"My first wish, once you're out of that bottle, is that your feet belong to me," Lucius said with a light chuckle, unabashed.
"Huh?" The loli demon's dark golden eyes widened in confusion, her slit pupils filled with astonishment.
"Got a problem with that?" Lucius's tone was teasing, as if oblivious to how outrageous his words were. "When the time comes, I can touch them whenever I want, admire them whenever I please."
Are you some kind of pervert?
The loli demon's pointed ears twitched slightly, her narrowed eyes clearly conveying that sentiment.
Even her perfect little feet curled their toes involuntarily.
"What about the other wishes?" The demon asked, arms crossed, her voice tinged with boredom.
She could tell he had no intention of negotiating in good faith.
"My second wish is for you to help me become stronger," Lucius said without hesitation.
Money, honor, dignity… all meaningless in the face of power and death.
The weak never know when they'll be reduced to a pile of bones.
"Ah, got it," The demon nodded. "Anything else?"
"That one I'll need to think about carefully," Lucius said, eyeing the demon in the bottle up and down. "You said any wish would do, right?"
"Naturally," The demon replied with a charming smile.
Lucius fell into thought.
Should he wish for something like three more wishes?
No, that would be too cliché.
So—
After what felt like an eternity, Lucius looked at the bottle on the bedside table and spoke with a smile. "You there?"
"Hm?"
"Ready to talk?"
How crude.
Lucius inwardly scolded himself.
After all, his connection with the demon had been cut off again.
No matter how he called out, she seemed unwilling to respond.
But she would reach out again, he was sure of it.
Her longing for freedom was too intense.
Even if she could wait patiently for his death, for someone else to find and open the bottle…
All he had to do was threaten to sink the bottle into the ocean before he died, letting her wait until the seas dried up. Problem solved.
"Hey, what do you want?" The bottle seemed to tremble slightly, and the image of the petite girl reappeared in his mind.
The demon rubbed her eyes with one hand, looking thoroughly exasperated.
"Tell me, if you're truly willing to set me free—"
"If you can give me true freedom."
"Then fulfilling the wishes of a mere mortal like you would be child's play for me."
"Even if you want to become a so-called Campione in this lowly world, it would be a trifling matter for me."
But Lucius refused.
"I can't trust you."
"The moment I let you out of that bottle, my life is entirely in your hands, to be taken or spared as you please."
"So, how about we do this differently?"
Lucius proposed.
The demon's dark golden eyes turned cold, her delicate face taking on a rare solemnity.
"Give me what I want," Lucius said, a calm smile on his face. "And when my life ends, I'll give you your freedom."
"If you refuse, that's fine too. But before my life ends, I'll make sure to sink the bottle sealing you into the sea."
"Hah, a threat?" The demon scoffed, her face full of disdain.
"Not at all. I'm just ensuring my own survival," Lucius said calmly. "Once I let you out, I'm of no use to you. I'm only trying to avoid being casually killed. Surely you can understand that?"
There was another reason, though…
A certain possessiveness buried deep in his heart.
For beautiful things, there's always a desire to claim them.
So, some unsavory thoughts were only natural, weren't they?
Rather than letting her go and granting her freedom, Lucius would prefer to keep her imprisoned in the bottle.
At least this way, she still belonged to him.
"You've already been stuck in that bottle for endless ages, so what's a little more time?"
"While I live, you grant me power."
"When I die, I grant you freedom."
"How's that?" The corners of Lucius's mouth curled into a slightly twisted smile.
"Can I trust you?" The demon asked, swayed.
She didn't want to stay in the bottle a moment longer.
But she also knew that agreeing to his proposal was her only chance at glimpsing freedom.
"I'm wondering the same thing—can I trust you?" Lucius said, placing his hand on the mouth of the brass bottle.
The stern warning, written in near-ancient Hebrew script, was etched upon it.
[Remember this: Do not open this bottle.]
The demon girl raised her small hand, reaching forward slightly.
Through the bottle's seal, their hands seemed to touch.
"For me, what happens after my death doesn't matter," Lucius said with a gentle smile, though his words were cruel. "At that point, I'd have no reason not to set you free."
But by the same token, he had no reason to set her free now, did he?
"I'll give you power to ensure you don't die unexpectedly before opening the seal. Otherwise, who knows how long I'd have to wait to meet someone else capable of breaking it."
The loli demon smiled sweetly, subtly revealing information of questionable truth.
So, the sealed bottle couldn't be opened by just anyone?
But even if she said this, it didn't rule out the possibility of her using some hidden method to end Lucius's life early—without him even noticing.
Both human and demon understood this implicitly.
So…
"Let's try giving each other the most basic level of trust," The loli demon said, blinking playfully.
"Human and demon… each taking what they need," Lucius nodded lightly.
"So, the first thing to do next…"
***
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