🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 5
That was Velita’s most horrific memory.
No matter how much she tried to forget, destroy, or erase it, it never left her mind.
It was the memory that drove her toward ruin—the curse Kesis had placed upon her.
She had struggled so desperately to break that curse. Velita recalled a past version of herself, very different from who she was now.
“I’ll kill you.”
In the past, she had been extremely aggressive,
“Can you hear me, Kesis? Do you really think I can’t escape a place like this?”
arrogant, and
“Fine. If I get out, I’ll tear Rastavan—the bastard—limb from limb right before your eyes!”
burning with vengeance.
“Next, it’ll be you and your followers!”
The followers who had dared to try to seal a Great Demon, the ones guided by Rastavan who bestowed them with holy power, and Kesis, who had betrayed her.
No matter what, Velita could not contain the fiery anger rising within her. All she could think of was escaping and punishing those who had toyed with her.
“You’d better enjoy it while you can. The day I get out of here, you’ll truly know what a demon is!”
For a while, she lived literally as if she were insane.
She tried every futile attempt to escape from the portrait.
It was futile because nothing worked.
The magic blasts she had unleashed on the village before being sealed, the most basic manipulations of magic, even summoning monsters—none of her powers worked.
Velita had truly exhausted every effort to break the seal.
Unable to use magic, she kicked, sprinted, and even spread her enormous triple wings to fly for days on end.
“…Damn it.”
But the seal on the portrait, created by Kesis and enchanted by Rastavan, was flawless, not a single crack in sight.
“Damn, damn, damn…!!”
No matter how fast she went, no matter how desperately she struggled, no matter how many years or decades she wandered like through a labyrinth, it made no difference. She could do nothing.
“…Why are you doing this to me?”
Eventually, Velita collapsed from exhaustion.
“Tell me. Tell me, Kesis.”
Alone, isolated in an infinite space, she was powerless like any ordinary human.
“You… said you would.”
That was what Velita meant.
“…You said you loved me.”
A demon who had once had a brilliant past, all confiscated, now sealed by the hands of the one she loved.
“How could you do this to me?”
With every option gone and nothing working, Velita had only her voice left.
“You, of all people… you, who said you loved me…”
Only the voice that could curse Kesis and rip apart the very essence of a god with words.
“….”
A sense of helplessness washed over her. The days of crying and screaming in rage were brief; Velita grew accustomed to the emptiness.
Unresolved anger became tears, tears became anxiety, and anxiety became a tangible fear.
Her original personality gradually eroded, and her mind decayed.
Then came a voice.
“Velita.”
That was when the fear of death began.
“Why do you look so tired?”
A voice she thought she’d never hear again. Velita looked up weakly at its owner.
A hollow laugh escaped her lips. She staggered to her feet and walked toward the man.
But after only a few steps, she stopped.
“….”
Then she realized.
The man before her—just as Kesis had said—saw that she had no strength left.
“…What… is this?”
She barely had time to feel the old anger.
“…Since when?”
A wave of confusion washed over her. When had she become so weak? Her magic had already dropped dramatically.
“Ha, haha. Since when…?”
Velita easily fell into panic. This was a loss she had never experienced before.
Her legs gave out. Sitting down, all the questions she had pounded her mind at once.
Every question began with “since when.”
Since when had my magic decreased? Since when did I not notice?
“Poor Velita.”
Since when had she begun to be forgotten by humans?
“Not looking well. Shall we rest the painting today?”
Kesis’ illusion whispered the past as he sat before her. Velita stared at the vision of her lover with trembling eyes.
“Velita.”
Kesis was in her eyes.
At that moment, Velita forgot even how to breathe and froze.
“…Ha.”
Her eyes darkened, filled with malice. Her lips twitched. Velita twisted her face into a smile, reaching out, trembling, and placing her hand on Kesis’ nape.
Yes. You were here. You were always here for me…
The one responsible for all of this.
The demon-like human who showered her with a cursed love and delivered hell.
Her lover, her betrayer, her enemy.
“Kesis…”
She wanted to kill him. To kill the one who betrayed her.
The one who threw her alone into this desolate place, whispering love with that loathsome tongue, stealing all her strength.
The one who left her where he wasn’t…
“…I want to kill you, Kesis.”
At last, Velita’s hand reached Kesis’ neck. She put strength into it. But Kesis didn’t move away.
So Velita was miserable.
“…I love you.”
Because the lingering love-hate she hadn’t even realized prevented her from killing him.
“…Haha.”
Affection is a remarkably convenient tool.
“You…”
Once you recognize someone as the object of your love, they’ll always wag their tail like a dog for you.
“You, how…”
Even when you hate them and want to kill them, the watchdog named affection stops you.
“How can you… say such things to me?”
You bite the legs of the one who loves you, not knowing whose affection it is…
Velita was trapped by the affection she had cultivated long ago.
Even knowing the man before her was only an illusion, her hand that had been about to strangle him slid onto her knee.
Such days repeated endlessly.
Magic gradually drained, the cause unknown. The unwelcome visitor she most resented and longed for kept coming.
And her task became attempting to murder such a visitor, only to fail.
“Please… let me kill him.”
Velita, who thought there could be no deeper abyss, fell further into despair.
Cruelly, monotonously, bound by a life with a predetermined expiration.
Infinite affliction left her a mere shell of her former self.
Having lost everything from the past, left only with the instinct to survive, a shell destined only for death.
“…I want to live.”
All she wished was to survive. She realized that the world no longer had a demon called “Velita.”
Since the past she had lived was forgotten by all, her existence no longer defined anything in the world.
So inevitably, Velita was isolated.
From the world, from herself.
Thus passed the time of eternity.
Tap.
Something cold struck her forehead. Velita frowned.
Seconds—or years—flew past.
Tap.
Again, something small and cold hit her forehead. She furrowed her brow further. A rare deep sleep.
‘Don’t disturb me…’
Demons need no sleep, but she, nearing annihilation, often fell asleep.
Even if escaping into sleep only brought ordinary dreams.
“…”
Dreamless sleep was precious. Yet again, a cold tap hit her forehead.
The hallucination seemed increasingly vivid. Something tiny urged her awake.
Her reluctant consciousness swelled like bubbles from the depths of her mind.
As she regained awareness, dulled senses from her hibernation awoke one by one.
A strange noise reached her ears. Her body shivered. A metallic water smell spread. Her heartbeat pounded.
Thump, thump…
‘…My heartbeat?’
In this vast space, the heartbeat was only her own. Not even Kesis’—whom she loved and hated—could be heard.
‘What the hell now…’
Sensing strangeness, she half-awoke, listening intently.
Amid the fast thumping, occasional trembling breaths could be heard.
“…”
It was unmistakably a living presence.
The sound flowed from outside her body, through her auditory senses.
That disconcerting sensation was not hers.
‘Almost as if it’s alive…’
Such vivid delusion. Her mind had truly gone mad. It even fabricated memories that never existed.
Yet Velita knew what fate awaited her.
Ahead would inevitably stand Kesis, and he would vanish repeatedly, leaving only her behind…
The fear of the nightmare pressed right up to her.
Prepared to die in that fear, Velita imagined her surroundings.
An indoor space with cold dripping rain, leaky roof, poor insulation.
And standing there, in that damp air, was you.
Thinking of Kesis awakened her final sense from deep sleep. Consciousness returned.
Velita slowly opened her eyes.
But before her stood not Kesis, but another man.
A man she had never seen, absent from her memories.
‘…What?’
The man had an appearance embodying the word “sinister.” Velita silently stared at him.
Messy black hair, yellowish eyes streaked with white. A thin frame, hunched shoulders.
A person not in her memories.
As she gazed vaguely ahead, another drop of water fell from above.
Tap.
Velita looked at the ceiling. The droplet traced a faint line down her nose.
When it dried at her chin, the man spoke.
“…Come this way.”
A voice that scraped slowly across the throat.
Velita looked at him again. The man extended his hand awkwardly.
‘What now?’
Velita didn’t take it. The distance was far, and she didn’t feel compelled to rise.
Everything felt strange and unfamiliar.
Her senses told her this was an illusion, a memory, yet everything seemed utterly new.
The man, the house, even the heartbeat—all unfamiliar.
Velita stared intently at him. The man offered a belated excuse.
“There’s… water leaking over there.”
Her brow furrowed.
She already knew that. What did it matter? It’s just an illusion that will disappear.
‘Trickster.’
Velita snorted. Something unreal didn’t need to feel this real.
A rusted voice drifted through time.
“…Then come a little closer.”
“Closer?”
“Yes. It’s too far for my hand to reach.”
“Oh.”
The man gave a short exclamation and walked toward her.
“Sorry. I… was startled.”
Startled by what, she wondered. The man again extended his right hand.
“Startled?”
Velita smiled calmly and took his hand.
“Yes. From the frame…!”
No, she only pretended to grab it.
Crash!!
Suddenly, the man fell backward.
“…Ugh!”
Velita quickly mounted him. She pinned his arms with her knees, choking him with both hands.
The man’s face immediately contorted in pain. His arms beneath her knees struggled.
“Ugh… Huhk.”
His legs kicked alternately. Velita realized her mistake too late.
“Uh… why are you doing this?”
It was good to have taken down the flawed man, but her actions were too hasty.
“…Say that again.”
“Wh… what?”
She had aimed only for the moment he approached, ignoring his words—her mistake.
“Let go of this… cough.”
“Say again. What you were about to say.”
Trapped endlessly in hallucinations, she needed certainty.
Even if she couldn’t kill Kesis, she could be certain she could kill this man.
“Ugh….”
It was proof of existence.
Free from guilt or love-hate, proof that she, a demon, could kill at least this man.
Whether he died or not didn’t matter.
Because this murder attempt would fail again, not due to her morality, but because it was an illusion.
If she didn’t kill him, he would vanish first anyway.
Then she could continue living as “Velita”…
“Ha… haah…”
But blinded by the need to prove herself, she missed an important clue in the man’s words.
At the instant she attacked, he said “from the frame.”
“It hurts. Let go of this hand… ugh.”
Unintentionally, she gripped harder. A vein bulged in the man’s neck. His pulse throbbed beneath her palm.
It was a strange sensation.
So strange, it felt almost unreal…
“Ugh, haah…”
The man’s breath almost gave out.
His struggling weakened, and the whites of his eyes reddened. He tried to speak, but the choking prevented it.
‘Ah, crap.’
Before his eyes rolled, Velita quickly released her grip.
“…Cough! Hrk, huhk.”
Coughs burst from his mouth. He twisted in pain.
Velita watched silently.
“Ugh… cough, kek…”
He hadn’t resisted. Velita had lost her magic and strength, and the man could have easily fought back if he chose.
“Ha.”
Why didn’t he resist?
Why did he let her choke him quietly, letting her experience this filthy feeling?
Velita found his struggling laughable. She would have preferred he thrashed wildly and punched her in the face.
Then, this surreal feeling, this filthiness, would have disappeared instantly with the pain.
‘Perhaps he’s naturally calm.’
Still, there was a gain. Velita realized this wasn’t a dream, but reality.
“Cough. This hurts…”
She had only thought briefly, yet bright red marks were left. The man touched his neck.
Never had this happened in the illusion.
‘And that sensation.’
The rhythmic pulse, the warmth, the fullness of the breath gripped in her hands.
All entirely new experiences. Velita reached out again, aiming to touch his neck.
The man parted his lips. A beastly voice came out.
“…No.”
A low, murmuring voice. Even his gaze seemed like a predator’s. Velita slowly lowered her arms.
Only then did the man close his eyes gently. Moving his Adam’s apple, he smiled lazily, jaw sharp.
Then his eyelids lifted. His eyes returned to normal.
Blushing deeply, he looked down at Velita.
As if he’d never acted like a beast, a few tears shimmered at the corners of his eyes.
“…I won’t let it happen twice……”
The corner of his mouth curled up gently. His dreamy eyes softened.
He had smiled even while being choked.
