The Main Heroines are Trying to Kill Me
Chapter 357: The Submissive Ruby

"Hmm..."

"F-Frey. Are you okay?"

When Frey, who was piggybacking on Ruby's back, opened his drowsy eyes, Ruby asked a question with a worried expression.

"...What are we doing now?"

Frey ignored her question and instead asked her a question in return while looking around.

Ruby, who was carrying him, was not just climbing a mountain, but jumping over it as if she was flying.

So it was an understandable question.

"We’re running away."

"Running away? So suddenly? To where? From whom?"

Ruby caressed Frey's cheek.

Upon hearing Ruby's words, Frey's face turned pale.

"... something is going on. I'll protect you, so don't worry."

"Can't you at least tell me where we’re going?"

"I'm still trying to decide where to go."

Ruby landed at the top of the mountain and continued as she caught her breath.

"Frey, where do you think we should go? The Eastern Continent? Outskirts of the Western Continent? Or should we go to the Southern Continent?"

"..."

"No, maybe we should go to the Demon King’s Castle? There we might replace excellent protection... But I don’t think I can go there now."

Frey lost his words when the suspicious word ‘Demon King’s Castle’ came out of Ruby’s mouth.

After a while, he blankly asked.

"Who are you, really?"

"I’m your woman. The one who is indebted to you. The woman who never wants to lose you again."

"Please tell me the truth."

"...I'll tell you everything once we reach a safe place."

"If you don't tell me, I'll jump off."

Although Ruby spoke with a nonchalant expression, when Frey spoke in a firm and cold voice, she became crestfallen.

She wanted to see Frey, who used to caress her with loving eyes.

She wished she could reactivate the stellar mana in her heart and make the stellar inside her abdomen flutter again.

"I-I am... the Demon King."

"What?"

"Do you... do you know what a demon king is? I was a stupid and vile person who goes around destroying the world...”

"Then what am I?"

When Frey asked again in an even colder voice, Ruby closed her eyes tightly.

She could deceive him as much as she wanted. She could even package their relationship as something affectionate and lovely.

But she didn't want to do that.

The reason Ruby was doing this to the revived Frey was to revive his memories.

So, hiding their most special relationship as the 'Demon King' and the 'Hero' was absurd.

If she kept hiding it and Frey's memories didn't come back, and the ring ran out, she might spend the rest of her life filled with regret.

She didn't want to bear such a risk.

And.

Lying to Frey, who burned his soul to save her, was something she could never do.

"You... you were... the Hero."

"Hero…"

"You were the Hero who tried to kill me, and I was the Demon King who tried to kill you. That was our relationship."

Ruby continued with a sorrowful expression.

"...At least, that's what I thought."

"Ugh...!"

"F-Frey?"

Ruby hurriedly grabbed Frey as he staggered.

"W-What’s wrong?"

"M-My memories... came back."

"What!?"

Shocking words came out of Frey’s mouth.

After hearing those words, Ruby made a pleased expression.

"R-Really? Did you really regain your memories?"

Just a while ago, she thought it was hopeless.

She was just acting out of a small lingering hope, a hope that lingered in the small corner of her heart.

Has a miracle really happened?

“I remembered what you did to me.”

“Yeah, I see. That’s really ni–.”

As Ruby attempted to embrace Frey with tears of joy, she suddenly froze in place.

Her expression stiffened as his words finally registered in her mind.

What she did to Frey.

If those memories came back...

“I guess what you just said was true.”

"..."

“I vividly remember the moment you put a leash around my neck for a walk and walked around the palace gardens with me, stabbing my heart, draining all the blood from my body, and the way you smiled at me.”

Frey took a step back away from her as he spoke, causing Ruby’s complexion to turn even paler.

"The moment you mercilessly hit my stomach, the moment you broke my leg, and..."

"W-Wait. I can explain everything. Just let me ex–"

"I remember… the moment you forced me down and tried to rape me.”

No matter how much Ruby tried to explain, when those words came out of Frey’s mouth, she couldn't say anything else.

"T-That... that was..."

It was her biggest shame now.

That was one of the things she regretted the most.

Just last night, Ruby had been faced with a nightmare of Frey crying bitterly underneath her.

“I felt… sorrow and disgust.”

"I’m sorryyyyyy..."

“That chilling sensation when your body fluids invade my body… Have you ever felt such a nasty feeling?”

"I'm sor–"

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize."

"W-Wait!"

As Frey dismissed her and turned his back, Ruby, who was kneeling, suddenly stood up.

"I can explain! There's a reason for it... please!"

"Goodbye."

"H-Hit me until you’re satisfied!"

Then she desperately grabbed the hem of her upper garment and pulled it up.

- Swoosh...

Her white belly was exposed.

"I-I don't care if you beat me or rape me like this! Just please don't leave me!"

"..."

Ruby desperately cried out, then she bit down on her clothes and looked at Frey with a pleading expression.

"...How can I trust you?"

But Frey still looked at her with cold eyes.

"Even now, didn't you just erase my memories and have fun?"

"..."

"Even if not, I don't want to be with someone who can torture me so horribly just because they liked it."

As soon as he finished speaking, silence settled between them.

"Well then, I'll–"

“I’ll engrave the stigma of slavery on myself.”

"...What?"

Ruby, who was trembling while holding the hem of her upper garment in her mouth, finally opened her mouth

"I'll be your magically bound slave. It's magic cast by the Demon King, so no one can undo it. Not even me."

Then, kneeling on the ground, Ruby crawled toward Frey's feet and whispered.

“I... I hereby swear to become Frey’s slave.”

Then, pressing her forehead against the ground while putting Frey's feet on her head, Ruby declared as she was trampled by his feet,

"No one, including me, can remove this mark."

As Ruby finished speaking, she brought her hand to her lower abdomen.

- Bzzzzz...

"Haeukkk...! "

After a while, black smoke began to rise from her stomach.

Ruby screamed as her stomach convulsed wildly.

“You said you’d leave if I asked you to?”

"I'm sorry. But if you left like this, I felt like I would regret it for the rest of my life. I'm really sorry for changing my mind..."

Still being trampled on by Frey on the head, Ruby desperately responded to Frey's words and then turned her body around.

"This... this is a sign of my submission to you."

With Frey’s feet on her face, Ruby pointed to her lower abdomen with a pitiful expression.

"It's a magical sentence that certifies that I'm your slave. It'll remain there forever until I disappear from this world."

The sentence declaring Ruby's willingness to devote both her body and soul to Frey was perfectly engraved magically.

"...Why are you being so nice to me like this?"

Staring blankly, Frey opened his mouth with an incredulous expression.

"Because you did the same for me."

Ruby, who had completely become Frey's slave, licked his feet earnestly and answered him with affectionate eyes.

"...Now, it's my turn to dedicate my life to you."

"..."

"Please let me repay your kindness, Hero."

Hearing her meaningful words, Frey closed his mouth.

Before they knew it, the sun was gradually setting.

.

.

.

.

.

"Frey, isn't the moon unusually bright tonight?"

"..."

Several days later, in a secluded cabin by the riverside in the outskirts of the Western Continent.

“That’s what you said to me.”

"...Did I?"

Leaning against Frey's head, Ruby whispered softly.

"It's not just that. Everything I've been doing these past few days, it's what you did for me."

"...I see."

For the past few days, Ruby had been traveling across the Western Continent with Frey.

It was too dangerous to go to the Southern Continent, and the Eastern Continent seemed too risky because she and Frey stood out too much.

So, for the past few days, they had been wandering around the outskirts of the Western Continent, spending time together.

"The play you said was fun last time, actually you showed it to me a while ago."

“..."

"Not only that. The clothes you bought for me this time were a repayment for what you gave me before, and the ice cream we shared was also something you bought for me."

"Even obsessing over slavery like this?"

"W-Well, that too."

As Ruby hesitantly nodded her head, Frey chuckled.

"It seems like we really had a special relationship."

"Yeah? Uh, yeah..."

"Why do the memories that I've recalled feel so peculiar?"

And then, starting the conversation with a dark expression.

"Last night, I dreamed about a girl who seemed to be my younger sister.”

"Oh."

"Judging by your reaction, it seems to be true."

Frey continued while biting his lip.

"Why did you take away my younger sister?"

"..."

"Were you trying to isolate me that much?"

Watching him with a lost expression, Ruby closed her eyes and lifted her upper garment.

- Swoosh...

Finally, covering her face with the hem of her clothes, Ruby peeked out her eyes and whispered.

"P-Punish me, please..."

It was their secret punishment, reinstated by her.

"...Hm."

"Kyaakk?!"

Frey's fist struck her abdomen directly.

- Crack!

The stellar mana within her abdomen erupted, causing her eyes to roll back as she collapsed onto Frey.

"I truly regret it..."

As Ruby, feeling the sensation of her abdomen being completely destroyed by that single blow, vomited blood from her mouth, she buried her head on Frey's shoulder and started speaking while crying sorrowfully.

"I regret trying to rape you, isolating and ostracizing you, taking away your sister... and making your life like this, I still deeply regret all of my actions."

"..."

"I want to turn back time. I want to atone. I-I would have committed suicide if I could. But, I can only die by the Hero’s Armament."

With a terrified expression, she continued.

"I'll help you gather points. So, please, awaken your Hero’s Armament and kill me. Punish me as much as it takes to judge the sins I've committed against you so far."

"...Hmm."

"So, please, at least until then... give me a chance..."

Hearing those words, Frey shook his head and spoke.

"I'm sorry, Ruby."

"H-Huh...?"

"I don't think I can love you."

With a shocked expression, Ruby opened her mouth.

"In the first place, my original soul disappeared, right?"

"N-No! The ring...!!!"

"Anyway, I'm sorry. No matter how hard I try to remember, all I can recall with you are dreadful memories of rape, torture, or my precious person being taken away..."

"U-Uwahhhhh!"

Upon hearing Frey’s sincere apology, Ruby was consumed by self-loathing and let out a scream.

- Stab...!

Then, Ruby stabbed her own heart with the dagger she took out of her pocket.

"Why did I... Why... Why on earth..."

If only she could regress like Frey.

If she could turn back time.

She wanted to make it like it never happened.

If she could go back to that point, she wanted to beat her past self to death.

A man who sacrificed his own soul just to save her had become like this because of her delusions of grandeur.

The reason Frey ended up like this, and enduring the countless regressions, weren't they all because of her?

Ruby despised herself so much.

She wanted to kill herself out of disgust.

She wanted to tear herself apart.

- Crack...!

“I have to die… I need to die… I must die…”

Ruby fell into a state of panic as she kept twisting the dagger in her heart, causing a copious amount of blood to spurt out of her chest.

"Why won't I die...? W-Why can't I die? I don't need a life without him anymo–”

"...Stop it."

As her body turned pale due to the bleeding, Frey quietly held her blood-soaked hand.

"T-Thinking about it, I don't even deserve to be by your side. The reason you are like this now is all my fault..."

“Hey."

"I-I'll leave. I'll leave… I'll jump into the sea or into the lava. Or I'll make a sealing stone..."

"...Still, I'll try."

"What?"

Eventually, Frey answered quietly while stroking the head of Ruby, who was shivering palely with her entire body soaked in blood.

"I’ll try my best… to love you. So... stop harming yourself."

"Ah..."

"Just... it looks painful."

As he spoke, Frey tilted his head, revealing a knowing yet uncertain expression.

"And when you're hurt, I feel weird for some reason."

Ruby’s expression turned vacant as she listened to his kind yet meaningful response. After a while, she lowered her gaze.

"...I'm tired. Let's call it a night for today."

- Blink, blink...

Frey's ring, which looked dim and lacking energy, was blinking intermittently.

If It left it like this, it seemed like it would go off at any moment.

"...C-Can you drink me now?"

"Huh?"

Ruby was on the verge of tears as she saw the ring.

Then, she opened her mouth with a determined expression.

"Please drink my blood."

"What...?"

"I want to swear a blood oath to you."

Frey's eyebrows twitched as he heard her words.

“I, Ruby, the Second Demon King, will devote my soul to you, the Second Hero, Forever.”

"..."

"Just as you have devoted yourself to me forever."

As soon as she finished speaking, Gugu, who was sitting on a nearby branch, quietly flew into the night sky.

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A short while later, at the Hero Party's tent,

"...Hmm."

Vener looked intently at the letter that had arrived for her.

"An anonymous letter...?"

"Gugu!"

"...Considering Gugu brought it, it must be from the Saintess, right?"

Gugu, holding the letter in her mouth, was urging her on with a foolish expression on her face.