Volume 1, Chapter 79 – Mas—ter?

Gehenna felt as though she had exhausted all her strength, all her senses, and all the immense sorrow she had once believed would never surface again.

After personally killing her beloved disciple, she had thought she had already reached the very summit of sorrow in all the years she had lived, and that from then on, no undercurrent of emotion could ever compare to it.

Yet she had never truly been able to accept what had happened. The pain buried in the deepest part of her heart had simply stopped hurting at some point and gone numb.

The one she killed wasn’t Vilpana.

The one she killed was herself.

That blade had pierced straight through her own heart. Just like that, she died, and once dead, she remained dead for many years.

She kept herself so busy that her feet barely touched the ground, exhausting both her body and mind, but none of it could relieve the pressure weighing upon her spirit.

Shrouded in numbness, her life became predictable.

Busier and busier, working day and night, chasing fame and profit, sick to death of it yet unable to break free, controlled by it all the same. Her days passed one after another in a dreary mixture of boredom and things that kept her too busy to feel bored.

There was nothing left.

Nothing but numb indifference. She wasn’t even herself anymore. Every time she came face-to-face with her memories, she chose to avoid them and take another path. Over time, busyness drowned out everything she felt.

Gehenna had thought she could cast aside everything about Vilpana, but just as the wise once said, the more one tried to escape fate, the more likely one was to run straight into it halfway down the road.

Gehenna lowered her lashes and looked down at Stella, who was almost frightened to tears.

The truth could not be erased. Some things, once they happened, had happened.

Vilpana’s daughter.

The child of the Pale Lord.

The Young Mistress of the Ash Drinkers.

The original flower of sin in the Abyss.

Stella Darkfallen.

At first, it had only been a simple resemblance, but now everything was completely different. Whether it was Mara’s declaration before her defection or the pale light that had erupted within the forbidden forest, Gehenna had witnessed it all.

Whenever Gehenna encountered Stella, or thought of anything concerning Vilpana, she ceased to be herself.

She did not need emotions she could not control. They interfered with her composure and calm.

So Gehenna needed to make a decision.

‘What should I do with you now, Stella Darkfallen?’

Kill you?

Spare you?

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Or hand you over to the Archdemons of the Nexus Council and let them decide?

“Stella, tell me, why did you believe Mara’s poisonous words and come here?” Gehenna touched Stella’s cheek and spoke very, very softly.

‘…Why had I believed those poisonous words?’

Stella blinked.

She couldn’t exactly come right out and say that she wanted to steal the Eye of the Black Mass in order to suppress the Sanctity of the Heart.

‘How am I supposed to explain that?’

And in front of Gehenna, who seemed capable of detecting lies, she really couldn’t bring herself to lie either.

“I didn’t have any other choice,” Stella raised her eyes and answered truthfully. “I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do.”

“…Didn’t know what to do?” Gehenna murmured.

She still detected no trace of a lie.

Was it because Stella had accidentally learned about her origins and become lost because of it?

Of course. In the end, Stella was still just a confused child. All she wanted was to find her place in the world, and that was why she had been drawn toward everything Vilpana had left behind.

Gehenna remembered the childish words Stella had once said to her in the principal’s office.

——Because I want to prove that I won’t change my original resolve just because I’m misunderstood, won’t doubt my beliefs just because I’m neglected, and won’t slow my steps just because I grow old. I’ll still be the same person I was at the beginning. I’ve never changed.

She said childish things and did childish things. Such a childish girl, yet also so strong, overflowing with vitality, with an entire future still ahead of her.

Gehenna silently looked at Remedios in Stella’s arms.

And it was also true that Stella had risked herself to save her friend after the Lord of the Forest captured her.

Vilpana would never have done such a thing. Once someone had served their purpose, they no longer mattered to her. She could discard them as casually as a useless tool. Perhaps she would put on a show in front of others, but she would absolutely never allow herself to be dragged into danger alongside them.

If Stella’s personality had been identical to Vilpana’s, Gehenna would not have hesitated this much.

But now, it was difficult to say.

And Mara had obviously guessed this very thing about her, which was why she had fled without hesitation.

“Professor?”

Stella looked at Gehenna in confusion.

The power to decide whether she lived or died was now entirely in Gehenna’s hands, while Stella had absolutely no idea what she was thinking.

It was pretty terrifying.

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“Now that you understand your origins, do you know what they represent?” Gehenna said calmly.

“Mm…”

Stella hesitated. First she nodded, then vigorously shook her head.

She could barely say she understood, but in reality, the “origins” Gehenna was talking about were entirely something Mara had made up and convinced herself was true. Stella couldn’t possibly shoulder a title that sounded heavy enough to crush someone to death.

“Can I just… not know?” Stella said softly.

She really only wanted to live a peaceful life as a spy.

‘This whole Pale Lord thing genuinely had nothing to do with me!’

“No, of course you have to know,” Gehenna said even more calmly. “You are the embers of the old era, a flower of sin that must be extinguished.”

“To the Seven Electors, you are the sole variable capable of shaking the legal foundation of their rule.”

“Once that news leaks out, the Archdemons who have lived for thousands of years will kill you without the slightest hesitation to ensure that the existing order is not overturned.”

“And to the Ash Drinkers…”

Gehenna glanced in the direction where Mara had disappeared.

“You aren’t really some noble Young Mistress either. You’re merely a vessel used to resurrect the Pale Lord. Nothing more.”

Stella didn’t dare speak anymore.

‘Stop talking. Please stop talking.’

She was genuinely about to be scared stupid.

Stella truly hadn’t expected the black pot Mara had dumped on her head to not only be this dark and this heavy, but to come with built-in aggro as well.

On the left was the executioner’s blade of the Electors. On the right was the altar of fanatical believers. And in front of her was the judge of the previous terrorist.

‘Why did every possible direction lead to death…’

Stella was going numb.

“Then… Professor, what do you intend to do with me?” She asked.

The moment the words left her mouth, Stella unconsciously clenched the hem of her robe.

Execute her on the spot and eliminate any possibility of the Pale Lord’s restoration?

Or hand her over to some council so those ancient monsters could slice her apart for research?

Either way, for an impostor who was a Saintess to her very bones, it was a bad end.

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“…What do I intend to do with you?”

Gehenna stared at Stella, watching as the girl’s pure and slightly confused face was bathed in moonlight.

Stella’s very existence was like “her” from Gehenna’s memories, the embodiment of sublimity and catastrophe, yet also the mandrake candy she had pursued for so many years.

“Weren’t you going to become the Queen of Eternal Night?” Gehenna said instead.

Huh?’

Stella froze.

‘When had I ever said something like that?’

‘…Wait.’

Dead memories suddenly began attacking her.

Stella abruptly remembered that back on the podium during the Lionheart Society’s founding speech, in order to intimidate those unruly demon students and maintain her unfathomable persona, she seemed to, really had, probably… shouted slogans about “overthrowing the Electors” and “establishing a new order”?

‘No, wait. Why had the topic suddenly jumped all the way over here?’

‘Weren’t they just discussing whether Principal Gehenna should report me?’

“Then…” Gehenna paused. “From now on, I will be your master.”

“Since you harbor the ambition to overthrow the existing order, and since you bear the Pale Lord’s bloodline, then do it under my guidance. I will not report you, but I will watch you, teach you, restrain you, and make you into a true ruler.”

“That is my decision, Stella Darkfallen.”

Gehenna cupped Stella’s cheeks with both hands.

For a fleeting instant, she saw Vilpana once again. A red sacred relic sword pierced through the Pale Lord’s chest, nailing her to a black cliff. The wind stirred Vilpana’s silver-white hair and white magical robe, making them flutter like an enormous silver flower.

And Gehenna’s eyes were icy, her gaze as sharp as an executioner’s blade sprayed with a mist of liquor before the sentence was carried out.

“…Huh?”

Stella stared blankly at Gehenna’s solemn expression.

‘Mas…ter?’

‘The principal wants to take me as a disciple?’

‘And she was even going to teach me how to become a ruler?’

But the problem was that she was a Saintess. A spy. And the foremost Archdemon was going to personally teach her, a Saintess, step by step how to become the Queen of Eternal Night?

‘What kind of hellish joke was this?!’

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‘Oh… I am already in hell.’

In any case, Stella was so overwhelmed that she passed out.

She had already been unavoidably weakened to the point of fainting after using Holy Light Eruption. With this excessive bombardment of information on top of that, she unsurprisingly rolled her eyes as her legs went limp.

‘It’s over. This time I really had…’

Boarded the pirate ship and could no longer get off.

Author Note

With this part of the story finished, Volume 1 officially comes to an end here.

Although I normally don’t have much of a habit of dividing stories into volumes and originally wanted to write straight through to the end, the sense of a transitional turning point here was simply too strong. Separating it into its own volume serves both as a conclusion to this stage and as a sign that the protagonist will officially step into the center of power within the Abyss and begin being forced to inherit what belongs to her.

For the upcoming Volume 2, I want to try fully opening up the grander scope of the story. The undercurrents among the major families, the Saintess’ struggles, the reunion of the Ash Drinkers, the Holy See’s movements, and the gradual introduction of the opposing Saintess segment that I’ve been extremely excited about.

After all, the synopsis pays homage to infernal affairs. A story about undercover agents just feels like it’s missing its soul without an eventual confrontation in the sanctuary.

Translator Note

Aanndd, that’s the end of Volume 1: Succubus Rebirth!

So, how many main plotlines do we have now~?

Valentine’s internal affairs.

Pale Lord’s revival by Ash Drinker.

Revolution for a new Queen of Eternal Night.

That should be all? Is there anything I missed? xD

Anyway, the author notes above… Does that mean we can expect the double agent moment? Really, I’d feel embarrassed if there’s no double agent plot in the entire novel even though I already gave this novel the nickname Double Agent Succubus…

So, I don’t care how many volumes it will take, but please author, stay true to the synopsis and give us double agent plot TvT