Chapter 56 : You Dare Use My Own Magic Against Me

The Final Drop

“Lita-sama, please drink this cup of wine before you go.”

Klaus presented the wine glass, filled to the brim, to Lita with both hands.

However, the glass contained not just wine, but also the bodily fluid Klaus had received from the Nightmare Demon.

Under immense pressure, Klaus had secretly poured the foreign substance into the wine while Lita wasn’t looking. This simple act of mixing an external element into the liquor made Klaus feel more exhausted, difficult, and tense than anything else she had done all day.

Fortunately, Lita seemed to have noticed nothing unusual.

This was her final safeguard. As soon as Lita drank this wine, all her and Ms. Mel’s troubles would end.

Klaus thought, pushing the wine glass forward slightly.

She noticed the wine inside was rippling; her hand, unable to hold the cup steady, was trembling. Although she wasn’t drunk, she felt her body was somewhat beyond her control.

Every one of Lita‘s movements was like a frozen picture in Klaus‘s eyes. Lita slowly lowered her head, looking intently at the glass she had used tonight, as if trying to read something from the clear, fragrant wine.

Klaus‘s heart pounded wildly. If she hadn’t personally dropped the Nightmare Demon‘s fluid into the wine just moments ago, she wouldn’t have noticed anything abnormal about it—normal people wouldn’t be able to notice anything unusual at all.

After a long pause, Lita finally raised her hand, preparing to take the wine glass.

Perhaps it wasn’t a long time, only a few seconds, but time had been stretched out incredibly long for Klaus, making her feel as though she had been standing there for centuries.

But Lita‘s hand stopped just before touching the glass. Her eyes, which had been looking at the wine, turned back to Klaus.

“Klaus.”

Lita‘s voice carried what seemed like a sigh, mixed with some subtle disappointment.

“Lita-sama, I’m here.” Klaus‘s heart pounded fiercely as she looked up, meeting Lita‘s eyes.

Lita continued to raise her hand, but it wasn’t reaching for the wine glass in Klaus‘s hands; it was reaching for Klaus herself.

But halfway up, she lowered her hand again.

“Never mind, it’s nothing.” Lita shook her head. “You need to be careful.”

“Wha… what do you mean be careful?”

“Close the doors and windows tightly. Don’t go out at night, and especially don’t go to places like that alone. It’s too dangerous. Next time, who knows what might happen.” Lita lowered her eyelashes and sighed again: “Now, give me that wine.”

Was Lita… comforting her?

It was just this one step. It was just this one step, yet a hint of retreat suddenly arose in Klaus‘s heart.

What has Lita ever done?

Is there any compelling reason why she must die?

Apart from the Lady’s coercion, what reason do I have to send her on her way?

Klaus‘s mind was a mess. She only mechanically extended the wine glass, but her hand suddenly shook, and the glass slipped from her palm, shattering on the ground.

“I’m sorry…”

Klaus whispered an apology.

“I’ll clean this up. You… you should go now.”

Lita’s Realization

Klaus did not know that her intentional or unintentional action had saved her life.

Lita took a deep breath of the cold outside air, trying to calm herself down quickly.

Good. I didn’t strike Klaus in the end.

However, “strike” here didn’t mean a vulgar assault, but preparing to genuinely twist her head off.

Klaus‘s neck was so close to her hand then; she could have done it with just a movement of her fingers.

The reason for this was that final cup of wine laced with the Nightmare Demon‘s fluid.

This woman actually dared to use my own magic against me!

But Klaus was human, which was why she used such a clumsy method to ambush her. If it were another Nightmare Demon, releasing a bit of enchanting aura during their intimate moments would have been much easier than spiking the wine.

Yet, precisely because she was human, and possessed this item, Lita was more certain that the other party did not want her body.

Other than her body, what else of value did she possess? Money?

Or her life?

I kindly saved her, and she tries to make me drink this stuff?

But it was also because Klaus was human that Lita didn’t immediately twist her neck.

She couldn’t bring herself to kill someone.

Fortunately, the other party finally understood her implied threat and was so startled that she dropped the wine glass, allowing Lita to suppress the anger welling up inside her.

If she had genuinely handed the cup to Lita, could Lita have continued to hold back?

So, what should she be feeling now?

Lita couldn’t say. It was simply very complex.

Lita thought, taking another deep breath, trying to let the night’s cold wind cool her fiercely burning emotions.

But this time, she smelled something else in the air.

The metallic smell of blood, the scorch of burning organic material, and a very faint, yet unmistakable, non-human scent.

Lita quickly walked out of the alley and onto the main street.

It felt like a lifetime had passed. This was the first time she had so tangibly felt the meaning behind those words.

The scene before her was completely different from when she entered Klaus‘s home. The entire Solus City had been washed clean of its daytime splendor, now shrouded in a suffocating cloud of death.

Even if Lita were foolish, she would never believe this was a coincidence.

She had been deliberately kept out for an entire day, and then these world-changing events occurred.

After such a huge commotion, did she really need to guess the target?

Thinking of this, the resentment in Lita‘s heart intensified even more.

Lita’s Rush

Lita took off her jacket. Two jet-black wings unfolded at her waist, and a heart-shaped tail extended from her coccyx. Her slender fingers sharpened into claws, and a pink enchanting aura enveloped the girl, dyeing her silver-white long hair a pale pink.

Lita pushed off the ground with her toes, soaring into the night sky like a shooting star, rapidly approaching the Lord’s Manor.

Lita considered the fastest way, the best route, not hesitating to show her true form. She even took off the clothes she wore during the day and disguised her hair color as pink to prevent her identity from being exposed.

But there was one thing she hadn’t considered: why she didn’t take this opportunity to escape, but instead rushed toward Cecilia without hesitation.

It was as if protecting the unrelated girl she had only known for a few days had become an instinct.

The whistling wind rushed continuously past Lita‘s ears, and the terrible state of the city was instantly clear from a bird’s-eye view.

The damage wasn’t actually severe, but it was like shocking scars that would take who knows how long to heal.

There’s no time to worry about this.

Lita flapped her wings and sped along. Thankfully, she was fast and high enough in the sufficiently deep night that her trace wouldn’t be easily discovered by anyone.

But what if someone had the same idea as Lita?

A figure, like a raven hidden in the deep night, flew toward her at a speed no less than Lita‘s.

Black long hair fluttered in the wind, black wings stirred the night curtain, and a black heart-shaped tail bounced up and down with her movements.

But only that pair of crimson eyes, identical to Lita‘s, stood out as the only anomalous color in the high altitude.

It was a Nightmare Demon.

And a Nightmare Demon flying from the direction of the Lord’s Manor.

Nightmare Demon and Lord’s Manor—when these two words were put together, the possibilities that formed were all things Lita didn’t want to think about.

Lita felt as if a bomb had exploded in her mind, igniting the anger she had just suppressed, and burning away what little remaining reason she had.

The other Nightmare Demon saw Lita flying toward her, widened her eyes, and then a look of joy appeared on her face.

“Are you here as reinforcement? Listen to me! Her Highness the Imperial Princess she…”

Before the Nightmare Demon could finish speaking, a pitch-black claw had already pierced her exposed, thin shoulder.