Untrustworthy

“What exactly are you plotting?”

Vivian’s eyes were locked firmly on Carol, without the slightest intention of letting her guard down.

Her voice was pitched low.

There was no probing, no beating around the bush.

Faced with the being before her, any unnecessary pretense was futile—this was true for both of them.

“Plotting? To be precise, it’s more of a pursuit.”

Carol’s smile did not fade.

“I’m very curious, you see. Curious about the child a Demon Lord is carrying—and what’s more, it’s a child conceived with a human, isn’t it?

After all, I heard you had no partner before your defeat, and judging by the timing, it could only have been conceived when you were captured by the Hero Lucia.”

The wind blew gently, lifting Carol’s golden hair.

Her bare feet lightly tapped the clear spring water, sending ripples spreading out.

She remained seated by the small spring, like a beauty from a painting, but Vivian only felt waves of pressure.

“…What is it you really want?”

Vivian couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

If she could, she really didn’t want to fight Carol in a place like this, because even without the army of the dead she had collected, Carol herself possessed Demon Lord-level strength.

Fighting here would definitely attract the attention of other heroes, and escaping then would be difficult.

“I’m just very curious, so very curious—”

Carol’s voice carried the pure interest of a scholar studying a rare specimen, yet it was mixed with an indescribable aura of danger.

“What kind of power will a child born from the union of a Demon Lord and a Hero possess? Is your child a Hero, or a Demon Lord?”

Carol’s eyes narrowed, and she extended a seductive tongue to lick her lips, her gaze locked firmly on Vivian’s abdomen.

And Vivian’s killing intent gradually intensified.

“With Lucia’s personality, since you were taken as her war trophy, she would never allow you to be defiled by others, right?

So there’s only one conclusion for the child in your belly—it’s your child with Lucia!

How interesting, how very interesting!

This is an existence that subverts common sense, a living, walking paradox!”

“I’m curious, so I want to have you!

But I’ve already missed my chance, so rather than letting this opportunity slip by, why don’t we cooperate?”

Carol’s smile widened.

She leaned forward slightly, seeming completely oblivious to Vivian’s killing intent, or rather, she simply didn’t care.

Her emerald eyes shone with a near-fanatical light of inquiry, locked on Vivian.

“I get the specimen I want to observe, and you get my assistance.

How about it?

I can swear an oath by the Eternal Forest of the Elven God and the Endless Underworld of the Goddess of Death, guaranteeing I will not overstep my bounds.”

“…”

‘As I thought, this old elf woman is just too dangerous.’

Vivian felt immense pressure.

Right now, besides Lunai, the only one who knew about her pregnancy was probably the person in front of her.

If she refused to cooperate and Carol spread the news, her future would be filled with endless trouble.

A child born from a Demon Lord and a Hero—just thinking about it was blasphemous.

Not only would the extreme conservatives and factions within the Demon Clan who harbor deep hatred for other living beings doubt and question this child, but the heroes and the Rhine Holy Church would also stop at nothing to kill her, Vivian, to prevent this child from being born.

“…”

The scene immediately fell into a stalemate.

To be honest, Vivian absolutely could not trust this Carol woman.

In the game, Carol was an NPC who was friendly to the players in the early stages, accompanying them and providing healing.

What the players failed to notice was that ever since this seemingly beautiful and kind elf big sister joined them, the corpses of the monsters they killed disappeared much faster than before.

But the players were all focused on pushing through the dungeon, and they had looted all the bodies they needed to.

No one cared if the monster corpses were disappearing at the same rate as before.

It was only later that they were stunned to discover that the elf big sister who had been following them around was actually collecting the corpses!

By the time they realized it, Carol already possessed a very powerful army of the dead, though she wasn’t a main story dungeon boss, but rather a hidden one.

In other words, as long as the players didn’t provoke Carol, she wouldn’t do anything, and the game’s plot rarely revealed what Carol was actually planning.

However, many speculated that she was just a complete madwoman, obsessed with research.

Although Carol would swear by the Elven God and the Goddess of Death, which formed the core of her power, she was ultimately an old relic who had lived for who knows how long.

It was impossible for her not to have a few tricks up her sleeve.

Oaths? If oaths were truly and completely effective, there would be far fewer disputes in this world.

Therefore, trusting Carol was tantamount to bargaining with a tiger, voluntarily exposing a fatal weakness to a dangerous research fanatic—so, this woman was not worthy of trust, and it was impossible to trust her.

“I still can’t trust you.”

Vivian’s throat moved as she swallowed, then she looked at Carol and spoke slowly.

“I was defeated, that’s true, but I haven’t lost my mind—do you think I would trust someone who was hostile and wanted to abduct me the last time we met?”

“Alright, it seems negotiations have failed.”

Carol sighed and slowly stood up.

Around Vivian, a deep, dark purplish-black mana surged like boiling ink, carrying the pressure of the Demon Lord of Evernight.

It condensed behind her into a twisted shadow that seemed to devour light!

Her cloak billowed without wind, rustling loudly, and her crimson eyes locked firmly on Carol.

And Carol—a verdant natural mana coiled and grew around her body like wild vines, emitting a rich life force, yet this vitality carried a strange sense of deathly stillness.

Within it, a deeper, more soul-shaking grayish-white aura of death spread from the shadows at her feet like a creeping plague.

Verdant green and deathly gray intertwined and wrapped around Carol, forming an extremely contradictory and terrifying field of power.

The smile on her face completely vanished, replaced by a pure, cold indifference of a researcher and the absolute confidence of a controller.

This was the Grand Necromancer of the Elven Empire—Carol.

The air seemed to freeze in an instant, as heavy as lead—both Vivian and Carol were emitting the mana of high-level powerhouses.

An ordinary person in such a standoff could only suffocate to death, unable to even breathe.

What should have been a tranquil place was now filled with an invisible sharpness and a stagnant killing intent.