Chapter 17 : Why you ?

“Cough!!”

As soon as I cursed, I broke into a rough, hacking cough.

I had forced myself to shout despite my exhausted body.

“Ceres!”

“See? That’s what happens when you yell!”

Hames and Viol grabbed onto me as I kept coughing, checking my condition with worry.

Meanwhile, only Sibellius remained completely still.

Her expression was terrifyingly blank.

“Have we met before?”

Sibellius asked as if offering me one last chance to explain myself.

I forced the words out of my dry throat.

“No…”

I knew her, but she didn’t know me.

Still—

“You’re one of the people I hate the most…”

I hated Sibellius so much that not even a single polite word could come out of my mouth.

“That’s absurd. Why would you hate someone you’ve never even met? Or do you believe those ridiculous rumors about me? That I’m a half-demon who secretly kidnaps people and eats them or something like that?”

“No, I don’t believe that. You’re not that kind of bastard…”

Because the only person you’ve ever tried to devour in your entire life is Ceres.

That much, I can say for sure.

When I made that clear, something flickered in Sibellius’s eyes.

“Then why?”

Why?

Because you’re the one who made it so Ceres couldn’t use her divine power.

The one who turned her into a terminal case.

Sibellius.

A half-demon and high archmage who’s lived for hundreds of years—brought here by Viol to heal Ceres’s body.

All the things I tried: enhancing divine power affinity with holy energy, protecting the body with mana—

She figured them all out.

So at first, she didn’t have a bad relationship with Ceres.

Out of the four, she was actually the closest one to her.

To Ceres, she was the one who completely healed his body— the only one who could hold a normal conversation among a group of lunatics.

But getting close was the real mistake.

Despite her youthful appearance, she was a centuries-old freak who began obsessing over someone far younger.

Maybe it was because it was her first time falling in love, and it came way too late—
her obsession was especially intense.

She even claimed that being with him awakened her demonic instincts and started drinking his blood!

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“I can no longer live without Ceres. So I’ll make sure you can’t live without me either.”

Then she kidnapped him while the other male leads were helpless, and began running endless magical experiments to bind her to him—trying to cast a spell that would make it impossible for her to leave.

The aftereffects of those experiments?

Ceres lost her divine power completely.

She was rescued later—but by then, not only was her divine power gone, she had become terminal.

In short, Sibellius was the one who struck the final blow to Ceres’s life.

I cursed her when I read the novel.

And now that I am Ceres, you think I can just look at you and stay calm?

“Get lost…”

She was even holding a syringe, so I had to push my barely moving mouth to its limits just to reject her.

“…Get out now.”

“Yes, as you wish.”

Sibellius calmly obeyed, turning to leave without another word—

—but Viol blocked her.

“If you leave without treating him, I’ll kill you!”

“Do as you wish. If the patient refuses, there’s nothing I can do.”

She brushed off the threat and walked away without so much as a glance back—

Until—

“I’ll triple it! No—ten times, and then triple that again! I’ll increase your funding by thirty times!”

“…I’ll treat him.”

She turned around immediately.

“…Why. Why?!”

Just as I was about to argue with Viol, she held me tightly, trying to calm me down.

“Ceres, that woman didn’t come here to hurt you. I called her to treat your mana overload.”

…Mana overload?
So that’s why I’m in pain right now?

“Ceres, this needs an expert. I know you hate demons, but please—just accept it.”

Even Hames joined in to persuade me.
And honestly… they were right.

If it’s a mana-related illness, no matter how deranged he might be, Sibellius is still the best option.

…Damn it.

I couldn’t even force my body to move like before, so I had no way to resist.

Without asking for permission, Sibellius injected something into me, then turned to the others and instructed:

“Let’s take him to my residence. It’ll be easier to treat him where I have the proper equipment.”

“Can’t we do it here?”

“Unless someone here knows magic better than I do, then no.”

“…Fine.”

Viol picked me up herself.

“Let’s go.”

“You’re going to carry him personally?”

“Yes.”

“Excuse me.”

Sibellius sounded incredulous, as if she was about to argue when—

“Wait. I’m coming too.”

“You too, Hames?”

“Why? I can’t?”

“Of course not!”

Sibellius strongly objected to having both the Empress and the High Deacon come into her home, but they refused to back down.

In the end, she had no choice but to let them come along.

However—

“Please do not enter my workshop.”

She snatched me from Viol’s arms at the door and tried to leave the other two outside.

Viol twitched an eyebrow, clearly annoyed.

“You’re telling me, the Empress, to just wait outside?”

“Your emperors never let me into their palaces. Why should I let you into my home? Besides, you’d just get in the way.”

Sibellius then turned coldly to Hames.

“You wouldn’t be much help either, High Deacon. The best you can do now is not get in the way.”

“Will you be able to heal Ceres?”

“If you stop interfering, yes.”

“…Fine.”

Hames nodded quietly. Viol cursed under her breath in frustration.

With one of them conceding, she couldn’t insist on staying, even though it was killing her inside.

Powerless to argue, she watched in frustration as I was carried inside by the very man who could ruin my life.

…Why isn’t she obsessed with me now, of all times?!

I silently cursed the two who handed me over to this lunatic and didn’t even come with me. But it was too late.

Sibellius laid me down on a bed in a dim room packed with ominous magical tools and said:

“I’ll start by running some diagnostics. Don’t try to resist.”

I waved him off weakly.

“No. Get away…”

“Why are you acting like this even when I’m trying to treat you?”

The idea of her using magic on me—even if it was to heal—was enough to trigger some serious trauma.

Because one wrong move, and it could lead to a death sentence.

“Don’t touch me…”

“Don’t test my patience.”

I kept flailing weakly. She looked visibly annoyed now.

She grabbed both my wrists and pinned me down so I couldn’t move.

When I still tried to resist, her expression shifted to disbelief.

“Even now, when you’re in pain, you’re still trying to fight me?”

She sighed and said:

“Fine. Let’s find some middle ground we can agree on.”

“Middle ground…?”

“You hate me. I hate you. But I need funding, which means I need to treat you. So I’ll meet whatever reasonable conditions you want, as long as it helps the treatment go smoothly.”

She offered to cooperate, so long as I did too.

“If my face bothers you that much, should I wear a mask? Or maybe vow to never speak to you personally during the entire treatment?”

It was a rare chance.

But I couldn’t think straight—I was in too much pain.

So I just blurted out the one thing that mattered:

“Don’t… fall in love with me…”

“…That’s your condition?”

She looked at me like I was insane, then let out a sarcastic laugh.

“You really think I’m going to fall for you? After everything you’ve said to me?”

“If I’m unlucky… you might.”

“Ah, the Empire’s famed beauty! You must’ve seduced so many women that it’s second nature to assume people will fall for you. I’m honestly impressed.”

“But don’t worry.”

She leaned in, meeting my eyes at point-blank range.

“I’m not like those idiots outside, swooning over your ridiculous good looks. I’m not going to fall for you. Ever.”

“You bastard!!”

Viol, who had been left outside, smashed a boulder nearby in frustration.

She had been ordered not to enter because she’d “get in the way,” and the helplessness was eating at her.

What if something goes wrong while I’m not there?

She couldn’t handle the anxiety.

Even after crushing the boulder, she still wasn’t calm.

She started kicking over trees and stomping on the ground in rage, destroying everything in her path.

“…Ceres.”

If this were anywhere else, someone would’ve told her to keep her composure.

But the only one with her was Hames.

And Hames… didn’t even glance her way.

She just kept staring at the closed door where I had disappeared.

The two of them stayed like that, lost in their own thoughts.

Until—

“You?”

“What are you doing here?!”

Both of them turned, startled.

A beautiful woman with golden hair tied in a high ponytail had appeared out of nowhere.

Alios.

The Empire’s greatest knight—who definitely shouldn’t be here.

And she was fully armed, sword and all.

“What are you doing here?” Viol asked, suspicious.

Alios locked eyes with her sovereign and replied flatly—

“I came to kill you.”