I asked the doctor to conceal the wound as much as possible, but he said I absolutely must not remove the bandages for a week.
"Umm, can't I take it off for a moment and just wear the splint at night?"
"Absolutely not."
"Okay..."
I gazed down at my meticulously wrapped ankle and murmured to myself, feeling conflicted.
"Chloe is going to freak out when she sees this... Will she believe me if I said I fell down the stairs?”
"Don’t be ridiculous.”
"She believed me in the past."
"Maybe she was just pretending to believe you?”
Seeing how Claudia was now, I thought that might actually be the case. Anyhow, it was fortunate that the only place I got injured was my ankle.
"I’ll just say I sprained it.”
She might find it suspicious but what could she do if I said it was true? I muttered to myself as I got up from my seat and limped along. Then out of nowhere, Larry approached and effortlessly lifted me up. Just as I was about to say something, he suddenly frowned and grumbled at me.
"Hey, my back is sore."
What? Why would your back… As I was thinking that, my face flushed bright red and I slapped Larry’s mouth shut with the palm of my hand. Shut up. Be quiet. Then again, from Larry’s perspective, he had just fallen asleep and then woke up with scratches all over his back, so he must feel wronged. It wasn’t fair for me to get mad at him because I was embarrassed.
"I'll heal it for you."
"Wh-what? It’s fine. Why bother having a doctor if you’re not going to use them? Besides, you’ve already exposed me by bringing me with you.”
"It's okay if the doctor finds out. He’ll learn about it eventually, and he’s the only person, besides the butler, who we can trust. But we're not close enough for you to be showing off my fingernail marks are we?”
I ignored Larry as he mumbled, “As if the doctor would even care about that.”
Taking advantage of the fact that I was already comfortably settled in Larry’s arms, I pointed towards the lab with my finger. As soon as we arrived, I pulled out a healing potion I had prepared in advance and spoke.
"Show me your back."
"Why are you so indifferent towards the body of the man you love…”
"I've already seen it all, so whatever.”
Come to think of it, it was very strange. Felix and Larry shared the same body, but while my heart raced whenever I saw Felix, it stayed perfectly calm in front of Larry. They were both handsome and fit, yet there was something different about them.
It was truly fascinating. Felix's appearance had changed so much, but after feeling a little sad at first, I quickly got used to it without any discomfort — perhaps this was the power of love.
As I marvelled at myself, Larry casually unbuttoned his shirt and muttered under his breath.
"My body..."
"Hmm?"
"I want it".
I suddenly snapped out of my thoughts.
"Come to think of it, where’s the bow that originally confined you? If I find it, can I put you back in?"
"It probably burned to ashes. And I don't want to go inside an inanimate object anymore," Larry said.
I nodded, fully understanding his feelings. If he had never lived as a human, perhaps he wouldn’t care, but after experiencing the sensations of a living being, how could anyone endure being trapped inside an inanimate object? I think I’d go crazy too.
"How about a dog?”
"No way!"
"You’re so picky."
"Would you want to become a dog?"
"If you were a dog, I’d find you cuter than you are now."
“After all, cuteness alone has its own value. I’d feed you, take you for walks, and play with you every day…”
Larry couldn't take his eyes off me as I muttered softly with my chin resting on my knees. It seemed like he was momentarily tempted by my words as he remained silent for a while. But not long after, he snapped out of it and shook his head vigorously.
"If you can separate me, I'd prefer a human body."
I knew it was an impossible task. Only someone as powerful as Felix could confine the devil inside their body. An ordinary body, even if it were a corpse, wouldn’t be able to withstand containing a devil for long.
"Hmm, if you were a human, I think a boy’s body would suit you. Seventeen is the ideal age, twenty would be pushing it.”
"What? Why?"
"Because your mental age is young.”
"Hey, that’s not true!? I'm going to enter the body of a man who's much taller, more handsome, and even cooler than Felix’s, okay?!”
"You’re asking for a lot.”
Since these words had no chance of becoming a reality, I just played along without much thought. Larry himself would know that best.
I opened the lid of the healing potion and pointed to the spot in front of me. Understanding what I meant, Larry trotted over and crouched down before me. No matter how I looked at it, he definitely resembled a puppy. Muttering to myself, I diligently treated his back which was covered with traces of last night. Every time my hand touched him, Larry flinched.
A moment of silence passed. Larry, who had been quiet for a while, finally spoke the words he had been holding back.
"If I get out of this body, will you even bother to look my way?”
An immature devil who became all too human after falling in love. Due to the influence of arbitrarily consuming Felix’s emotions, he learned how to regret and apologise, making it impossible for me to wholeheartedly hate this damned devil.
"I’ll at least acknowledge you.”
"What does that even mean…"
"More importantly, if I can completely separate you, you might be able to forget all your current feelings for me."
"Perhaps."
"We might end up pointing swords at each other."
Then we would return to the way things were before. The time when he did not love me.
"...I don't think so.”
Larry muttered to himself, lost in thought. After a moment, he moved his lips, his voice a mix of weariness and sorrow, yet tinged with a hint of anticipation.
"It's strange. I feel like I’m in so much pain I’m going to die, but I don’t want to escape this moment. Am I actually a pervert?”
Even while trapped in the terrible shackles of being hated by the one he loved for the rest of his life, Larry still said he wanted to become human again. Seeing this, it seemed that he didn't hate the current sensations filled with the will to live and the emotions of life.
"You're not a pervert. That’s what it means to be alive.”
"To be alive..."
"It's the flame that fuels life.”
"No wonder it feels so hot and painful."
Honestly, if I were Larry, I might wish for the memories of me to be erased along with any feelings of love he had. I wasn’t exactly the best person to be the object of someone’s unrequited love. As someone biased in favour of myself, given how often I bend my arms inward[1], I could be downright heartless to those outside my inner circle.
The reason I hated Larry, and the reason I was relatively lenient towards him now, was because he was deeply involved with Felix. If he was someone completely unrelated, no, if he was just a devil, I would have drawn a firm line and ignored him from the moment I saw him. Was there anything crueller than being treated as if you didn’t exist by the one you loved?
Yet, despite being a devil, Larry smiled innocently and said:
"In fact, no matter what kind of ending I face, I don’t think I want to lose the feeling of how beautiful you are."
・・・・・
Felix occupied the day, and Larry occupied the night.[2] Even if I had twenty-four hours with Felix, it wouldn’t be enough, but what’s done is done. Still, looking on the bright side, daytime was better than nighttime. We could be together without falling asleep.
Moreover, thanks to Ilypia, we could send a Felix-shaped doll to the battlefield, allowing us to stay together until the end of the war.
"Claudia will arrive soon.”
"What!?"
You said she’d come in the evening, Mr. Spirit! It was only the early hours of the morning. I had been racking my brains about how to naturally facilitate the meeting between Felix and the Chamberlain family members, but what the heck was this?
I grabbed Ilypia by the collar and shook him vigorously as he casually dropped a bombshell announcement.
"If Chloe comes in the morning, she’ll have to face the devil!”
I pointed at Larry, who was eating the breakfast I had prepared, and I broke into a cold sweat.
‘That can’t happen! I assumed she would come in the evening, so I let my guard down, but now I’m screwed!’
"I just made a rough guess of when she’d arrive — I can’t actually predict Claudia’s actions.”
Claudia suddenly blurted out that she missed me and was coming back quickly because she was excited to meet me. Looking back, it wasn’t the first time she’d acted this way. Claudia's thought process was quite impulsive. If she wanted to do something, she would do it on a whim.
"Then what if Chloe beats the devil into a pulp? Felix mustn’t get hurt — not even a scratch!”
"That’s the real issue?”
Hearing my true feelings, Larry squinted at me while chewing his toast. Of course, that wasn’t my only concern. It was already going to be shocking enough, so wouldn’t Claudia feel more at ease if she met Felix first? But if she met the devil first…
As the devil of love, Larry's emotions and behaviour were mostly devoid of human qualities, except for his romantic feelings. There was a strong possibility he would say some strange nonsense in front of Claudia.
"Ah, this won’t do. I need to call someone. If there’s something complicated or concerning, Chloe will be too preoccupied to notice.”
For now, I needed to buy some time until Felix's consciousness changed. Who? Who could I call? I pulled at my hair in frustration until I thought of a person who brought Felix and me together.
Cedric!
・・・・・
"Haaa, I’m tired…”
Not long after, Claudia returned from her brief absence, having left the mortal realm to train her spiritual powers. As she plopped onto the sofa, Ilypia approached her, skillfully removed her shoes and began to massage her legs. Every time I saw this, I couldn’t tell if it was a spirit or a servant.
"I missed you, Chloe~”
I ran over to her, trying to hide my injured leg as much as possible and snuggled into her arms. Claudia hugged me tightly, her face lighting up with a blissful smile that seemed to say, 'This is truly paradise.'
"Has our Rin become more clingy while I was gone? Did you miss me that much?”
"Unng, I’ve been so lonely since I couldn’t see Chloe for so long."
I must be insane. I felt like disappearing after saying that out loud. Save me. To hide my overwhelming shame, I burrowed deeper into Claudia’s embrace.
‘If I include my past lives, how old am I even?!’
Regardless of my distress, Claudia seemed to genuinely enjoy this rare moment of my childishness.
"If I'd known it would be like this, I would’ve stayed away some more… Hmm, but I don't think I could’ve handled being apart from you.”
She held me close and gently stroked my hair before pointing with her chin at Cedric, who was watching us curiously.
"But Rin, why did you call that guy to the mansion?”
"That guy? I'm a Grand Duke now."
"Grand Duke or whatever, you’re interrupting my together time with Rin. What are you looking at?”
"Nothing..."
“What’s wrong with just looking…” Cedric stared at me with a look of wounded surprise, his words caught in his throat by Claudia's intense reaction.
‘Hey, you called for me.’
‘I-I’m sorry... Please bear with me.’
I winked at him, implying that I’d make it up to him later. The fact that those two were inseparable in the novel made me realise just how much this world had diverged from the original story. Cedric sighed, crossed his legs and leaned back deeply into the sofa.
"Why do you dislike me so much? What did I do?"
"Do you think I don't know that you’re constantly trying to get your hands on our Rin?”
"Why are you so wary? I only like Irene as a friend and I just admire her as a mentor in life.”
"Admiration? That's a feeling that can easily develop into love. As I've said many times before, Your Excellency is not a good match for Irene at all, not even a tiny bit.”
"Why are you criticising me? I’m not even interested in love right now. Right, Erica?”
At that, Erica gracefully placed the teacup she was holding on the table. She, like Cedric, was kind enough to immediately accept my sudden invitation despite her busy schedule…
"Please don’t address me by my name so casually. And refrain from looking at Irene.”
...She was a kind person, but it seemed it was limited to me.
Translator's Corner:
[1] This stems from the Korean proverb “an arm bends inwards, not outwards” meaning that no matter who the person is, they will always favour the people closest to them e.g. your family.
[2] For clarity, Felix takes over 12 pm-11:59 pm and Larry takes over 12 am-11:59 am! (almost like Cinderella~)
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