The Succubus and the Young Man - Chapter 2

However lively the manor was today, none of it reached the little attic. It remained dark, shutting out every trace of the celebration.

It took me a long time to tend my wounds as best I could. After rummaging through the cupboard, I finally found the little bottle of ointment I had secretly picked up when Balk discarded it, still partly full.

I hadn’t been able to bear using it after any of his previous whippings.

This time, I scooped out a tiny bit and spread it on my forehead and knees. That faint touch of coolness seemed to soothe even my weary, scarred soul.

Balk had been loved and cherished all his life. I had never known even a moment of a father’s love.

I hadn’t eaten for a full day and night. Fortunately, there was a small well behind the attic, so I could at least draw water.

There should be plenty of food left after today’s banquet.

What those nobles disdained would be a rare feast for me.

I had thought I was used to pain.

But the agony in my knees and forehead, added to the lash wounds from a few days ago, was almost more than I could bear.

I wanted something to distract me.

By hiding outside the classroom where Balk had his private lessons, I had secretly learned to read a little.

I took out an old book I had once found wedged into a gap in the attic. I’d kept it all this time without reading it.

Its cover was dusty and badly worn.

When I opened it, I found words and strange symbols on the first page. I couldn’t understand the symbols, but I could make out a little of the writing: “Summon… a deity…”

Could there really be a gentle, compassionate deity in this world?

Would a deity… love her believer?

I turned the page. Somehow, I could recognize most of the words that followed. Doing as the book instructed, I pressed my hands together before my chest and murmured reverently, “Merciful, eternal… deity. Your believer, Yano, begs your compassion… for me, trapped in darkness. Your believer offers…”

A cold draft swept past. The already cramped attic grew more sinister.

Then I felt black mist curl around me. In the dimness, a pair of uncanny eyes seemed to be watching.

The mist dispersed. Cold hands slowly touched my neck.

With them came a sudden fragrance, rich enough to intoxicate.

Then I heard a distant, haughty woman’s voice. “What little creature has woken me?”

I looked up. By the faint light seeping through the cracks in the attic, I could just make her out: a tall, young woman with silver hair and red eyes, so beautiful she seemed unearthly.

She had appeared out of nowhere.

She wore a long black dress made from some material I couldn’t identify. Her figure was voluptuous, exquisitely shaped, yet her lofty air made any desire to possess her unthinkable.

My throat was dry. “Are you the deity I summoned?”

As though I had said something laughably stupid, she suddenly removed her slender, pale, surprisingly strong hand from my neck.

At last, I could draw a little breath.

A moment later, she caught my face in her hand, spitefully giving it a squeeze. “A deity, hmm?”

She scoffed, then leaned close and blinked at me. “If a succubus is what you call a deity.”

I was stunned. I… I had summoned a succubus? A creature that existed only in legends too?

But I couldn’t worry about that now. “Then can I make a wish to you as well?”

“Weak, fragile human.” Her voice was especially lovely. “What can you sacrifice in a bargain with a succubus?”

Something trembled inside me. “I offer my soul in exchange for…” Suddenly, the rest was difficult to say.

“In exchange for what?” the beautiful succubus asked imperiously.

“Your love.” I lowered my eyes to the hem of my clothes.

An eerie silence filled the dim little room.

Then she laughed softly. “How could a weak, lowly human deserve my love?”

I mocked myself inwardly. Other people were born with love. Even by sacrificing my soul, I couldn’t buy a trace of it.

She remained where she was, watching me coldly. “You are the first human to wake me. I will grant you one wish. But if you make a wish like that again, I will crush you to death.”

I looked up to speak, only to find she was already gone.

A cool wind passed through the drafty attic. Everything that had happened seemed like a dream.

That evening, I tried to slip out and find some food. But someone had locked the attic door from outside. I called for help to no avail.

Of course. Who would happen to pass through this forbidden, deserted place? Even if someone did, they wouldn’t open the door for me.

I didn’t need to guess who had done it. This would be Balk’s work.

Was he planning to starve me to death this time?

I slowly went back into the attic and curled up on my hard, cold little bed.

Perhaps it was the wounds and the draft, but my head was spinning terribly. Shivering, I curled tighter.

I didn’t know whether I would survive the night.

I couldn’t help remembering the decade and more I had lived. It was as though I had lived in a dark swamp.

My entire world had been black and white.

Not one ray of light had ever chosen to enter my rotting, ruined life.

I was so tired. If I died, could someone like me go to paradise?

Would I be happier there?

Would the mother I had never met be waiting for me?

My body grew hotter, my eyelids heavier. My awareness slowly faded…