas spilled from Lerazie's mouth along with saliva. No one watching would have guessed that this terrified woman was the Grand Duke who ruled the Hell of Carnal Love.

The elf couldn't have cared less what sort of demon she was. Only one fact mattered: Lerazie had tried to take Theorad, the elf's favorite toy, for herself.

“If you wanted to live, you shouldn't have come here.”

Her voice was cold and perfectly calm. It wasn't a boast. She was simply stating that killing Lerazie would be easy.

Is this where I die?

Terror drained the strength from Lerazie's limbs. Unable to resist, she began to weep. She closed her eyes like prey baring its neck to a predator.

“What are you doing?!”

Theorad's shout broke through the suffocating air like a promise of salvation.

The elf turned toward him. At once the crushing pressure vanished.

Lerazie lurched forward, gulping breath with a choking gasp.

“Hah… khh…!”

Her vision swam as she leaned over the table. She heard Theorad approach, his footsteps coming to a stop close beside her.

He had stopped directly in front of the elf.

“How far are you going to drag me down? Why can't you leave me alone?”

“Master, I—”

“I don't want to hear it! This is my fault. I was the one who brought a monster like you into my house. I'll take responsibility. If you want to drag me away to the Great Forest, then do it! Isn't that what you've been after?”

The words came out thick with hurt and resentment.

The elf stood silent for a while. When she finally answered, her voice was barely audible.

“That's not what I want.”

“No? Then what am I looking at? Is stabbing a guest through the hand some kind of elven courtesy?”

“Master, please calm—”

Slap!

The sound rang through the drawing room.

Lerazie lifted her head in shock. The elf had been struck across the cheek. She bit her lower lip, her expression twisted with feelings she couldn't put into words, and clenched her fists.

Theorad stared at her, shaken himself.

“I thought there might be a reason for what you did. I thought perhaps you weren't simply cruel. But you… even now…”

He shook his head. There was no use trying to settle right and wrong between them now.

He turned from her and approached Lerazie. One hand came to rest on the table; with the other he took hold of the knife lodged in the back of her hand.

“I'm here now. May I use healing magic?”

His voice was remarkably steady after the anger he'd just shown. He seemed to have forced his feelings aside for the sake of someone he believed was innocent.

If I handle this correctly, I may still get out of here.

Lerazie hunched her shoulders, trying to look like a frightened, harmless guest.

“Yes… magic is fine…”

“I'll give you first aid, then. It may hurt. Bear with me.”

Theorad drew a breath and pulled the knife free. Almost at once he covered the wound with his other hand and murmured a short incantation.

A faint glow gathered beneath his palm. It wasn't enough to close the injury, but the blood stopped flowing for the moment.

He took out his handkerchief and bound it tightly around her hand. His movements were assured, as though he'd tended wounds before.

“That should control the bleeding. You still need proper treatment, though. Come with me.”

“…Where?”

“My study. I keep medicines there. We can manage until a doctor arrives. You may have difficulty walking, so I'll help you.”

He brought her to her feet and let her lean against him. Lowering himself slightly to support her better, he began guiding her away from the drawing room at a careful pace.

“Keep your injured hand above your heart, if you can.”

“All right…”

As Lerazie followed his instructions, a peculiar feeling came over her.

He could have summoned a servant. Instead, the nobleman supported her personally, without a trace of concern for the blood that might stain his fine clothes.

He seemed less like an imperial aristocrat than a saint.

Whether he was good or evil meant little to Lerazie, however. The important thing was that he might be her only protection from the elf.

I have nothing against you…

But if she wanted to survive, she would have to use him.

---

“Wait here a moment. I'll find something for the pain.”

As soon as they entered the study, Theorad hurried to a cabinet and took out a first-aid case. There were so many medicines inside that it took some time to inspect the labels on the vials.

Behind his back, Lerazie sighed and removed the bloodstained handkerchief. A demon's regenerative power had already healed her wounded hand.

She discarded the cloth and snapped her fingers. Her clothes shifted away, leaving much of her body bare.

She intended to force herself on Theorad.

I don't like this. But there's no other way.

Violating a man who had not been corrupted by her powers would bring troublesome consequences even for her own body and pride. Yet she believed she had to rape Theorad to oppose the elf.

Whatever lay between those two, he was the only person in the mansion who had managed to stop the elf.

If Lerazie could violate him and bring his body and mind under her control, she could make him her puppet. Through him, perhaps even the elf could be made to obey.

“Ah, here it is.”

Theorad turned from the medicine cabinet with a painkiller in hand.

Lerazie had already begun casting off her human disguise.

Crack. Crack.

Horns pushed out from the sides of her head. Great membranous wings unfolded from her back. Her carefully curled hair shortened into a red bob, and her eyes narrowed into a demonic glare.

She straightened as though relieved to be free of a tight costume.

“Hello. Surprised?”

Theorad couldn't speak.

His guest was a demon. Worse, the red hair, sharp eyes, enormous horns and wings as broad as his height matched an illustration he remembered from a book on the demon realm.

The Grand Duke of the Hell of Carnal Love…?

What could a ruler of Hell possibly want at Deharem Manor?

Lerazie laughed at his stunned expression.

“You've met a demon, yet you're taking it rather well. You're no demon hunter. I suppose you must be brave.”

“…Why have you come here?”

“The explanation is long, and I don't have time for it. I need to rape you before that stupid elf notices.”

“Do you seriously think I'll let you—”

“I can do it.”

She flicked her hand.

Thud!

An invisible force hurled Theorad against the wall and pinned him there. He coughed blood. The first-aid kit fell from his grasp, scattering vials across the floor.

“You seem to think I'm weak because an elf humiliated me,” Lerazie said. “Even so, I fought my way through every hardship Hell could offer before I became a Grand Duke.”

Theorad clenched his teeth. Too late, he understood how badly he'd misjudged the situation.

“…The cat. Was it yours?”

“Oh, you catch on quickly.”

Lerazie smiled and approached. Her light footsteps sent one of the fallen vials rolling until it stopped against his foot.

She reached up and stroked his cheek.

“Don't worry. Once you've had sex with me, you won't be capable of thinking about anything else. You can live as my plaything, like the eunuchs at my estate.”

“Shut up… Do you think I'll submit to a demon?”

He glared at her, but Lerazie only laughed. To her, his resistance looked like an insect's last futile struggle.

“You brought this on yourself. You should have trusted that elf when you had the chance.”

Still laughing, Lerazie began pulling off Theorad's outer clothes. He strained against the force holding him to the wall, unable to break free.

She inspected his body as he flinched under her touch, and giggled.

“I know you want to fight, but you may as well stop. I raised two layers of barrier the moment we entered this study. No one can get in for a while. Not even an archmage—”

“You.”

The familiar voice cut her short.

Lerazie spun around.

The elf stood inside the study. Lerazie hadn't heard her enter. Her expression held such concentrated loathing that it seemed impossible for one face to contain it.

“What are you doing?”

The words came out in a low, terrible voice. Fine threads of mana rose around her, each charged with murderous intent.

“I asked what you're doing.”

Lerazie couldn't answer. Even looking at the elf made it difficult to breathe.

The elf fixed her red gaze on Lerazie, and an oppressive silence filled the room.

When Lerazie still said nothing, the elf bared her teeth.

“Fine. If that's what you want…”

Her blood-red eyes narrowed.

“I'll kill you.”