"I'm not like them... I am a Soul Demigod."
It was already pushing Vichy to her limit just to express herself coherently. She didn't care at all that she was baring her vicious fangs—without a single curse or explicit insult, the unconcealed disdain, jealousy, and contempt in her tone made it abundantly clear to both Yaxiu and Felix how little she thought of Sword Princess and Witch.
Yaxiu gently stroked the back of her head, as if trying to press her fangs back down.
"A soul curse can't break me. When I tempered my soul, I endured trials thousands of times more agonizing than this," Vichy panted, gasping for breath. "But my soul is bound by the Ruby Chains... If the blade itself is wound in chains, what can it possibly cut?"
"Release my chains." Her hands gripped Yaxiu's shoulders tightly as she looked up into his eyes, speaking each word deliberately. "I can complete the trial on my own!"
Watching this frail, stubborn elf who stirred both pity and admiration from the side, Felix felt a quiet wave of respect rise within her.
Her timing was impeccable, the second young miss of the Voslodas thought. This was Vichy's best chance.
Having spent so much time with the party, Felix naturally understood the tangle of love and hatred between Yaxiu and Vichy. Were she not bound by the Ruby Chains, the untamable Spectre Prophet would never have meekly obeyed Yaxiu's commands, let alone poured her heart and soul into supporting the party... Even though Yaxiu had never treated her with disrespect, she was, in truth, his prisoner, his slave, a tool at his beck and call. Her dignity, her freedom, and even her strength were all Yaxiu's private property; with a single thought, he could strip everything away from her at any moment.
To put it bluntly, Vichy was living on Yaxiu's charity.
So even Felix, who was closest to Vichy, never doubted that the maid would try every conceivable means to break free of her chains. No matter how well Yaxiu treated her, it was pointless. She was a monster in human skin, a cruel and ruthless fiend, a dreamer whose blazing ambition remained unquenched even after millennia of drifting...
How could she ever accept being dominated by Yaxiu for the rest of her life? The word "obedience" simply did not exist in her vocabulary!
Yet her heinous past ensured that Yaxiu would spend his entire life keeping watch over her. Not to mention falling in love—even if Vichy bore him children in the future, Yaxiu would never release her chains. In fact, the deeper Yaxiu's feelings for her grew, the tighter he would draw the leash—
Both Yaxiu and Vichy knew that if she were ever truly freed, she would inevitably commit sins Yaxiu could not abide. A story that began with a mistake could ultimately only be punctuated by death.
Felix had also pondered what Vichy could possibly do to get Yaxiu to unchain her. The conclusion she reached was that, short of Yaxiu being charmed into losing his mind completely, it was utterly impossible—unless a miracle occurred.
Vichy had seized that miracle.
A pitiful, sickly maid could appeal to Yaxiu's emotion; and the trial concerning Sword Princess and Witch could persuade Yaxiu's reason.
Releasing the chains so Vichy could complete the trial herself would benefit not just her, but Sword Princess and Witch as well.
Without the side task of handling Vichy, Yaxiu could devote himself entirely to helping Sword Princess and Witch, and everyone could bring this ordeal to an end that much sooner.
This was the best and only opportunity. Only when it concerned the likes of Sword Princess would Yaxiu ever consider abandoning his principles and tossing aside his moral boundaries to unleash this heartless, cold-blooded monster. Otherwise, if it were strictly between Vichy and Yaxiu, not even the smoothest tongue in the world could make Yaxiu budge.
Was it cunning calculation, or had she merely stumbled into it by chance?
Watching Vichy, who looked as if she were about to melt in Yaxiu's arms, Felix truly couldn't tell the truth of the matter.
She quietly edged backward and rose, preparing to leave the corridor—
"Come back, Felix."
Yaxiu called her back. "I'll handle this... If you really insist on telling Weise, that's fine, but at least wait until I finish talking with Vichy, all right?"
Felix blinked, nodded, and knelt back down nearby to watch.
"Let me be completely clear with you, Vichy," Yaxiu said, gazing at her and enunciating each word. "I will never voluntarily release these chains."
"If you find a way to break them, I'll accept it. But as long as the chains remain in my hands, I will hold you firmly in my grasp," Yaxiu said. "I won't bother repeating all those high-sounding reasons. For the sake of the greater good, I won't let you go—and for my own selfish desires, I won't let you go even more."
"Were it not for the Ruby Chains, we never would have come together. We are entirely different kinds of people. Right now, we cooperate in earnest only under the crushing pressure of reality. But if we manage to overcome all our hardships in the future, our final enemy will inevitably be each other. I don't know whether we'll loathe the sight of each other by then or fight to the death, but with your vengeful nature, the most likely outcome is that you'll hide somewhere I can never find and bide your time for a chance to take brutal revenge on me."
"I don't want your revenge, nor am I willing to let you leave." Yaxiu pulled Vichy closer into his embrace. "So I'm going to hold onto the chains and keep you bound firmly at my side. Just think of me as a trash bin who has to resort to these despicable methods to keep a piece of trash like you... Doesn't that make us quite the match? A trash bin belongs with trash, and a twisted relationship belongs with twisted chains." By the end, Yaxiu even chuckled.
"You're the trash..." Vichy muttered weakly. Ordinarily, she would have wracked her brains for the most exquisite words to needle Yaxiu sarcastically, leaving him to toss and turn all night once he finally realized the insult right before falling asleep... But now, Vichy could only swat at him with a fist so feeble it looked like she was acting cute. Emotionally fraying, she cursed hysterically, "You demon, why won't you just let me go...?"
"Nothing makes me happier than being called a demon by you." Yaxiu ruffled her hair. "You don't need to push yourself anymore. I'll figure out a way to help you through the trial. Just leave everything to me and go back to rest."
Yet Vichy held back Yaxiu just as he moved to lift her up.
Her eyelashes fluttered faintly as she fixed a stubborn glare on him. An unhealthy flush tinted her pale face; her breathing was heavy and feeble, and her full weight leaned against Yaxiu.
It was obvious she was thinking with every ounce of strength left in her, faint wisps of heat seemingly rising from her head.
Exhaling a long breath as though resigning herself to fate, she lowered her head and murmured, "Fine if you won't release the chains... but at least lift my restrictions."
"Hm?"
"What's tangling my soul isn't the Ruby Chains, but the endless commands you imposed on me through them," Vichy said softly. "The Ruby Chains merely connect to my soul; your orders are what truly bind it. The thousands of commands you've given me are thousands of chains."
"When I try to fight the curse, my blade is wrapped in a dense web of chains. Just swinging it drains whatever little strength I have left."
"As long as you lift my restrictions, I can finish the trial on my own. Is that acceptable, at least?"
Chapter 1206