Volume 1, Chapter 19 – Are There Any Normal People in the Demon Realm?

Back to the matter at hand.

If customers were options she could freely check off a list, Stella would absolutely draw a huge red X over the name Cheryl Valentine, then toss both the person and the paper into the fireplace and burn them to ashes.

This was not due to any kind of racial discrimination, but rather an instinctive warning.

She had the distinct feeling that certain circuits in the head of this eldest daughter of the Valentine family might be even more… unique than those of all the previous succubi combined.

Perhaps because Stella had spent so many years secluded in a convent and cut off from worldly affairs, she could not quite put her finger on exactly what felt wrong, but her instincts had been screaming at her the entire time.

Stay away from her.

Besides, Stella was already filled with pent-up irritation because her previous confessions had been far too “successful.”

Her brain was trembling, her fists were itching, and she truly had no spare energy left to play some childish game of reading minds with a young lady from a prestigious family.

‘Refuse her. I have to refuse her. For the sake of my own mental state, I absolutely could not take this job… this confession.’

Stella took a deep breath and prepared to show her out.

Thud.

A heavy pouch of demon crystals landed directly on the table.

The fragrance of money.

‘Mm…’

Perhaps a young lady from a prestigious family has troubles of her own that needed to be heard.

Stella’s creed was that she could never abandon any lost lamb!

‘…Damn Inquisitor.’

Stella cursed through gritted teeth in her heart.

If that bastard had not cut her operational funding and forced a dignified Saintess like her to bow her head for the sake of putting food on the table, why would she ever have to endure this humiliation?

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The tragic part was that Stella’s thoroughly tempered fake smile was more than enough to conceal what she was truly thinking.

Maintaining her aloof facade, she let out a deep sigh and said.

“Then, is there anything you would like to tell me?”

The door closed.

Moonlight filtered through the carved wooden lattice window, casting mottled shadows across the floor. The room was exceptionally quiet, and the commotion outside the door seemed to have been sealed away, unable to penetrate inside.

Stella pointed toward the chair, indicating for her to sit.

Cheryl did not sit.

She crossed her arms and swept her gaze around Stella’s private dormitory before letting out a mocking laugh.

“Tell you something? Stop pretending, Stella.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.” Stella’s fake smile stiffened slightly.

“Your interrogation room is too clean.” Cheryl’s eyes were filled with mockery. “No torture instruments, no arrays, not even the smell of blood.”

“…”

Stella took a deep breath.

“This really is just a counseling room. I’m only responsible for listening…”

“Listening?” Cheryl planted both hands on the table and leaned forward. “Just listening? Do you take me for one of those gullible freshmen outside?”

She pointed toward the door.

“That freshman just now looked like she’d been brainwashed and was about to go fight a duel to the death, and you’re telling me you were only listening? You obviously use counseling as an excuse to seduce and control them in order to satisfy your own bloodthirsty desires.”

“They simply have strong comprehension skills. I genuinely have no intentions toward you whatsoever.”

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Stella’s temples throbbed violently.

Yet she had absolutely no idea how deeply those words wounded Cheryl’s pride.

‘Why…’

‘Why did those idiotic freshmen get to enjoy being brainwashed into fighting duels to the death?!’

Yet when Stella faced her, the noble eldest daughter of House Valentine, she withdrew all of her fangs.

‘This is utter contempt!’

She clearly thought Cheryl was too weak to endure true darkness, that she was not even qualified to make Stella dirty her hands.

“No intentions toward me whatsoever? You think I’m not worthy of making you use your methods? You think I can’t endure that kind of torture? Or do you think I’m only fit to drink your cold tea and chat with you?”

“I’ll say it again. We’re only chatting—”

“Liar!”

In the blink of an eye, Cheryl’s gaze became even colder.

“Don’t think you can brush me off with this lukewarm nonsense. Show me what you’re really capable of. Treat me the way you tortured them! Destroy me the way you destroyed them! Let me see your darkness. Let me see your fangs!”

“…”

Stella was genuinely reaching her limit.

She looked at Cheryl standing right in front of her, at those eyes filled with mockery, at that mouth that clearly would not shut up unless someone gave her a beating.

The string inside Stella’s heart snapped.

“Since you’re asking for it so insistently…” Stella said softly.

Then she curled all five fingers into a fist.

The next second, Stella drove power through her waist and shoulder, pouring all the resentment she had accumulated throughout the morning into one plain and unadorned uppercut.

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“THEN SHUT UP AND FEEL IT PROPERLY!!!”

Smack!

The punch slammed squarely into Cheryl’s completely unguarded lower abdomen.

Cheryl’s expression froze.

She clutched her stomach with both hands, her legs went weak, and she dropped to her knees in front of Stella, her forehead striking heavily against the floor.

Stella remained frozen in her punching stance.

‘That felt good.’

‘That felt so damn good…!’

Throwing that one punch felt more refreshing than conducting Mass ten times. Stella felt all the pent-up frustration clogging her chest vanish into thin air.

She did not care about gender when she hit someone.

She only cared whether they were asking for a beating.

But Stella quickly realized what she had just done.

Looking at Cheryl, who had been kneeling on the floor for quite some time without getting back up, Stella’s face instantly went pale, and she hurriedly withdrew her hand.

“Um… Miss Valentine, are you all right?”

‘It’s over…’

She had punched her benefactor.

She had punched the eldest daughter of the Valentine family.

She had committed school violence!

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Granted, she had already made Cheryl kneel before her once, but this was the first time she had actually laid hands on her in private. What if Cheryl’s family found out afterward and silenced Stella permanently…

No, forget afterward.

‘Cheryl definitely wanted to kill me right now!’

Unexpectedly, however, a strangely sickly flush appeared on Cheryl’s face, which had gone deathly pale and twisted from the intense pain.

“No… No magical power…”

Cheryl panted, one hand clutching her stomach while the other trembled as it reached toward Stella and grabbed the hem of her skirt.

“You actually… actually abandoned all those flashy spells… and directly used such a primitive method… to give me the most genuine pain…”

“Is this… your method of torture?”

“Ah… Stella… you really… didn’t disappoint me…”

Stella: “???”

She looked at her own fist, which was still faintly aching, then looked at Cheryl’s strange expression.

Then Stella expressionlessly took one step backward.

‘Are there any normal people in the Demon Realm?’

Translator Note

I knew it! She is a masochist! HAHAHAHAH XD