Chapter 69 - Chapter 67: Episode 66 - Crumbling Mind
Day after day, Seon-ah replayed that final day with her.
Her. The one he loved most.
Her, who gave her body to a kidnapper.
Her, who looked just like the succubi now raping him.
The "her" on Seon-ah's mind was Miel.
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At first, he was confused. Then it became unbearable.
He insisted Miel couldn't have abandoned him—that her sacrificing herself to the kidnapper must have been a dream, that being raped by these succubi who called themselves her sisters was all a lie.
He couldn't accept this nightmare reality.
To be honest, the rape itself wasn't hard to bear.
If anything, as he grew accustomed to the pleasure with each passing day, the pain of her memories surfacing cut deeper.
He clung to the faint hope that Miel would come back for him at any moment, enduring the pleasure, waiting and waiting.
But now, he'd hit his limit.
Every time he saw those women who looked like Miel, she came to mind.
After being raped for so long, his mind marinating in pleasure, every time a succubus who looked like her held him, he missed her more.
And the resentment toward her grew too.
He kept remembering what she and that kidnapper—who had toyed with him—did to him on that final day.
Lately, his consciousness came and went.
Sometimes, seeing these succubi who looked like her, he'd mistake them for Miel and cry out her name.
Each time, the succubi looked at him with pity.
Now, it seemed his consciousness sank more often.
Even now, his eyes were closing again.
.
.
.
These days, the Succubus Lord sighed as she watched the human male's mind wear down.
The revenge that should have been exhilarating instead left an uneasy feeling in her heart.
Was she afraid his mind would shatter before Miel returned and saw the male she'd had so viciously violated?
No.
The male's obsession with Miel was strange.
The Lord wondered why he was so fixated on her.
So she reached out a hand.
She placed her hand on his head and began reading his memories.
What the Lord felt was pure shock.
Most of his memories had been locked away.
On top of that, parts had been extracted and replaced with false ones.
The locked memories had been calibrated with Miel's unique pattern, making it nearly impossible for her to unlock them.
Just a little.
When she read the surface memories, she found something even more shocking.
On what should have been his wedding day, Miel brought the couple to be married, brainwashed the groom in front of his bride, carved a Yin Mark on him, made him her mate, and raped him.
And she had manipulated the mind of the male she'd made her mate.
Finally, she altered his memories and locked most away, leaving only memories of herself.
Those three acts.
The three acts Miel had committed against this male completely ignored succubus regulations—no, they went beyond ignoring.
They were outright violations.
She committed acts that completely violated the regulations.
The iron rule: a succubus must not harm or rape a person who will become her mate.
The rule against manipulating a mate's memories.
And finally, the taboo of consuming another intelligent being's memories.
This was serious enough to warrant severe punishment.
Even though what she herself was doing now—raping another succubus's mate—was also taboo.
But she had a reason: revenge for her husband.
Miel, however, had done as she pleased, using this male like a toy.
Not knowing that, the Lord regretted what they had done—continuing to torture this male.
If only she had at least checked his memories first, it would have been different...
Looking at this male, so thoroughly played by Miel.
He reminded her of her husband.
But this male was different from her husband, who had gone to Miel by choice.
She should have realized that back when Miel seduced her husband.
Thinking of how her husband had changed, she shouldn't have overlooked Miel just because she was young.
Miel, who had toyed with her heart, seduced her husband, left him to a lonely end, and now twisted this male's fate.
From this moment on, that bitch was no longer her daughter.
But it was useless to blame Miel in her absence.
She had to restore this male's mind before it shattered completely.
With that resolve, the Lord began restoring Seon-ah's memories.
She did it with the heart of a parent who had a pathetic daughter.
As she watched this male, who couldn't stop his tears.
.
.
.
Seon-ah felt good that the headaches he'd had since being dragged here were completely gone.
It would be even better if the succubus sisters who came to rape him this morning didn't show.
More than the physical pain of the daily rape, he wished thoughts of Miel would stop coming.
But shattering his expectations, what entered the room was...
The Succubus Lord herself, the one who had ordered his rape.
The look in her eyes when she looked at him was strange.
Assuming she'd finally come to rape him after holding back, he started to edge away.
"Rest assured... such things won't happen anymore."
Seon-ah, surprised, asked why.
The one who'd had him raped until he broke, who'd made him scribble all over his own body like something out of a manga, was suddenly apologetic. He didn't believe there wasn't an ulterior motive.
"What are you trying to pull now?... Then why did you do all this?"
"I wanted revenge on Miel. But you weren't her mate—you were just a puppet."
The truth spilled out of the Lord's heart.
Seon-ah couldn't miss what her words meant.
It was the fear that had gnawed at him all along while he was being raped and suffering.
He'd even considered that maybe Miel hadn't abandoned him—maybe he'd never mattered to her at all.
The conclusion Seon-ah had reached after denying it over and over.
Hearing that conclusion confirmed by the succubus who must be Miel's mother, he realized it was all true.
He couldn't deny it anymore.
"Ah... no, Miel noona... she'll come save me... and like before, just the two of us... just the two of us..."
"Miel is the same age as you. She is not noona. Where did you first meet Miel? Who brought you to the Demon World? Who was the woman originally by your side? Do you remember any of that?"
Having read Seon-ah's memories, the Succubus Lord attacked him with questions to expose the contradictions left by Miel's unfinished memory work.
"Aaaagh! No!... That can't be!"
Seon-ah writhed in pain, clutching his head.
"You were just Miel's toy. Little one..."
Only sadness showed on the Lord's face as she looked at him.
She remembered her husband, who had fallen for Miel in the past, and the old emotions surged back.
But this male had suffered something far worse.
Part of his mind—the largest fragment of his memory—had been replaced with a false one.
His most precious memory had been stolen by Miel.
Unless Miel, who swallowed that memory, returns it, this male's mind will continue to break down as time passes.
That was his fate.
That's why she'd stopped her daughters from raping him.
Because this male, whose gears of fate would grind him down even if left alone, was too pitiful.
Because he was just another pitiful soul Miel had toyed with.
So she made sure her daughters would no longer harm this innocent male.
It was too cruel to add more pain to a male who would spend the rest of his short life suffering through false memories.
"Is there anything you wish for?"
The Lord intended to grant this male's wish "as much as possible" by way of compensation.
"Then please send me back to Miel noona."
That was impossible.
It was obvious he'd only suffer more. Sending him back to Miel's arms would be a harsher torture than what they'd already done.
Like giving a drug addict the drug just because he asked for it—completely backward.
"That can't be... ask for something else."
"There's nothing else... "
The Lord saw how far gone he was.
Normally, a person with incomplete memories would beg to have them restored.
But this male acted like his memories with Miel were everything, and he didn't want the truth.
Of course, even if he asked for his memories back, it would be impossible—the only way was for Miel to personally unlock them and return what she'd swallowed.
"Then... rest for now. If you need anything, one of my daughters will be waiting outside this room. Call her, and she'll bring whatever you need. It's not something we'd normally do for an inferior human, but it's the least courtesy I can offer to a male harmed by my pathetic daughter."
The Lord hid her sorrow, turned, and left the room.
But the Lord, having only skimmed the surface of Seon-ah's memories, didn't know the full truth about what had happened between Yu-rin, Seon-ah, and Miel.
She'd made a definitive statement, telling Seon-ah it was the terrible truth—without knowing the facts. If Miel and Yu-rin heard this, they'd be dumbfounded, but they weren't there.
There was even a deeper truth that would have made Miel—who had desperately tried to stop Seon-ah's mind from collapsing because of Yu-rin—feel utterly wronged if she'd heard this.
But Seon-ah didn't know any of that. He watched the Lord's back as she left and wept at the cruel truth he'd learned.
Too weak to hide his tears, he cried out loud, then choked back his sobs.
He didn't want the succubus outside to hear how pathetic he was.
Praying for this nightmare to end, he cried until he was exhausted and passed out.
The succubus outside had already heard everything. Her heart broke at the sound of Seon-ah crying.
At the same time, she regretted that she had brought Seon-ah here.