Chapter 129: ¹²⁹Another Property
A sharp afternoon breeze whipped across the rooftop of The Gilded Dove, snapping Ethan Valen’s dark coat around his heels.
From this marble vantage point, the Capital of Astrea lay fully exposed.
On one side, the main thoroughfare sparkled beneath glass lanterns and the constant procession of gilded noble carriages. Yet on the other, far beyond the high stone walls, the lower district lay dead—riddled with wooden pillories and hidden pools of blood.
Ethan leaned his back against the stone tower wall. His deep, dark brown eyes stared out at the horizon.
A familiar vibration suddenly slithered at the base of his skull.
”Fufufu… you can deceive the entire world with that icy facade, My Lord. But not me.”
Asmodeus’s voice flowed smoothly like sweet poison through his nerves. The demonic entity chuckled with satisfaction.
”Dragging a filthy girl out of the gutter and tucking her away in a golden cage… Hah, are you actually starting to care, My Lord?”
”I’ve never cared about useless things,” Ethan retorted coldly in his mind. “She simply happened to cross my path.”
”Of course, of course,” Asmodeus hummed with feigned belief. But his tone abruptly shifted into seriousness. “Though if you truly intend to make her your new display piece, you’d better act fast. Her body is already at its absolute limit.”
Ethan remained silent, listening.
”She doesn’t possess mana circuits as strong as the Ashford princess, nor the monstrous physique of your Rosenberg knight,” Asmodeus continued, weighing the calculations of her soul. “The trauma has fractured her spirit. Her life is slowly evaporating.”
”There is only one way for her to survive: bind her soul.”
”The Lust Brand,” Asmodeus added. “It isn’t merely a mark of ownership, but a bridge connecting what’s left of her life force to your own vitality. That rose will restructure her cells and mend her shattered soul. Without it… she will become nothing more than a corpse.”
Ethan cast a side-glance down at the bustling festival below. The logic was sound. Claiming property was the right of the Demon King, and letting a piece he had already retrieved die so pointlessly was an obvious loss.
Without replying to Asmodeus’s whispers any further, Ethan straightened his posture and strode toward the stairs.
Click.
As Ethan twisted the doorknob to the White Rose Room on the third floor, a wave of warmth greeted him. The atmosphere inside the silk-adorned room was suffocatingly tense.
On the red velvet sofa, Kaelia von Ashford sat with a rigid spine. Her fingers anxiously wrung the hem of her dark red tunic.
Near the arched window, Valera Voss stood with her arms crossed. The exotic-skinned knight was still clad in her black leather armor. Her massive Zweihander rested proudly across her back, while her golden eyes stared directly at the center of the room.
Upon the long sofa, the teenage girl was curled up.
She hugged her knees tightly to her chest, trying to hide from the lingering nightmare trapped in her head. Kaelia’s white silk nightgown swallowed her emaciated frame, draping over her like an oversized, dull sack.
The bluish-purple bruises around her neck and pale face remained starkly visible—a silent testament to the barbaric cruelty of the Crown’s tax collectors. Her eyes were swollen, red, and completely hollow. Silent tears streamed continuously down her cheeks.
Click.
As the door shut, the girl’s shoulders jolted violently—an unextinguished reflex born of trauma.
Ethan stepped forward calmly. He bypassed Kaelia, who was watching him intently, pulled out a carved wooden chair, and sat directly in front of the girl.
”What is your name?”
Ethan’s voice wasn’t raised, yet the frigid gravity embedded within it compelled the very air in the room to yield.
The girl shuddered. She slowly lifted her head with a look of dead terror, meeting Ethan’s dark brown eyes. Her cracked lips quivered.
”L… Laras, My Lord…” she squeaked hoarsely.
Ethan stared back at her without a single trace of pity. He was no hero, and there was no point in peddling sweet words.
”Listen to me, Laras,” Ethan dictated flatly. “The healer’s treatment only scratched the surface. Your body is far too weak, your mana circuits are dead, and your soul is refusing to hold on. Infection will spread, and within a few days, you will die.”
Laras broke down sobbing at the verdict. Despair dragged her right back into the depths of the gutter. Her father was dead, her mother driven mad, and now her own body was giving up.
”However, I can keep you alive,” Ethan cut in, silencing her sobs with absolute authority. “I can implant a bond within you. It will force you to live, fortify your body, and mend whatever is broken inside.”
Ethan paused for a second.
”But it comes at a price. Your life, your soul, and every drop of blood in your veins will no longer belong to you. You will become my property until the day you die.”
Ethan leaned in closer.
”Choose. Live as my possession, or walk out that door and die a free woman.”
Kaelia bowed her head even lower on the sofa, clutching her tunic so hard her knuckles turned white. She couldn’t bear to witness the ruthless logic of the Demon King.
In the other corner, Valera turned her face toward the window. Her jaw subtly tightened, yet she chose to remain silent.
Laras froze. Her bloodshot eyes fixed on Ethan—a mixture of terror toward the man before her and a human’s primal instinct to survive.
With violently trembling hands, Laras slowly unclasped her arms from her knees. She swallowed with great difficulty.
”I… I want to live…”
Ethan didn’t smile. He merely offered a faint nod. “A wise choice.”
He rose from the chair and stepped toward the sofa. “Turn over. Lie face down on the sofa and remove your clothes.”
Laras went dead stiff. Dark memories of that narrow alley struck her nerves once more, causing her breathing to turn frantic. She glanced hesitantly toward Kaelia and Valera.
”M-My Lord…” Laras squeaked desperately, tears welling up anew. “Please… ask them to leave. I-I beg of you…”
Ethan’s footsteps came to a halt. His dark brown eyes swept over Laras, then shifted toward Kaelia and Valera.
”No,” Ethan replied coldly, crushing the entire room beneath his aura.
Ethan towered beside the sofa. “Both of them belong to me. Just as you soon will. There is nothing that needs to be hidden in this room.”
Ethan pinned her with a sharp glare. “Remove your clothes now, or I will consider it your choice to die.”
𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
Kaelia bit down hard on her lower lip. An unfamiliar heat stung her chest, yet absolute obedience forced her to stay still.
Valera merely let out a soft sigh. Tch. The knight crossed her arms tighter, adopting the role of a silent observer.
There were no choices left. Laras’s survival instinct shattered what remained of her shame. With tiny, trembling fingers, she reached for the collar of the white silk nightgown.
One by one, the buttons came undone. The delicate fabric slid down past her shoulders, pooling at her waist.
Laras awkwardly turned her body, burying her face into the soft cushions of the sofa.
The girl’s back lay exposed—a grim testament to the suffering of the lower district. Her shoulder blades and spine protruded tragically beneath her pale, emaciated skin. Fading purple bruises were still clearly stamped across her waist and lower back.
Ethan stepped forward until the tips of his boots brushed against the sofa. With one hand, he unfastened the top two buttons of his black shirt, exposing the Horned Crown tattoo on his chest, which had begun to throb a crimson hue.
The air in the room abruptly thickened, suffocating everything within.
Ethan reached out his right hand, placing his warm palm against the cold skin of Laras’s back.
Laras shuddered violently, her shoulders jumping in surprise. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the impending pain.
Blackish-red Sin Mana began to seep from Ethan’s fingertips. The dense energy slithered past Laras’s skin, infiltrating her body to seek out every dead mana circuit and destroyed cell.
”Ah…!”
A stifled shriek escaped Laras’s throat. The invasion of demonic mana felt like thousands of white-hot needles piercing straight into her bone marrow.
Yet at the exact same time, a wave of intoxicating, overwhelming warmth flooded her nervous system, washing away the pain of her wounds.
Ethan pressed his palm deeper into the center of Laras’s back.
”Accept it,” Ethan whispered mesmerically. “Let the mana take hold of you.”
Laras was incapable of making a sound. Her thin body arched upward, her back locking up rigid.
”Haaah… i-it hurts… M-My Lord…” she groaned through gritted teeth. Tears soaked the velvet pillow as the clash of pain and alien sensations shattered her sanity.
Across the room, Kaelia lowered her head even further. Beneath her tunic, the flaming rose Lust Brand on her lower belly throbbed with sympathetic heat, reacting to Ethan’s mana. Her cheeks flushed crimson as she fought against her own body’s turmoil.
Valera averted her gaze slightly. “Tch,” the knight hissed sarcastically. “What a troublesome way to save a life.”
Ethan ignored both of his possessions. The Sin Mana in his palm glowed with increasing brilliance, branding its mark deep into Laras’s flesh.
Blackish-red magical ink crept across the girl’s pale back, twisting and taking root to form a blooming spiral rose.
”M-My Lord… ahh! Please…!” Laras whimpered softly, her fingernails digging into the sofa cushion as her life essence was forced to merge with the Demon King’s absolute dominance.
”Almost done,” Ethan said coldly, channeling one final burst of massive energy.
The blackish-red rose Lust Brand was finally stamped perfectly upon Laras’s back, glowing faintly before settling permanently into her soul.
Laras’s endurance reached its limit. As the seal merged completely, her body arched softly one last time, releasing a long sigh of total surrender, before collapsing unconscious.
Silence reclaimed the White Rose Room, broken only by Kaelia’s soft, rapid breathing and the crackling of the hearth.
Ethan withdrew his hand. He stood tall, gazing at the black rose on her pale skin for a brief moment before neatly fastening his shirt buttons in one fluid motion.
Within his chest, Asmodeus’s voice echoed once more.
”Yet another property, My Lord,” Asmodeus whispered with satisfaction. “The ice archmage, the noble princess, the feral knight… and now a broken gutter girl. Your taste in collectibles is growing wilder. You’re starting to get hooked, aren’t you?”
”Silence,” Ethan cut in with absolute finality, severing the demon’s telepathic link.
Ethan stepped away from the sofa, passing Kaelia, who was busy catching her breath, and Valera, who was back on high alert. He walked over to the grand window and stood like a statue behind the glass.
Outside, the festival bustled merrily with glowing lanterns and the laughter of Astrea’s citizens.
Ethan stared down at the marble street. Behind him, Laras slept deeply beneath an unbreakable soul bond—ready to awaken as a new pawn on the Demon King’s chessboard.