I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 86
“It’s a medicine for humans. I used to drink it often. But I’ve never smelled anything like this before.”
“Er, excuse me, Lieutenant. Don’t drink that. It will give you a stomachache. Do you think I have a hobby of nursing sick men?”
Iruel tried to stop Rufus, panicked. However, this only spurred Rufus on even more.
With trembling hands, Rufus brought the medicine bottle to his lips. As the medicine went down Rufus’s throat, an involuntary gag reflex kicked in. The foul smell paralyzed Rufus’s sense of balance.
Thump!
Rufus, helplessly staggering, fell to the floor beneath the bed.
“Ugh…”
“Oh come on, always choosing to do exactly what you’re told not to. You’re not a child.”
Iruel clicked his tongue, helping Rufus up.
“That’s why I told you not to drink it. You’re so stubborn.”
“What’s… what’s happened here?”
Rufus gasped for air, held up by Iruel.
“Did you put something in the medicine? It couldn’t possibly taste so vile otherwise!”
“Seriously! Why are you yelling at me? Don’t you know that holy magic is poison to demons?”
“No.”
Gasping for breath, Rufus drew his sword.
It was a silver-plated sword. A weapon quite lethal to demons.
Rufus ran his fingertip along the blade of the sword.
“No, why are you harming yourself! Have you gone mad!”
Startled, Iruel pushed Rufus’s sword away.
A small linear wound appeared on Rufus’s finger. The cut skin turned black. At first glance, it looked like a simple cut. But from the edge of the skin, a burning sensation began to spread throughout his body.
A reaction like being cursed.
Rufus was all too familiar with this phenomenon.
‘The wounds I inflicted on demons with my sword turned like this.’
Rufus looked down at his wound with a dazed expression, as if his soul had left him.
No.
This can’t be.
This isn’t real.
“It hurts when you touch silver, right? But of course, since you and I are only half demon, it won’t kill us.”
Iruel clicked his tongue, lifting the frozen Rufus.
“Ah, you’re smaller than me but so damn heavy.”
Thump.
Iruel gently threw Rufus back onto the bed.
Rufus, forcibly dropped onto the bed, continued to retch. His head felt like it was going to split open.
Rufus glared at Iruel fiercely.
“Turn it back… turn me back.”
“Huh? Turn what back?”
“Turn me back into a human. I don’t need the Demon King’s heart!”
Rufus yelled, gripping the blanket tightly.
“I can’t live in this body! Sarubia is a saintess!”
“So what? It’s not like anything happens if a demon touches a saintess, so relax.”
“Shut up! Make me normal again while I’m still saying it nicely!”
“Look, Lieutenant.”
Iruel ran his fingers through his tousled hair and sighed deeply.
“Do you want to go back to being a complete human?”
“Yes, right now…!”
“Alright, I’ll do it for you.”
Iruel drew a sword from his waist. The sharp blade instantly aimed at Rufus’s chest.
“Take off your shirt. I’ll split open your chest and take out the heart right now.”
Iruel’s dark eyes stared calmly at Rufus. The usual playful demeanor was nowhere to be found.
“……”
Rufus was speechless at Iruel’s sudden change.
“Do you have any idea how hard my mother worked to implant the Demon King’s heart into you to save your life?”
Iruel pressed down on Rufus’s forehead, visibly upset.
“After all the trouble to save you, now you want to be killed again? You’re spouting madness.”
Faint magic flowed from Iruel’s fingers, and the sick feeling stirring inside Rufus subsided a bit. It felt like he could finally breathe.
“I shouldn’t be the one to say this, but think about the people who would be sad if you died.”
Iruel discarded the sword and took out a small vial of medicine from his pocket.
A color of medicine Rufus had never seen before. Rufus instinctively realized it was the medicine taken by demons.
“Dying is easy. I can kill you anytime. But what about your grandmother? Your brother? Your lover? Do you want to see them suffer?”
“……”
Iruel mixed the medicine given by Doctor Fertina with his own.
“By the way, my mother would be a bit sad too. She kind of likes you, Lieutenant.”
“……”
“And honestly, I might be a bit sad too.”
“Damn it.”
Rufus swore and turned his head away. Iruel clicked his tongue and offered Rufus the mixed medicine.
“Drink up. I mixed human medicine and demon medicine, so it should neutralize the holy magic.”
“…I won’t drink it.”
“Then choke on it.”
With a rough remark, Iruel shoved the bottle into Rufus’s mouth. The mixed medicine poured into Rufus’s mouth. Rufus gagged, searching for oxygen as his airway was momentarily blocked.
“How’s that? Much better, right?”
Iruel teased Rufus as if mocking him.
Something was boiling inside. Only then did Rufus understand the source of the pain he had been feeling.
The heart had been gouged out.
It was unclear through what complex magic this deed was done, but the witch Odr had removed Rufus’s dying heart. Then, she placed the Demon King’s heart where the original heart had been.
