Chương 339: Chapter 338 - Silver Moonlight

Rebecca finally looked up. She forced herself to meet the glowing red eyes of the female oni. She felt a deep sense of frustration mixed with a strange, possessive jealousy.

"We are demi-humans," Rebecca said softly. Her voice carried a heavy weight of strict societal expectation.

"We understand our specific place in this world. We are supposed to offer everything to humans. We serve them. We protect them. We provide for them. That is the natural order of things." Rebecca looked down at Lucid sleeping peacefully on the bed. A soft, affectionate smile touched her lips.

"He is a very special person," Rebecca continued in a gentle whisper.

"He deserves proper respect and careful attention. He does not need a naked monster standing over him in the dark while he tries to rest." Ayame tilted her head slowly to the side. She wore a highly questioning look on her pale face. The angry glare vanished completely, replaced by a deep, profound confusion.

"You think he is human," Ayame asked quietly. Rebecca frowned at the strange question.

"Of course he is human. He is a young man with a unique magical affliction on his face. What else could he possibly be." Ayame turned her head and looked down at Lucid. A completely different emotion washed over the cold features of the oni warrior. The rigid, deadly posture softened entirely. The terrifying monster suddenly looked incredibly vulnerable. Ayame did not view Lucid as a simple human master. She did not view him as a political asset or a travel companion.

'He is my blood giver,' Ayame thought silently in her own mind.

'He is my eternal warmth.' A vivid, powerful memory flooded her consciousness. She remembered the brutal, unforgiving environment of the Red Mountains. She remembered the massive snowstorms that buried the rocky peaks in deep white powder. She remembered the freezing cold wind that cut through her tough skin and froze her blood solid in her veins. She had been completely broken. She had been left to die in the freezing snow. Her body had shut down. Her red flesh had turned a sickly purple.

She had accepted her inevitable death in that frozen wasteland. Then he had appeared in the storm. The boy with the fog face. He did not leave her to freeze. He did not run away in terror from her monstrous appearance. He dragged her frozen body into a small, dark cave. The temperature inside the cave was barely warmer than the storm outside. They had absolutely no fire. They had absolutely no thick blankets. Ayame remembered the exact feeling of his bare skin against hers.

He had pulled her massive frame tightly against his own chest. They huddled together closely for survival. He shared every single ounce of his natural body heat with her to keep her heart beating. But the physical heat was not enough to save an oni. She needed sustenance to repair her failing organs. She needed raw red flesh or fresh blood. He did not hesitate. He took a sharp piece of jagged stone. He cut his own arm open. He pressed his bleeding wrist directly against her cold lips.

He fed her his own vital life force. He gave her everything he had inside his own veins just to keep her alive through the endless night. The taste of his hot, iron rich blood was permanently burned into her memory. It was the sweetest, most intoxicating thing she had ever consumed. It possessed a unique, powerful energy that did not belong to a normal human being. The blood bonded them together in a way that regular society could never comprehend. He was fundamentally tied to her existence.

He was the sole reason she still breathed the cold night air. Ayame slowly reached out her pale hand. She gently brushed a stray piece of fabric away from Lucid's chest. Her long, sharp fingernails traced a light path over the wool blanket. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"You know absolutely nothing about him," Ayame whispered to Rebecca. Her voice held a sweet, heart-wrenching devotion.

"You look at his physical shape and you see a normal human man. You see a master to serve in your tavern. I look at him and I see the fire that melted the ice in my veins. I see the blood that beats inside my own chest." Rebecca stood frozen in the doorway. She listened to the raw emotion pouring from the terrifying monster. She did not fully understand the context of the words, but she felt the immense weight behind them.

"He gave me his life so I could keep mine," Ayame continued softly. She kept her red eyes fixed completely on Lucid's sleeping form.

"I do not stand here because it is my duty as a demi-human. I stand here because the world is incredibly cold. And he is the absolute only warmth left in it." Rebecca felt a tight ache form deep in her own throat. The possessive jealousy faded away entirely, replaced by a quiet, humbling respect. She realized she was witnessing a bond that went far deeper than a simple crush or a standard master-and-servant relationship.

"I understand," Rebecca whispered back gently. She slowly pulled the wooden door backward.

"I will leave you to your watch. Goodnight." Ayame did not respond to the farewell. Instead, she turned her gaze toward her.

"Are you an acquaintance of... my blood giver?" Rebecca reddened at the statement, her mind racing over how intimate the title sounded. She stepped fully into the room and sat down on the wooden floor directly in front of Ayame.

"Yes, we know each other," Rebecca said quietly.

"This human arrived here when I was running this place. He was... heroic, but also... naive. He helped around the tavern and has been nothing but good to us." Ayame only nodded.

"When did you two meet?" Rebecca asked. Ayame withheld the grim details of her near-death.

"We met while traveling," she replied softly.

"We happened to cross paths in the Red Mountains." Rebecca nodded.

"I see. Then you must have met after he left here."

"After..." Ayame repeated under her breath. She looked back at Lucid, his breathing quiet and steady in the pale moonlight.

"You can stay here if you want..." Rebecca offered gently. Ayame shook her head.

"I am just pleased that he is not alone," Rebecca said, turning over her shoulder with a weary smile.

"After all, he is the type that seems so solitary... I just wanted to check if he was alright. That was all." The door shut softly, leaving the room in shadows. Ayame reached out and held Lucid's hand. She leaned her head closer toward the bed, gently grazing her right horn against his skin while keeping her grip tight.

"You know a lot of women..." she murmured quietly to the sleeping figure.

"He gave me his life so I could keep mine," Ayame continued softly. She kept her red eyes fixed completely on Lucid's sleeping form.

"I do not stand here because it is my duty as a demi-human. I stand here because the world is incredibly cold. And he is the absolute only warmth left in it." Rebecca felt a tight ache form deep in her own throat. The possessive jealousy faded away entirely, replaced by a quiet, humbling respect. She realized she was witnessing a bond that went far deeper than a simple crush or a standard master and servant relationship.

"I understand," Rebecca whispered back gently. She slowly pulled the wooden door backward.

"I will leave you to your watch. Goodnight." Ayame did not respond immediately, but turned her gaze toward her.

"Are you an acquaintance of... my blood giver?" Rebecca reddened at the statement, wondering what she meant by the phrase—it sounded intensely intimate. Instead of stepping back into the hall, Rebecca sat down directly in front of Ayame on the wooden floor.

"Yes, we know each other," Rebecca said softly.

"This human arrived here when I was running this place. They were... heroic, but also naive. They helped around and were nothing but good to us." Ayame nodded in silence, then asked when they had first met. She left out the harrowing details of her own past.

"We met while traveling. We happened to cross paths in the Red Mountains."

"I see," Rebecca said gently.

"Then you must have met after he left here."

"After..." Ayame repeated quietly. She looked back at Lucid, his breathing calm and rhythmic in the dark.

"You can stay here if you—" Ayame began to offer. Rebecca shook her head, turning over her shoulder with a weary, gentle smile.

"I am pleased that he is not alone. After all, he is the type that seems to be solitary... I just wanted to check if he was alright. That was all." The wooden door clicked shut. Inside the room, Ayame leaned her head toward Lucid's hand draped over the edge of the bed. She gently grazed her right horn against his knuckles while holding his hand securely in hers.

"You know a lot of women..." she murmured softly into the quiet darkness. Meanwhile, outside the door, Rebecca leaned back against the wood and slid all the way down to the floor. The hallway boards creaked softly under her weight. In the stillness, she could hear the loud snoring of the yellow-haired guest down the corridor and the subtle metallic scraping of the blue-haired knight attending to his equipment. A faint flush of red bloomed across Rebecca's cheeks. It seemed as if he had already found his place.