Volume 2, Chapter 2 – Laxia Ritual

“Ah!”

Stella jolted awake.

Her eyes snapped open, and all she saw was dazzling white. A faint medicinal scent lingered in the air around her.

The rare sense of peace and security involuntarily reminded Stella of her comfortable life at the monastery.

Sun-dried linen, the scent of ink and paper from old scriptures, and the smell of cheap rye bread fresh from the kitchen oven.

She would wake to the bells of morning prayer, idly sweep fallen leaves from the courtyard, or simply hide in the confessional and sneak in a nap.

No succubus classmates eyeing her like prey, no spy mission fraught with danger.

“So it really was a dream. I knew it.”

Stella muttered to herself as her tense shoulders relaxed.

She had just had an utterly ridiculous nightmare.

In the dream, she had somehow become an SSS+ succubus genius, accidentally ended up as President of the Lionheart Society, gone into the forbidden forest and beaten up the Lord of the Forest, and even gotten saddled with the false identities of an illegitimate Valentine daughter and the Pale Daughter…

At the end, the Principal had actually worn a nightcap and solemnly declared that she wanted to take Stella as her apprentice and teach her to become the Queen of Eternal Night.

How could something like that possibly happen? No matter how she looked at it, it was far too ridiculous. Even the boldest fantasy novelist wouldn’t dare write something like this, or they’d be sent to the stake by an inquisitor within minutes.

‘Anyway, I’m just a humble spy who failed the civil service exam and was forced to come to the Demon Realm to scrape together a living.’

After complaining to herself, Stella prepared to roll over and go back to sleep.

Then she heard someone beside her call softly.

“You’re awake, Elder Sister?”

Stella stiffly rolled over.

Right beside her, in front of the infirmary curtains, her newly acquired little sister Cheryl Valentine sat on a bench, casually resting her cheek on one hand as she looked Stella over.

“…”

Stella rolled over again and refused to look at her.

Fine. She took back everything she had just said.

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Everything in that dream had been real. It was reality she had absolutely no way to escape.

No matter how deeply she buried her head in the pillow, it wouldn’t change the fact that she had gone from a simple undercover spy to someone bearing three identities at once.

An illegitimate daughter of the Valentine family.

The Principal’s personal disciple.

And the Pale Daughter.

“What are you doing here?” Stella asked casually.

“Obviously, I came to see how you were doing. The story about you and Remedios encountering a demon-dust explosion while walking at night is simply too unusual. If Principal Gehenna hadn’t said it herself, I’m afraid no one would have believed it.”

‘A demon-dust explosion?’

The corner of Stella’s mouth twitched.

Principal Gehenna’s talent for making up excuses was every bit as lacking as her height.

“Come to think of it, you’ve finally woken up after sleeping for several days. Seems your constitution isn’t anything special,” Cheryl said as she leaned down, her long red hair spilling beside Stella’s pillow. “You know, the Book Demon girl in the bed next to yours already woke up half a watch ago.”

‘A Saintess and a succubus had completely different constitutions. Don’t compare them for no reason…’

Stella sat up and looked around.

Sure enough, she spotted a pale purple note at the head of the empty bed beside hers.

Only Remedios’ elegant, neat handwriting was written on it.

【I’m feeling a little unwell, so I’ve gone back to the dormitory first. PS: Meet me in the abandoned cellar during the next Faust Watch. I have something important to discuss with you.】

‘Remedios wants me to meet her?’

‘What does she want?’

Stella froze for a moment.

‘Forget it. At least Remedios was fine.’

After everything that had happened on this trip, Stella owed Remedios a huge favor. She had no idea how she was supposed to repay it later.

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“Right, Principal Gehenna told me to remind you to go see her in the principal’s office after you woke up. She said she has something to explain to you,” Cheryl continued.

“Got it.” Stella resignedly put on her shoes and prepared to leave.

“Don’t rush off yet. There’s one more thing.” Cheryl immediately stopped her.

“What?”

“Hehe, I heard it all,” she said bluntly. “I heard everything about that speech you gave at the Lionheart Society.”

“…”

Stella’s footsteps halted.

She was speechless.

‘Remedios was one thing, but why had Cheryl been eavesdropping too?’

‘What the hell…’

Just how many people had been eavesdropping on her speech at the Lionheart Society?

Did the whole school know by now that she intended to make demonkind great again?

“Then what is it you want to say?”

Stella slowly turned around.

“The Lionheart Society… what an ambitious name. Overthrow the rotten Electors and establish an order belonging to a new ruler. You even dared shout a slogan like making demonkind great again… Stella, your ambitions are far grander than I imagined.”

A trace of understanding gleamed in Cheryl’s blood-red eyes.

“If you want to reform the Demon Realm from the top down, a single club isn’t enough. You need power, you need a voice, you need… the seat of an Elector. And becoming Family Head of the Valentine family is the fastest and only shortcut. But you don’t have the power to defeat the Family Head, so for now, you can only lie low.”

“If I’m not mistaken,” Cheryl said, unconsciously lowering her eyes, “your next target is my position as heir to the Valentine family, isn’t it?”

“…”

Stella was speechless.

‘How had the script already turned into me wanting to reform the Demon Realm from the top down?’

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‘Demons really are completely insane.’

If they ever put these brains of theirs toward evil, the Human Realm would have fallen long ago.

“In that case, I formally accept your Laxia Ritual,” Cheryl said, raising her eyes.

Cheryl knew very well that the moment the Family Head learned of Stella’s existence, she would inevitably order the two of them to undergo the Laxia Ritual.

It was only a matter of sooner or later.

Since that was the case, she might as well tell Stella in advance so the two of them could prepare thoroughly and have a satisfying battle to the death when the time came.

If they were going to cross blades, then perhaps they should calculate how much blood they would spill.

A basin of blood?

A bucket of blood?

Or an entire vat? Perhaps even a lake of blood, a waterfall of blood, an ocean of blood?

Cheryl promised herself that she would make sure her Elder Sister enjoyed herself to the fullest. Now that she finally had someone to chase after, she would definitely become far stronger than ever before.

According to the ancient laws of Laxia, Stella, as the victor, would naturally inherit everything under Cheryl’s name after killing her.

The family’s territory and glory, mountains of demon gold coins, the resources accumulated by a thousand-year-old prestigious family…

Even the marriage alliance Cheryl had forcibly arranged with the Mammon family.

“???” Stella was stunned.

‘Hold on, hold on. Slow down. I couldn’t keep up.’

‘What Laxia Ritual?’

She had never even heard of it. It was probably just another fancy gimmick invented by demons with too much food and nothing better to do. In the end, it was nothing more than fighting under a different name.

‘Did these succubi feel uncomfortable all over if they went a single day without fighting?’

Stella felt exhausted.

She genuinely didn’t have any spare energy to play some childish dueling game with this succubus young lady.

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She would just brush her off.

“Mhm, mhm, mhm.” Stella nodded repeatedly. “If you think changing the name will change the result, then go ahead and try.”

She lingered no longer and quickly strode through the corridor, her silver hair disappearing into the shadows around the corner.

“…She actually agreed without the slightest hesitation.”

“That arrogant posture, that matter-of-fact tone… she didn’t even bother confirming what the ritual entails?”

“As expected, even the position of family heir is nothing more than a stepping stone Elder Sister can casually kick aside.”

Cheryl Valentine stood alone where she was, staring in the direction Stella had disappeared.

She stroked the spot on her skin where the wound had already completely healed, the very place where Elder Sister had stabbed her during their duel.

The pain had once brought her pleasure.

Crushed beneath absolute power, conquered by a superior bloodline.

Only an Elder Sister like that was worthy of the Valentine name.

Only an Elder Sister like that was worthy of stepping over her corpse and being crowned ruler.

“I can’t wait…”

Cheryl whispered softly.

“Bathe in my blood and claim your crown.”

“Elder Sister.”

Translator Note

I can’t tell whether Cheryl is a masochist or a yandere TvT