Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Despite her mother’s abuse, Diana wandered the halls to visit her mother’s room. Even if her mother refused to see her, she was still the only precious mother Diana had.
But that day, the hallway was unusually chaotic.
“What’s going on? Could it be that Mother has regained her senses?”
Yearning deeply for her mother’s affection after all the misfortunes she had endured, Diana foolishly held onto a small hope.
If she just turned the corner, she would reach her mother’s room, and her steps quickened. At last, when she arrived at the hallway in front of the room, she heard a voice heavy with shock and sorrow.
“My goodness! Madam… sob… Why would she make such a choice…!”
“…!”
For a moment, Diana thought she must have misheard.
“Madam…! Why… why would you leave only pain for that child and go like this…!”
But as the sounds of people’s weeping and her father’s anguished cries reached her ears, Diana’s hand, which had been clutching her skirt tightly, fell weakly to her side.
Step by step, she slowly walked toward the room. Just then, the servants saw her and quickly tried to hold her back.
“Miss, you mustn’t come any closer!”
“Let us take you somewhere else, miss.”
But Diana couldn’t hear a word they said. Her gaze was fixed only on the large full-length mirror visible through the wide-open door.
In that mirror, the thin, lifeless legs of her mother hung limp in midair.
In that instant, Diana bolted down the corridor into the pouring rain, and at her brother’s grave, she let out a silent, tearless sob.
Isabella, who had been silently observing everything a step behind her, muttered unconsciously, her heart heavy with conflicting emotions.
“Truly wretched…”
It would have been better had she only been shown the happy memories.
The second ‘Tear of Infernus’ was using both the happiest and most tragic memories of one person to create the worst possible dream.
Grit.
Her teeth ground together involuntarily.
Moments later, the landscape of Diana’s memories dissolved into darkness, and a single figure appeared. It was a red-haired woman, her body curled up and trembling. It was none other than the current Diana.
But beside her, a vague, blurry shape was faintly visible. Narrowing her eyes to focus on the suspicious figure, Isabella finally saw its form clearly.
With a long, thin black tail swaying back and forth, a snake-like tongue flickering, and small, drooping horns with tiny wings.
It was a succubus. Recognizing the creature’s identity, Isabella felt a pang of confusion.
‘What’s that thing doing here?’
According to Baal, the second ‘Tear of Infernus’ was merely one of the many dark relics that granted the power of illusions. So why on earth would a succubus, which possessed similar powers, be inside a dark relic like this?
It was an undeniably suspicious situation.
Just then, Isabella saw the succubus’s tail moving contentedly back and forth as it whispered some sly words to Diana. Isabella watched silently for a moment, but when the succubus’s tongue slithered toward Diana’s cheek as if to savor her like candy, she could no longer contain her rage.
“Get away from her!”
Thwack!
Using all her strength and with the help of her momentum, Isabella delivered a powerful kick, sending the succubus flying several meters backward. But since it was a demon, the succubus immediately sprang back to its feet, glaring at Isabella with murderous eyes.
“Gehh! Who dares! How dare you kick me, not knowing who I am!”
But Isabella, who had grown up among great demons and monsters, found the succubus’s threat laughable. She crossed her arms over her waist and replied with confidence.
“That’s none of your business! I’m Isabella Hellen.”
“What? A human? How could a mere human be here… wait.”
The succubus paused as it realized Isabella was human and then asked suspiciously,
“Did you just say ‘Hellen’?”
“That’s right. Got a problem with that?”
As soon as she answered, the succubus’s lips split into a wide, maniacal grin.
“Heheheheh! Well, well, it’s been ages!”
With red eyes devoid of any whites, it leapt toward Isabella, sniffing her scent like an animal.
‘What is with this demon? Is it some kind of pervert?’
Isabella’s brow furrowed in disgust at the succubus’s bizarre behavior of sniffing her all of a sudden. She took a step back uneasily.
At that moment, the succubus’s expression became crystal clear. With its mouth gaping open and drooling like a glutton eyeing its prey, the succubus exclaimed excitedly,
“A treasure has fallen right into my lap! Who would have thought I’d meet a human inheriting the power of Nezar!”
“So what if I am?”
Hearing the name of the Empire’s hero and the first Count of the borderlands, Isabella felt a tinge of tension.
The succubus let out its eerie, screeching laugh and prodded the crouching Diana with its foot.
“Heheheheh! What do you think? If I can absorb the soul of a human who inherited Nezar’s power and bloodline, I can rise to the rank of a great demon without having to gather tiny, flea-sized souls one by one! Heheheheh!”
Its small wings spread wide as it shuddered in ecstasy just imagining the thought.
Watching the display in disbelief, Isabella asked disdainfully, “Who says I’ll let you? And do you really think you can take my soul?”
Not even Baal, the great demon himself, had managed to seize her soul. There was no way a mere mid-tier demon like a succubus could manage it.
But ignorant of that fact, the succubus declared confidently, “Heheheh! Isn’t it obvious? Even if you inherited Nezar’s power, you’re still a human. There’s no soul I can’t steal!”
“Is that so? Are you sure about that?”
When Isabella raised an eyebrow and posed the question, the succubus, feeling its pride wounded, shouted and made a proposition.
“What’s this? You dare doubt my power? Fine! Then let’s make a bet!”
“A bet?”
“That’s right! I’ll show you the most painful dream engraved at the core of your soul! Let’s see you struggle! If you can’t survive and escape it, your soul will be mine forever!”
The succubus’s tongue flickered greedily as it grinned from ear to ear. Isabella listened silently, then smirked and accepted the challenge. But she added her own conditions.
“Oh? Alright, but I have two conditions of my own.”
“Speak, human!”
Raising her index finger, Isabella stated, “First, if I manage to survive and return, you must wager your own soul as well. Fair’s fair, right?”
“…Hmph. Fine! I accept! What’s the second condition?”
“Second, if you so much as lay a finger on Lady Cherville before then…”
She paused, fixing the succubus with a cold stare, and then added with a chilling smile, “You’d better be prepared for the annihilation of your soul.”
Though she was smiling, the threat in her voice made the succubus gulp nervously. But its pride was stung by its momentary hesitation, so it forced its voice to sound confident.
“Fine! I accept your conditions! After all, you’ll be trapped in the dream I show you forever!”
With that, the succubus reached out its black hand toward Isabella’s face. A dizzyingly sweet scent filled the air, and her consciousness began to fade.
— — —
A sharp scent of alcohol pricked her nose, accompanied by the rhythmic drip-drip of an IV. Isabella opened her eyes.
Seeing the scene before her, she let out a hollow sigh.
“Ah… I never thought I’d see this place again.”
No matter how many frames or trinkets she placed in the room, it always felt empty. This was a place she knew all too well.
Before she was reborn as Isabella, she had spent all eight years of her life here, from birth to death: her hospital room.
She turned her gaze toward the bed by the window. There lay a small child, staring blankly out the window. With bloodless, pale skin, sunken eyes, and a body as thin as a skeleton. That child was Daun, her past self.
As a spirit, Isabella could only watch as Daun gazed blankly outside, recalling the emotions of those days.
This ten-square-meter room had been her entire world. Because of a rare, unknown disease, she had never once set foot outside this hospital room in her entire life. The world beyond the window was nothing more than a moving painting to her.
Yet even so, there were desires she could not suppress.
In those days, she spent most of her time reading books or watching the world outside. She was curious about the children her age playing in the park below, and she envied the families going on walks together.
Even the world she saw in books and on TV was enough to ignite her curiosity. But no matter how much she longed or yearned for those things, they were all unattainable, a futile dream.
Clack.
Then, unexpectedly, the hospital door creaked open.
“Daun, it’s time for your medication.”
It was the nurse assigned to her room. The nurse changed the IV drip that replaced Daun’s meals, she couldn’t eat properly due to her illness, and handed her six pills.
“Before you take your medicine, let’s draw some blood.”
Just as always, she brought the needle to Daun’s arm.
As the sharp needle pierced her skin and drew blood, both Daun and Isabella squeezed their eyes shut at the same time. It was a reflexive defense mechanism born from trauma.
Since her infancy, the hospital had drawn her blood over and over under the pretext of researching and treating her illness. As a result, the sight of needles or surgical scalpels made Daun’s blood run cold with fear.
But no matter how scared or hurt she was, she could not complain. No, more precisely, there was no one to listen.
After the nurse left, she had to endure her fear alone, clutching her only friend: a brown teddy bear.
Watching the scene quietly, Isabella turned toward the closed hospital door and recalled what the succubus had said.
[“The most painful dream engraved at the core of your soul…”]
A memory so painful it could shake the very foundation of her soul.
Isabella bit her lower lip. But the reason she never wanted to recall this time in her life wasn’t just because of things like this.
……
T/N: I thought Isabella had a fulfilling previous life, but… 😭
