Chapter 57

Not long after receiving the purification, he had actually almost killed Shinsurial. From that injury, Shinsurial lost sight in one eye and never recovered it. That was why his eyes were different colors.

Even then, Shinsurial had remained calm.

'It's alright, Lord Asad. It wasn't you, but the evil magical beast dwelling within you that did this.'

Though Asad treated everyone rudely, he had to suppress his temper with Shinsurial because he owed him a debt. Above all, Shinsurial's purification power was absolutely necessary for Asad.

So he had to endure. This unpleasantness.

Asad, who was suppressing his aversion to avoid killing Shinsurial, was soon drenched in cold sweat.

"It's alright, Lord Asad."

Shinsurial whispered to Asad in a gentle tone, as if soothing a child.

"You are the great dragon, Lord Asad. Nothing in this world can trouble you."

It was a voice that transmitted like a wave, not to the ears but directly into the mind.

As the light emitted by Shinsurial grew brighter, Asad's eyes became hazier.

...He felt as if he was forgetting something very important.

'Helio, I...'

...Whose voice was that?

But before he could fully recall it, white light enveloped everything.

"Let's forget what troubles you, Lord Asad."

That's right. That was what had been troubling him. He wanted to burn everything and disappear himself.

Because only that could trouble him...

Asad erased him.

What remained afterwards were only unpleasant memories stained black.

'You monster! Get lost right now!'

'Get out! If I see you again, I'll kill you!'

'Aaaaah! It's a monster! A monster!'

When Asad was in the human realm, his appearance was not like it was now. His entire body was covered in black scales, so humans called him a monster and beat him. Asad was always alone. He was always hungry and cold.

Sometimes there were humans who approached Asad first, but they had ulterior motives.

'He's strong, so have him plow all the fields over there. We were short on workers, so this is perfect. Let's work him to the bone and then drive him out before others see.'

They used Asad thoroughly for their work and then drove him out without even giving him leftover rice.

Some humans sold Asad to a circus for money. Though he barely escaped from there, he had to tremble for a while, fearing the ringmaster's whip might fly at him again.

Humans were that terrible.

So Asad didn't know how not to hate them.

A moment later, Asad opened his eyes.

As always, having forgotten many things. Not even knowing what he had forgotten.

After finishing the purification ritual, Asad immediately went to find the human. He intended to give him what he had received from Shinsurial.

Perhaps due to the effect of having his mind rummaged through by another, he tended to be very on edge after the purification ritual, so he planned to just deliver the item and leave, if only to avoid accidentally killing the human.

But when he actually saw the human, his agitated nerves calmed down instead. Was it because his pheromones still lingered on the human? He seemed to recall hearing somewhere that alphas feel good when they see an omega marked with their pheromones, so Asad didn't think much of it.

As a result, somehow they ended up making something like a bet... Asad summarized and told the story of what had happened in the human realm.

But the human's reaction was strange.

Asad tilted his head.

"Why are you crying?"

He found he couldn't take his eyes off the tears that kept wetting the pale cheeks.

He had seen humans cry many times before, but those were all physiological tears that flowed involuntarily in unavoidable situations.

It should be the same now, too. What was it? Why did it feel somehow different?

He instinctively felt that the human's gaze changed as he told the story of what happened in the human realm. The problem was that he didn't know how it had changed, or why.

Asad had never thought about others' emotions. He instinctively reacted to emotions like hostility or contempt, but if it wasn't those kinds of emotions, he had no clue. This was the first time he even felt the desire to know.

"You're not crying because you feel sorry for me, are you?"

If the story Asad had just told were made into a play, it would be the prologue to a cruel revenge drama rather than a tragedy. Because he would repay what the humans had done to him tenfold, a hundredfold.

Asad's revenge had already begun. The human realm, no longer under the dragon's protection, would soon be overrun by magical beasts as if it were their home. Once magical beasts take root, that place becomes a land where nothing can live. Nothing grows from the earth, and the seas and rivers become toxic waters that dissolve even bones.

Could it be that the human was crying out of fear of that?

No, no matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like the human was crying out of fear, anticipating what he would do in the future. This human seemed to say he was afraid with words, but in reality didn't fear anything. Just looking at how he readily ate the poison showed he wasn't ordinary.

'You're not afraid of dying?'

'I am afraid.'

"..."

'But there are things I'm even more afraid of.'

What could it be that the human was afraid of? Without knowing that, even tormenting him felt meaningless.

Tsk, clicking his tongue, Asad reached out and touched the tears gathered in the human's eyes. Though it was just a mere drop of water, the sensation felt strangely vivid.

"Are you crying because it hurts?"

Shinsurial had certainly said that eating it would cause pain similar to being burned by fire.

When he pressed firmly on the corner of the eye, the gathered tears rolled down. At the same time, the human stretched out both arms and embraced Asad.

"Wh-what? Why are you doing this?"

Asad frowned but didn't particularly push the human away. The feeling of an omega exuding his pheromones embracing him wasn't so bad.

"...Has the fever spread to your brain?"

As the embracing hands fell away, he quickly climbed onto the bed while hugging the human's back. As he lay on his side, the human burrowed into his chest.

Finally, as the effects of the poison seemed to set in, the human began to tremble. No matter how patient he was, it seemed too hard to endure, and he finally screamed.

Hearing the human's screams was less pleasant than he had expected. Come to think of it, it had been the same when watching him being attacked by magical beasts.

Why was that? Could it be that he didn't want to torment this human in this way?

As the human began to self-harm, unable to bear the pain, Asad bound him with magic and tightly embraced the thin body.

"Hey, just endure it a little. This is poison, but it's also medicine. You're in pain because your bones are mending and your skin is regenerating quickly."

He had gone to the trouble of getting this from Shinsurial when he met him.

The scaled tribe had excellent abilities in purification and healing, so the medicines they made were effective. However, this medicine caused considerable pain because it forcibly accelerated the body's regeneration rate to heal wounds. Shinsurial had told him that there were those who died unable to endure this pain.

When he heard that, Asad hadn't cared at all. The reason he had brought the medicine was simply because he could torment the human faster if he healed faster. He had thought that if it hurt when taking the medicine, wasn't that even better?

But seeing the human writhing in agony, he felt a strange sensation as if his heart had sunk. He didn't feel good at all.

"Hey, don't die. If you die from this, there's no point in me saving you. You won't die, right?"

At that moment, the pain-filled groans stopped. Feeling the human he was holding go limp, Asad sat up in shock.

His golden eyes trembled uncontrollably as he looked at the human lying limp as if dead.

"...Human."

"..."

"Nine?"

Asad called out in an anxious voice and reached out his hand. His hand was trembling strangely. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it might break through his ribs and burst out at any moment.

"You're not dead, are you?"

"..."

"If you're dead, I'll really kill you."

Asad threatened in a trembling voice as he placed his hand on the human's chest.

"...Phew, what is this."

Fortunately, the heart was beating. Normally, he would have heard the heartbeat with his sensitive senses, but he must have missed it because he was too shocked.

It seemed the human had lost consciousness, probably due to the intense pain.

"You scared me."

Asad grumbled and flopped down on the bed.

But why was I so shocked?

'Why? Because if he dies, I can't torment him anymore.'

Thinking this, Asad placed the unconscious human on top of his own body. Doing this allowed him to feel the heartbeat better, which made him feel a bit more at ease.