Chapter 376: You’re A Shallow Man!

The lamia girl had so many questions swirling inside her head, it was like her thoughts were tripping over one another in a mad scramble to be spoken first.

Who was this man? What was his name?

Where did he come from? How could he take an attack like that and still stand?

How did he manage to scare away a Leviathan of all things? Why had he helped her?

Every fiber of her being wanted answers.

She opened her mouth, ready to demand at least one of them, but then—her eyes caught sight of his back.

At first, she hadn’t thought much of it. She had only seen the steam rising, assumed he was burnt badly, but nothing her mind had fully grasped in detail amidst the chaos.

But now that he shifted, the moonlight illuminated him differently, and she saw, she really saw.

Her breath stopped.

Her entire face went pale, her heart plummeting to the floor. Her yellow eyes widened so far they nearly popped from her head, and her tail coiled tightly against the earth as she shakily lifted her hand and pointed at him.

“You, you—your back! Your back! Look at your back!”

Cassius blinked, confused at how scared she looked, brows furrowing slightly as he glanced at her.

“My back? What’s wrong with my back?”

He turned casually, twisting his head, and in that instant even he froze. Because now that he actually looked, he understood what she meant and knew the girl wasn’t exaggerating.

The venom hadn’t just burned him. It had eaten through him.

The venom had gone more deeply than he expected. The skin and muscle were completely melted through, exposing his ribcage in parts.

He could even glimpse a faint shine of his lungs contracting, the curve of his spleen, his intestines glistening wetly.

The venom had even eaten through portions of his spine, leaving it blackened and steaming. Higher up, his scalp was partially melted, strands of hair burned away, and he could feel the breeze where a sliver of his brain was exposed.

“Oh.” He muttered lightly, more surprised than disturbed. “So that’s what it looks like.”

But the lamia girl wasn’t so calm.

The moment he turned, she saw the true horror of it, and lost it completely. Her tail recoiled in on itself, curling so tightly it nearly knotted, and her eyes filled with tears.

She clutched her head, shaking it frantically.

“Oh no, no, no, no, you’re going to die! You’re going to die! Because of me!” Her words cracked in desperation, her chest heaving. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she shouted. “What should I do, what should I do?! Someone else is going to die because of me! I can’t handle this, I can’t—!”

Cassius, who turned back at her pitiful cries, almost wanted to laugh despite the grotesque state of his body.

Sure, the wound was…dramatic, disgusting even, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t heal from. Already, deep inside, he could feel the slow churn of regeneration beginning.

That’s why, he raised a hand and waved dismissively, his face calm as ever.

“Don’t cry. Don’t worry. It’s nothing at all, really, it’s nothing—”

But before he could finish, she lunged forward, clutching onto him desperately, her tears spilling freely down her cheeks. Her tail wrapped tightly around itself as she sobbed.

“You’re going to die! You’re going to die! No, you won’t die because of me! I won’t let it happen! What do I do now? I’ve caused your death! Oh god, what do I do, what do I do?!”

Her face was twisted with tragedy, utterly broken in guilt.

And seeing this, Cassius tilted his head at her, bemused. He had been ready to reassure her, ready to tell her it was fine, but then he stopped.

Because the way she overreacted, the exaggerated way she cried and panicked, was so absurd that it made something mischievous in him stir.

And instead of calming her…he decided to play along.

With a deliberately pained groan, he suddenly collapsed backward onto the ground, landing hard on his back with a dramatic thud. His arm stretched out toward her, his face contorting in mock agony.

“Y-You’re right…” He rasped, clutching his chest in fake despair. “I-I am going to die. This is it for me. I thought I could endure it…I thought I was strong…but it seems today…today I’ve finally met my match.”

He coughed weakly, though no blood came, before letting his head loll to the side.

“I…I can see the light…my parents are waiting for me in heaven…” He even let out a pitiful chuckle, as if savoring his final moments.

The lamia girl also believed the act and gasped and immediately dropped down beside him, cradling his head in her lap.

“No, no, no! Don’t say that! It’s going to be alright! I’ll take you to grandma right now! Grandma knows so many things, she’ll fix you, she can fix anything! Please don’t give up so quickly!”

But he shook his head slowly, his eyes half-lidded, lips curling into a tragic smile.

“It’s too late…you saw it yourself…most of my organs, gone. There’s no saving me now…”

He exhaled deeply, staring up at her with a tender, resigned gaze.

“But it’s alright. I’ve made peace. I always knew death would come one day. And if it has to be now, at least I can say I died facing a legendary beast…and with a beauty by my side.”

Her tears fell harder, her tail coiling anxiously.

“Why? Why would you do something so stupid?!” She sobbed, shaking his shoulders. “There was no need for you to come out and save me! You could have left me, you could have just walked away!”

“…Why would you throw your life away like this?!”

Inside, Cassius smirked. Perfect timing. He knew the exact line to deliver, the kind of cheesy phrase that made most women swoon instantly.

He softened his gaze, his lips curving into a reluctant, tender smile. His voice came low and warm as he whispered,

“Because…even though my feet told me to run…even though my body screamed at me to flee…my heart wouldn’t let me. Not when I saw a girl so beautiful in danger.”

He let his fingers twitch faintly against her arm, as if his strength were fading.

“The moment I laid eyes on you…I was enthralled. How could I leave you? I couldn’t.”

He waited. He braced himself for the wide-eyed awe, for her to blush and weep harder, for her to whisper something about him being her hero.

He expected her heart to melt, for admiration to pour from her lips like honey.

But instead—

The lamia girl blinked. Once. Twice. Then she stared down at him with the dumbest expression he had ever seen in his life.

“…What?” She said flatly.

Cassius blinked back at her, still in his “dying man” act. “…What do you mean, what?”

“You saved me…because I’m pretty?” She asked, her tone halfway between disbelief and utter disdain.

“Uh…”

“That’s it?” She pressed, eyes narrowing. “That’s your big reason? Because I ’look pretty’?”

“I mean…” He tried, flashing her his best tragic smile.

Her mouth dropped open.

“Are you dumb?! That’s the dumbest reason I’ve ever heard in my life for someone to die! You, you seriously risked getting melted alive for that?!”

She smacked his chest lightly with her hands, tears forgotten, replaced by frustration.

“Idiot! Absolute idiot! I never expected idiots like you to actually exist in this world!”

Cassius stared up at her, his fake “final breath” caught in his throat.

This…was not the reaction he had been expecting.

But it only became more absurd from there.

Because instead of softening, instead of showing some tender words of gratitude or at least staying quiet while the “dying man” groaned on the ground, the lamia girl suddenly straightened up, patted her chest with a loud smack, and declared proudly.

“But at the same time, I get it. I really do.”

Cassius blinked up at her, dazed. “…Get what?”

“I get why you’d do such a stupid thing!” She said, smiling down at him like she was bestowing him with wisdom. “To impress a beauty like me, who looks so utterly irresistible, it was only natural that you’d throw yourself in front of a monster’s acid. I mean, just look at this face!”

She pointed at herself with both hands, her expression shifting into exaggerated poses.

“See this utterly beautiful and adorable face? When I smile gently, I look like a damn goddess. And if I pout—” She puffed her cheeks childishly. “—I look like the cutest angel in the world. No man could resist it!”

Cassius lay there, steaming organs practically hanging out, staring in silence like his soul had just left his body.

But she wasn’t done.

Next, her hands went straight to her chest, pressing them together with a smug grin.

“And look at these plump breasts. Men would throw themselves at my feet just to get a single glance at them! I could totally understand why you’d do something like this. I know just how pretty I am.”

Cassius’s face contorted, his mind screaming.

’Is she…Is she actually praising herself while I’m lying here pretending to die?!’

But the lamia girl leaned down again, jabbing a finger at his face.

“But still, even if I understand it, it doesn’t make sense! It’s still the dumbest decision I’ve ever seen. Throwing your life away just because someone was pretty? Idiotic!”

“…If it were me, I wouldn’t even hesitate to run away. I wouldn’t even look back!”

“In fact…” She added with an outrageous grin. “I’d even break the other person’s legs so they couldn’t run away, just so I could escape faster!”

Cassius’s face twisted so hard it looked like he was in more pain now than from the acid.

’…What kind of shameless demon have I just saved?’

Then she pointed at him again.

“And do you know how I look at you right now? Do you know what I see?”

Half-heartedly, Cassius wheezed out. “…Your knight in shining armor?”

“Of course not, you idiot!” She spat, her eyes narrowing. She leaned closer, her voice dripping with disdain. “What I see is a shallow man. That’s all you are.”

His jaw dropped. “Shallow—? What do you mean shallow man?!”

“Just think about it!” She crossed her arms, glaring down. “If I wasn’t this pretty, if I was just some normal-looking girl, would you have saved me?…Of course not! You’d have let me die.”

“…That’s why you’re shallow, you didn’t save me because you’re a brave knight, you saved me because you wanted to show off to someone beautiful. That’s pathetic.”

Cassius wanted to crawl into a hole and die for real.

’I suffer a hole in my back the size of a canyon, organs melting out, and I’m getting accused of being a shallow man?!’

Her words, unfortunately, made a brutal kind of sense…Practical sense.

And it stung. It stung so much he almost wanted to roll away into the bushes and never look at her again…

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