"The reason is very simple. Do you see the environment here?"
Esdeath pointed to the surrounding restraints and furniture made of ice.
"After I was defeated in that war, I was forcibly injected with the blood of a demon. Fortunately, my Teigu, Demon's Extract, also exists in the form of blood. Relying on its power, I barely managed to break through the curse of Muzan and forcibly escaped from the battlefield."
She paused, unclenched her subconsciously tightened fist, and continued:
"However, resisting the curse within the demon blood was my limit. The demon's instinct to devour humans was eroding my sanity every moment. It wasn't until I happened to come here that the environment of the snowy mountain significantly strengthened the power of the Demon's Extract, allowing me to maintain my sanity. But because of this, I am trapped here. Once the Demon's Extract loses the enhancement of the ice and snow, I will no longer be myself."
Esdeath continued to recount her experience gently, but Jean Stardust saw an unshakable pride in her eyes.
For an iron-blooded general who could bury 200,000 surrendered soldiers alive, resisting the desire to eat humans was certainly not based on reasons like morality or ethics.
Rather, it represented dignity and pride, a refusal to submit to the will of Muzan.
Then Esdeath took hold of Jean Stardust's hand and said with a smile, "I thought I would just pass away in this snowy mountain, but you suddenly appeared before me. You are the only existence I can communicate with now, and you are also an enemy of Muzan. Training you is also a manifestation of my struggle against Muzan. At the same time, my heart tells me that your compatibility with ice is very high, and you are fully capable of inheriting this Teigu, Demon's Extract."
She placed Jean Stardust's hand on the pattern on her own chest. "You can feel the pulsation within it, can't you?"
"So, are you dividing up your inheritance? You should know that your Teigu is fused into the blood within your body and cannot be stripped away while you are alive." Jean Stardust stared intently into Esdeath's eyes.
As someone who knew that excessive overtime was harmful yet still died suddenly from it, and who had once wanted to give up despite having hope for resurrection, Jean Stardust did not know why he felt angry at Esdeath's behavior at this moment.
"Ha, the feeling of someone being angry for one's own sake is really not bad. Of course, don't we have a new plan now? Relying on the core of this Super Danger Beast, we can certainly completely freeze the Imperial Capital that Muzan has painstakingly built. By then, I will have the conditions to confront Muzan head-on. It's just that the time to hand this Teigu over to you will have to be delayed."
"I won't take it!"
Esdeath just looked at Jean Stardust with a smile and said nothing.
Seeing that she didn't react, Jean Stardust took a deep breath and shouted at her, "Esdeath, today, you, you have lost to me!"
Then, without further ado, he kissed her forcefully.
Although he didn't know exactly what to do next, Jean Stardust's mind couldn't care about that much anymore.
Esdeath did not resist either, and they just embraced each other, sensing each other's breath.
After a while, the two separated slightly. Esdeath revealed an aggressive smile and said, "Jean Stardust, do you know? I had a wish before, and that was to have a romance. And now, you are the only person I can normally interact with."
Then, she turned her hand and pulled Jean Stardust onto the bed, pinning him underneath.
---
At first, Esdeath was wild enough, but because her physical strength hadn't recovered, and because she wasn't as thick-skinned as Jean Stardust in these aspects, it ultimately allowed Jean Stardust to take the initiative again.
In the end, it was unclear who was on top of whom, but judging from the satisfied expressions of both, neither was at a disadvantage.
When they got up again, it was the next morning. These two individuals with superb physical stamina had been at it for an entire afternoon and then slept in each other's arms for the whole night.
Although their physical strength had recovered after a night, some pain was still inevitable. At the same time, this experience also made Jean Stardust realize how advantageous ice was in terms of shaping.
He went out to get some snow, melted it into water, and helped Esdeath, who was lying on the bed, wipe her body. However, this Queen had actually already recovered her strength; she was simply acting spoiled.
Watching Jean Stardust's slightly awkward way of walking, Esdeath laughed and beckoned him over.
Right in front of Jean Stardust, she removed a stone from the head of the bed, revealing a hidden compartment behind it.
Inside, a delicate blue flower was frozen within a transparent block of ice.
The flower looked like an ordinary higanbana, but Jean Stardust was all too familiar with this shade of blue: RGB 0:47:167, International Klein Blue, the ideal blue, the absolute blue created by the French artist Yves Klein.
Just by looking at this flower, that clear and empty feeling made one feel as if they were lost within it.
The blue higanbana was something that did not exist in Jean Stardust's original world. All the beautiful pictures that looked like that were photoshopped, so it had never brought Jean Stardust such shock and heart-throb as it did now.
"Blue higanbana?" After saying this subconsciously, Jean Stardust suddenly remembered something and immediately used the system to appraise it.
[Item Appraisal: Name: Frozen azure spider lily. Type: Unknown. Description: It only blooms after condensing a massive amount of life force. At the moment of opening, the life force begins to dissipate rapidly, leading to quick decay. However, it was frozen midway, allowing it to maintain its blooming state for a long time. Note: Its life form possesses partial symbolic significance, and the flower itself has the effect of compensating for some biological defects.]
"Is this that azure spider lily?"
"That's right. This is exactly what Muzan desires so much, the azure spider lily. However, it's surprising that you know this. Although the search for this thing is imprinted deep within the blood of every demon, only demons who have obtained a lot of blood can know its function."
"I don't know the specifics very clearly, but the azure spider lily should be an existence that allows demons to no longer fear sunlight."
"That is correct, but it has other functions as well." While speaking, Esdeath used her ability to create a small ice cup. She then picked up the frozen higanbana, melted a little bit of it, collected the melted water in the cup, and handed it to Jean Stardust.
After taking the ice cup, Jean Stardust took a careful sip. A familiar bitter taste filled his throat; this was the taste of the decoction he had been drinking these past few days.
"Is this... the decoction from before?"
"It's more accurate to say that its main ingredient is the juice of this, and everything else was just some wild grass added randomly."
"..."
"Hahaha, don't make that face. This is because I was afraid you couldn't handle this life force if you used it directly. However, your body really exceeded my expectations. Although I was gradually increasing the concentration, drinking it directly like this is already amazing."
Esdeath was right. Just from this small sip, his whole body began to heat up, the pain in his lower body disappeared directly, and he felt as if he had endless strength in his body.
"Why don't you use it to overcome your fear of sunlight? Although I don't know how to operate it specifically, it's always good to try." Jean Stardust asked with confusion.
"It's useless. When Muzan creates every demon, he injects an absolute curse. Any demon who uses the azure spider lily will die. Only in this way can he rest assured and let these demons help him search for the higanbana."
The Scum Boss's caution hadn't changed at all, which made Jean Stardust even less optimistic about their future actions.
Esdeath put the higanbana back in its place and continued, "So after I obtained this flower, I neither used it nor destroyed it. Instead, I sealed it away like this, just waiting for the day when I can destroy this flower with my own hands in front of Muzan."
While saying these childish words, she revealed a crazed smile. Although she was only draped in a bedsheet, in Jean Stardust's eyes, she looked exceptionally handsome.
--- -- Audience Small Theater 4 -- While everyone was observing the battle between the young man and Muzan, 'D' and Shiro were facing a screen full of holy light.
Shiro: Damn it, that woman!
'D': The aftereffects caused by replenishing a bit too much life force aren't really a problem, are they? On the contrary, that Snickers bar of yours—if that child had taken a big bite, he probably would have performed as a human firework.
Shiro: She, she actually took that child's first kiss, and his first time, all, all...
'D': So this is what you care about? This is clearly your own cabbage actively thinking about rooting someone else's cabbage, right? I guarantee that child must think he's profiting immensely right now.
Shiro: o(╥﹏╥)o