The Guardian Chef

Hi guys! Emperor93 here!
I thank YXXREM for the illustration he has drawn for this chapter. To see more of his works click on his name.
Also, I thank Element1990 and schiaffe for helping me to commission this wonderful illustration!!!

Enjoy the chapter!

— • — • — • — • — • —

Warning!
This chapter could contain strong and possibly disturbing content so... be prepared.

— • — • — • — • — • —

(A few hours before the events that occurred at the banquet.)

***(Graeval's POV)***

"Haa~ This is life"

As I plunged into the spring, I let go of my body enjoying the warmth of those waters.

After that outburst we had, Lilith and I resumed our honeymoon and decided to spend two weeks along the shores of Lake Leowich and at the same time visit the surrounding towns and villages so that we could do some sightseeing.

That lake lived up to its reputation as a destination for lovers. The main city overlooking the lake is Logate and makes tourism and the legend that involves it its main source of income.

Uh?... Well, it's a romantic legend in which it is said that whoever exchanges his love and/or marriage vows on the shores of the lake, is destined to stay together forever... I don't deny that Lilith and I did it too, but the real beauty of that town was in the views and architectural wonders. We enjoyed that trip as simple tourists doing long walks, shopping in various stores, dancing during the city festivals and watching plays, to intense and hot nights in the room where we were staying.

After that period spent on the shores of the lake, it was now time to return to Fago, but Lilith proposed to me to lengthen the trip by deviating to the spa town of Edosall

“After what happened, we both built up a lot of stress. I think it's good to let our limbs relax too."

We still had enough money and Lilith's statement was enough to give me the final push to agree to the idea.

Edosall owns spa facilities built using mostly coniferous wood or local materials, giving the town a solemn yet welcoming atmosphere. Given the season, it is very difficult to find a single free seat, but after a few attempts, we were lucky enough to come across an inn complete with thermal baths. Our room also included a private outdoor bathroom, but in luck, there is always a little bad luck: the private bathroom was being renovated and until this morning, so we settled with the public one.

Anyway, it’s not like we just went there to dive into the hot springs. A festival was also being held in Edosall and there were various kinds of entertainment every night. But the best part was how easy it was to relax while strolling around its streets.

Today was the last day of our stay and since they had finished the work, I took advantage of it and immersed myself in the thermal waters along with a bottle of Roreic, a relatively strong liqueur typical of this town.

Our bathroom was surrounded on either side by a wooden fence and was a terrace that overlooked an overhang making the viewer enjoy a splendid mountain panorama complete with moon and stars.

After having another shot, I started to get the bottle... without finding it. Surprised I turned and saw Lilith in front of me, with her hair collected and covered by a simple towel while reading the label of the liquor

"I didn't think you were a liquor lover."

“I'm not. But, this is a special occasion."

I held out my hand. Smiling, Lilith put the bottle back in place and dropped the towel showing her sensual and well-proportioned body. She accepted my hand and stepped into the tub, diving up to her shoulders. I took another glass, filled it with liquor, and then filled mine.

When I handed it to her, we toasted to us, generating that crystalline sound typical of glass.

"I admit it gives some satisfaction to drink it during a hot bath." she stated after taking a sip

"True?"

"But... it's a little too strong for me."

"I see. Maybe some ice... or is it better to warm it up given the place?" I wondered, rubbing my chin

With a sly smile, she snatched the glass I had drunk from my hand

"Lilith!"

Smiling, she turned the glass slightly and placed her lips exactly where I had placed them, and took a sip

"Yum!" she exclaimed satisfied "Now it's good~♪"

When she finished the sentence, she licked her lips and I swallowed loudly from how sensual I found that simple action. Giggling, she offered me her glass as if to say 'try to do the same'. Completely subjugated, I followed her example.

Now, the Roeric is a very strong liqueur but which itself does not have a definite flavor and is used as a base for various fruit liqueurs. When I drank from my wife's glass, I felt like it had an identity of its own... it was like I was kissing my beloved Lilith. Maybe it was an illusion of the senses but I didn't care and closed my eyes. I wanted to immerse myself in that sweet flavor.

I felt the water beside me move and then a pleasant weight rest on my legs. When I opened my eyes, Lilith was above me wrapping her arms around my neck and her eyes were those of a predator. She kissed me

"But... this remains my favorite." she said smiling when she pulled away, licking her lips again in delight

….... She's gorgeous. With the background white moon, Lilith’s pale skin seemed to become as white as white marble and her red eyes, full of love and desire were beautiful rubies from which I could not take my eyes away from how hypnotic they were, while her white hair reflected the white light of the moon and bewitched me, like a moth bewitched by the light of a candle.

"Do you know what I found out from talking to the owner of the inn?"

"W-what?"

With the same magnetic smile, she lowered her pelvis even further allowing me to my surprise to join her.

"Ahn~♪" she moaned in delight "It seems these waters are beneficial for conception."

I only know that after that statement... I indulged in lust and desire for my wife.

"GRAUUUUU!!"

Or at least... that was the intention that both Lilith and I had.

The fence on my right was smashed by what looks like a six-eyed wolf... well it doesn't matter how it looked. I reached out my hand to that beast, locking it in midair.

"Grau?! GRAAAA!"

Although I felt some resistance as I gradually clenched my fist, the beast howled and roared in pain. When I closed it for good, there was a sinister sound of bones shattering and skin tearing apart. Only an unrecognizable form of flesh and fur remained of that wolf species, and its black blood splashed everywhere.

"Why do they always interrupt us on the best part?!" Lilith asked annoyed as she got out of the tub and picked up her towel to put it on

Four more of those magical beasts entered the breach and all of them snarled at us.

Afterward, people entered with their faces covered by a black veil, but despite the camouflage, I could see that one of them had horns typical of the demon race. One thing they all had in common, was that they were all women.

Even though I couldn’t see their faces, I felt their surprise at seeing one of those magical beasts become a lump of shapeless flesh.

"What do you want?" I asked very calmly

"My lady Stilno." began the demon of the gang "At the request of our Lord, we have come to escort you to Deshotia."

"Your lord?!" Lilith asked alarmed "You don't mean that perverted bastard do you?"

"Your hostility towards my lord has not changed from what I can see."

"Do you know them, Lilith?" I asked, putting myself at her side

"Not in person, but I would recognize that type of clothing anywhere." she answered with a sigh "Among the founding houses of Deshatia, only one has decided to dress his subordinates in this way... or rather, by choice of its current head of the household... as well as my ex-finacé candidate."

"Hou~" I felt anger suddenly build-up

"You are right to get angry honey." Lilith resumed disgustedly “That ex-suitor to my hand is nothing more than a narcissistic pervert with a disgusting hobby. Although I have reprimanded him several times for his nauseating attitude, a wall is a better listener in comparison."

"What kind of attitude?"

"...... Since he is handsome, he believes that all the beauties of this world belong to him." she hesitated at first before resuming speaking "From what I know, during the war he never showed himself on the battlefield, instead of touring the world with the intent of kidnapping the most beautiful women of various races including mine, just to be able to include them in his collection......... and it seems that for him, I too am a collector's item."

*Snap!*

.........I'll kill him. "What's his name?"

***(?????'s POV)***

I don't know what the Demon Queen and that flea are confabulating about, but I can't allow them to continue forever. Looking towards my fellow servants, they nodded as the Netherlings cautiously approached the pair.

"Hey... answer this question."

That flea... his irises were grey until a moment ago, but now they were dyed with a penetrating golden color. I don’t know why, but his voice was so cold that I felt like I was locked inside an ice sarcophagus and every fiber of my body forced me to run as far away as I could. Looking around I saw that the four Netherlings were ready to jerk and the hair that until a moment ago seemed to have its own life, to stand on end; also the other three servants were stuck on the spot and were trembling.

Am I feeling... fear?! I believed that my feelings disappeared after being trained by my lord Lord Arzined. I no longer felt anything, no joy, no pleasure, no pain, nothing at all. But in a single instant, fear permeated every single fiber of my being.

"Your dear master Arzined Voxnar... what is he going to do with my wife~?"

...... Huh? Wife?! I may have heard wrong, however, I'm not going to answer this inferior being. I admit it has an overwhelming presence, but I think that's all. I turned to the Demon Queen Lilith Stilno

“My lady Stilno” I began “Please cooperate and return to Deshotia so that you can marry our lord, the only candidate worthy of you. Otherwise, we are allowed to use the for-?!!"

The ground beneath my feet began to shake and the stone grew hotter and hotter until gaps opened, creating entire pools of lava and some sharp stalagmites emerged from the ground. One of my fellow servants did not have time to understand what was happening as she fell into one of those lava pools and another was impaled, while two Netherlings were pierced by stalagmites, severely injuring them.

"You come here... interrupt the last day of our beautiful honeymoon... interrupt our intimate moment... demand the return of my wife to your revolting realm... and you affirm that a dandy without balls is suitable for her; when he... sees her... as a mere... COLLECTOR'S PIECE?!" he asked moving towards us.

That icy, but low-pitched voice grew louder and louder and every step he took instilled in me the thought of having to retreat

"KYAA-GH!"

Turning to that scream filled with fear and pain, I saw that the last servant I had taken with me was being torn apart by what looks like two black wolves with eyes as red as blood and whose black fangs were dyed with her blood.

Perhaps because of their animal instincts the four Netherlings, even those seriously injured, tried to escape from that place, but were intercepted by a beam of light that materialized from the hand of the human being and, with the crack of a whip, to me so familiar, the four magical beasts were struck, opening whole gashes in their flesh, dying in convulsions.

By now I too, the last one left, listened to that instinct that repeatedly forced me to flee, but when I was about to turn around, I felt every muscle in my body being hit by excruciating pain and every muscle in my legs being torn apart.

"Gaaah!"

I fell to the ground because of the pain, landing on my butt. In front of me, as that man approached, the ground that had changed, changed again as if to facilitate his passage. His golden eyes were so piercing that they seemed to be peering into my soul.

By now fear has become terror. I must run away! I must go! I must...! repeating only those two words in my head, I dragged myself to the breach from which we had entered despite the excruciating pain that assailed me

"GAAAAH!"

The leg was gripped firmly, causing me tremendous pain, so much that I felt like I had been crushed by a dragon's paw. I felt my body being dragged and then I was forced to turn around, finding the furious face of that being before my eyes.

He grabbed my throat, squeezing it lightly and lifting me at the same time. Even though I could breathe, I still felt a lack of air. I struggled to try to free myself, but his grip was firm and when I hit him in the face, I felt the bones in my hand break as if I had hit a block of metal. I didn't have enough air to scream.

"Where is Arzined Voxnar?"

That question was as sharp as a blade and it seemed to me that answering it was the only thing that could protect me. But I didn't answer. My loyalty to my beloved lord was the only thing I didn't want to betray.

Receiving no response, I let myself go and at the same instant hit me in the pit of my stomach.

I fell to my knees and vomited a mixture of the meal I had just eaten and blood.

“Cough! Cou-!"

He didn’t even give me time to catch my breath, and he took me by the neck again.

"Where is Arzined Voxnar?"

***(Lilith's POV)***

When I told him his name and told him about Arzined, Graeval released all his anger and without giving time to the poor souls, who had inadvertently unleashed it, to understand what was happening. He slaughtered them without delay.

When he began his assault by shifting the terrain around his opponents, I was reentered.

I dried and dressed while I heard the chilling cries of pain of the fools who had drawn my husband’s wrath... and mine.

While it's true that I'm not fighting, just naming that bastard is enough to make me angry.

"Where is Arzined Voxnar?"

The woman who gave us her master’s message, at this moment, will be praying to Aphy to grant her a quick death... but unfortunately for her, Graeval will not give it to her until he has given him the answer he was looking for.

"Where is Arzined Voxnar?"

Graeval at first just hit her very hard every time she didn't respond.

After five minutes she did not give up and it was then that it started to get serious. Creating a wall of rock in front of him, he slammed the demon against it violently, causing her to get stuck in that wall, took her right arm, and tear it off as if she was a rag doll.

“GHYAAAAA! MY AAARMM-! GHA!"

"Where is Arzined Voxnar?" he asked coldly again, and he began to hit her in the face with the same arm he had just ripped off.

Then it went to her left arm, then to her right leg, and to her left leg... then he reattached her limbs using his powers and he started over.

The veil that covered her face was gone. Her face streaked with tears and blood also bore horrible scars caused by constant abuse. She's a victim of that bastard too... and even if she didn't, neither I nor Graeval would have cared. They made the biggest mistakes of their miserable life by becoming servants of Arzined and accepting the task of bringing me back by force. Now she is paying heavily for her mistake and misplaced loyalty.

The torture continued for another half hour and every time, my husband did nothing but make it crueler and crueler: he burns her, he electrocutes her, broke her bones and each time cured her only to be able to start again without a moment of breath. He also attacked her psychologically by projecting images of her greatest fears into her head and when she fainted from too much pain, he woke her up.

He was giving him no respite and Graeval's lucid anger was only growing.

Hm? where are the guards? Well, my husband is very cautious and had erected a barrier confined to our room and bathroom area so that no one could hear the death screams coming from here.

"Enough... someone... helps... me..." I heard murmurs

Only the trunk and the head were left of the demon again. My husband tugs her by the hair and repeats that question as if it were a broken record

"Last chance. Where is Arzined Voxnar?"

"Enough... someone... helps... me... enough..."

"It seems that by now she is broken." I said seeing her

"Tsk!"

He took her by the cheeks and forced her to stare into his eyes. It took about forty seconds for the woman's eyes to turn white. Like a dead weight, the demon was about to fall to the ground... but my husband caught her, closed her eyes, and began to cure her, this time for good.

"When you will wake up... you won't be in a nightmare anymore."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked surprised by the statement and his action

I’ve been searching his mind for the whereabouts of that man, Arzined." he starts by getting up with the woman "I found it... and not just that."

As he carried her inside to lay her on the bed and resume treatment, Graeval explained everything to me: since she was a child, this demon was treated like a toy by Voxnar. Physical abuse, rape of which Arzined was the culprit or who had organized, physical and mental torture just for his unhealthy pleasure. In the end, the woman lost her identity and turned into a soulless automaton... or rather, the little identity that remained was locked in a crevice of her head to protect her.

"Maybe it was thanks to what she didn't die from my mental foray."

"You killed the lifeless doll, but you didn't kill the woman's true identity."

Graeval explained to me that this power, he preferred to use it only as a last resort because, even though it was true that it allowed him to extrapolate the information that interested him, it ended up killing the victim he was using it on. This is an exception since there are two personalities within the poor girl.

“From what I saw, what I gave her in just over half an hour is just a taste of what she has suffered over the years. But the intensity with which I inflicted those tortures on her was a completely new thing to her and therefore represented a debilitating shock causing the doll to die the next instant I entered her mind. But in all of this, there is something far worse."

"What is it?"

"...... The name of this demon... is Heloria Voxnar... she is Arzined's younger sister."

My mouth remained closed, my words stuck in my throat and the anger I felt towards that perverse being only burned even more vividly.

That monster treated his little sister like a mere object. It's the blood of his blood! How he can do it? How can he do that to his own family?! the anger fueled by those thoughts made tears flow down my cheeks. I have never been interested in Arzined's business or perverse pastimes and now I have in front of me the one who has suffered the worst fate of all those he considers mere "collectibles": betrayed by her own family and without having the minimal chance of being able to ask someone for help... constantly under the sick yoke of her brother.

I gently took Heloria's hand with tears still running down my cheeks. I can’t let it go as if nothing had happened!

"Graeval. You said you found him, right? Are you going to see him?"

“The simple fact of having interrupted our honeymoon...” he begins by starting to change “is more than enough reason to go and kill him. But if we add the fact that he wants you in his collection and putting as a bonus the treatment he gave to his sister, I have far too many reasons to put him through the pains of hell that I’m going to unleash upon him."

"Graeval..." I called him getting up and wiping my tears "I have a request for you..."

***(Graeval's POV)***

(Return to the events that occurred immediately after Graeval arrived in the royal greenhouse.)

 

The son of a bitch was in front of my eyes. He was on the ground still rubbing his nose that I had broken a moment ago.

"You hurt me~" he says standing up and throwing an empty bottle to the side

I didn't say anything. At that moment I had only one thought in my head: to make him suffer and regret not only having interrupted our honeymoon... but also being born.

“Curious the spell you used~” he begins by approaching the burned carcass of that magical beast. “I didn't perceive it at all. But above all, where did you come from? I thought I had left some of my cutest puppies to guard the area~"

I opened a portal in the shadow created by a nearby chair and from there extracted the heads of magical beasts such as wolves that had attacked us or insects that looked like overgrown mantises. I threw them at his feet

"I am the materialization of your worst nightmares."

Arzined's amused expression changed and became serious. There was no fear, but simple seriousness.

As if I had caught his attention.

Turning to the table that was on my left, I saw that the whole royal family was looking at me in relief and at the same time terrified, but Bassilla was also happy to see me. I saw tears running down her cheeks... but I don't know if she started crying when I arrived or before I arrived. Well... it doesn't matter.

"*Sigh* What a pity~" Arzined sigh, moving one of the heads I threw at him with his foot

“They were such cute puppies. I'll have to train others~"

"You will be dead before you can do it."

"Oh~ how scary~" he said badly faking a scared expression "And I bet you will do it~"

"Oh, don’t worry, part of it will be thanks to me."

While Arzined looked at me questioningly, I opened a portal next to me and my wife Lilith entered; she wore a green travel suit and held a fabric bag in her hand. Once inside, she turns to her ex-pretender with a cold stare.

"Oh~ What a nice tidbit~" Arzined said fascinated "I think I'll add her to my collection too~"

At this time, Lilith was still under the influence of her mimetic spells and my illusory powers, with the same appearance she usually displays when we are not in a private place.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked her in a low voice

"If that means I can kick him... then yes." she says noting that the royal family was surprised to see her there.

She took a few steps forward and tossed the sack she was holding, making it land at Arzined's feet

"Oh?! A gift for me~?!" he began by opening the bag "How nic-!!"

He jumped up when he saw that there were the bloody heads of the servants he had sent to find my wife.

"I see you are as disgusting as ever... Arzined Voxnar."

As soon as she finishes the sentence, she undoes her spells and I released mine showing everyone present who she was. A demon for the royal family and the Demon Queen for Arzined.

At first, surprised by the revelation, Arzined immediately composed himself and bowed

“Look look what a surprise~. I didn't think the Demon Queen herself would come to me. But it's a bit cruel of you to kill the servants I asked to come and get you."

"It's the punishment they deserve for making my honeymoon end badly."

"Umu umu... I understand. They did something really-!" his words froze and looked surprised at his former queen "Honeymoon?!"

"Oh! Right, I haven’t introduced him yet."

Looking at me with sweetness and smiling, she reaches out her hand to me as if to invite me to be at her side. After joining her, I held her to me and she kissed me on the cheek before returning to speak

"He is my husband Graeval and on this very special occasion..." she starts and then turns to a confused Arzined "even your executioner~"

— • — • — • — • — • —

Hi guys! Emperor 93 here!
If you want to participate in the realization of the illustrations that will be drawn for this story, click on "Paypal" or "Tip" and remember to write the name of your avatar so that it can insert you in the thanks at the beginning of the chapter!