“!”
Startled, Beril felt the now-familiar warmth envelop her shoulders.
“I was also having trouble focusing just now.”
It was when Beril turned around at the sound of the low, soft voice.
―Thunk.
Helbas, who had unknowingly dropped the map he was holding, leapt in place.
“Front paws, front paws… no, I still thought they were wings.”
Muttering incoherently, he laid out the irrelevant information that his arms transform into wings when he changes, and then flew out the window.
Beleled’s eyes followed him as they narrowed.
“……Shall we go then?”
“Yes.”
Today, people’s reactions seemed strange, Beril thought as she nodded her head.
The gate of the ritual that Beril remembered had been heavily guarded.
It was so, even though the only one who could open it was the Saint who presided over the ritual.
However, the Hellgate here seemed different.
The Hellgate was large and huge enough to pass five people standing upright, and if it wasn’t for the ancient characters densely embossed on it, it might have been suspected as just an ordinary door.
There were no guards here. Although it was cleanly maintained, it was no different from the rest of the mansion.
“Is the Spring of Desire beyond that?”
Beril examined the door. She felt like she understood what ‘the door is almost closed’ meant.
Literally, the door that could be opened from both sides was nearly closed, leaving a gap no more than 2cm.
Even peering through the gap, all that was visible was pitch-black darkness. A darkness so deep that it seemed anything that entered would be swallowed whole.
Beril did not dare to reach her hand into it, so she backed away from the door.
“……You know of the Spring of Desire.”
Upon seeing that she had thoroughly examined the door, Beleled replied. He looked somewhat surprised.
“It’s a fact not well-known to humans.”
At that, Beril shook her head.
“I heard it after I came here. From Decarabia.”
Beleled very briefly narrowed his eyes at that. Beril, who was focusing on the door, missed seeing this.
“I heard that if you drink from the Spring of Desire, you become a demon.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
With a short sigh, Beleled spoke, bringing a chilling atmosphere with him.
“But we can’t go there now.”
His lips twisted.
“If it were there, we wouldn’t be struggling with inadequate magic supply, nor would the demons slowly become magical beasts and die.”
“If this door opens again…….”
Beril tried gripping the doorknob. It felt as though her strength wouldn’t make it budge, but perhaps she exerted herself due to some kind of regret.
Thinking of the expression Veled had shown at Kyratia’s funeral, or of Decarabia resting because his magic was insufficient.
If only this door would open.
It was when Beril, with that thought, pulled the door.
―Creak.
An unusual noise came from the hinge, and Beril’s eyes widened.
The door opened, slightly.
Veled doubted his own ears.
“……This is.”
Beril didn’t seem to fully realize, but he distinctly felt it.
A clear flow of magical power.
From inside that Hell Gate, a concentrated magic that felt as if it was reviving every cell in his body gushed out.
He realized in that moment.
“……The Hell Gate.”
The closing Hell Gate had opened. Just a little, but definitely.
“Could it actually be opening?”
Startled, Beril tried pulling the door again. No matter how hard she pulled, the door didn’t move an inch.
Veled took her hand.
“You’ll hurt your arm that way.”
Saying that, he tried pulling the door just as she had.
―…….
Of course, the door didn’t move. It was to be expected.
After all, he had tried many things to open this door. As long as the door was a physical entity, couldn’t it be opened with sheer strength? He had thought so before.
But the cost of trying to force it open had been unimaginably high. Moreover, the door that had barely opened quickly closed again.
This was a clear change. It was a near accident caused by Beril, who couldn’t move magic even a bit, but it was definitely a change.
Was it possible because she was the saint who presided over the gate-opening ritual?
She didn’t seem to be able to open the door any further. Because the door had responded to her for only a brief moment.
“……It doesn’t seem to be opening any further.”
Beril pulled the door again, then dropped her shoulders. She looked genuinely disappointed.
“It would be good if the Hell Gate opens, even when it’s not the time for the gate-opening ritual, right?”
At that, Veled nodded his head.
“Yes, if it opens even a little more here, there would be no one dying from insufficient magic.”
Hearing that, Beril engraved a new word into her mind.
Curse.
According to him, the gods didn’t look kindly upon those who sought to forge the future with magic, a human ability, instead of relying on divine power.
‘In that case, I’d rather go to hell,’ they had said.
He had said so. But the terror that everyone might die as the gates of hell closed was closer than one could see.
The Villainous Demon Lord Laid an Egg for Her (Female-Dominated)
Several months after transmigrating into a book, Yu Wu found herself facing the demon lord Li You, who could no longer conceal his dragon horns. With one hand on her aching waist and the other gripping a sharp sword, she stared at him.
The demon lord’s eyes were red with fury:
“This is all your doing! Today, I won’t rest until I kill you!”
Yu Wu rubbed her temples. Putting aside the taboo against bloodshed during pregnancy, wasn’t it this very man who willingly walked into her trap that day?!
Warnings:
- Male pregnancy.
- Height ratios are set to mirror typical male-female height proportions.
- Characters include a foot-loving demon lord and an eldest daughter from an immortal family’s concubine lineage.