Salvation Through Delusion C149

Chapter 149

Warm breath brushed the rim of my ear, sending a ticklish shiver through me. I flinched but froze instead of turning around. The moment we were face to face, something came to mind before the contract did.

What if his feelings are real?

The question I’d buried resurfaced without warning. Like always, I dealt with it the same way — I buried it again.

It wasn’t the most important issue anyway.

Except my mental avoidance translated into physical retreat. I tried to slip away, only for my arm to be caught. He turned me back, pulled me in by the waist, and smiled when our eyes met.

“Not curious how well I can keep it up after training all night?”

The answer was already pressing against my stomach. Very lively for morning hours.

Meanwhile, I’d spent the night agonizing over paperwork and only had energy left for signatures.

“If you’re not signing the contract with that thing,” I said flatly, “I’m not curious at all.”

“….”

“You remember you promised me a contract yesterday, right? Why are you smiling?”

“I’m not.”

He absolutely was.

Before I could escalate, he grabbed my arm and led me into his office.

“I’ll write it.”

My irritation melted instantly. I followed him in, and my heart practically floated when he produced the actual contract — the same one he’d dangled on my first day here.

I stared like a hawk, afraid he’d change his mind.

His pen moved toward the page — painfully slow in my eyes — and stopped just before signing.

What now?!

“Anything to add?” he asked.

I froze. That wasn’t expected.

“Nothing?”

Nothing? I had about a million requests. But the ease with which he agreed to everything didn’t feel entirely comfortable anymore.

Again… for me?

I shoved the thought aside. Emotional analysis could wait. Closing the Eye of Hell came first.

“No more than ten days away if you go out fighting,” I said. “Write that.”

He tilted his head, then wrote without complaint.

“And?”

“I want pickled vegetables served with at least one meal a day.”

His expression twitched — culinary disbelief mixed with this is contract material? — but he wrote it.

“Also… bedroom activities limited to twice a night—”

“Should I tear this up?”

…Fine. Once you sign, I’m sleeping early every night.

He finished and handed it over.

“Check it.”

“I trust you,” I said — while scanning every letter.

“You look happy,” he noted.

“I’m not.”

“You’re smiling.”

I forced my face neutral.

“This contract symbolizes the strengthening of our relationship—”

“What do you want to ask me for?”

Straight to the point. I wasn’t answering that yet.

“When the time comes.”

“What time? You think I can’t do it now?”

His tone was light, but I didn’t buy it.

“Yes.”

He didn’t get angry — he looked amused.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Please don’t behead me later if it’s underwhelming.

I shifted the topic and told him about my conversation with the bear-beast. He reacted most to one detail.

“…It’s in Tuvine?”

“Yes. Strange, right? Why would a divine being stay instead of returning home?”

“Because the door is blocked.”

Door?

His gaze drifted toward the mist outside — toward Koon’s cursed core.

“I once heard Koon Castle was built to guard a cavern underground. No records confirm it, though. No one knew why it mattered.”

But I did.

Like Borhumi’s underground lake.

“That cavern is the gateway to Koon’s divine beast homeland.”

And the curse…

“Was the curse meant to kill the divine beast?”

He didn’t answer immediately — but he didn’t deny it either.

“Long ago,” he said, “an emperor ordered a prisoner sealed beneath Koon Castle. No one knew his crime. We just locked him away.”

“Who ordered it?”

“The emperor.”

“….”

“The prisoner caused no trouble, so he was forgotten. Only after the curse spread did we realize — he was a dark mage.”

“…Alone?”

“Darkstone power is limitless when absorbed. That mage was one of the strongest in centuries — and sacrificed himself to cast the curse.”

“…Why?”

“Dark mages lose their minds and become slaves to power. They live for a single goal.”

Like Dorgo in Borhumi.

“…To kill Koon’s divine beast and open a monster rift.”

Yet the rift never opened.

Meaning the divine beast survived.

“Why didn’t it disappear?”

“Maybe it did.”

“…What?”

“When I accepted Borhumi’s power, something unknown awakened in me. It happened again with Sarne’s power.”

He looked at his hand.

“It only stirs when other divine powers strike it. Like breaking an eggshell.”

“…Is it divine power?”

“Not the Koon power I remember.”

“…Wait — did Koon’s beast lay an egg? Did it survive extinction by sleeping inside? Is it an omega?!”

He looked at me like the bear-beast had last night.

“…It was a metaphor.”

Right. Of course.

“Well, once Sarne gives us the method to break the curse, we’ll know. Then we search beneath the core.”

“You assume Sarne will tell you.”

“Of course. Kripe’s going to devour Sarne.”

“If she survives.”

Despite the odds, I believed Black Bear would succeed.

“Will alone isn’t enough,” he said coolly.

“True. You need luck too.”

Sometimes luck is everything.

I smiled.

“And right now, she’s got us. That’s huge luck.”

So I trust hers.

—

Rue inventing divine omega egg theory mid-crisis is peak survival coping