・・・・・
I briefly listened to Felix recount what had happened, then gave a summary of my own.
After that, I felt a strong urge to see with my own eyes that everyone was safe.
When I said I wanted to head to the imperial palace right away, Felix lifted his arm and lightly traced a circle in the air.
When I looked at him in confusion, he pointed inside the circle. Within it, the images of others shimmered like a projected video.
I stared blankly into it and asked:
"This kind of magic exists, too?"
"It seems to be a magic that lets you see through an animal's eyes."
‘Seems to be?’
I looked up at Felix, puzzled by the fact that he was speaking so vaguely about a spell he had just cast himself.
In response, he gave me a radiant smile, blooming like a sudden burst of flowers, and, almost reflexively, kissed me on the forehead.
And with that, I found myself thinking — maybe none of it really matters, after all.
[Lady Claudia has defeated the devil!]
[It’s a miracle! She performed a miracle! Everyone who had been possessed by the devil has awakened!]
[Ooh, Lady Claudia!]
[Our saviour!]
What on earth had happened in just a single day?
From the fact that Claudia was at the Chamberlain family’s shelter, I could guess that she had evacuated people there after the devil incident broke out — but beyond that, it was all a mystery.
Somehow, Claudia was being worshipped like a divine figure.
People were prostrating themselves on the ground, gazing up at her with reverence, praising her as if she were a god.
Looking at that, I had no idea what could have possibly happened.
Well, maybe for now it was best to just take it as a good thing.
I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Claudia, her expression faintly disinterested despite all the praise being showered on her.
Who would have thought that the protagonist of such a dramatic tale was actually a sharp-tongued, bashful person?
That she was someone who could be ruthlessly cold to the disrespectful, yet endlessly gentle to those without power.
It was a side of her that neither she nor I would have ever known if we had stayed confined within the original story.
You were the one who saved them, weren’t you?
Even if the devil hadn’t been acting on the will of God, things had already spiralled so far out of control that it was unfolding exactly as Benjamin had wanted.
But you didn’t give up — not until the very end.
It must have been hard, doing it all on your own.
And yet you held on.
When did you grow up so much?
Whispering with pride, I reached out and gently stroked her hair through the image on the screen.
After starting with Claudia, the image of Cedric appeared as well — fast asleep in his bed now that the devil’s contract had been completely severed.
There were also Erica and Duke Depallacion, who had confined Lucas under the pretence of protection.
Martina, meanwhile, was ordering her subordinates to spread posters denouncing the “tyrannical emperor” and “Constantine, who deceived the faithful.”
She seemed to be laying the groundwork for eventually absorbing full control over the underworld’s power.
There was Constantine, sitting blankly after losing all of the divine power granted to him by God, and Benjamin, crawling across the floor, bleeding, with eyes filled with poisonous rage.
Just as Leraze had said, they seemed to be barely clinging to life.
‘Everyone really is safe.’
Not only were most of them safe, but they were also spreading their wings freely, shining brilliantly in their roles.
Seeing everyone’s situation all at once, I couldn’t help but feel that my worries had been for nothing.
Maybe I could now finally allow myself to enjoy this warm, gentle calm.
To breathe in the lingering scent of spring, let the sunlight wrap around me like a blanket, and finally relax.
Before I realised it, the image had shifted to a spot not far from the irredeemable trio.
I watched with curiosity as the sorcerers approached Leraze and began to shower him with wild, frenzied devotion.
They were going absolutely crazy.
‘They’re like fans meeting their favourite idol.’
I had originally planned to introduce the sorcerers to Larry, but it seemed like things turned out for the better.
Meeting a high-ranking devil whose name was already widely known in the human world seemed to thrill them even more.
‘Anyway, I kept my promise, didn’t I?’
I thought to myself as I looked down at the blade of grass wrapped around my wrist like a bracelet.
One of the sorcerers had tied it there as a token of a promise, entirely on their own whim.
But even though that promise had long since been fulfilled, the thing still hadn’t come off.
I groaned and tugged at it, trying to tear it off.
But the strip of grass clung tightly, almost like leather, and no matter how many times I pulled, it wouldn’t budge.
It didn’t hurt, and I could barely even feel it, so it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable — but I couldn’t go around wearing it forever, could I?
I was just starting to think I’d have to ask one of the sorcerers to remove it when—
"What’s that?"
Felix, who had been quietly watching me the whole time, asked.
I glanced down at my wrist and murmured, “I’m not really sure.”
“One of the sorcerers who helped me just went ahead and put it on without asking...”
“Let me take it off for you.”
“Oh, as expected of the greatest sorcerer.”
I added a playful comment and readily reached out my hand, and he gently took my wrist in his grasp.
But the moment he touched the blade of grass, the curious expression on his face began to slowly harden.
It didn’t seem like something serious — more like he was deeply displeased.
With his rough fingertips, Felix lightly stroked the delicate skin on the inside of my wrist, his eyes lowering with a heavy gaze.
Wherever he touched, a strange tingling sensation bloomed, quickly spreading through my whole body.
I stared at him, my heartbeat thudding in my chest.
Even beneath the bright sunlight, his eyes were shadowed, dark and unreadable.
“The sorcerer’s magic has been layered with demonic power.”
Demonic power?
“Leraze did this?”
“No, it’s fainter than that.”
...So it was Larry.
I recalled the last time we met, deep in the temple’s underground chambers — our final conversation.
And then that last moment, when he pushed me away, urging me to go.
I remembered the brush of his hand against my wrist, fleeting, before it slipped away.
Now that I thought about it, his eyes kept drifting toward my wrist the whole time we talked.
He’d told me to leave as if he’d let go of everything… and yet he left behind this stubborn trace of longing.
‘You should’ve let me go with dignity. Idiot.’
Even as I grumbled inwardly, the corners of my mouth drooped.
I wish I could be the kind of person who severed emotions cleanly, like slicing with a knife — feeling nothing.
But I wasn’t.
Honestly, I just ended up feeling sorry for him. So painfully sorry.
Even if he was willing to sacrifice everything — even his soul — for me, there would never be a moment of reward.
Not now, not ever.
Because there was never a chance.
Never even the faintest opening for my heart to waver.
“What kind of magic is it?”
"If I had to compare it to something, it's like a lucky charm."
As he answered, Felix flipped the blade of grass over, revealing the letters etched into its underside.
Eternal victory to you.
That bastard.
He once spat those cruel words at me — said he hoped I’d spend forever heartbroken, watching him die because of me.
Turned out, he knew exactly how to twist a heart.
‘Did he learn that from me? Figures — I only ever taught him the worst things.’
What a powerful curse.
If he had died back then, those words would’ve stayed in me like shards of glass — quietly buried, but cutting deep every time I started to forget.
"What will you do about it?"
Felix asked me as I stood there, looking like I might cry.
But the answer came more easily than I expected — without hesitation.
I didn’t want to cling to the ghost of Larry’s feelings, left behind like some leftover trace of the past.
He had a future now — a real one.
He’d left behind the broken pieces.
He was a full-fledged devil now.
“...Please take it off.”
So that he could forget me and be happy — forever.
・・・・・
It was at that moment that Larry’s vivid, crimson eyes suddenly flashed open.
“Sorry, but your world has been rebuilt because of me.”
These were the first words spoken by Leraze, who had been watching over him.
Despite his soul being completely shattered into fragments and crumbled, perhaps thanks to the grace of God, Larry remembered everything. He was alive.
“I’m alive...”
He murmured softly and slowly looked down at his body.
When he lowered his head, his dark navy bangs came into view at the edge of his vision.
His skin was pale — almost ghostly white.
Though faint muscles appeared here and there, compared to Leraze, his frame was much thinner.
His lifelong wish — to grow bigger and stronger — seemed as far from fulfilment as ever.
His body was stuck in that uncertain space between boyhood and manhood, like someone wandering aimlessly.
It felt strangely familiar.
He had definitely seen this body before.
With a dazed mind, Larry pieced together his memories and soon recalled: this was the form he had taken when he met Felix in dreams and spoke of a reckless, almost gambling-like contract.
Larry had never truly been a bow.
If there was an original, predetermined form for him, then this was it.
“So all of this was your will?”
Larry, still crouched on the ground, looked up at Leraze and asked.
There was no verbal reply, but Leraze’s calm, indifferent expression said it all: ‘That’s right.’
Somehow, that only made things worse.
Larry felt thoroughly played — frustrated, embarrassed.
Now, with this new form, he wouldn’t even be able to show his face in front of Irene anymore. What was the point of living?
If this were the case, why had he been brought back to life at all?
His spirit was completely drained.
“How does it feel to be a full-fledged devil now?”
“…I don’t really feel much different.”
“You were just reborn, so right now, moving is likely the only thing you can manage. But before long, you’ll recover all your strength.”
“I see.”
Larry responded in a flat, indifferent tone.
“I won’t take back a bird once it’s broken out of its shell. I have nothing more to teach you. Go, fly wherever you want.”
“Even if you say that…”
With nowhere to go, Larry sighed and roughly ruffled the back of his hair.
He didn’t know what to think anymore.
Somehow, he felt even more like a lost child than when he had been left behind alone in the human world.
“I’ll stay here for a while.”
“If that’s what you want.”
Leraze gave his permission without hesitation, and Larry felt relieved.
Seeing how Leraze had spared him and waited patiently for him to wake, he wondered if this was what people meant when they spoke of home.
It was strange, really — the idea of a devil having a place of comfort.
Come to think of it, Leraze was hardly what one would call a typical devil.
Larry slumped down, utterly exhausted, and stared blankly at Leraze.
Then, suddenly, Leraze spoke of the very reason that had pushed Larry into the human realm.
“Larry, what did you think of the love you saw among humans?”
Startled by the use of his name, Larry let out a choked sound.
"Well..."
A devil and an angel, heaven and hell.
Pleasure and anger, happiness and pain, sorrow and despair.
His lips parted, but no words came out.
He hadn’t realised just how overwhelming these feelings were.
For a moment, Larry bowed his head deeply, curling into himself as tears silently streamed down.
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