Behemoth – 7

Caecilia was resting, sitting on the bed in her room. Up to this point, her appearance was no different from usual.

That is, if you exclude the fact that her face was tinged with a slight ecstasy, and she was shuddering all over.

The reason Caecilia was like this was simple. By now, Knight Commander Iris would have arrived at Delta’s side with the imperial decree.

The arrival of the imperial decree meant that Delta would read it, and reading it meant that the events Caecilia had imagined would actually unfold.

She imagined Delta holding the letter in his hand and reading it. That simple action alone sent a strange, chilling sensation rising in her lower abdomen. Her hand, gripping the bed, tightened firmly.

A dizzying sensation slowly spread throughout her entire body, making Caecilia’s shoulders twitch. It felt as if her vision was turning pure white.

“……”

Caecilia, with a face that was half ecstasy and half arrogance, closer to a female animal than a woman, exhaled a heated breath. Warm air mixed with a sigh and escaped her mouth.

Even to herself, it was an utterly lewd act. Such thoughts churned through her mind, which was slowly beginning to feel hazy.

Caecilia was by no means ignorant of sex. Therefore, she knew very well that the emotion she was feeling right now was pleasure.

The Emperor of the Aeternum Empire, merely by recalling her past actions, was twitching her body and experiencing mental pleasure. It was something she wouldn’t dare to imagine.

For instance, gently caressing her thoroughly soaked underwear and dipping her finger in sticky honey before picking up a pen. Or deliberately carrying out the sealing process to prevent the letter from unraveling between her thighs.

Every single one of these actions was something that would never be well-received if discovered by anyone.

At first, it was an act she committed because she couldn’t contain her elation upon hearing the news that Delta had kept his word when they parted, but at some point, the roles had completely reversed.

“*Kuk*……”

As she became aware of the actions she had committed, her body twitched again. A sticky liquid seeped even deeper into her already damp underwear.

With just such an act, the evidence of pleasure that only a woman could produce was once again expelled. Even without physically touching her body.

She knew that what she was doing was absurd, even to herself. But she simply couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Once she had discovered the pleasure gained from the sense of depravity by committing an absolutely forbidden transgression, stopping now was impossible. Caecilia herself knew that fact better than anyone.

Because after she had grasped the title of Emperor, after she had personally killed all her blood relatives, light and color had reappeared in Caecilia’s world, which had only known blandness.

Just as a traveler crossing the desert cannot leave an oasis, Caecilia also could not return to that bland world.

“……Again, has it come to this?”

Caecilia slowly, very slowly, brought her right hand between her legs. She slightly bent her middle finger and gently traced the black underwear made of the finest silk.

A sticky yet transparent liquid faintly smeared onto her fingertip. If just a slight touch yielded this much, it was obvious what the inside must be like.

She wiped her sticky finger on the bed and closed her eyes. Then, she imagined the scene of her scent permeating the man’s nasal cavity.

ㅡ*Ooh-ssak!*

Caecilia’s body twitched again. The finest black silk, whose absorption capacity had reached its limit, expelled sticky, viscous liquid onto the bed.

ㅡI heard the news. You dealt with the demon called Behemoth.

The beginning was somewhat normal. At least, it didn’t seem to be a letter with just a single line telling me to go to the Holy Nation, like last time. I continued to read the contents.

ㅡI commend your achievements. A reward will soon be sent.

‘……?’

And I had finished reading.

‘What is this?’

I reread it carefully from the beginning, wondering if I had missed something, but no matter how many times I checked, those four sentences were the entire content. It was a moment that made the size of the letter paper seem meaningless.

As expected, Caecilia was still Caecilia.

‘Still, it’s nice that it’s not complicated to read… Huh?’

Suddenly, a faint scent wafted past the tip of my nose. I stopped moving. It was a scent that absolutely shouldn’t be here, and I wondered if I had smelled it wrong.

But it was too faint to confirm its identity, yet too distinct to ignore. I glanced at Iris and cautiously stirred the air in front of my nose.

A faint peach scent wafted in on the breeze.

‘…….’

I wanted to dismiss it as merely a fruit scent that had drifted in from somewhere, but the memory of first encountering this scent was far too vivid for that.

Because it was the scent I had smelled while my head was buried between Caecilia’s smooth thighs, wrapped by them, admiring her wet, black lace underwear.

Given such a shocking incident, it was only natural that the memory would resurface as soon as I smelled peaches. Who would have imagined Caecilia doing such a thing to me?

I forced myself to remain calm and opened my mouth.

“Iris, did you happen to smell any fruit scent when you brought the imperial decree?”

“Fruit scent, you say? What kind of fruit?”

“Uh… well… for example, something like peach.”

“Peach? I don’t know, but why are you asking suddenly?”

Iris tilted her head. Her attitude suggested she genuinely didn’t know.

“……It’s nothing. I misspoke.”

I quietly rolled up the imperial decree. I decided to just assume I had smelled it wrong. Yes, I must have been so desperate for fruit that I imagined a peach scent that wasn’t there.

After all, why would a letter from the Emperor smell like fruit? Surely, she wouldn’t have rubbed the letter paper against her lower body. It was an utterly absurd delusion.

“There wasn’t much content this time either. Iris, you still remember, right? Before we went to the Holy Nation, His Majesty the Emperor sent us a letter.”

I vaguely changed the subject. I didn’t want to think about that topic any further.

“I remember. It only said one thing: to go to the Holy Nation.”

Having said that much, Iris nodded as if she understood the situation.

“It seems to be similar content this time as well.”

“That’s right. She said I did well for catching the demon. And that she’d give me a reward.”

Iris nodded, saying it was an imperial decree befitting His Majesty the Emperor. I looked at the rolled-up decree, which was neatly tied with a string again, with a slightly uneasy gaze, then casually put it in my inner pocket.

I ignored the sweet scent that faintly brushed the tip of my nose.

“Do you have anything to do after this, Delta?”

At Iris’s question, I shook my head slightly.

“I do, but they’re all things that can be postponed. Why?”

“His Majesty has given one more order. I wanted to ask if you could help.”

“If it’s something I can do, of course I’ll help. What do you need help with?”

“His Majesty the Emperor told me to personally examine the demon’s corpse.”

“……The demon’s corpse?”

“That’s right. She said she wants to know more precisely what kind of creature the demon Behemoth is. Of course, this is only if the corpse remains and is safe. She said if the corpse has already been purified, or if even looking at a dead demon is dangerous, then I should just return.”

“Uh… well, the corpse is still there. But I’m not sure if it’s dangerous to look at it. As far as I know, it probably doesn’t matter?”

It’s true that demons contaminate their surroundings just by being alive, but I’ve never heard of any setting where looking at their corpse harms people.

If worst comes to worst, I can always ask the Battle Nuns.

“Then I ask for your help. Is it possible?”

“I’ll go and ask first. I’m not sure myself.”

“I understand.”

Iris quietly followed behind me. We walked towards the building where Behemoth’s corpse was stored, chatting about trivial things.

Even though the surroundings had been thoroughly purified, the demon’s corpse couldn’t be kept close to the city, so the building was located quite far away.

“There it is. The white building.”

I pointed to the white building surrounded by a Holy Barrier. It was entirely white, as if it had been plucked from the Holy Nation and moved here. Ten Battle Nuns guarded its perimeter.

The reason they bothered to build such a storage facility and keep the corpse was to ascertain the true nature of the power I had used. The investigation wasn’t completely finished, so it hadn’t been dismantled yet.

Stella and Selene had said they would purify the corpse anytime if I didn’t want it, but since I was also curious about the nature of that power, I let them continue their research.

“Welcome, Honored Guest-nim. What brings you here?”

As I approached the building, the Battle Nuns uniformly bowed their waists in greeting. It was a relief that they no longer knelt on the ground as they did when I first arrived here.

They used to do that at first, but I was horrified and stopped them.

“I was wondering if I could see Behemoth’s corpse myself.”

“Behemoth’s corpse… are you saying?”

“That’s right. Oh, and just in case, I’m asking, but nothing strange happens if you look at a demon’s corpse, right?”

“Yes, that has never happened, but… who is the person next to you?”

“She’s a Knight who came from the Imperial Palace to deliver a message to me. His Majesty the Emperor told her to personally examine the demon’s corpse. She said she’s curious about what it looks like.”

“The Emperor of the Empire, who possesses the Holy Sword… Yes. I understand. Please enter.”

The Battle Nun readily let us in. Come to think of it, the conversation had been based on the premise that I could enter from the start. They didn’t even ask why we were entering.

A part of the Holy Barrier lifted, and Iris and I entered. When the door opened, the interior, sculpted like a temple, became visible.

Behemoth’s corpse lay between statues symbolizing the sun and moon. Its face was covered with a thick veil. Its bloated, pig-like body was still the same.

While I frowned at the sight, Iris, who had stopped right in front of the corpse, carefully lifted the veil. As the white cloth was removed, the creature’s face was fully revealed.

Its disgustingly ugly face was also still the same. It had a goat-like head, fangs protruded from its half-open lips, and its vertical pupils stared straight ahead.

Iris carefully observed the corpse. Unlike me, she didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. Her gaze was incredibly meticulous, as if she truly intended to convey every single detail of its appearance.

“……*Eut*?!”

Then, the moment she looked at its face, she suddenly let out a faint shriek and took a step back. Startled, I quickly covered it with the veil.

Iris, who had stumbled back, bowed her head deeply and gasped for breath.

“Are you okay, Iris? What’s wrong?”

“……”

There was no reply.

Iris was trembling, her arms wrapped under her chest, gripping the upper forearms of her opposite arms. She was clearly in an unusual state.

Sensing that the situation was serious, I placed a hand on Iris’s shoulder, intending to help her up.

“Iriㅡ”

“*Hiyat*?!”

Instead, a reaction so violent that I, who had placed my hand, was far more surprised, came back. With bewildered eyes, I removed my hand. Silence fell.

What kind of sound was that just now? Did I mishear?

“……”

While my mind was in a complicated state, Iris, who had been hugging herself and gasping for breath, slowly raised her head towards me.

“Iris, your condition is……”

Iris had hazy eyes, her mouth half-open, and her cheeks were flushed bright red.