Chapter 7: The Devil’s Bargain

Nothing I possessed was too precious.

Compared to His Majesty’s life, everything I owned weighed no more than a feather.

Still, I was anxious.

I knew that what I was offering was insignificant compared to what the Red Devil already possessed.

Each time victory was won in war, the imperial court and treasury rewarded the commanding general with immense wealth.

The Red Devil had conquered every drawn-out border war against the nations surrounding the Hyeop Empire, turning them all into tributary states.

As a result, he was wealthier than all but the imperial family itself.

He cared neither for power nor for fame, preferring a life of leisure.

He had not even bothered to attend the coronation ceremony.

Officially, he was still only a general, though in reality he held authority equal to that of a grand marshal.

He lacked nothing—neither wealth nor honor.

The suffocating silence left me unable even to swallow.

I gripped the hem of my robe tightly.

Unable to escape the Devil’s unwavering gaze, my tension doubled.

Just what had the rebels done in my dream to convince the Red Devil to join their side…?

No matter how I thought about it, my proposal held nothing that could tempt someone like him.

Yet I had to bring him to our side.

The scales tipped ever more sharply.

The Devil’s value grew heavier with every passing moment, while mine became unbearably light.

The unfavorable situation and the Devil’s silence only made me more desperate.

So desperate that I could scarcely believe his words when he finally spoke.

“You.”

The Devil pointed directly at me.

“…Are you speaking to me?”

“Yes.”

The finger aimed at me slowly curled inward, beckoning.

The meaning of the gesture was unmistakable.

Heat rushed to my cheeks in humiliation.

But I had no choice but to obey.

Slowly, I walked toward him.

The Devil said nothing, yet an invisible pressure bore down on me.

Unable to meet his eyes, I gradually lowered myself until I was kneeling.

By the time I crawled across the floor and reached him, he seized my collar and yanked me forward.

“Ghk…!”

His thumb clamped beneath my jaw before pressing firmly against my lower lip.

My mouth parted.

His thumb slid inside, rubbing against my damp tongue.

Afraid my jaw would shatter beneath his grip, I remained perfectly still.

A strand of saliva stretched from between my lips.

Even as I stared at him in confusion, unable to comprehend what he was doing, his thumb continued pressing deep into my mouth.

The heat radiating from his solid body made his intent unmistakably sexual.

My gaze dropped.

To my horror, his arousal was already half-hard.

More than the fact that he desired me, it was the sheer size of it that stole my voice.

“I… I’m a m-man…”

My thoughts descended into chaos.

There had to be some terrible misunderstanding.

I was a man.

He was a man.

…

Then the image from moments earlier flashed through my mind.

The orgy.

Two men entangled together.

Had I not witnessed it myself?

And wasn’t I, too, in love with His Majesty?

Everything I thought I knew rejected the idea.

Yet I already knew the truth.

Men could desire other men.

All my confusion failed to become resistance.

Whether man or woman no longer mattered.

If this body could save His Majesty, then it was worth nothing.

If offering myself could make the Red Devil stand as His Majesty’s shield, it was a bargain beyond measure.

If this body alone could bring the Devil onto our side, I should be kneeling in gratitude.

If I provoked him now and drove him into joining the rebels instead—

My trembling lips never found the strength to push him away.

“…”

Perhaps sensing my silent consent, the Devil smiled with his eyes—a rare expression.

He withdrew his thumb from my mouth and slowly traced it down my skin.

His hand wrapped around my throat.

I felt his grip subtly tighten and loosen over my Adam’s apple, as though testing exactly how much pressure to apply.

The crescent shape of his smiling eyes made one thing painfully clear.

He was enjoying himself.

Nothing more.

The realization snapped me back to my senses.

I hurriedly grabbed the wrist around my throat.

“Promise me one thing.”

The moment I interrupted his amusement, the Devil’s expression turned savage, like a beast.

My knees nearly gave out.

But I could not retreat.

“What?”

“Swear upon your life that you will protect His Majesty.”

Even if I persuaded the Red Devil to join our side…

In my dream, it had been the Red Devil who cut down the Emperor.

I needed his promise.

Still gripping his wrist, I refused to let go.

The Devil clicked his tongue in irritation.

“Is your head filled with nothing but the Emperor?”

“Swear it.”

“…”

I could not decipher the look on his face.

Perhaps it was anger.

Perhaps disappointment.

I did not care.

It vanished almost immediately.

His expression became blank once more.

“Fine.”

“The Emperor will never die.”

How arrogant those words were.

How unbearably reassuring.

So even when cold liquid suddenly poured over my head…

Even though I gasped in surprise…

I made no attempt to avoid it.

Clear liquor flowed endlessly from the crown of my head.

I closed my eyes and waited.

The cool alcohol streamed over my skin, leaving behind a sharp chill before dripping away.

Drops gathered at the tips of my eyelashes before falling to the floor.

When I blinked the liquor from my eyes, the Devil was grinning viciously before me.

“Now you’re finally worth looking at.”

“Gah…!”

He seized my hair.

I screamed before he even dragged me anywhere.

Once he had decided to become violent, he was far beyond anything I could endure.

“AAAH!”

A sickening crunch.

Agonizing pain exploded through the back of my neck.

My eyes flew open.

My mouth trembled uncontrollably.

Burying his face against my neck, he bit down so hard it felt as though my flesh were being crushed before sucking fiercely at the wound.

“…!”

My fingers and toes went numb.

The world spun around me.

With shaking hands, I grabbed at his hair, trying to pull him away.

Then everything flipped upside down.

Before I realized it, I was lying beneath him.

I had done nothing.

Yet my breathing had already become ragged.

The unfamiliar agony robbed me even of the will to flee.

His hands roughly tore open my clothing.

The alcohol-soaked fabric clung stubbornly to my skin.

Unable to remove it cleanly, he ripped it apart.

The thin cloth tore with a harsh sound.

My mind turned completely blank.

It felt as though every drop of blood had drained from my body.

When I finally reached toward the wound on my neck, it was ice cold.

Or perhaps it was only my own hand that had gone cold.

The hand stripping away my clothes and tracing across my bare chest and abdomen burned with unbearable heat.

A calloused palm slowly followed the line down the center of my chest and stomach.

The rough skin scraped over flesh pale enough for blue veins to show beneath it.

A chill spread wherever he touched.

Following the movement of his hand, my eyes lowered.

There, between my exposed thighs, sat the Devil.

Lying beneath him, he looked impossibly large.

I had always known he was a big man.

But now, with what he intended to do, he seemed different.

His scent was thick and wild like that of a beast.

Heat radiated from him in waves until even my own skin flushed.

Again and again he licked his lips.

Only then did I realize he was licking away the blood left from biting my neck.

A shiver ran through my entire body.

Not as a figure of speech.

I truly believed he was about to devour me.

Yet that fear was soon buried beneath another.

“It… it won’t fit.”

Mocking the size that had been only half-hard before, what now stood fully erect was…

Enormous.

I could not understand how it had grown so large.

Nor could I understand why I, of all people, had become the object of his desire.

I had to run.

But fear refused to release me.

My body had become rigid.

Even when I desperately pushed myself backward with my heels, the distance between us never widened.

The Devil’s immense shadow continued to loom over me.

Growing larger.

Step by step.

Closing the final handspan between us on his knees, he wrapped a hand around himself and stroked slowly.

The unknown lubricant left from the earlier orgy, now mixed with fresh fluid leaking from the tip, coated him with a wet sheen.

“Spread them.”

“Hhk…!”

I do not know where the strength came from.

For a brief moment, I struggled with everything I had.

I may even have kicked him.

Half out of my mind with terror, my body moved violently only because I could no longer think.

I shoved myself off the floor and ran.

The robe hanging loosely from my shoulders slipped away and fluttered behind me.

My legs threatened to collapse with every step, but I forced them onward.

Still, the distance to the door never grew any shorter.

Panic consumed me.

Harsh breathing.

A heartbeat pounding wildly.

Dilated pupils.

A mind swallowed by darkness.

Senses growing increasingly numb.

Only when the terror imposed from outside finally took shape did I understand it.

That terror had become myself.

Overwhelmed by fear, I was the one trapping myself in this hell.

A distance I could normally have escaped now seemed impossible to cross.

The crushing certainty that I could never escape the Devil weighed upon me.

My trembling knee finally gave way.

I collapsed to the floor.

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