Chapter 56: You are mine dante ~

The head cook looked like he was about to faint, his knees knocking together in panic.

Dante finished his meal in complete silence, ignoring the absolute terror in the room. Once his stamina reservoir hit one hundred percent, he picked up a crystal chalice filled with blood-red volcanic wine, took a single, short sip, and set it down on the dark table, leaving it half-empty.

He pushed his chair back and stood up. "Gideon. We’re leaving now. Show me the layout for the spatial shaft."

"Right behind you, kid," Gideon grunted, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and grabbing his bone staff.

Dante walked calmly toward the grand doors without looking back once. Esabella remained seated for a moment, completely lost in his thoughts, her eyes tracking the sharp lines of his back until he vanished down the outer corridor with the old pioneer.

The moment the doors closed, the dense tension in the dining hall broke. A group of four demon servants immediately rushed forward with silver trays, trying to clean up the table as fast as possible to escape the room. One servant reached his trembling claws toward the crystal glass Dante had just left behind.

"everyone, Step back," Esabella whispered.

The servant froze, his hand hovering an inch from the glass.

"Great Queen? W–what happened? Did we do something wrong?" the servant stammered, looking up.

Esabella slowly stood up from her chair. The sweet, adoring expression she had used with Dante was entirely gone, replaced by a terrifying, murderous look of pure royal fury. Her horns tilted forward, and her bladed tail violently snapped against the stone, creating a loud ’CRACK’ that shattered the nearest floor block.

"Take your filthy, disgusting claws away from that table," Esabella snarled, her voice dropping to a freezing, absolute command. "Leave everything exactly where it is and get out of my sight before I peel the skin from your flesh!"

"Y-Yes, your Majesty!, we are leaving right away " the servants shrieked in terror, dropping their trays and scrambling out of the dining hall like frightened insects, slamming the doors behind them.

The room fell into a silence. Esabella stood completely alone by the head of the table. She turned her head, her eyes locking instantly onto the half-empty crystal chalice. A flush crawled up her face as she slid into a manic, obsessive trance. She walked slowly over to the chair Dante had just been sitting in, her hips swaying gracefully before she sat down right in his exact spot.

She leaned forward, her chest pressing against the edge of the table as she gently closed both of her hands around the crystal glass, her long black claws trembling with pure excitement.

"Dante’s glass..." she whispered to herself, her voice carrying a crazy, breathless rumble. "His lips touched right here..."

She rotated the crystal chalice slowly, locating the exact rim where a small wet trace of the dark red wine remained. Staring at it with absolute, fanatical adoration, she brought the glass to her mouth and pressed her full lips against the exact same spot, drinking the remaining drops of wine in a slow, deep swallow.

"Ah..." Esabella let out a soft, ecstatic shiver, her golden eyes dilating completely as she cradled the empty glass against her cheek like a priceless treasure. "It tastes like him. So cold. You are my King, Dante... you can never leave me...you are mine, dante~"

She sat there for several minutes, completely lost in her crazy delusions, talking to herself in low, melodic whispers as her tail thrashed happily against the chair legs. Finally, she snapped her fingers.

The doors opened slightly, and a terrified royal vanguard guard crept inside, dropping to his knees. "Y-Yes, my Queen?"

Esabella carefully set the crystal chalice down on a gold tray, her expression turning into a freezing mask of absolute authority. "Take this glass. Bring it to my private chambers immediately. Have the finest jewelers in the palace forge a glass case lined with pure gold and protective runes to frame it perfectly. If a single fingerprint touches the rim, or if the crystal gets a single scratch, I will execute your entire bloodline."

"I will secure it with my life, don’t worry Great Queen!" the guard saluted in pure panic, carefully lifting the tray with both hands as if it were a fragile explosive, before backing out of the room as fast as possible.

Esabella stood up from the chair, a breathtaking, manic smile stretching across her lips as her wings twitched happily behind her. She smoothed down the dark scales at her hips and walked toward the grand exit, her eyes burning with that wild, fanatical love as she went to meet dante again.

On other side Dante walked down the long corridor of the northern fortress with Gideon beside him, and he could hear a soft sound behind them.

*Click. Click. Click.*

High heels noise coming behind them . He didn’t turn around. He kept walking, and the sound kept following. When he stopped, it stopped. When he took three steps, it took three steps too, a little late, like someone trying very hard not to be heard.

Gideon leaned toward him and whispered, "Kid, there’s a dragon queen hiding behind that pillar."

"I know." Dante said.

"It’s seems like she wants something"

Dante let out a slow breath. He turned his head just enough to speak over his shoulder. " Come out, we know you already here ."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then a very small voice said, "I’m not here."

"Your tail is sticking out."

A tail with a sharp tip slid back behind the pillar. There was a quiet pause. Then Esabella stepped out, with her hands behind her back and her horns tilted down, trying to look innocent.

"I was only walking," she said.

"In the same direction as me. For ten minutes."

"The corridor is long."

"Esabella."

"...Yes, my King?" As she heard her name again from his mouth she got more excited.