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“Your life or hers…?”

Cornelia pointed to Lesiah’s temple while she waited for Lilith’s answer to her question in silence.

“I’m amused. Do you think threatening me with someone I’ve only known for a few days would work?” Lilith scoffed, “I’m not a saintess.”

“I don’t know if it will work, but it’s definitely worth a try. It’s not like I’m going to lose anything from giving it a try.”

“…..”

For a moment, the world seemed to have gone quiet. Almost everyone was holding their breaths, waiting for Lilith’s answer.

Cornelia looked up, but she was staring off into the distance.

“I hope you’ll make up your mind soon. Time’s… running out.”

“Running out?”

Lilith’s eyes narrowed slightly at Cornelia’s comment. Perhaps Lesiah’s conjecture from earlier was right all along?

She secretly clenched her fists, as thoughts flashes through her mind.

“I’d advise you to refrain from trying anything funny. I can easily blow her head.”

“Hehe, who are you kidding with? Do you think I’m capable of doing that in my current state? Besides, there’s no way my ancestor would lend me his strength in this kind of situation.”

Lilith shrugged, then fell silent.

They were already stuck in a stalemate… a dead knot. With Lesiah’s capture, this was akin to adding a lock to the dead knot. The dead knot would be hard to untie, but not the lock. All she needed was just a tiny key.

And Lesiah’s life was that tiny key.

However, even with the lock unlocked, the dead knot would still remain and everything would return to square one. Lilith simply couldn’t help but wonder what was the point of Cornelia threatening her this way.

“I assure you that there’s a point to all this. If you choose your own life, I’ll let you go. But you will be given only two days. If the passage remains sealed after two days, then I will hunt all of you down and murder you,” Cornelia explained, as though she could read Lilith’s thoughts.

“If that’s the case, why not let both of us go?”
“Because I still have some kind of hope in my heart, of course.”
“Hope?”

A smile tugged at Cornelia’s lips. “Hope that you’d choose her life. In that case, it will be a lot easier for me. I assure you that I will keep my word. As long as you choose her, I promise I won’t kill her. Anyway, she alone doesn’t have much impact on this world. By then, I’ll even personally send her out of here.”

Lilith took a deep breath. Cornelia indeed made a rather tempting offer.

“Lilith, don’t mind me! Just go!”

All of a sudden, Lesiah found a burst of strength to break herself free from the captivity of those strange hands and bashed her head right into Cornelia’s chest.

“OOOFFFT!”

Lesiah, who already didn’t have much strength left in her in the first place, recoiled from the impact. But Cornelia reached out and grabbed her by the hair.

“You really made the wrong move,” she said coldly.

She dragged her nail lightly along Lesiah’s wound, reviving a stream of blood. Lesiah endured the pain and looked at Lilith instead.

She spoke with great difficulty, “Hurry up and go… Time is almost up… As long as…”

Then she suddenly fell silent, as though something got stuck in her throat. She could only let out meaningless whimpers.

“Looks like you have made your choice…”

Cornelia looked at Lilith. Lilith hung her head, with a defeated look on her face. A satisfied smile finally broke across Cornelia’s face.

“I must say that I find it amazing to see both of you so readily sacrificing yourselves for each other.”
“Is that so?”

Lilith snapped her head up. Her golden dragon eyes shone brighter than ever before.

“If you know that already, why do you still have your filthy hands on her?”

As Lilith’s aura intensified, a giant phantom loomed behind her.

It shocked Cornelia. Just when she was about to react, she suddenly felt herself sinking. She felt like a mortal having cement poured on her. She couldn’t move at all. Not only that, she could feel a terrible pressure acting on her body.

“A LAW?!”

Cornelia immediately realized that she had been tricked by Lilith, and her so-called ancestor. But it was already too late. Even with the power that didn’t belong to the mortal realm surging around her body, she couldn’t get herself out of the trap.

Lilith rushed toward her, pulled Lesiah away by the waist then smacked Cornelia on her breasts.

“Useless fats!” She spat, before turning around and ran off.

……
……
…….
…….

“Why did you save me?”
“Do I need a reason to do that?”
“Is that so? I guess you’ll have to pay a great price for using this power that doesn’t belong to you.” Lesiah rested her forehead on Lilith’s shoulder with a conflicted look on her face.
“No way. My ancestor can’t possibly charge me!”

[ Of course, I won’t. But it is indeed a great price. ] Gerald’s voice popped into her mind.

“Why do you guys like doing this?!”
“Hm, what?”
“Oh, nothing…”

It was only at this moment Lilith realized that she had accidentally spoken aloud. So she quickly switched the conversation to her mind.

“I’m talking about how you all like to suddenly speak in my mind! You scared me to death!”

[ My foolish descendant. The people thou referred to, which of them is human? ]　

“…..”

[ Then please refrain from making such childish remarks. Knowing how tough you are, I’m sure you’ll still be alive and kicking even if your heart rate goes up to a few thousands beats per minute. ]　

“…Fine. Let’s not talk about that anymore. So what was the price that you mentioned?”

[ It’s nothing really. But you may need to be more careful, my descendant. ]　
“Be careful about what?”

[ You musn’t let this world be destroyed. ]　

“Again? Can you guys stop beating around the bush?! It’s very annoying!”

[ Just should be paying more attention to that lovely beauty in your arms. She is probably feeling very lost in her life right now. This is the best time to take advantage of her. ]　

“F̲U̲C̲K̲ OFF!”

Gerald chuckled mischievously. [ You should thank this lovely beauty. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have helped you. After all, the purpose of my phantom is to protect you at critical moments. But as a gentleman, how could I possibly leave a damsel in distress? ]　

“So you’re saying… this lovely beauty matters a lot more to you than me, your descendant…?”

[……]　

“Hey, that was only a casual question! Why aren’t you saying anything! ”

[……]　

Lilith’s cheeks twitched. This damn old fool, I hope your harem catches fire and you get ripped apart by grannies there!

“So, is there really a great price to pay?” Lesiah asked sadly.

She had mistaken Lilith’s reaction for being troubled.

“I told you, there isn’t any price. Can you stop guessing?”

“Really?”

“Of course! If I lied to you, then my ancestor is a shameless b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲! You’ll believe me now right?”

“Fine, I believe you.”

Lesiah nodded but suddenly asked, “Hey, why are you suddenly being so nice to me now, Lilith?”

“Am I? I’ve always been nice to beautiful girls. What do you mean by suddenly?”

“That’s not it. In the very beginning, you’ve definitely been a meanie to me even though you have saved me many times. I had a feeling at that time that you would abandon me if we were ever in mortal danger. But now… you’re actually risking your life for me…”

The princess lifted her head and gazed into Lilith’s eyes, looking as though she was expecting an immediate answer.