Chapter 146 Demon Queen [1]
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"No, I\'m serious. And my name is not Mirethasil, it\'s Adam. Besides... are you sure you\'re not confusing me with someone else? Because I doubt I\'m your son, considering the significant difference in our sources of magic," he pondered, but suddenly fell silent, seeing the frozen smile on Veronica\'s face. His spine chilled as if he were in danger. It felt like standing in front of a hungry predator ready to pounce at any moment.
Veronica\'s eyebrows were relaxed, her eyelids half-closed, and her lips stretched into a slight smile, but her gaze... it was somewhat terrifying. To put it briefly, it resembled the gaze of those insane women from anime - yandere. When they look at you with such a cheerful look, even though their eyes... are very dark.
"Damn it..." Adam muttered and sighed when a sudden gust of wind whistled in his ears. Looking ahead, he saw that Veronica had caught him, and they were flying in an unknown direction. "I\'m not even a bit surprised."
Behind him, he felt two powerful auras - it was Amarantha and Sierra, hurrying after him, and far behind them was one strong aura, Nirena, and in comparison, a smaller one, Iliantra. They were following them, trying to catch up, but Veronica was like an experienced driver evading the police, moving thousands of kilometers in a split second until Adam lost the sense of his wife\'s aura and his mother-in-law.
"I don\'t even know how to react. One of my friends told me that in their culture, there was a \'tradition\' of kidnapping a beloved girl if her parents were against the marriage, but I didn\'t expect to end up being kidnapped," he cynically thought, while he heard that was familiar, though he didn\'t understand why, distracted him.
Looking down, aside from the rapidly moving earth, he noticed that it was red, and somewhere, even in real-time mode, a volcano had awakened, and the smell of ash hit his nose. It was also very hot, but Adam felt comfortable in this heat, which was inexplicable to him.
"Maybe because the previous body\'s owner lived here for a long time? Judging by the red earth, lava, and other filth... this is the Chaos Empire. I\'ve heard about this place, and I\'ve seen it in my memories or a dream," he mumbled.
"Memories? Previous owner?" Suddenly, a female voice filled with strange pressure and possession came. It was Veronica, who was looking ahead. "Did you lose your memory?"
Adam simply didn\'t know how to respond to this sudden question because he didn\'t understand the whole situation he found himself in. Transferring into another body was shocking, but he had grown accustomed to it because the situation was so absurd that he involuntarily accepted it as it was, just to avoid going crazy. However, when he was asked now, he was somewhat puzzled.
Such silence didn\'t satisfy Veronica, and it was evident from her furrowed delicate eyebrows. Inadvertently, Adam looked at her, feeling a strange heat throughout his body emanating from nowhere, and fragments appeared in his mind.
"Now I will take care of you," a gentle whisper echoed in his head.
"Huh?"
Adam made a funny noise and squinted his eyes when he saw the world spinning before him, as if he had consumed several liters of strong alcohol and was now suffering the consequences. His ears were ringing, as if he had returned to the times when white noise from a poorly tuned TV channel could give you a heart attack.
"What the..." he muttered and darkness fell before his eyes. He blacked out.
***
"I think you\'re mocking me, Veronica."
"Who is saying this?"
Adam opened his eyes and was hit by a heatwave as if he were standing in front of a bonfire. He was lying down, and he slowly began to sit up; it turned out he was about fifteen centimeters away from a fireplace. There were two armchairs next to the fireplace, and both were occupied. One chair was occupied by a man, exceptionally handsome... Casanova. The other was occupied by a woman with familiar facial features but unfamiliar expressions—Veronica.
Between them, a conversation of not the friendliest nature had started—Veronica was irritated, and Casanova was even more so—extremely angry. He looked at Veronica disapprovingly, while the woman was displeased, like a child who wasn\'t given her favorite toy at the store. It looked amusing and awkward at the same time for Adam, who felt like he was eavesdropping on them.
Veronica pouted and slapped her thigh, making a slapping sound. She frowned and said with a disapproving tone, "Brother, why can\'t you just accept this? I want him to be with me!"
"I\'ll say it again, Veronica... damn, do I have to repeat this over and over? Are you stupid or something?" he said sharply, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at her with an authoritative gaze, causing Veronica to shrink in fear. "No, and again, no! Have you grown up so much that you don\'t even listen to your brother\'s words anymore? Or has my kindness turned you into such a spoiled brat?"
"N-no, you know I respect you, but... I can\'t give up on this love!" she mumbled in a quiet, mosquito-like voice.
"Ha-a-a... Oh, Satan, why is my sister so foolish?" Casanova sighed, and Veronica, in turn, lost her energy, sitting down and looking defeated. "Veronica, answer one question for me, please... how old are you now?"
"134 years..." she replied.
"Really?"
"Um... 259 years," she replied hesitantly, her cheeks turning red.
Adam and Casanova had the same reaction: raised eyebrows and pure surprise on their faces. However, the difference in their amazement was significant. Adam was amazed at how young the Demon Queen was (in terms of the fantasy world, to translate into a human age, you need to multiply it by 100). Meanwhile, Casanova...
"And at such an age, which is already considered quite mature, you\'re pursuing a boy who\'s only 25?" Casanova snorted, and Veronica just turned her gaze away. "You\'re practically his mother, Veronica..."
"Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, standing up with a smug look on her face, slapping her chest, and saying, "I\'ll just become his mother! And when he grows up, we\'ll get married!"
"..."
A long silence followed, so awkward that even Adam felt uncomfortable. The thing was, Casanova had an indifferent face, a relaxed face, and his movements showed no tension or emotions. But Veronica was shrinking in fear and sat back down, losing her previous energy.
In this awkward moment, a creaking sound was heard. The attention of all three was drawn to the person who pushed the door and appeared in the doorway. It was a very, very young boy who looked like he was only ten years old. He had neatly cropped black hair, as well as eyes as black as coal but with a sparkle in them. He was cute and looked completely innocent.
"Familiar cutie... it must be me, I suppose?" Adam thought, scrutinizing the boy. "But what am I doing here? I don\'t remember ever meeting her in childhood... and in general, did I look like this in childhood? But it feels natural..."
Adam had his problems, just like Veronica, who panicked upon seeing the boy she had been talking about. She didn\'t want him to appear in front of Casanova, but the situation was not in her favor.
"Mama... I\'m hungry," the boy said in a plaintive voice.
"Oh, um, yes! Right away, sweetie, I\'m coming!" Veronica said in a panicked voice and rushed to the boy, ushering him out of the room.
"E-e-eh! Mama, you\'re weird!"
Adam sighed heavily and squatted down, holding his head. He felt like he was about to explode with shame, and he unintentionally glanced at Casanova, who surprisingly had a tender smile that caught him off guard. He thought, "Just a minute ago, he was angry and looked like he was ready to kill, but now he\'s calm like a father watching his son trying to impress girls..." These were rather rough thoughts.
"Veronica, there\'s no need to hide him from me. I\'m not going to kill him," Casanova said, rolling his eyes at her.
"B-brother... so you agree with my idea?" Veronica exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
"No."
"WHAT?!"
Casanova chuckled as Veronica put on a disappointed expression. Adam couldn\'t understand his thoughts, but it seemed like he was relieved. And just as he was about to say something...
WHOOSH.
Suddenly, Adam felt dizzy and sighed heavily. The man in his memories turned towards him and waved his hand, saying, "Just in case, I\'ll warn you... Veronica has been obsessed with you for a long time, so you need to be careful. It\'s better not to immediately say that they\'re your wives, although I\'m sure she already knows."
"Casanova... why didn\'t you stop her? Now I have to deal with a crazy woman. I wasn\'t prepared for this," Adam complained as the world before his eyes grew darker and darker. Before losing consciousness, he heard,
"Hehe, I thought it would be fun. So... brace yourself, buddy."
"Oh, you bast..."
***
The sunlight filtered through the open window of the Demon Queen\'s bedroom, pleasantly warming Adam\'s skin. It was comfort comparable to when you lay in a warm bed after a bath and quickly fell asleep. But Adam\'s awakening was like those times when a pleasant dream after a bath was accompanied by the Monday morning when you had to get ready for school on a cold winter day. But even stranger...
"First question..." he muttered, jerking his wrist, and the sound of chains jingled. Glancing around, he saw that his hands were chained, and he was semi-naked – he was only wearing boxer shorts. "What the hell?"
To be continued...