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Chapter : 15
This time, we’ll change the male lead.
“Capture every masked man in the area!”
“If Lord Babil stopped here, that means he’s here somewhere, right?”
It seemed the soldiers had reached the nearby alley; outside the door was loud and chaotic.
“My lord!”
“Your Highness!”
With a scramble of bootsteps, the door burst open, and a group of men flooded in.
My eyes popped wide open. Who are these people? And why is everyone so tall and handsome?
White uniforms all matching, the golden laurel emblem on their jackets…
No way—
The Seinan Knights?
“Grrr.”
The pair of red eyes at the front suddenly flashed toward me.
“Huh?”
“GROAR!”
“Lord Babil!”
“Get back—! Gah.”
As if waiting for the perfect moment, the beast bared its fangs and leapt straight into my arms.
“Ugh— you’re still such a clingy thing.”
I staggered under the weight but—yes—part of me was happy.
“How’ve you been?”
“Grrmmm!”
“……!”
As I stroked his back and head like handling a kitten, the room fell unnaturally silent.
“W-What is this…?”
“Lord Babil is…”
Why are they looking at us like they’ve seen something they really shouldn’t have?
“Whiine.”
“There, there~”
Ah, right. Probably because Babil and I look way too friendly.
Why? He just looks scary. He’s actually sweet and affectionate!
“How ridiculous.”
Even Leon was grimacing like he’d lost his last brain cell.
“Pull yourself together and report. Babil.”
…Huh? Pull himself together and report?
How is an animal supposed to—
“Yes, my lord.”
“Aaah!!”
A tall human shadow suddenly covered me, and I instinctively stepped back.
Where did the giant kitty go and why is—
He looks just like Hyperion.
A man stood there, raven-black hair and red eyes gleaming.
Those glass-cut cold eyes made him look like Leon’s twin.
Right—Babil was a being born from Leon’s magic, wasn’t he.
“All masked intruders have been captured.”
Babil—now fully human—spoke flatly, as if nothing unusual had happened.
“What shall we do about Karl?”
That cute, affectionate furball was this guy?
This man who looks like he’d bleed icy blue if you cut him?
“Leave him for now.”
“Yes, sir.”
“But, my lord!”
Unlike Babil, who obeyed quietly, the other knights could barely hold in their fury.
“He tried to harm Your Highness with a mere magic ore!”
So they all knew Karl was the masked attacker.
“A wretch whose head should’ve rolled instantly—why spare him!”
“Well…”
While the adjutants raged, Leon answered with unsettling calm.
“It wouldn’t be fun if we just killed him.”
He glanced out the window and chuckled low. A chill ran down my spine.
He’s thinking up fun ways to kill someone?!
“The lady must be quite a charm.”
“……”
His red eyes swung toward me. I pretended intensely that I did not notice.
Please do not look at me while brainstorming murder, thanks.
“You all look like you can’t think straight.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but the sarcasm was unmistakable.
Well—my ex-fiancé obsessed with me, the feared crown prince’s familiar melting in my arms like jelly… yeah, anyone would lose composure.
Wait. So that cute cat and cold man are the same—
Did he… avoid me?
I turned my head and caught Babil’s eye—for barely a second.
He abruptly looked away, expression cold.
So when he’s human, he remembers nothing about being a kitty?
“I’m curious myself. Look forward to it.”
Hyperion tossed a black cloak at me—more like threw it. Rude, but still thoughtful; the streets were noisy.
Finally—could I go home?
“Bring her to the imperial palace.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Leon turned away after issuing the command.
Bring who?
No.
No way.
Surely not me.
“We see His Highness off.”
I dipped my head slightly and scanned for exits.
I needed to leave before I ran into the slavers.
“Ahem, well. I’ll be on my way—”
“Where are you going.”
I tried to slip toward the other door, but the man’s voice was faster.
Cold. Emotionless. That tone…
“Where do you think? I’m going home.”
“That is not possible.”
My attempt at a calm face crumbled instantly.
“You must come with me.”
“And why is that?”
“You must.”
“Lord Babil. If I disappear without a word, my family will worry.”
“Let’s go.”
Haa…
“Stand next to me.”
My battle spirit whooshed out like air from a punctured balloon at the robotic man.
“Th-the…”
He hesitated, lips parting—as if debating what to call me.
“…My wife.”
…Huh?
Since when am I your wife?
Mesys stared for a long time at the mark burned into the contract.
“Bella.”
His lips—always flat—curved slightly for the first time in ages.
His time sneaking around the slave market hadn’t been wasted after all.
—I’ll tell you my real name when the day comes that I can really trust you.
Truthfully, the moment he first saw her, he’d known.
Someone like her didn’t belong in a filthy, grim place like this.
How did she end up here? Why him?
Why pay such a heavy price just to release him?
And…
—From now on, if someone bullies you, fight back like that.
Why had she looked at him with those eyes?
A sharp, unpleasant ache throbbed in his head.
In 200 years, he had never felt anything like it.
Mesys glanced back toward the path she disappeared down.
When you find out what I really am… what kind of face will you make?
—You haven’t found him again today, have you.
A black whisper twisted inside the body of the boy he wore.
—Karl and his men are lingering near the slave market.
“Tch.”
Mesys clicked his tongue.
Karl Bate—his inferiority made him useful, but the idiot was painfully naive.
“What do you think you’re doing here! I thought you’d disappeared—do you know how shocked I was?”
A merchant rushed over from afar, shouting breathlessly.
“Got yourself a rich master and suddenly nothing else matters, huh?”
“……”
The woman’s memory blurred the instant the merchant appeared.
Whoever she was, she definitely had blood far too noble to be mixed with scum like these.
“You little brat—!”
Mesys turned away, and ragged breathing chased after him.
“Until she comes to fetch you, I’m your master!”
“……”
“So obey! Got it?!”
“…Obey?”
A crease flickered through Mesys’s blank expression.
Obedience… obedience.
Faces of those who once locked him in the dark overlapped with the one before him.
“Move.”
“What did you—? I feed you and shelter you and— Gugh!”
The merchant reflexively raised his whip—but his arm never made it down.
“Grrk!”
Instead—a thud. His heavy body slammed to the floor and rolled.
“Y-You—! How dare you!”
Clutching his chest, the merchant coughed violently.
“Didn’t the master tell you not to lay a hand on me?”
“Urgh—!”
Mesys stepped on the useless lump of flesh and ran a hand through his own hair.
The long strands he purposely grew seemed ready to be trimmed.
“Oh—maybe you don’t understand unless I say it this way.”
He ripped the mask off his face in one smooth motion.
“H-How—?! You tore the— the mask— with your bare hands?!”
The merchant froze in disbelief.
The magically sealed mask shattered like cheap pottery.
“And if you try it again, I’ll have to cut your wrist off.”
“Sp-Spare me! Please!!”
Under the full sunlight, the boy’s true face came into view.
The merchant scrambled away on all fours.
“I just want,”
A rumor from nightmares…
“to obey my master properly.”
Because that smile—
was a demon’s.
