The main gates of the Butterfly Mansion swung open behind Marcus.
The sun shone brightly overhead, bathing the flowers and plants in the garden with its light.
A few Hunters, dressed in patient uniforms, were sunbathing in the shade of the corridor. The moment they saw him, they froze for an instant, then immediately bowed their heads in respect.
"Greetings, Lord Demon Pillar!"
But he didn't even notice them. With a livid expression on his face, he kept his gaze fixed on the woman with purple hair and pupils who, dressed in the butterfly haori, stood before him.
"Marcus-kun?"
Shinobu tilted her head, puzzled.
She didn't understand where that gloomy expression was coming from.
"Ara~ Could it be that our Demon Pillar is still upset about being thrown out the other day~?"
Marcus didn't respond.
With his face still darkened, he advanced toward her. His footsteps echoed heavily on the wooden floor.
Shinobu's smile stiffened slightly.
Something wasn't right…
"Has something happened? D-Do you need my help?"
Even her voice wavered, tinged with uncertainty.
And, in that very instant, Marcus was already standing in front of her.
"Shinobu."
He tried, as much as he could, to keep his voice calm. Although that calm, coming from him, sounded completely out of place.
"…What have you done to yourself?"
A shudder ran through Shinobu's body, but her smile didn't falter.
"What are you talking about? I don't underst—"
"Don't smile." Marcus frowned even harder. "Don't give me that smile."
Shinobu froze. And, for the first time, her smile faded.
Holding her gaze, Marcus said something that left her breathless:
"Wisteria poison… You've been injecting yourself with it. Haven't you?"
Completely stunned, Shinobu raised her eyes to the tall figure in front of her, unable to fully believe it.
"H-How… how do you know?"
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Marcus narrowed his eyes.
Shinobu lowered her gaze, her hands trembling slightly.
"Y-You shouldn't have noticed… I hid it very well. Not even Master managed to figure it out. Not Kanao either. Not even Tanjiro's nose could detect it…" She raised her eyes to him again, still dazed. "How did you notice?"
"Have you forgotten my Breathing Style?"
"Breathing Style?" A strange expression crossed Shinobu's face. "So deep down it's only good for sniffing women, then?"
"Don't try to change the subject! I'm talking about you!"
At Marcus's growl, Shinobu lowered her head again, letting a brief silence settle between them.
When she lifted her face once more, her smile was the same as always, though now it carried a hint of distance that hadn't been there before.
"Marcus-san, I deeply appreciate your concern, but I'M the one who knows best how to take care of my own body."
"And you call THIS taking care of yourself? Injecting yourself with poison? Turning yourself into a toxic bomb capable of killing any demon that dares to devour you?" Marcus was doing his best to hold back his rage. "You call THIS taking care of your body!?"
Holding his gaze with a smile, Shinobu suddenly… let out a small giggle.
"Fufu~ Marcus-san, that Breathing Style of yours really is quite peculiar. Are you some kind of women-scanner?"
"I told you not to try to change the subject." Veins bulged on Marcus's forehead.
"Well, since you already know everything…" Shinobu tilted her head, as if it were nothing. "I have no reason to dodge the matter either. Still, I have to admit that your Breathing Style does make me quite curious."
Marcus took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Curious… There are plenty of other things worth being curious about. But at the rate you're going, how much longer do you think you'll be able to keep being curious? A year? Two?"
"Five years." she answered without a tremor in her voice. "Wisteria poison is only lethal to demons. But once it enters my body, it recognizes it as a foreign substance and rejects it. That puts an enormous strain on all my organs, especially the liver and kidneys."
"To keep the concentration of the poison constant, I have to inject it continuously. So, doing the math properly… I have about five years of life left."
"…Why?"
Marcus's hands clenched into two stones. "What are you trying to accomplish with this? Can you guarantee me that within five years you'll cross paths with a demon capable of killing you and, on top of that, devouring you?"
"Of course not~"
"Then why are you doing it?!"
"Because if I don't… I'm afraid I won't be able to defeat the demons."
Shinobu's smile took on a tinge of melancholy, "My sister was the previous Flower Pillar. An Upper Moon killed her. And even in her final moments, she was still dreaming of coexistence between humans and demons. She was so kind, so sweet, a truly good person…"
She looked down at her hands.
"I'm not on her level. I don't have her talent, nor her nobility. The only thing I can do is study poisons. Research drugs. Find ways to kill demons faster and faster."
"But you don't have to turn yourself into poison either!"
Lifting her gaze, Shinobu, this time, looked at him with a seriousness that left no room for evasion.
"Do you want to marry Kanao?"
"Huh!?" Marcus was thrown off. "What are you talking about?"
"Answer me."
"…"
Marcus took a deep breath.
"Of course I do!"
"…"
Shinobu watched him in silence for a few seconds, studying the honesty in his eyes while the intensity of his answer still hung in the air.
Little by little, her expression softened, though a shadow of sadness crossed her gaze.
"A very you answer, but…" Raising a finger, she rested it against her chin. "If this world remains as dangerous as it is now, living every day with that threat hanging over you, that wouldn't be a happy life for her either."
"…"
Shinobu went on: "Master has said that this generation of Pillars is the strongest of them all."
"We are powerful, and you have brought information about Muzan, as well as the ongoing experiments. If you think about it, we are the ones closest to putting an end to the era of demons."
"And you think you're going to put an end to it with your life?"
Shinobu shook her head with a smile. "I'm not that naive."
"Shinazugawa is very strong, Tomioka is very strong, Obanai is very strong, and you… you are even stronger. If there really is someone capable of finishing off Muzan, it'll have to be one of you."
"And that's why… I don't want to become a burden to all of you…. If it were possible, I would also want to… avenge my sister."
"ENOUGH!"
Marcus cut her off.
"So what you want is to die!?"
"I don't want to die. I want the demon that killed my sister to die."
"AREN'T THOSE THE SAME THING!!?"
The few hunters who had been sunbathing flinched and turned to look.
But the moment they saw the demonic look on Marcus's face, they immediately looked away, pretending not to have heard a thing.
Marcus kept his eyes locked on Shinobu the entire time.
"Do you think sacrificing your life to poison an Upper Moon and avenge your sister is some heroic act? Do you think she'd be happy to see you die?"
"She's already dead." Shinobu's voice came out without the slightest tremor, "She won't be happy, nor unhappy. She doesn't know anything…"
"Of course she knows!"
Marcus yanked her wrist toward him. His grip was tight, and Shinobu frowned slightly.
"Your sister is watching you from the heavens! She sees you smiling every day, pretending that everything is fine, while on the inside you're slowly wasting away! Do you think that's how she wants to see you?! Do you think she'd want you to trade your life for that of some miserable demon?!"
"THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!"
For the first time in front of Marcus, Shinobu raised her voice.
"I don't have Tokito's talent! I don't have Himejima's strength! I can't even cut a demon's head off without struggling! This is the only thing I can do! It's the only way I have of killing them! It's the only way to—!"
"To what?"
Marcus stared at her intensely.
"To find peace? To feel like you're doing something for your sister? To stop spending your nights wide awake, wondering why you aren't strong enough?"
Shinobu opened her mouth… But no words came out.
When he saw how the tears were starting to slide slowly down her cheeks, the fire in Marcus's chest blazed even hotter.
He let go of her wrist.
And then, under Shinobu's reproachful gaze as she rubbed the sore spot… he threw her over his shoulder.
"W-what?!"
Shinobu was left completely flabbergasted.
She hadn't even had time to react when she was already tucked under Marcus's arm, head down and rear up, as if he were carrying a disobedient little girl who had misbehaved.
"…w-What… are you doing? Let me go, please!"
Paying her absolutely no mind, Marcus, carrying her just like that, marched on into the mansion.
The hunters around them were left dumbstruck.
Demon Pillar… WHAT IS HE DOING???
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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
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And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790