To You Who Will Destroy Me - Chapter 122

Despite the barrage of difficult questions, Irel remained calm. If she faltered even a little, Ryu Cheong would surely realize she was lying.

Fortunately, Irel had already prepared an answer to these questions.

“To be honest, the purpose of these jewels is…” she began.

“Is…?”

“They bless the love of couples,” she said with a straight face.

“What?” Ryu Cheong’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. Coming from the conservative Eastern Continent and being entirely focused on his family’s business, he had never had time for romance, let alone such fanciful ideas.

To him, what Irel was saying sounded utterly ridiculous.

“Just watch. When the two jewels are apart, they emit a magnetic pull toward each other,” Irel continued.

She demonstrated by bringing her earring close to his ring. As she predicted, the two jewels responded, the attraction between them intensifying like opposite poles of a magnet.

“Because of this unique trait, my family has a tradition where we gift the other half of the jewel to a betrothed. It’s said that as long as the couple has these jewels, they’ll live a long and happy life together.”

Ryu Cheong said nothing, his face remaining neutral, though his expression seemed to shift between “Is this really happening?” and “Are you trying to make a fool of me?”

Irel didn’t let his silence deter her.

“If you trace the history of these jewels back a few centuries, one of my ancestors, while guarding the border, saved a barbarian tribe. Unbeknownst to him, the person he rescued was the tribe leader’s only heir, and as a token of gratitude, they gifted him these mysterious jewels—”

“…”

“At first, they were just uncut stones, but my ancestor discovered their peculiar properties and had them crafted into a matching set of earrings—”

“Enough.”

Ryu Cheong cut her off, rubbing his temples as he furrowed his brow.

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t you? These jewels don’t do much beyond attracting each other. What other use could they have?” Irel argued, her large eyes wide with innocence.

She did feel a bit guilty about the lie, but there was no way she could tell the truth.

I can’t exactly tell him that these jewels are pieces of the evil god Avihushan’s heart and that they’re desperately trying to reunite as one, she thought, sighing inwardly.

Honestly, that would sound even more ridiculous than what she was currently saying. The more she progressed in her quest, the more tangled the mystery became, and now it had even escalated to involve a sealed evil god. There was no point in involving others in such a dangerous situation—she might even drag them into a deeper mess.

“Ridiculous,” Ryu Cheong scoffed, unaware of the turmoil in Irel’s mind.

“A man giving his future wife a matching earring? What kind of man would wear something like this?”

He gestured to the large red diamond in the platinum earring. Though not overly flashy, the jewel itself was grand enough to make it difficult to imagine any man casually wearing it.

But Irel wasn’t deterred. She was from a time when beautiful male idols donned chandelier earrings that sparkled like stars.

“Who, you ask? Why, Varkan Ha Mash, of course,” she said smoothly.

Ryu Cheong hesitated for a moment, thrown off by her confident response.

“It would suit him well, probably even more than it suits me,” she added with a smirk.

Ryu Cheong didn’t argue this time, but Irel felt slightly irritated.

He really is too handsome for his own good, she thought, Varkan’s face—elegant and more luxurious than the red diamond—flashing vividly in her mind.

At that moment, Ryu Cheong’s voice cut through her thoughts, colder than before.

“So, what are you suggesting? That the blood demons stole these jewels and treasured them because they’re… toys for children?”

“Children’s toys? Well, your family heirloom didn’t seem to have any particularly special functions ei—”

“Enough with the word games.”

[Ding! Ryu Cheong’s affection has decreased by 5 points.]

It seemed the game was up. Irel saw the notification of his lowered affection and wisely closed her mouth. This was a warning sign—things were about to get dangerous.

“This isn’t a threat,” Ryu Cheong said, his voice dropping to a chillingly low tone. “But taking you and that earring by force would be as easy as turning my hand.”

He paused, his expression darkening. “However, I’ve engaged in this conversation to show you my respect.”

Irel almost laughed at the absurdity. Respect? If he truly respected her, he wouldn’t have approached her without consent, broken into her lodgings, paralyzed her bodyguard, or forced her into this precarious situation.

“I’ve been foolish,” Ryu Cheong continued, his green eyes darkening to black. “Words were never going to suffice.”

He was clearly preparing to use force. “I’ll be taking both the earring and you. I’ll learn the true purpose of these jewels in due time.”

As he stood up and took a step closer, Irel didn’t flee. Instead, she remained seated and offered an awkward smile.

“Hmm, that won’t be happening,” she said calmly.

“This isn’t your decision,” he retorted.

“Maybe not as much as you think,” she replied with a hint of amusement.

Ryu Cheong wasn’t in the mood for more of her wordplay. He reached out toward her, intending to grab her, but his hand passed through nothing but air.

His brow furrowed in confusion. Instead of soft fabric or her shoulder, he felt only empty space. The figure of Irel in front of him shimmered like a mirage.

What’s going on? He watched as the vision of her rippled, and then it hit him.

That bodyguard…!!

Damn it! Ryu Cheong’s piercing gaze darted to the floor where Jin had been lying, paralyzed by the venom. But as soon as his eyes focused, Jin’s body also wavered and dissolved into thin air, just like Irel.

“Sorry,” Irel’s voice echoed softly as her illusion began to disappear, her apologetic smile still visible. “But I can’t be caught so easily.”

Ryu Cheong finally realized what had happened. She’d planned this from the start!

From the moment she asked about the origin of his ring to the ridiculous story about the Elorance family heirloom, she had been stalling for time. Clever as she was, she knew that Masaka powers didn’t work as well on one another, and she had banked on Jin waking up from the paralysis to spirit her away.

Even if Jin hadn’t recovered in time, Varkan would have by now realized the whole meeting was a trap. The longer Ryu Cheong dragged things out, the more the situation shifted in Irel’s favor.

To an outsider, it might have seemed like a helpless Risever was being pressured by a stronger foe, but in truth, Irel had been in control of the situation all along.

“Ha,” Ryu Cheong muttered, glaring at the spot where Irel’s illusion had faded. He had severely underestimated Jin, dismissing him far too easily. When had they swapped places?

Clearly, Varkan’s judgment about Jin’s abilities was spot-on. Ryu Cheong fumed at the thought of being caught in the bodyguard’s illusionary trick without even realizing when it started.

They couldn’t have gone far.

Illusion-based abilities didn’t have a wide range, especially when the illusion was as detailed and realistic as this one. The more convincing the illusion, the shorter the distance it could cover.

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Ryu Cheong spun around and transformed into a massive hawk. There was no way he intended to return empty-handed, so he set out to find Irel and Jin.

With a loud screech, the hawk flapped its wings and darted toward the window, preparing to take flight.

BOOM!

Without warning, a massive wall of flame erupted from the right. It happened so quickly that Ryu Cheong had no time to dodge or even brace himself.

SCREEEEECH!!!

His right wing was instantly scorched, the feathers blackened and curled from the intense heat. He crashed to the ground, tumbling and rolling in agony. Before he could recover, a boot slammed down on his body, and a looming shadow, dark as a nightmare, fell over him.

“Well, well, look who we have here.”

Through the haze of pain, Ryu Cheong could make out a face—an impossibly beautiful face, smiling down at him with the glee of a devil. Varkan.

“Addicted to the heat, are we? Must be, if you’re back for more,” Varkan mocked, his voice dripping with arrogance as if welcoming Ryu Cheong back to hell. “You just can’t stay away, can you?”

Varkan’s voice was so smug, so self-satisfied, it was suffocating. He was a man who never seemed in his right mind, completely intoxicated with his own sense of superiority.

Ryu Cheong writhed beneath Varkan’s boot, consumed by both pain and humiliation. If only he could use his remaining left wing to strike that smug face…

But Varkan dodged his desperate attack with a smirk, as if amused by the attempt. After all, he was used to dodging far more dangerous blows. A simple physical struggle like this was nothing to him.

“Come on, do better, little lord. Is this the best you’ve got?” Varkan jeered, grinding his foot deeper into Ryu Cheong’s back, taunting him mercilessly. His irritation over being lured into a trap, wasting time, had festered into pure rage.

The fact that Ryu Cheong had exploited Irel’s trust—using it against him—was infuriating. Varkan found the audacity of the act unforgivable.

“Still holding out, huh? Guess you’re not that badly hurt, since you’re refusing to change back into human form.”

It was obvious why Ryu Cheong wasn’t reverting. The moment he did, Varkan would snatch the ring from his hand. Ryu Cheong was clinging to his last shred of defense.

“Doesn’t matter,” Varkan said with a deranged laugh, eyes glinting with madness. “If you want to keep being stubborn, be my guest.”

He pressed his foot harder, the sadistic glint in his eyes growing brighter. To him, this wasn’t just a fight—it was entertainment.