Chapter 131: The Appearance of the Raging Queen
"You don't know English at all? Did you never go to school?" Chiya couldn't help but ask.
"Never." Shingetsu shook her head.
At that moment, Reze suddenly tugged on the hem of Chiya's sleeve and whispered in his ear, "Master, come here with me for a moment."
She pulled Chiya to the side and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Let me tell you about Miss Shingetsu's background..."
"Her background?" Chiya's curiosity was piqued.
Reze proceeded to give a rough account of Shingetsu's time in the mafia. However, out of consideration for Shingetsu's feelings, she omitted the harrowing details of the "gu-raising" project (a brutal cultivation program). Consequently, Chiya didn't know that Shingetsu had once killed many other innocent children just like herself.
Even if he had known, he likely wouldn't have cared. In an environment where it was strictly "kill or be killed," one had no choice but to do so to survive. He wasn't so unreasonable as to harbor resentment toward Shingetsu over such things.
After listening to Reze, Chiya understood why Shingetsu had never attended school; it was undoubtedly the root cause of her eccentric personality.
"What are you two whispering about?"
Seeing Chiya and Reze huddled together, Shingetsu couldn't help but walk over to ask.
"Nothing. We were just saying how incredibly beautiful Miss Shingetsu is," Reze said, keeping a perfectly straight face. She didn't look like she was joking at all.
Her acting was superb. It was rare for her to wear such a serious expression, which made it all the more convincing.
"Is that so?" Shingetsu's tone was skeptical.
Chiya felt that even getting Shingetsu to be "half-convinced" was a massive feat for Reze.
"Of course! Right, Master?" Reze said with a smile.
While speaking, she used her left hand—hidden behind Chiya's back—to poke him in the waist, signaling for him to back her up. She certainly didn't want Shingetsu to know what they had actually been discussing; if Shingetsu found out, she would surely be furious.
As Reze spoke, Shingetsu's gaze shifted instantly to Chiya. Chiya could feel the intensity of her unusual stare; she seemed to care deeply about his answer.
"..."
Chiya guessed it was because of Reze's comment about her being "incredibly beautiful."
Faced with Shingetsu's gaze, Chiya nodded. "Mhm, yes. That's true."
Upon hearing this, Shingetsu felt a sudden surge of joy. She didn't show it on her face, however, and sat back down on the sofa with an expressionless look.
"Miss Shingetsu is still so easy to fool. That was too easy," Reze whispered. But she immediately realized something else. "Oh, wait. I bet she wasn't even listening to what I actually said—she only cared about the words 'incredibly beautiful,' didn't she?"
Chiya didn't say anything, because he had already come to the same conclusion.
"Miss Shingetsu really isn't 'normally' in love with Master, is she~"
Reze teased Chiya intentionally: "Little Kobeni too, and little sister Denji... Speaking of which, Denji definitely isn't Master's biological sister, right? And then there's me... Master, you truly are a 'deeply sinful' man~"
When she reached the words "deeply sinful," Reze deliberately slowed down and added a heavy emphasis to her tone.
"..."
Chiya wanted to argue, but found himself unable to refute her.
"Indeed, a truly sinful man."
Just then, the Wrath Devil inside Chiya joined in the teasing, though her voice could only be heard by him.
"Don't you start..." Chiya muttered helplessly to the Wrath Devil in his mind.
"And why shouldn't I? Is this discrimination against devils?" the Wrath Devil protested immediately.
"I'm done talking nonsense with you. I have to go prepare dinner." Chiya ended the banter.
"Preparing dinner, huh... Speaking of which, let me have a taste of your cooking later," the Wrath Devil suddenly requested.
She had constantly watched others eating Chiya's food with such relish that, over time, she—having never tasted human food—wanted to try it for herself. When she first descended to the human world, she had worked with the Kyoto Public Safety Bureau, who provided her with human corpses and blood. After all, death row inmates and people dying daily from various causes were countless; as long as the families were given some compensation and consent was obtained, the bodies could be "recycled" as food for the devils held by Public Safety.
Later, after signing a contract with Chiya, she only needed to secretly drink a little of his blood every day to maintain her strength. She had discovered that this human youth's vitality was exceptionally powerful—absurdly so—to the point where a daily sip of blood didn't seem to cause him any ill effects.
Chiya was, of course, aware that the Wrath Devil had been sneaking blood from him every day, but since it was a tiny amount each time and had zero impact on him, he didn't pay it much mind.
"Suit yourself. Taste it if you want." Midway through, Chiya suddenly thought of something. "By the way, do you devils master all human languages the moment you're born?" He had always been curious about this and decided to ask.
"More or less. We can understand anything you say—Russian, Japanese, English, whatever. I've known them for as long as I can remember," the Wrath Devil answered. "Though for some reason, it feels like I have gaps in my memory. I have the feeling I existed long before I came to the human world..."
"That's because you were once killed in Hell and then reincarnated in the human world. Almost all memories from before then are lost," Chiya explained as he got his answer.
"Hell? I see. That word feels very familiar." The mention of "Hell" gave the Wrath Devil a sense of intimacy.
"In that case, I'll come out now."
As soon as she spoke, Chiya's right palm reacted. The blood seal on his palm immediately flared with a crimson light.
A moment later, the Wrath Devil appeared beside Chiya in her true form. Her physical body looked remarkably like a human's, while her alternate form was that of the Sword of Wrath. She wore a long golden dress, had blood-red hair and eyes, and stood barefoot with a tall, striking figure. Her entire aura exuded the presence of a queen.
The sudden appearance of the Wrath Devil startled Shingetsu, Reze, and the other Hybrids. This woman was not only a complete stranger, but she radiated an aura that felt incredibly dangerous!