Chapter 286 – 286: Proof

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Tap~ Tap~ Tap~

Footsteps echoed in the air.

This was the passage leading to the villa’s underground wine cellar.

Although still dozens of meters away from the cellar, the rich aroma of red wine already drifted slowly from the basement.

Before this villa was requisitioned by Altrouge, it seemed to belong to some family-run red wine estate. However, according to Strout, this family had pledged allegiance to the Eclipse Princess of Black Blood over a hundred years ago.

Although constantly living in a cycle of pursuit and counter-pursuit, Altrouge’s faction had still established vast forces worldwide, merely hidden in the shadows—after all, their enemies were far too numerous.

Haru looked calmly at Altrouge leading the way before him. The Black Princess of Dead Apostles still wore that signature pitch-black dress.

Her delicate face currently held a mischievous smile. Her steps were extremely light and quick, her entire being like an elf dancing in the night, full of beauty and fantasy.

However, this was built upon Haru’s inner bitterness.

“Can you stop smiling?” Haru’s mouth twitched as he looked at Altrouge, who kept turning back occasionally to peek at him with a teasing look.

“Smiling at what? Smiling that you’re an ‘animal lover’?” Altrouge turned around, gently smoothing the hair messed up by her turn, chuckling mischievously.

“Can we not mention this topic?” Haru spoke strangely.

Playing with the animal-eared girl Fou was fine—but being interrupted when she turned into her beast form—Haru’s heart was practically crumbling.

“I didn’t expect Fou to be so shy either!” Altrouge covered her mouth, chuckling softly, the mischievousness in her eyes growing stronger.

Regarding Haru and Fou messing around, Altrouge didn’t actually have much opinion. After all, her perspective was ultimately different from humans’. However, a trace of dissatisfaction did exist, which was why she made the move to catch them in the act.

One was for revenge, the other was to satisfy her own wicked taste by seeing the two panic. Unexpectedly, there was such an accidental harvest. Altrouge believed she could tease Haru about this matter for 100 years.

“You knew the reason and you still laughed?” Haru glared exasperatedly at Altrouge. Haru naturally understood Altrouge deliberately caught them.

Fou, Haru, and Altrouge all had intimate contracts; how could they hide within the same villa?

Ultimately, it was Altrouge’s earlier phrase ‘play with Fou however you like’ that made Haru relax his guard. Regret gnawed at him!

“I just wanted to laugh, can’t I?” Altrouge skipped lightly, leaped to the side of the passage, stuck out her fragrant tongue at Haru, and spoke teasingly.

“…Ultimately, why did you bring me to the underground wine cellar?” Helplessly shrugging, Haru, realizing he couldn’t out-argue Altrouge, directly changed the subject.

“Follow me. I want to prove something,” Altrouge’s face stiffened slightly. She glanced nervously at Haru, turned around, and walked forward in small steps.

Haru looked somewhat puzzledly at Altrouge. After all, the Black Princess’s appearance seemed exactly like someone who had done something wrong and was afraid of being discovered by him.

Only the light and heavy footsteps of the two echoed in the wine cellar storing a large number of oak barrels.

This wine cellar wasn’t large, only about 500 square meters. Therefore, the two, with their relatively fast pace, quickly reached the end.

At the end was a small room temporarily partitioned off. Judging by the equipment inside, it was originally a room for storing winemaking tools, but now it had been reinforced with iron bars and other items, modified to resemble a cage.

And inside this temporary cage, a white-haired young priest, whose movements were sealed by magic formulas, lay on the ground, his eyes vacant.

“Merem Solomon? Why did you bring me to see him?” Haru softly uttered the priest’s name, looking puzzledly at Altrouge.

“That… that… I just wanted to prove something,” Altrouge’s face flushed slightly, like a freshly ripened peach, responding somewhat stiffly.

“Prove what?” Haru sized up Merem lying flat on the ground, speaking with slight confusion. What did Altrouge want to prove through Merem? Or rather, what could Merem prove?

“…Prove that I… have never liked anyone. Prove… that Haru, you are the only man I have ever loved—” Altrouge slightly turned her head away, not daring to look directly at Haru. Facing away from him, she spoke with determination.

Hearing these words, no different from a confession, and seeing Altrouge’s trembling delicate body and unusually flushed ears, Haru was slightly astonished for a moment. Then his expression softened. He quietly stepped forward, wrapped his arms around the girl’s slender and graceful waist, and whispered into her ear.

“Mm, Altrouge’s proof—I’ve received it.”

Feeling the large hands embracing her waist, Altrouge leaned back slightly, resting her body against Haru’s embrace. Although she had lived for a thousand years, this was her first confession. Her maiden heart thumped continuously.

Haru could clearly feel the rapidly rising body temperature of the girl in his arms and the spreading pink hue on her fair skin exposed to the air.

After nestling together for a long moment, Altrouge spoke first. “Well then, for the sake of proof, I shall now kill this fellow who spread false rumors about me!”

Blood-red light appeared in Altrouge’s palm. Following several flashes of red light, Merem’s heart and head on the ground were instantly pierced.

Watching Altrouge, who was happily nestled in his embrace after killing ‘Merem,’ Haru spoke, torn between laughter and tears. “Um, Altrouge, I received your sentiment. But if killing Merem is the proof… according to my intelligence, Merem’s true form is a 12-year-old child.”

Altrouge froze, looking astonishedly at the young man’s form of Merem on the ground. Regarding the intelligence Haru mentioned, she was undoubtedly convinced. After all, under her questioning last night, Haru had directly confessed most things.

It would be strange if the head honcho of the Church didn’t know his subordinates’ intelligence—although the Burial Agency was basically an eccentric organization that didn’t listen to orders.

“That fool Strout! To think he messed up badly!”

Recalling the words she had spoken earlier about proof, Altrouge wanted to die of shame. She had already spoken the words, but the person wasn’t caught, creating such a huge blunder—how could Altrouge not feel ashamed and angry?

The willful princess directly blamed the person in charge. After all, her subordinate in charge was Strout; who else could take the fall?

Haru glanced at Merem on the ground.

Although it was a scapegoat body double, annihilating it with the egg could somewhat deduce Merem’s power composition. However, the ability of demon summoning was rather negligible to Haru.

Therefore, Haru’s entire attention was now focused on the charming princess in his arms, blushing profusely with shame. Watching her slightly parted vermilion lips continuously uttering complaints, Haru bit her ear and chuckled softly.

“Stop worrying about those trivial matters. It’s rare for Altrouge to confess to me; let’s do something meaningful.”

“Go… back to the room?”

——

In a forest somewhere in Austria.

Merem, within the forest, raised an eyebrow slightly, speaking with a complex tone.

“The King of Rats died?”

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