The Story of an Arrogant Succubus Princess Who Always Looked Down on Humans as Mere Food, Until She Fell in Love With an Ordinary Man - Chapter 45-46

Chapter 45: Nightmare

Liliana Liche Riden was lost in deep darkness.

Even though it was her own body, she couldn’t move it by her will. It felt as if her body had been taken over—or rather, as if it had been completely transformed. She felt like an intruder in her own form, a presence that should disappear at once. The feeling was so strong because this other self was perfect, pure, and above all…beautiful.

“But still, I…”

No matter how perfect or beautiful she was, Liliana couldn’t simply disappear. She still had people she wanted to meet and things she hadn’t finished yet.

“I won’t give up here,” she decided firmly.

Determined to reclaim control of her body, Liliana swam through the depths of her own consciousness, believing that somewhere within lay the key to breaking free from this situation.

“Huh?”

But what she encountered was not her own memory. Instead, she saw the history of the Succubus Queen race—a history that was imprinted in her body, in her very genes.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!”

“Someone! Help me!!”

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

The Succubus Queen was the only race blessed by the gods, possessing unparalleled magical abilities, as if they could see the flow of magic itself. Their mere presence made others kneel, and their beauty was so potent it bordered on divine. Thousands of years ago, they reigned supreme on this world, and everyone bowed before them as if they were deities themselves. However, their rule did not last.

A race known as the Ajin, completely immune to their charms, emerged. These resilient, powerful, and emotionless beings united with humans and rebelled against the Succubus Queen.

Despised by many, the Succubus Queens were ultimately betrayed by all other races and found themselves isolated. Their powerful allure made them arrogant; they believed that the races they had subjugated as slaves for millennia genuinely adored them.

In the end, the Succubus Queen race was annihilated.

They were killed, violated, destroyed. Driven by a fear that lingered even in death, the other races hunted them down relentlessly, leaving no survivors.

Even divine power could not withstand the accumulation of hate.

The girls chosen by the gods were all slaughtered, and the Succubus Queen race was exterminated. Yet their resentment, their grief, their agony seeped into this world, their blood merging with the earth.

Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

This crystallized malice lingered in the world even after death, lying dormant for thousands of years—until it was reborn in the form of a girl named Liliana Liche Riden.

Liliana was merely the vessel inheriting the Succubus Queen’s desperate wish…no, that wish was all she could ever be. Inevitably, her consciousness would be erased. No single girl’s feelings could overcome thousands of years of accumulated hatred.

“No…that’s not right.”

Therefore, this body contained no extra such as a will or a heart. Liliana’s awareness was simply a counterfeit, created by Ilias through magic to conceal the Succubus Queen’s power and intentions.

“No…no…no…NO!!!”

The words Mimi had spoken to Liliana weren’t meant to summon a god. Instead, they were words meant to undo Ilias’s magic, which had been used to mimic a false heart.

“I…I…but that’s not true!”

Liliana’s desire for freedom was merely a reflection of Ilias’s own thoughts—a wish to avoid Keydrec’s probing questions. That was why she was hidden within a human kingdom.

Her feelings for Asbel, too, were just an error, a mistake caused by Ilias’s command to seek out a capable human protector. Mistakenly, she had interpreted this as romantic affection.

There was no heart in this body. Everything was a sham; everything was a lie. Her lingering consciousness would eventually fade as nothing more than the remnant of a spell.

Liliana Liche Riden…had never existed in this world to begin with.

“Sorry, Asbel.”

I swore to be the one for you, to laugh beside you since you couldn’t smile. But in truth, she had never once truly laughed. From the beginning, everything was fake.

A puppet and a puppet, each thinking they loved the other, promising to stay together forever. It was such a ridiculous, pathetic…misunderstanding.

“Help me, Asbel…”

That frail voice echoed as her false consciousness faded away. The remnants of her counterfeit heart vanished into the deep darkness.

Then, as if on cue, the girl who harbored divine power stood up.

“So…she’s no longer here, huh.”

She murmured and let out a small laugh.

—

Chapter 46: Destiny

“Haha… haha! Finally… at last, we can reach our long-awaited goal!”

In a room within the castle at the center of the Demon Nation, Ilias, the leader of the succubi, laughed aloud with an uncharacteristically crude expression.

“Lowly humans, foolish lizardmen—all inferior races will be judged by the power of the gods! We succubi will reclaim our throne as the rulers of this world!”

From the start, Ilias had no real interest in the Cordia Federation. It was a federation of demons, created to oppose the ever-expanding human forces, a nation built on the ideals of equality and freedom. But such ideals were unbearable for Ilias.

“Facing these unsophisticated lizardmen and orcs every day is a temporary pain. No one can resist the power of the gods…!”

Ilias laughed loudly, shouting as if she were drunk. Everything was going perfectly. From the moment her daughter was born as a succubus queen, she knew this outcome was destined. With this knowledge, she’d endured years of hardship.

“…However, I’ve received reports that the god still hasn’t awakened. It’s been more than half a month… Could that pixie have failed?”

The unique magic she’d cast upon Liliana since infancy—mimicking her heart, recreating her awareness. It was an extraordinary magic only someone as gifted as Ilias could have managed.

A young child’s body couldn’t withstand the god’s power. Until Liliana matured, her true nature had to be concealed. If anyone discovered that her power was actually a curse born from the resentment of the succubus queens, she would have been executed on the spot.

But that was all in the past. Liliana had grown enough. All that remained was to wait for the right timing, though her heart had matured in an unexpected way, slipping entirely from Ilias’s control.

After Liliana’s second escape, Ilias realized this and released her seal using Mimi. Ideally, she would have preferred the two nations—the Demon Nation and the human kingdom—to be more thoroughly weakened first, but that discrepancy was minor.

If it allowed her to build a world centered on the succubi, Ilias would do anything… And yet, the god remained unmoved, still seated within the human kingdom.

“My magic is flawless. So… could it be that the god’s consciousness hasn’t fully settled into her body?”

She didn’t understand why. But she had no intention of setting foot in the filthy human kingdom herself. The regular reports from Mimi had also stopped after a certain point. Perhaps Mimi had been captured by humans.

“None of them are useful at all…”

As she clenched her teeth in irritation, there was a knock at the door.

“Excuse my sudden visit. I have something I’d like to discuss; would now be convenient, Representative Ilias?”

The voice belonged to none other than that loathsome lizardman, Keydrec. Ilias clicked her tongue softly before plastering her usual elegant smile back onto her face.

“Not at all. Please, come in, Representative Keydrec.”

The door opened, and a towering lizardman appeared.

“My apologies for the unannounced visit. But I have something urgent to discuss…”

“Well, I understand you must be busy, Representative Keydrec, so that’s quite alright.”

The two of them, each from different races, wore similarly forced smiles.

“However, Representative Keydrec, I hear you recently traveled to the human kingdom again without consulting the council. Many have expressed their displeasure over such unilateral actions, you know?”

“Ouch, I see word travels fast. It seems I still have a habit of acting before I think…”

“I understand that you are a diligent individual who values rules and order. However, your recent behavior has been rather unrestrained. You likely won’t escape scrutiny at the next council meeting.”

“Well, I’m sure everyone will understand.”

Keydrec quietly stepped closer to Ilias, who instinctively took a step back.

“That said, Representative Ilias, I’m sure you’re well-informed. Are you aware of the situation concerning Lady Liliana? Things have become quite serious, it seems?”

“Yes, it appears so. Who would have thought the god’s power would manifest at such a time? …However, it’s fortunate that the rampage is happening in the human kingdom. Whatever occurs, our nation won’t suffer any damage.”

“But we can’t avoid condemnation from the humans.”

“Let them be. It’s a nation we plan to conquer eventually. In fact, wouldn’t now be the perfect opportunity?”

Ilias detested humans. Most demons, in fact, held little goodwill toward humans. Some succubi and dwarves, in particular, still resented having once been enslaved by them.

…Of course, it was also true that some humans had once been enslaved by succubi and dwarves, but that didn’t mean such things could simply be forgiven. Both Ilias and Keydrec secretly wished to wipe out humans entirely.

“…But that would change nothing.”

“…What?”

Ilias turned to Keydrec, who’d murmured to himself. He spoke without the slightest change in expression.

“If we destroy humanity, we’ll end up facing internal strife. And while that drags on, we’ll eventually be invaded by other races, leading to more war. …Isn’t it time we learned this lesson? For the next generation’s peace, someone must be willing to make sacrifices.”

“Representative Keydrec? What are you saying…”

“What I’m saying is that the way you used your own daughter as a tool disgusts me, you wretched hag!”

“…!”

Keydrec’s shout echoed. In an instant, Ilias realized he intended to kill her and began to cast a spell, but it was too late. His large mouth clamped down, tearing into her throat.

“…How… could… someone like me… in a place like this…”

Red blood dripped from the lizardman’s mouth as Ilias crumpled to the cold floor, her face contorted with both rage and fear.

And so, the mastermind behind it all met an abrupt end.

“…Now, I just hope things go smoothly over there. After all, they’re up against a god. We’ll need a solid plan for what happens after the human kingdom falls…”

Wiping the blood from his mouth with a handkerchief, Keydrec smiled with his usual gentlemanly expression.