Chapter 128: Daily Life of the Night King -4-

The bedroom of the Infinity Castle was an absolute scene of chaos.

Nezuko, having transformed into her adult form, occupied the space on top of Akira’s stomach, pressing down on him with her massive chest. On either side, Shinobu and Kanao hugged Akira’s arms as if refusing to be outdone.

“Mmm~!!”

Nezuko let out a low growl toward Shinobu, displaying her territorial instincts.

To her, Akira was both a father and the most comfortable, softest bed in the entire world.

“Sigh… At this rate, it’s not my back that’s going to give out, but my lungs. I’m going to suffocate.”

Akira gasped for air as he stared up at the ceiling.

The lingerie Shinobu and Kanao were wearing was undeniably provocative, but in a situation where Nezuko was glaring with her eyes wide, he couldn't do anything.

He certainly couldn’t do anything with Nezuko right there.

Akira quietly called out to Nakime through telepathy.

[……Nakime. Do you hear me?]

[Yes, Akira-sama.]

[Contact Benienma immediately. Tell her to prepare a special set of strawberry mochi and star candy for Nezuko. Then, tell her to leave it far away, in the western annex.]

[……Understood.]

A moment later, an announcement echoed through the Infinity Castle—specifically, only in Akira’s room, thanks to Nakime’s enhanced Blood Demon Art.

[Ahem, attention. A prototype strawberry mochi tower with star candy toppings, prepared by Benienma-sama, has been completed in the western annex banquet hall. The entire portion will be given to the first person to arrive.]

In that instant, Nezuko’s ears perked up. Strawberry mochi and star candy.

Specifically, star candy was the food Nezuko loved most back when she was human.

“Mmm?!”

Nezuko looked down at Akira. Akira acted out the most regrettable expression in the world.

“Oh dear… My back hurts so much right now that I can’t go. I wonder who’s going to eat all those delicious treats?”

Nezuko’s pupils trembled like an earthquake. She loved Akira, but she couldn't resist strawberry mochi and star candy.

Moreover, the phrase 'first come, first served' ignited her competitive spirit.

Nezuko instantly shrank back into her child form.

She gave Akira a quick peck on the cheek and then kicked the door open, dashing out without a second look.

“Mmm!!”

Patter, patter, patter!

As the sound of Nezuko’s footsteps running down the corridor faded, Akira snapped his fingers.

“Nakime, lock the door. And no matter what happens, do not open it until morning.”

Click.

With the sound of a heavy locking mechanism turning, the bedroom fell into a perfect silence… with only three people remaining.

Once Nezuko vanished, the air in the room instantly turned heavy and thick.

Before Akira could even breathe a sigh of relief and adjust his posture, Shinobu climbed onto his body like a snake.

“Hee-hee~ My Master certainly is something. You’re quite skilled at tricking children, aren't you?”

Shinobu’s purple eyes gleamed seductively.

The thin purple slip she wore subtly revealed her skin as it caught the moonlight.

“It couldn’t be helped. You two were being so provocative.”

“Oh my, whose fault is that? You’re the one who kept us starving like this.”

Shinobu placed her hand on Akira’s chest, slowly drawing circles with her finger as she moved lower.

“If you had given us even half the attention you pour into Nezuko-chan, we wouldn't have had to raid your room like this. Isn't that right, Kanao?”

Kanao, on the other side, nodded wordlessly.

The shoulder strap of her white slip slid down, exposing her smooth shoulder line.

“Take responsibility.”

Kanao’s short but intense sentence hit home. Akira found himself like a bee or butterfly besieged by beautiful flowers on both sides.

“I raised you both like my own children, yet how did we end up in this kind of relationship?”

It was truly ironic. It had started simply by taking in orphans, and now they had reached a dynamic he could never have anticipated.

“Fine, I shall take responsibility. Tonight, I’ll let you both have your way.”

Akira wrapped his arm around Shinobu’s waist, pulling her toward the headboard.

Shinobu didn't resist; she wrapped her arms around Akira’s neck and pressed her lips against his.

It was a sweet yet stinging kiss, characteristic of Shinobu.

Her tongue darted into Akira’s mouth, exchanging thick saliva in a deep embrace.

“Haah… Mmm….”

As their lips parted, a silver thread of saliva stretched long from the corner of Shinobu’s mouth. With a flushed face, she looked down at Akira and whispered.

“I won’t go easy on you today. I want the poison of my love to… melt you down to the very bone.”

As soon as the kiss with Shinobu ended, Kanao crawled into Akira’s embrace as if she had been waiting for her turn.

Though she usually lacked emotional expression, in Akira’s arms, she was more passionate than anyone.

Kanao took Akira’s hand and placed it over her own breast.

Through the thin fabric of her slip, he could feel her heart pounding as if it were about to burst.

“…Father.”

Kanao’s moist eyes looked up at Akira.

Akira gently lifted Kanao’s chin and kissed her.

If Shinobu’s kiss was provocative, Kanao’s was persistent and deep. She held him tightly as if she didn't want to miss a single breath of his.

Akira’s hand slid inside Kanao’s slip.

As he caressed her soft skin, an uncontrollable moan escaped Kanao’s lips.

“Nngh…! Ah…♡”

Her body arched like a fresh fish jumping out of water. Pleasure combined with the touch of the person she loved.

Kanao gripped Akira’s shoulders tight, absorbing the sensation with her whole body.

The lights in the bedroom dimmed softly, leaving only the moonlight to shine upon the three of them.

Akira laid both women down on the bed. Two beautiful flowers—one purple and one white—were waiting for him.

“Now then, which one of us will you devour first? Our greedy Demon King.”

As Shinobu provoked him while crossing her legs, Akira chuckled and moved between the two of them.

“There is no order. You’re both my women, aren't you? That is what you both wanted, after all.”

Akira pulled both Shinobu and Kanao into his embrace simultaneously.

The night was long, and the bedroom of the Infinity Castle was a paradise of their own, isolated from the rest of the world.

Shinobu’s flirtatious voice and Kanao’s ragged breathing harmonized like a chord. Akira loved every corner of their bodies.

He left hickeys on their necks, collarbones, and chests, branding them as his own.

“Aah! M-Master…♡ Right there…!”

“Haaah…♡ Father… it’s too much…♡!”

The cold-headed Shinobu and the stoic Kanao always became nothing more than women in love during these moments, writhing in pleasure.

They looked like completely different people when they were in front of the man they loved.

As the passionate hours passed, the bedsheets became a mess of sweat and heat.

While being taken by Akira simultaneously, Shinobu and Kanao caressed each other as well.

Whether they were 'lovers of the same lover' or not, they explored each other’s bodies while seeking the body of the same man.

The shadows of the three overlapped as one, and the night of the Infinity Castle was filled with the hottest and most secret heat.

No matter how fierce the winds of blood blew outside, this place was a sanctuary of love where they only sought each other's warmth.

At dawn, after the intense affair had ended, the three of them were asleep, entangled together.

Shinobu slept pillowed on Akira’s arm, while Kanao slept with her face buried in his chest.

Akira stroked the heads of the two women, his eyes closing in a languid daze.

That was when it happened.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

“Mmm!! Mmm-mmm!! Growl~!!!”

Nezuko’s huffing and puffing could be heard from outside the door.

Having conquered the strawberry mochi tower with star candy toppings, she had returned only to find the door locked, and her sense of injustice was exploding.

“……Ugh. So noisy.”

Shinobu rubbed her eyes as she woke up. The red hickeys on her neck were vivid.

“Akira-san, the princess has returned. It’s time for you to go back to being a father.”

“……I want to stay like this just a bit longer.”

Kanao mumbled, hugging Akira’s waist even tighter.

Akira gave a bitter smile and sent a telepathic message to Nakime as Nezuko pounded on the door as if she were about to break it.

‘Nakime… Open the door. Otherwise, Nezuko might pull out the pillars of the Infinity Castle.’

As soon as the door opened, Little Nezuko sprinted in and dove onto the bed.

She squeezed between Akira and the two women, hogging Akira’s embrace for herself. Her mouth was covered in red bean paste and star candy powder.

“Mmm!”

Akira hugged Nezuko and winked at Shinobu and Kanao on either side.

The two women smiled with satisfaction and settled back to sleep.

The intense heat of last night had now turned into the peaceful warmth of the morning.

This was the true paradise of daily life enjoyed by the master of the night, Akira.

A few hours later.

Deep within the Infinity Castle, in Tamayo’s laboratory. This was a space of cold reason and the smell of chemicals, disconnected from the splendor outside or the noise of the bedroom.

Akira sat on the leather sofa in the laboratory, drinking herbal tea given to him by Tamayo.

Across from him, Tamayo sat in her white lab coat, observing him with a complex expression, while Yushiro stood behind her like a shadow, wary of Akira.

“……Recently, you brought Tanjiro-kun’s younger sister, Nezuko-chan, here.”

Tamayo broke the silence first. Her voice carried deep concern rather than direct reproach.

“That child has an inseparable bond with her brother. I also heard news that the members of the Demon Slayer Corps were brutally defeated. Why… are you going this far?”

Tamayo knew that Akira was different from Muzan.

But at times, his methods felt as ruthless as Muzan’s, or perhaps even more so.

Akira smirked as he set down his teacup.

“Tamayo-san. You are either overestimating me or judging me with too much of a moral yardstick. I’ve said this from the beginning: I am not a good man.”

Akira crossed his legs and continued slowly.

“Let’s look at history. There have been countless wars in human history. It was only natural for victorious generals to plunder the wealth of the defeated nation, enslave or massacre the men, and take the women… as trophies. You lived through the Sengoku period, so you should know this well.”

Akira’s gaze turned cold.

“Actually, we don't even have to look that far back. Even at this very moment, on battlefields across the world, it is a common occurrence for soldiers to forcibly violate and ravage civilian women in occupied territories. That is the essence of war. It is the way humanity has operated for thousands of years—no, ever since humanity was born. To take, and to be taken from. A thorough law of the jungle. If you strip away human morality, isn't this common in nature as well? Human is the name of a beast that grows and develops by sacrificing others.”

Tamayo couldn't refute him. She too had witnessed the ugliness of humanity countless times over her centuries of life.

“Compared to that, how am I? I did not annihilate the Demon Slayer Corps. I simply subdued them. And Nezuko? Though I ‘seized’ her, I am treating her like my own biological daughter, like a princess. In fact, my blood literally flows through her. I dress her in the finest silk, feed her nutritious food, and protect her from seeing anything foul or harsh.”

Akira shrugged.

“If you think about how those called heroes in the past handled the daughters of enemy generals, am I not the most gentlemanly and merciful conqueror of this era?”

There was Iskandar, the King of Conquerors, who was evaluated by Heroic Spirits as a boisterous man’s man and a great hero.

Even he plundered the wife and daughters of his nemesis, Darius III. That wife died in a dungeon after giving birth to his child following her violation, and the daughter was taken as the conqueror’s own concubine, only to be killed by his primary wife after his death.

Among great heroes, it was a daily occurrence to plunder the women of enemies and use them as playthings.

Even Cu Chulainn, a sturdy and brotherly man, was the same. His son, Connla, was a child born from rape.

He had defeated the twin sister of his teacher, Scathach, and raped her. Then he irresponsibly left, telling her that if she gave birth to a child, she should raise him well and send him to him.

As a result, due to her curse, the tragic narrative of Cu Chulainn killing his own son because he didn't recognize him is very famous in Ireland.

In myths, legends, fairy tales, and history, such stories are incredibly common.

Many praised heroes share such stories.

Isn't Lancelot, praised as the greatest knight in France, nothing more than an adulterer?

Tamayo asked with a bitter expression.

“That is sophistry. However… you are not wrong. Still, Tanjiro-kun’s heart must be broken. One cannot justify the sacrifice of the few.”

“Tamayo-san. Let’s set aside the hypocrisy. We must look at the numbers.”

Akira stood up and approached the window.

“Do you remember the state of this country before the Akatsuki Trading Company existed? Commoners were starving, and even as they died of illness, they couldn't afford medicine. Especially the Joseon people from the colonies, who were treated worse than beasts and exploited.”

Akira’s voice grew more powerful.

“But what about now? The canned food I make is sold all over the world, solving the hunger of countless people. In the factories and companies I built, I rescued Joseon people from forced labor, gave them fair wages, and supported their families. Recently, I even opened an Akatsuki branch in Gyeongseong to give them hope.”

He looked directly at Tamayo.

“Thanks to my capital and technology, millions—tens of millions—of people are eating their fill, dressing warmly, and living a human life. The Demon Slayer Corps? Do you think the number of people they saved by swinging swords even reaches the tip of the feet of the people I saved with bread and medicine? I am doing what that vermin Muzan refused to do despite having great power. I too could have exploited them if I wanted to, or rather, I could have maximized profits by treating more people like slaves. Despite that, I chose this path. Because this is the way I want and like.”

It was overwhelming utilitarianism.

“The sadness of a few Demon Slayers and a single boy named Tanjiro. Of course, it is unfortunate. But if the majority of the masses are saved as a result, would I really be seen as a villain in the eyes of history? Ask the people of the world. Ask if their savior is the incompetent government and the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, or if it is me, the chairman of Akatsuki. Since I didn't kill those who attacked me and invaded my territory, I am being extremely merciful. In war, you capture those who invade your territory as prisoners at the very least. Normally, you take their heads. Historically, I am in a position to be called a great man—a merciful great man who cares for the people.”

Tamayo remained speechless for a while. Her logic could not refute Akira’s.

Akira did not engage in indiscriminate slaughter for pleasure or his own goals like Muzan.

He maintained his own lines. He did not touch anyone who did not attack him first, and he showed infinite mercy to those who came within his enclosure.

Funnily enough, though he possessed far greater power and was an infinitely more greedy being than Muzan, his impact on the world was closer to good.

If he compared himself to historical figures…

He would evaluate himself as being similar to Empress Wu Zetian.

A figure who was the worst terror and worst villainess within the imperial palace, but who was evaluated by the people as a sage ruler who brought about a period of peace and prosperity.

Akira was the same.

To the Demon Slayer Corps and some humans, he was an object of fear and an enemy to be killed, but globally, he was a benefactor who made people's lives comfortable.

“……You are a truly contradictory existence.”

“All humans are contradictory existences. ‘Human’ is the name of the most contradictory life form in this world, where good and evil coexist, Tamayo-san.”

Tamayo let out a long sigh and shook her head.

“I shall admit it. Comparing you to Muzan is an insult to you… You are a beneficial presence to this world.”

She looked at the purple liquid contained in a test tube.

“Clearly, Tanjiro-kun’s and the Demon Slayer Corps’ position is pitiful… but judging coldly, it is an undeniable fact that your existence is saving countless lives. As a doctor, as one who saves lives… I cannot deny you.”

“Thank you. Hearing you evaluate me that way puts my mind at ease.”

“Yushiro, what do you think?”

When Tamayo asked, Yushiro, standing behind her, frowned and replied.

“Hmph. If Tamayo-sama says so, then so be it. But… I will admit he is better than Muzan. At least this man isn’t rude to Tamayo-sama, and he doesn't act filthy like those stupid demons.”

Akira sat back down, smiling with satisfaction.

“I appreciate the understanding. Of course, I do not consider myself a good person. My hands are stained with blood, and I am faithful to my desires. In the first place, the moment I became a demon, lost my reason, and ate a child from an unknown village I was trying to protect… my path to Hell was guaranteed. Ah, I suppose that was the case for you too, Tamayo-san? We are comrades in that sense. Comrades with a pitiful past, who killed the ones we wanted to protect because of Muzan.”

He raised his teacup, offering a toast.

“But at the very least, I have the pride to say I am better than that piece of trash Muzan. I build instead of destroy, and I distribute instead of exploit.”

Tamayo smiled bitterly and raised her own cup.

“I, too, had my destination to Hell guaranteed from the moment I became a demon. If that’s the case… if I’m going to Hell anyway, it wouldn't be bad to make the world a bit better and take Muzan with me.”

Clink.

The clear sound of the two teacups clashing echoed in the lab.

“Well then, let’s end the philosophical talk here. How is the progress on the drug to kill Muzan? Is the technology of our virtuous Akatsuki Trading Company proving helpful?”

At Akira’s question, Tamayo’s gaze turned back into that of a scientist.

“Yes. Thanks to the data on alternative components for the Blue Spider Lily you provided and Shinobu-san’s poison techniques… it is being completed much faster than expected. It will be the worst and greatest medicine… one that will collapse Muzan’s cells and permanently prevent his regeneration.”

Akira laughed. Outside, some praised him as a savior, while the Demon Slayer Corps called him a demon.

But the truth lay somewhere in between, or perhaps in a place that transcended it all.

Through his conversation with Tamayo, he felt once again assured that his path was not wrong.

And at the end of this road lay Muzan’s destruction and his own peaceful paradise.

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