DUFE - SIDE STORY 2

This place was a living hell unlike any other she had ever known.

Renie stared blankly at the bowl placed before her. Stirring the silver spoon, the thin liquid surface rippled. Even though it was food from the human world that Kahn’s subordinates had personally procured, she felt no joy. Her situation was far too ridiculous to be happy about such things, and she no longer had the energy to feel anything like that anyway.

Her insides had long been so empty that they would resonate if tapped.

“Ugh!”

Nausea surged unexpectedly.

Clang, thud! Renie pushed the gold tray holding the bowl off the bed as if throwing it away, and clamped her hand over her mouth. Even though she was in her final month, the retching that twisted her insides showed no signs of abating.

Perhaps because she hadn’t eaten anything for the past few days, all that came up was sour stomach acid. While she desperately tried to suppress the nausea, the attendants standing outside the curtain moved silently and efficiently to clean up the scattered debris on the floor.

There was no sound to their movements. No shadows existed either.

What had she felt when she first saw them after coming here? She couldn’t define it precisely, but it was clear that she had a near-seizure of terror. It was after seeing their alien features that made her doubt her own eyes.

They had jet-black horns embedded in their foreheads or eyes that were entirely crimson without any distinction between the white and the pupil. Clear evidence that they were not human. That sight jolted Renie’s hazy mind and slammed her into the cold reality.

The terribly unreal reality that she had truly been dragged to the lair of a vicious demon.

Thud.

Renie, lying with her back to it, heard something being placed on the bedside table. She didn’t need to look back to know. It was probably a new meal served to replace the one she had overturned at Kahn’s command. Renie pulled the blanket over her head, ignoring the thoughtfulness.

She didn’t hear footsteps, but she heard the door close. Nevertheless, Renie, curled up under the blanket, showed no reaction. If she kept skipping meals like this, she didn’t know when Kahn would barge in and shove food into her mouth. It had happened many times before. She knew that, but she didn’t want to move at all.

From some point on, her heartbeat became too loud. It was after Renie realized the cruel truth that it wasn’t her own heartbeat. A despair that slowly festered within her, but an evil incomparable to it, was living and breathing inside her womb. This heartbeat was clear evidence of that existence.

Renie raised her hands and covered both ears.

She wished someone would just tear off both of her ears. No, if possible, she wanted them to take out her heart and tear it to shreds. She had already been deprived of the freedom of death for a long time. This insignificant life was mortgaged to the hands of the culprit who had made her this way.

So Renie had nothing.

Except for this body that was carrying the evil that would corrupt the world, nothing.

________________________________________

Labor pains began abruptly.

But no one panicked. The air stiffened slightly, but it was as flat and smooth as Renie’s days of living like the dead. It was thanks to the thorough preparations made according to Kahn’s instructions since the woman carrying the king’s heir had come here.

“Aaaaaargh!”

Renie, drenched in sweat and screaming, once again bit down hard on the thought that this place was truly hell.

The fact that she had to undergo an unwanted childbirth tore through her heart, and the presence of the horned demons around her gripped her heart tightly. And above all, the excruciating pain, which was no exaggeration to describe as being on the verge of death, mercilessly butchered her.

The shackle on her ankle recognized the wound and cast magic as it pleased, but that only made it more agonizing. It hurt so much, then suddenly it would get better, then it would hurt again. As this bizarre phenomenon repeated, the pain overwhelmed her in waves, without even giving her a chance to adapt.

“Heuuu…….”

She almost lost her breath several times. It felt as if some ferocious beast had split her legs and was desperately trying to burst out. It scratched at the skin inside her belly, and the entrance to her vagina stretched to its limit. It would have been strange if her vision hadn’t spun.

Kahn appeared around the time she was wandering in the swamp of pain. The hatred that had been like ash erupted like a volcano and was directed at him.

The source of all this suffering, the damned man who kept making her flounder in the endless sea of pain. She wanted to glare at him with this murderous intent, but she didn’t even have the strength for that.

Fortunately or unfortunately, even an eternity-like moment eventually came to an end.

Renie knew instantly at that moment that the parasite-like thing that had been brutally forcing its way between her legs had finally left her body. Her sweat-soaked head naturally fell back. Her entire body, which had been tightly stiffened, went limp as if having exerted all its strength.

Waaah!

Beyond her fading consciousness, she seemed to hear the cry of a baby spreading. That sound didn’t feel real. It was the bloodline of a demon. But it cried like that, like a human?

“Do you want to see it?”

Kahn asked. Renie let out uneven breaths and turned her head to the other side. It was a refusal expressed through action. She didn’t want to see it, not even as a gesture.

It was bound to be unlike a human. With horns on its head or eyes as red as blood. It was obvious that it would be no different from the appearance of the attendants she had seen countless times here. Even if it wasn’t those things, there would surely be a monstrous aspect that would make her heart sink.

A disgusting form different from a human. If she saw it with her own eyes, she really felt like she would go insane. Even her already terribly shattered mind would surely be completely crushed into fragments.

“You should see it.”

A voice filled with a greasy smile sent chills down her spine. He was probably trying to drag her into some other horrific mire again. It was a suggestion that felt like nothing but ruthless intent.

So Renie only slowly blinked her heavy eyelids, as if an additional weight had been placed on them.

As she refused the baby she had just given birth to, the bedroom that had turned into a delivery room was quickly tidied up. Renie lay limp, powerless against the hand that unhesitatingly reached between her legs. In her weakened state, she didn’t even have the mental energy to resist the touch of the demons she usually detested.

It was then.

Her eyelids were so heavy that she spent more time with them closed than open. Nevertheless, even in those short moments, that existence was deeply embedded in her vision.

It was a coincidence. The baby in the arms of the female attendant caught her eye.

She hadn’t seen the entire figure. In this place, all black, the pure white swaddling clothes seemed alien. Through the gap, a small hand, like a maple leaf, caught her attention.

“……Just a moment.”

As soon as she gazed at it, Renie’s lips parted on their own. Her voice, as thin as a thread, stopped the female attendant who was about to quickly leave with the baby at Kahn’s command.

You mustn’t look.

The despair nestled in her heart whispered to her.

What would you do by looking? The hand might look human. You know better than anyone how cunningly those evil beings deceive people. The appearance revealed after lifting the cloth might be so terrible that you wouldn’t be able to bear it without screaming.

So don’t look. Just let it go. Send it away without seeing it. Ignore it. Turn away. Disregard it!

“Closer…….”

Her hoarse voice, strained to the limit, sounded like rusty iron. The female attendant came closer. Renie’s entire attention was focused solely on the swaddling clothes, so much so that she didn’t even mind the attendant’s horns, which she usually loathed.

The female attendant carefully lifted the soft cloth. That movement was imprinted on Renie’s retina very slowly. Soon, the being that had been waving its small hand, peeking out, filled her vision.

“…….”

That, that life, was so different from what she had expected.

As her due date approached, Renie had terrible nightmares every time she fell asleep. In them, she saw her own figure. Between her legs, collapsed while clutching her swollen belly like a burial mound, bright red blood flowed out like a fountain. And sitting between her legs was a small monster. It was a bizarre appearance that went far beyond what she could simply imagine.

But as if proving that it was just a baseless fear, the baby… the baby…

It looks… human.

It was no different from her.

Flickering pupils, a prominent nose, smacking lips. Fair skin. Small hands and feet. She couldn’t find the black horns or blood-red eyes that made her shudder. Even the pupils, wielding a strange light like a barrier, were a clear green, proving it was born from her womb.

She couldn’t see any other strange features. It was just a baby that had just seen the light of the world.

Her lungs, which had been swollen to bursting with fear, deflated completely. That gave birth to another kind of fear within her. Renie’s pupils shook aimlessly, then she abruptly turned her head as if she hadn’t seen anything.

In that state, she barely managed to pull the blanket up and cover herself. It was a habit she had developed since coming here, an unconscious reaction to escape reality. It was the same now.

Renie wanted to run away from the strange sensation blooming in her heart.

And Kahn, standing silently on one side of the bedroom, had been watching that entire scene. His gleaming red eyes were eerily unsettling, as if harboring some kind of scheme.

________________________________________

A peculiar change occurred in the bedroom used only by the king and his bride.

A golden cradle adorned with snake decorations that seemed to climb like vines had been placed in one corner. It exuded a unique presence in this otherwise dim place, like an isolated object.

However, it wasn’t the glittering cradle that bothered Renie.

It was the small thing wriggling inside it.

The baby she had birthed in pain, but had never once held or looked at closely, constantly irritated her nerves. Despite Renie’s pleas to send it elsewhere, Kahn remained unmoved. Thus, she had to spend every day with this small life.

The baby, befitting the heir to the next king, received the utmost care. A female attendant, who seemed to have neither shadow nor sound, always resided by the cradle, ensuring it lacked nothing.

Renie always faced away from the cradle with her eyes closed, but all her nerves were directed behind her. The baby’s soft breathing, replacing her own dying breaths, seeped into her heart. It was strong and vibrant, as if trying to supplement her own fading breath.

That’s why it was uncomfortable. Being sensitive meant her heart was drawn to it.

Then one day.

Waaah!

The baby’s cry violently shook the quiet bedroom. As always, she covered both ears with her hands.

Don’t cry, please, don’t cry…….

Before childbirth, the heartbeat in her womb had been eating away at her, but now it felt like the baby’s presence was driving her into distress. Having already been pushed to the edge by Kahn, the ground of reality Renie stood on was no different from a dizzying cliff. The baby was like a harsh wind blowing towards her.

But something was strange.

Usually, around the time the baby started fussing, the female attendant would appear like smoke and soothe it. Then, the wailing that broke the eerie silence would gradually subside. This series of events, which usually occurred like a set routine, showed no signs of happening today.

It was because of the female attendant’s absence.

The sound of the door that should have been heard by now wasn’t there. The baby cried loudly as if begging for its discomfort to be acknowledged quickly. Renie’s thin body, lying with its back turned away, twitched. The louder the crying, the more her heart seemed to sink.

In the end, the sound of the door opening wasn’t heard, and when she came to her senses, she had already raised her upper body. Nevertheless, Renie was still on the bed, and stepping onto the floor felt like a very distant task. It actually took quite a long time for her to perform that action.

“…….”

Her two feet, as pale as her complexion, touched the carpeted floor. The process of putting strength in her legs and standing up felt like a very long time. As if proving this, she collapsed as soon as she took one step. Her entire legs had no strength. The muscles within her skin felt as if they weren’t her own.

Since being trapped here, her movement had been extremely limited, and before and after childbirth, she had only been lying down, so it seemed her leg muscles had atrophied.

The shackle on Renie’s ankle emitted a chilling clanging sound. Perhaps she had become accustomed to even that cold sensation, as she calmly braced herself on the floor and stood up.

Clink with one step. Clink with another step.

Was this how a prisoner felt walking towards their cell? As if warning against the action Renie was about to take, a cold trail was left behind her footsteps. But now, even the nauseating sound of the chains wasn’t heard. From the moment the cradle existed, all of Renie’s nerves had been focused solely on the baby.

So naturally, she had no way of noticing that the length of the chains, which were so limited that she couldn’t move far from the bed, had subtly increased.

Getting out of bed felt like an eternity, but reaching the cradle was instantaneous. Perhaps it was because Renie’s heart was pounding as if it would burst at any moment. The heart she thought had already turned ashen and lost its beat was beating so fiercely.

Waaah-aahng.

Standing in front of the cradle, her vision, which had been blurry the whole time, became a little clearer.

Renie still felt like the memory of that day was a dream. The day of childbirth. The one that had made its home in her womb and breathed there for months was clearly the child of a demon. Kahn’s snickering voice, mentioning his bloodline every time they had intercourse, still echoed in her ears. So it was obvious that it would be at least as hideous as Kahn.

The baby she had inadvertently glanced at was closer to a human than a demon. She couldn’t believe it at all, so it felt faint, like a dream. First, there was surprise, then bewilderment, and then denial.

That couldn’t be. How could the evil that Kahn had planted within me…….

“……Baby.”

The baby, crying loudly with tearful eyes, paused as if it had heard her calling.

Its eyes, resembling Renie’s when she had been full of life, stared blankly at the mother outside the cradle. Then, even though it had only seen its mother once since birth, it smiled brightly as if recognizing her. It was as if its crying all along was proof that its mother had been urging it to look at her even once.

Last time, she had turned her head away, pretending not to see, but she couldn’t do that this time. She couldn’t feel anything terrible that would make her disgusted from the small baby that looked less than half her size. On the contrary, it was so ordinary that she wanted to rub her eyes.

“Heuu…….”

Renie, who had been quietly looking down at the baby staring at her like a flower looking at the sun, soon lost strength in her legs and slumped down.

<A life conceived between a king and a human, to establish that half-human, half-demon as the next king of the Demon Realm.>

<That half-human, half-demon will probably be an entity with tremendous power capable of encompassing both this place and the Demon Realm entirely. So keeping him alive will surely be a disaster for this world.>

Disaster…….

How could this lovely thing be a disaster?

Far from being a disaster, it was so lovely she couldn’t even turn her eyes away. Its small and neat features. Its dainty hands and feet, its wriggling movements, all of it captivated her gaze completely.

The joy of having someone like her exist in this dark world, the relief that the baby she had given birth to didn’t have a grotesque appearance, surged through her ravaged insides like a storm. These were the diverse positive sensations she thought she would never feel again.

Renie had been fearing this sensation all along.

Now, even harboring hope was terrifying. It was clear that that hope, the moment it was shown to Kahn, would become a tool to ensnare her in yet another way. If she couldn’t die and had to live bound to him for the rest of her life, she at least wanted to live without hope. If there was nothing to expect, wouldn’t there be no more falling into despair?

Nevertheless, it was relentlessly given to her like a torture she would have to endure until death.

Renie suddenly flinched. Something warm touched her hand gripping the cradle frame. Hurriedly raising her gaze, she saw the baby’s hand, which had already turned over and was grabbing her. It had a warmth that momentarily blew away the chaos inherent within her.

<Could you become my family……?>

That day when it rained. Before it became the chapel of blood.

The words she had secretly spoken to the baby, who had made its presence known even through its heartbeat, came to mind. The warmth that Renie had defined as the meaning of ‘family’ back then. This baby in front of her possessed it. That warmth she had so desperately wanted.

Her hand, which had risen and was reaching towards the baby in the cradle, was trembling. The baby, pleased that its mother was finally showing interest, giggled like a lark. Renie slid her hands under its armpits and slowly lifted its small body.

“Ah…….”

It was surprising.

Surprisingly light.

The baby was so small that it made her feel foolish for having desperately avoided it until now. And at the same time, it was warm. Holding the warmth Renie had so longed for, the baby wriggled closer to her. Its endearing demeanor could never be a threat to her.

Renie slumped down again. Nevertheless, she held the baby she had embraced tightly. She couldn’t let go. No, she didn’t want to let go.

<Then is this life… a demon?>

<It is both demon and human.>

<What does that mean?>

<It means exactly that. It was born with the blood of both. Just as we are born and grow and are influenced by our environment, so will it be.>

Her conversation with Gail, who had met a cold death at Kahn’s hands, suddenly came to mind. Gail’s resolute voice at the time echoed in her ears like tinnitus.

“……I.”

She saw herself in the fresh green eyes looking up at her, the herself from around the time she had just ascended to the papacy. This baby was her identity itself.

“I won’t let you become like that.”

It was no use being afraid now. The sprout-like hope had already grown within Renie.

“Because I will prevent you from becoming such a being.”

She would teach it the joy and happiness, the consideration and altruism that humans should naturally feel. She wouldn’t make it a being like Kahn, like the cruel demons, who only looked forward to the misfortune of others and grew by feeding on it.

“I will, I will definitely…….”

Holding the baby tightly, Renie shed hot tears that welled up to the top of her head. The baby, who had been smiling brightly, brought its hand to her cheek as if to comfort its mother’s tears. She tightly grasped that warm hand.

<It doesn’t matter if you name it as you wish.>

Kahn only cared about the fact that the baby existed here and generally didn’t have much interest in this tiny life. But that was a relief.

“Heh…… Reve.”

“…….”

“Your name is Revebrand.”

A figure from the Bible, Reve.

He falls into corruption through the temptation of evil, but repents and asks God for forgiveness, eventually washing away his sins. He was a representative figure of redemption, in that he could fall into a bad path by encountering evil but ultimately escaped.

Renie wanted this baby to be like that. Even if half of the initial evil resided within it, even if it held curiosity directly linked to that desire, she hoped that the other half’s humanitarian aspect would hold it back.

She wanted the tenacity resembling its mother, not its father, to live in its heart.

To do that, her own role was more important than anything else. A vibrant glow returned to Renie’s eyes, holding the baby, Reve, in her arms, after a very long time.