Volume 2, Chapter 26-2 – Dragon Girl Guardian

As she moved through the dark corridors, she felt strangely dreamlike. Not like a dream at night, but like one of those shallow dreams during an afternoon nap, as though she were briefly swaying somewhere between awareness and delirium.

Oddly enough, however, she did not feel tired at all.

The location Remedios had given her was far more remote than Stella had expected.

It was in the rearmost tower of Lilith School, in an area that was practically abandoned.

Compared with the ceaseless nighttime clamor elsewhere in the school, this place was eerily deserted.

The walls on both sides of the corridor were covered with practice pieces left behind by art students from previous years. Most were coated in dust, making their actual contents impossible to make out.

That was only natural.

The Abyss was nothing like the Human Realm, where years could pass in peace and tranquility. For the demons who lived here, rather than studying boring things like light, shadow, and composition, they were far more inclined to obey their instincts and dominate, enslave, and slaughter.

Most demons never once looked beyond their desires before the day they died.

After turning a corner, Stella stopped.

She saw a petite figure sitting on the windowsill at the end of the corridor.

It was Dorothy.

The Lionheart Society’s Propaganda Officer, who normally ran around excitedly handing out flyers everywhere, was now quietly curled up in the shadows.

A drawing board rested across her knees. Stroke after stroke traced lines across the page, gradually bringing darkness to the white paper with a soft scratching sound.

“Dorothy, what are you doing here?”

Stella walked a few steps closer and asked softly.

“President?”

Dorothy instinctively raised her head. A trace of panic flashed through the eyes hidden behind her round-framed glasses, like a kitten caught sneaking food.

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She instinctively tried to hide the drawing board, but after seeing that it was Stella, she slowly relaxed again.

“This is the old gallery for the Art Department. Hardly anyone comes here anymore,” Dorothy said, pursing her lips somewhat sheepishly. “I… I usually draw here.”

‘Drawing?’

That was unusual.

Stella was a little surprised.

She leaned closer and took a look at Dorothy’s picture.

There was none of the bloodshed and slaughter so common in the Abyss. Instead, it depicted a strange geometric shape.

‘Against a black background hung a white… triangle?’

“Hmm… what did you draw?” Stella asked.

“The sun, President.” Dorothy replied very softly.

“The… sun?”

Stella stared at the triangle in the picture, momentarily at a loss for words.

“I’ve never seen it before, President.”

Dorothy reached out and gently stroked the somewhat crudely drawn triangle on the page.

“But Grandma told me that the sun is the most dazzling and scorching thing in the world.”

“It can pierce through the deepest darkness. It doesn’t just bring people life, it also brings hope. Because when it sets in the evening, everyone looks forward to seeing it rise again the next morning, along with the beginning of a new day.”

A delicate warmth flowed through her voice.

“For some reason, I seem to especially like the name ‘sun.’ I like how sweet the word sounds, and I like the feeling those sounds give me. I like closing my eyes and imagining myself turning my face toward the scorching sunlight… imagining the sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree and falling across my face. I can’t keep my eyes open, so I shift a little to hide from the sun…”

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“That feeling must be wonderful, right?”

Dorothy paused, and a slightly simple, honest smile appeared on her lips.

Stella thought about it.

No wonder Dorothy had drawn the sun as a triangle.

For a creature of the Abyss who had never seen sunlight, the sun really was nothing more than an abstract concept that existed only in legends.

‘What a… clumsy, good kid.’

“The sun isn’t triangular, and it isn’t oval either.”

In the end, Stella could not help letting out a soft laugh.

“Huh?”

Dorothy blinked. Her eyes were filled with dreamlike longing, making them look especially bright.

“Then what does the sun look like? President… have you seen the sun before?”

Dorothy did not wait for Stella’s answer and instead began murmuring to herself.

“Recently, while promoting the club, I’ve run into quite a few problems. Not every demon wants to change. They’re used to the darkness, used to killing, and they’re even proud of it.”

“So I was thinking that maybe it would be better if everyone could remember… or rather, imagine what the world beneath the sunlight is like?”

Dorothy rubbed her head in distress.

“I’ve been trying to recreate the landscapes described in ancient books, although… although my drawings don’t look very much like them.”

“I don’t know what the ocean is. I don’t know what tulips look like. I don’t know how vast the grasslands are, or how beautiful white clouds can be…”

Stella did not answer.

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She looked at the rows of paintings piled beside Dorothy.

They depicted stiff, antiquated landscapes, affected and artificial. Every single one was utterly false, clumsy, and sentimental, yet there was probably no succubus in the world more honest, sincere, and straightforward than Dorothy.

“I’ve never gazed upon the outline of the stars, nor have I touched the radiance of the moon. But that doesn’t stop me from imagining them, or from copying them.”

“I love every beautiful landscape. The words in ancient books shimmer as they flow toward me, lifting me gently before letting me drift and sink. Crystal-clear pebbles lie quietly beneath the river, while starlight shatters across the waves…”

Dorothy’s voice grew softer and softer, but her eyes became brighter and brighter.

“I used to think I would never have the chance to witness any of the things recorded in books.”

“The Abyss has nothing but endless infighting and eternal darkness. Those people who are content with things as they are roll around in the mud, then laugh at anyone who wants to look up at the stars and call them crazy.”

The girl raised her head.

For the first time, a kind of obsession appeared on her childish face.

“But when I heard your speech, President, I found hope again. Only you, only someone with your spirit, can lead us out of the Abyss and reclaim the sunlight that belongs to us!”

“It’s just…”

Dorothy hesitated before cautiously asking,

“The future you long for, President, the soil beneath the sunlight, all of that is real, isn’t it?”

The only thing that had changed was her gaze.

Although it remained clear, every so often a trace of lost bewilderment flickered within it, like a lamb that had strayed from its path.

And her slightly parted, childish lips were like a solitary flower blooming in an open field, looking terribly helpless and innocent.

‘…What a heavy gaze.’

The pressure on Stella instantly became immense.

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She suddenly felt as though, without even realizing it, she had taken something extraordinary onto her shoulders.

But this kind of trust frightened her, because in the end, deception would only hurt and destroy precisely this kind of trust.

The truth was, Stella herself did not believe a single word of what she had said at the Lionheart Society.

Making demonkind great again, soil beneath the sunlight, the manifesto to overthrow the Electors…

Every last bit of it had been a lie she had desperately woven on the spot because circumstances had forced her to keep talking.

Stella pursed her lips.

‘Wake up. It’s all a scam.’

“Anyway, the sun isn’t triangular… it’s a bit rounder. But this thing you drew… isn’t bad either.”

In the end, she could only murmur those words.

Translator Note

Damn why did I cry?! Hwaaaaa!

Such an innocent demon yearning for the sun and ocean…

It should be common sense for us to know what the sun looks like, but if we look at Dorothy’s perspective…

Ngl my tears flowing out the moment she said she never saw the sun so she drew a triangle to represent it… Hwaaaa!!