The Monster Lady and the Holy Knight - Chapter 4

Instead of denying, the man wore a cold smile.

Why hadn’t she recognized him right away? It could have only been him from the start. Who else would walk into a burning city on their own?

“…The Red Knight of the Apocalypse. Leon Berg. That’s you, isn’t it?”

It could only be the Holy Knight, Leon Berg.

When speaking of his fame, some would say, “Even Bahamut knows the Red Knight.”

A man who, despite not being of noble birth, had joined the Holy Knights Order.

A legendary knight who had earned the title “God’s Messenger” at a very young age.

Yet, he had abandoned that bright future, deserting the front lines of Tiran in the South. What was he doing in Bayern? Why had he saved her?

“Guessing so easily takes the fun out of it.”

Some said he was mad with bloodlust, others claimed he had fallen and betrayed God. Either way, he was dangerous.

Veronica pressed her lips together and asked, “What do you want from me?”

“Who knows.”

Despite her obvious wariness, he placed a hand behind her back and leaned in close, his black pupils drilling into hers with such intensity it took her breath away.

His disheveled red hair and the scar that suited him so well.

Veronica clenched her sweat-soaked hands tightly. She felt like a windowpane through which he could see all her thoughts. Every sensation from the night before seemed to unravel in front of him, like an insect being dissected.

“Breathe.”

At that moment, the man, who had leaned in so close their noses nearly touched, whispered softly and lowered his gaze. It was only then that Veronica realized she had been holding her breath. Her face flushed as she hastily inhaled. The sharp sound that escaped her lips could have been mistaken for something else, probably because of the previous night.

Leon’s expression turned strange before he casually straightened up and grabbed the cup she had set down earlier. The liquid sloshed between his wet lips, as if it had always been his.

She realized with a start that his lips were touching the same spot hers had.

“Do you know how Bahamut reproduces?”

The sudden question came from Leon. When Veronica shook her head blankly, he put down the glass.

“They divide.”

Divide?

“They swallow a city, and they divide as much as a city. They swallow a nation, and they divide as much as a nation. They divide by the number of human brains they consume.”

It was the first time she had heard this. Surprised by such a primitive-sounding and powerful method of reproduction, Veronica frowned, forgetting her current situation.

“Isn’t that dangerous? What if they multiply endlessly?”

“There’s still a way to win. No matter how many are created, if you kill the first one, all of its offspring die. Its children, and their children too, as if they were all connected.”

Leon’s long fingers traced the edge of the cup in a slow circle before grasping the handle.

“And when I realized that, I naturally arrived at one hypothesis.”

Veronica held her breath. Leon, who had been looking down, raised his gaze slowly. He was no longer smiling, and for no reason, a chill ran down her spine.

“What if all the monsters now covering the Southern Continent were originally just one Bahamut?”

The shocking assumption made the past she hadn’t seen unfold before her eyes.

Three years ago, a meteorite had fallen into the sea. From that meteorite, one Bahamut had been born. It had grown its family by devouring human brains. The more there were, the stronger they became. One by one, they multiplied endlessly.

“If we kill that first Bahamut, the disaster plaguing the entire continent could end.”

His low, quiet voice echoed in her ears. Veronica shivered as she imagined cutting the top string that connected them all.

At that moment, Leon tipped the wooden cup he held, pouring the strong liquor over the body of a dead insect, or more accurately, over the swarm of black ants crawling over the corpse.

As the pungent liquid poured down, Veronica watched absentmindedly. The black ants, caught in the yellow flood, were swept away. No matter how much they struggled, it was futile. They couldn’t fight the current.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“You should have already figured that out.”

Leon spoke casually as he continued, “One of the women at the church said she saw a Bahamut with a face lock eyes with you.”

Veronica thought back to the woman she had encountered just before her assimilation. And the monster that had bowed deeply when she turned around. The red eye that had shown her the end of the world.

Her breathing grew ragged. Now she understood what he wanted.

“This is just a theory, but you’re connected to the first monster. You’re the only link to it.”

He was hoping she would help him track it down. If his theory was correct, killing just one Bahamut would make them all disappear. But…

“…What if I don’t want to cooperate?”

A sense of déjà vu choked her. Her voice cracked as she spoke, and she thought of Benjamin—the friend who had offered to save her but died as he demanded a price. His head had been pierced before he could even finish speaking.

“It’s simple. You either die with your head blown off, or you come with me. Those are your only two choices.”

As expected, his answer was a forceful ultimatum, delivered without a hint of hesitation. Veronica began to doubt if this man was really Leon Berg.

His cruel expression and harsh tone made him seem less like a dignified knight and more like a rough mercenary. Leon suited black far more than the night ever could.

If she followed him, what would her future look like? Would she be treated like a human?

She thought as far as that, then felt a wave of nausea, gritting her teeth to keep from vomiting. The trauma Benjamin had left behind must have been greater than she thought.

Some misfortunes have no bottom, and sometimes, the misfortune right in front of you is scarier than the calamity facing all humanity.

Leon’s cold gaze began to overlap with Benjamin’s gleaming eyes. Leon and Benjamin were the same in some ways. She had asked for help, but she hadn’t agreed to pay this price. She never dreamed someone would save her life only to claim it in return.

Veronica’s pale face slowly began to harden with rebellious determination.

If he needed information, there were other ways to get it—letters, messengers. There was no reason for her to go with him. So…

“No,” Veronica replied clearly. “I’m grateful you saved me, but I don’t want to leave like this.”

At that moment, her heart pounded fiercely. Leon’s bright red eyes flickered, and the air around them rippled ominously. Instinctively, Veronica grabbed the dagger that had been lying next to the sleeping bag—the one Benjamin had given her, the one she had stuffed into her pocket.

But she didn’t even have time to draw the blade. Leon’s once-apathetic gaze had already changed.

In an instant, he grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head back so violently that her pale neck was forced to arch. She let out a pained gasp as she heard the clatter of the dagger falling to the ground. By the time she realized what had happened, the cold edge of a blade was already pressed to her throat.

Looking up, she saw Leon’s dark eyes gazing down at her like she was livestock ready for slaughter.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

His deep voice, completely different from before, was filled with an unsettling laughter.

“If you want to survive, even if it means crawling through the fires of hell, then ask for help.”

Veronica’s body went stiff as a corpse. This wasn’t about strength. It was about violence. No matter how unusual she was, no matter what power she had gained, there was no escaping the murderous intent he exuded.

Faced with it, her small frame instinctively recoiled in terror. She had lived an ordinary life for twenty years. There was no way she could face a knight who had been legally allowed to kill.

Without realizing it, her eyes filled with tears. Veronica grit her teeth and rasped, “…You’re no knight.”

“……”

“You’re supposed to protect the weak, not kidnap and threaten them.”

She spat out the words, swallowing her fear and anger.

Leon’s eyebrows twitched as he saw the tears welling in her eyes, but that was it. Soon, the blade pressed closer to her skin, enough to draw blood.

A warm liquid trickled down her neck. She could feel it—the cut had drawn blood.

“You don’t seem to understand. You’re not the weak one anymore. You’ve become one with the Bahamut that devours humans.”

He yanked her head closer, his sharp face leaning in until their lips almost touched. He gazed down at her at an angle, his voice low and threatening.

“And one more thing—I’ll do whatever it takes to find ‘it,’ even if that means torturing you. Cutting off your limbs, dragging you in chains, whatever it takes. As long as you don’t die, it doesn’t matter.”

His cold voice was filled with menace.

He meant it. His calm voice wasn’t just a threat.

“I have two simple demands. First, report any hallucinations or strange symptoms immediately. Second, obey me without question. If you try to run or resist, you die. Got it? Is that hard to understand?”

If she said no, she’d die right here. It was that simple.

Her eyes burned with anger, but she was too parched to spit at him. So instead, Veronica cursed him, “Go to hell.”

Leon smiled, amused by her defiance. “Sure, let’s go together.”

Even with his annoyingly handsome smile, Veronica couldn’t bring herself to smile back. Even if he put down the blade and released her hair, it would have been the same. She would have collapsed on the spot, unable to move. Because she knew by now that running away was useless.

Her wings had been clipped the moment he saved her.

A cicada that has lost its wings can only crawl along the ground like any other insect.

In the year 1521 of the Holy Calendar, on the longest night of winter, when even angels sleep, Veronica Schwarzwald became bound to a twenty-nine-year-old knight.