My Horny Stepmom Turns Me into Her Vampire Slave

Chapter 143: B - The hardest trial

"I’m an idiot! An idiot! A damn idiot!" Aoshi shouts, slamming his fists into the futon over and over.

"I-I’m such an idiot for letting myself get this attached! Or maybe I was just too stupid not to fight harder to make her stay. But then again... what could I have possibly said to convince a princess to spend the rest of her life with a nobody like me? There wasn’t a single reason why she ever should’ve..."

Knock. Knock.

Someone knocks on the door.

"Come in, Ayane. It’s open..." Aoshi mutters, his voice hoarse.

After spending the whole afternoon letting everything out at the maid café, Ayane had promised she’d stop by that evening to check on him and help if he needed anything.

Letting her see him like this is the last thing he wants, so Aoshi hurriedly wipes his face and tries to pull himself together, if only enough to salvage a little dignity.

But the moment the door opens, he realizes it isn’t Ayane.

Standing in the doorway is a tall, muscular man with long, well-kept black hair. Tucked under one arm is a massive gold bar.

Ah... right. The twenty kilos of gold Eliss promised me. I’d completely forgotten about them...

I must be in pretty bad shape if I could forget something like that...

"My dear boy, it’s been quite a while since we last saw each other, hasn’t it?" Raelor says.

"Yeah..."

"I assume Princess Eliss already explained everything to you. In any case, this is your reward for the three months you so generously devoted to helping the Princess serve out her punishment. King Azhelar Narkhalis, Eliss’s father, agrees with me that you did an excellent job. I’d say this small token of our gratitude is more than deserved. So... where would you like me to put it?"

"Leave it wherever you want..."

"Are you sure? Don’t let appearances fool you. It’s rather heavy, so it’d probably be better—"

"Just leave it wherever you want and get out!" Aoshi snaps, hot tears running down his cheeks. "Better yet, take it with you! I don’t care about it anymore!"

"A human turning down that much gold? Now that’s interesting..." Raelor murmurs, his voice dripping with fake surprise.

"Maybe..." Aoshi replies quietly. "But accepting that gold would mean admitting that Eliss was nothing but a burden to me, and that this is some kind of payment for letting her stay here and putting up with her. I could never accept that. In a way... Eliss herself was the greatest reward I could’ve ever gotten for agreeing to that ridiculous punishment. All the gold in this world and yours combined isn’t worth even a single second of the memories we made during those three months. That’s why I can’t accept it."

Aoshi takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself and clear his head before speaking again.

"Instead... tell me how Eliss is doing. I guess you’ve already broken the spell that tied her to me, so... how did it go? Is she feeling better? Calmer? I just hope the kisses we shared... and the more intimate moments between us... didn’t wound her pride so deeply that she’s been cursing my name every single day..."

"Princess Eliss only woke up a couple of hours ago after spending all of last night and the entire day under the care of demons who specialize in healing magic. So, to answer your question... no, she wasn’t doing well. But she’s fine now."

The moment he hears that, Aoshi jumps to his feet, panic flashing across his face.

You don’t need to know anything about demons to figure out what healing magic is for.

"W-What happened to Princess Eliss? Was she attacked? Tell me! What happened to her?!"

"I’m pleased to see you’re so worried about her. Let’s just say she suffered severe exhaustion, along with multiple injuries and internal fractures... after a little fight with... me."

"Y-You’re joking, right?! You’re her bodyguard! Why the hell would you hurt her?! Have you lost your mind or something?!"

"I won’t deny that it pained me to use force to bring her home. But orders are orders. I had no choice but to obey."

"I-I don’t understand... why did she fight back...?"

"Why do you think?"

"E-Eliss... wanted to stay on Earth? She really must’ve fallen in love with this world."

"Not with this world. With you, Aoshi. The reason she spent an entire day recovering is because last night she fought me with everything she had to stop me from taking her back to Elyndra. She kept fighting until she collapsed from pain and exhaustion. And she did it because she couldn’t bear to be separated from you... even after she was no longer under the effects of her own magic."

"E-Eliss... she really did all that... for me...?" Aoshi murmurs, shaken to his core, yet overwhelmed by a happiness beyond words.

"Yes. And believe me, I’ve known her since she was a little girl. Yet in twenty years, I’d never seen her show the kind of determination and fighting spirit she showed last night."

Then Raelor’s expression turns serious.

"But back to the matter at hand. It’s obvious that Eliss loves you deeply, and it’s just as obvious that you love her back. Which leaves me with one question. She was willing to risk her life for you. Would you be willing to do the same for her?"

"I-I... I’d do anything for her! I’d even face every single one of the men trying to win her over!"

Raelor lets out a satisfied chuckle.

Then he extends one arm to the side, and a violet glow erupts from the palm of his hand.

A heartbeat later, a massive rift nearly two meters tall tears open in the middle of the apartment.

It’s a spatial distortion created by magic so powerful that only a handful of beings in the entire multiverse are capable of casting it.

"Beyond this dimensional rift lies the Narkhalis family’s palace, where Eliss is right now. But I should warn you... the chances of an ordinary human like you making it through without being torn apart before reaching the other side are incredibly slim."

Raelor’s smile twists into a dark, menacing grin.

"So... what are you going to do, Aoshi? Opening a rift between this world and Elyndra takes so much power that I may not be able to open another one for weeks. And this one will close in a matter of seconds. Time’s running out, boy. Make your choice."

Aoshi hesitates for a moment, his eyes fixed on the endless void stretching beyond the dimensional rift.

What he doesn’t know is that Raelor’s warning about the portal’s deadly danger is nothing more than a bluff—just another test to measure his resolve and prove his worth.

"I already told you, didn’t I?" Aoshi replies as he takes a determined step toward the endless black abyss. "If going through that portal gives me even the slightest chance to see Eliss again, then I don’t care what price I’ll have to pay."

The moment those determined words leave his mouth, Raelor’s sinister grin vanishes, replaced by a smile of genuine satisfaction.

"Then I’ll see you on the other side, boy," Raelor says, giving Aoshi a light pat on the shoulder before disappearing through the dimensional rift.

Without the slightest hesitation, Aoshi follows him a moment later.