## Chapter 212 – Section 5 (9)
Asel held Ryu’s collapsed body in his arms, his face on the verge of tears as he examined him. There were no visible external injuries.
“Why all of a sudden?!”
Ryu’s body was as hot as fire, and sticky cold sweat soaked Asel’s palms. Just earlier when they were eating together, he seemed fine. No one present could maintain their composure in the face of such a sudden change, except for one person.
Heart pushed through the people crowding around Ryu and checked his condition. Her expression crumpled as soon as she saw Ryu. This ability was the work of someone she knew better than anyone else. Spade, the unparalleled genius produced by the Lamia race, had personally manufactured this potent poison.
“It’s my fault. If I had been a little more careful…”
Clara covered her mouth with a stunned expression.
“Spade… why would she do this to an innocent child…”
Asel, still holding Ryu in his arms, opened his mouth with a voice full of anger.
“This isn’t just a problem for Section 5 anymore. Now that she’s touched Ryu…”
Finishing his sentence, Asel carefully laid Ryu down and took rough steps as if he would chase after Spade immediately, but he staggered after only a few steps and leaned against the wall. An expression that suggested he didn’t understand what was happening. He wasn’t used to his body not listening to him.
Spade’s evil hands had already reached everyone in this mansion.
The poison wouldn’t be fatal to Asel, the Demon King, but it was enough to make it difficult for him to act right now. But when? If contact with Spade was the condition, it didn’t apply to Ryu. Charlotte quickly came up with an answer.
“The food.”
Ryu and Asel were the only two who ate the meal prepared by Heart. It wasn’t impossible if the ingredients had been tampered with beforehand. Of course, thinking about this now didn’t mean much.
Charlotte supported Asel with a gentle voice, saying,
“Rest with Ryu. I’ll take care of things here.”
Before she could even finish speaking, Charlotte carried both of them on her back and went straight to the room, laying them on the bed.
“Everything will be over when you wake up.”
Charlotte didn’t even wait for Asel’s reply before closing the door and coming back out.
“Charlotte-nim…”
Heart approached Charlotte to offer words of comfort, but she flinched.
Even Heart, who had spent a considerable amount of time with Charlotte, was seeing such a fierce expression and bloodlust for the first time. Charlotte didn’t say much, simply opening her mouth briefly.
“Let’s go.”
“Why would Spade do something like this…”
“I just realized it for sure with this. You know, right? The ingredients from Section 5 are distributed to all sections. But what if all those foods were poisoned? People who are naturally strong like the Demon King or Ryu might just suffer a bit like a cold and be done with it, but not everyone is like that. It doesn’t seem like the poison used on those two was meant to take their lives in the first place.”
Hearing Charlotte’s words, Heart blamed herself even more.
“If I hadn’t sent Spade away back then…!”
“It’s too late to blame yourself, so think about where that girl might have gone.”
It wasn’t anyone else but Clara who answered that.
“I already know where Spade is.”
Clara put on a suit similar to Heart’s, which fit her perfectly, instead of her usual baggy work clothes.
“Let’s go right away.”
As a result of walking silently without a word to each other, they were able to arrive at Spade’s residence earlier than expected.
The forest, thick with darkness, had an even more ominous atmosphere than usual. The entrance to the forest, which seemed to be welcoming them with its mouth wide open, had an atmosphere that made it difficult to enter easily.
“You came faster than I thought.”
As if they didn’t need to enter in the first place, Spade leisurely revealed herself from within. Charlotte wanted to catch and kill her right away, but she knew that she wasn’t the priority in this situation.
Clara spoke with a dry voice, struggling to get the words out.
“Spade, change your mind now.”
There was no reply. Clara opened her mouth again, as if to persuade her somehow.
“Spade, you know what Section 5 is like, right? Please stop doing things you’ll regret.”
Spade answered Clara’s question for the first time.
“Section 5, a place with good water and air. A peaceful place where you can hang out with people, farm, and raise sheep and cows.”
Clara’s eyes curved sadly.
“Yes, but that’s just the role it plays on the surface… you know that better than anyone else.”
The reality of Section 5, which is kept top secret.
They, who have extended their reach throughout the Demon Realm, preemptively execute those with impure intentions to bring chaos to the Demon Realm, and are a kind of cleaner who takes on all kinds of dirty work that would leave ordinary people traumatized for life.
And what Spade is doing now is, of course, something that falls under their execution targets.
“I don’t feel comfortable executing you with my own hands.”
Clara’s eyelids slowly rose. The red, jewel-like eyes hidden within were staring directly at Spade. Every time she slowly took a step, the ground she stepped on began to crack as if an earthquake had occurred.
It was the moment Spade blinked. Clara, who had been in front of her, disappeared from her sight, and Spade realized belatedly that her body was floating in the air.
How many people would have actually seen it? Her body floated into the air with a kick that landed precisely on her chin, and with the hot pain that came to her abdomen in succession, Spade disappeared into the other side of the forest as it was.
Only after she disappeared did the sound of cutting through the wind and the sound of leather bursting follow belatedly.
Clara, she has one characteristic that she doesn’t bother to hide from others.
She is the first Demon King in the history of the Demon Realm who doesn’t have any special characteristics.
Nevertheless, the reason she has been able to reign until now was simple. The strongest body containing overwhelming mass that cannot be penetrated by any attack and can penetrate anything.
Spade’s eyes, which reappeared with staggering steps, were rolling wildly, and a strong smile was on her lips.
“I don’t even remember when it was that I crossed swords with the Demon King like this.”
“Why did you do this? Why did you touch my guest who has nothing to do with this?”
“I didn’t have any ill intentions towards those people. I just didn’t want to be disturbed during their time together. And the reason I did this? Because the Demon King can only look at me… such a trivial reason.”
After a short conversation, Spade immediately swung her sword horizontally. Spade’s greatsword, which Heart was barely able to block, began to crack on its own as soon as it touched Clara’s body. Clara, who let out a short sigh, swung her fist again, and Spade’s sword was crushed into pieces like tofu and scattered on the floor.
With the sound of leather bursting, Spade, who had been thrown back to the ground, got up without making a single groan. She trembled and said in a voice full of madness.
“This moment, the time when the Demon King is only focused on me, is the happiest time for me.”
Clara didn’t say anything, just looked at Spade with sad eyes. Spade stared into her eyes for a moment, then took all the strength out of her body and opened her mouth.
“Why Heart?”
Heart looked at the two of them as if she couldn’t understand when her name came up.
“Why did you choose that idiot as the next leader of the Beholders! I’ve been better since I was a kid! I can assist the Demon King better!”
Spade, who spat out a sound close to evil, staggered and collapsed to the floor as if she had a lot of damage left. Clara slowly approached Spade, who was lying on her back, and said in a pitiful voice.
“We can’t be swayed by personal feelings.”
Clara, who knelt on one knee and supported Spade’s upper body with her hand, had a sad expression as if she was about to cry.
“There have been several children who craved affection like you in the process of loving everyone equally. And they all walk the same path. I still remember the children I sent away clearly, so why even you…”
If she punched Spade in the face one last time, it would be over. The short commotion that happened in the middle of the night also ends here. Yes, that’s all there is to it. Clara clenched her fist tightly and said her last goodbye.
“You two were special children to me too.”
Clara dropped her fist as it was, but that didn’t take Spade’s life. The attack that went past her face, Clara was quietly shaking her fist. The difference between the other executives and Heart and Spade. Unlike the executives who were simply drawn to Clara and came to Section 5, Heart and Spade were no different from her own children, whom she had picked up and raised herself from the streets. It was never easy to kill such a child with her own hands.
Before she knew it, tears were dripping from Clara’s expressionless face, wetting Spade’s face.
“I can’t… Spade, let’s ask Asel for forgiveness together and change our minds now. I’ll bow my head together for my child’s mistakes.”
“Well… I expected this too.”
Heart’s hand moved faster than she could realize Spade’s intentions and tell Clara to get away. It wasn’t that she was careless, but the attack targeted the moment her heart was relieved. The fragmented swords had already regained their original shape and were in Spade’s hand, and she was barely able to make a very small wound on Clara’s body by swinging it greatly from bottom to top.
Clara looked at the wound, which was no different from a bug bite, and made a truly painful expression.
“Is this your answer?”
But Spade’s purpose was not to kill her.
“It’s impossible to wound the Demon King’s steel-like body with my attack. So just watch quietly here. The process of Section 5 collapsing, and the Demon King who has lost everything can live separately with me in seclusion. Only I can see the Demon King’s face for the rest of my life, and only I have to remember him.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Clara noticed that her eyes were starting to close little by little. A poison similar to the one used on Asel. It was an attack that would never have worked under normal circumstances, but Spade had been watching her for a long time, so she didn’t miss even a slight hesitation.
So far, it was all according to Spade’s plan.
Except for one variable that she couldn’t have thought of was in that place.
“Okay, that’s enough.”
“Ah, you were here.”
“It’s a family matter, and it’s also about Clara-nim’s face, so I was just watching for a while, but anything more than that would be difficult for us too.”
“Are you okay? I’m stronger than you think. I’m not interested in you, so get out of here if you don’t want to get hurt.”
“Really? It’s good if you’re strong.”
Spade naturally stepped back from the murderous intent that rushed in for a moment.
“It’s better to last a long time. It’ll be a problem if you die before my anger is all gone.”
