A nighttime stroll wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable activity.
Without a proper light source, the darkness of night blanketed everything, obscuring one’s vision. It was hard to appreciate the scenery when even the surroundings were barely visible, making the simple act of walking through the dark far from delightful.
In fact, the stabilization therapy that had begun under Yujin’s judgment…. more precisely, the strolls she had once shared with the former crown princess had not been taken at night but rather in the bright light of day. Elicia still held onto memories of laughing joyfully with her mother as they watched the radiant foliage and flowers bask in the sunlight.
For that reason, nighttime was, in many ways, an unsuitable setting for her trauma therapy. While the moon shone brightly, it wasn’t nearly enough to illuminate the surroundings, nor did the night carry the same lively energy as daytime.
More than anything, strolling through the garden at night… as previously mentioned, was quite different from what she had once done with her mother.
And yet, despite all that…
“…It feels strange.”
“Does it?”
“Yes. Now that I have a demon’s body, the darkness doesn’t seem so dark anymore.”
As a Transcendent, Yujin of course had no trouble with the night, and Elicia too felt little discomfort. Both of them instinctively accepted the darkness and absorbed their surroundings through their heightened senses.
Because of that, the garden that was bathed in soft moonlight appeared unexpectedly enchanting.
Yujin asked,
“And how do you feel?”
“My feelings…”
At his question, Elicia fell silent for a moment before turning to look at him.
Yujin strolled beside her with his usual narrow eyes making it impossible to discern his true thoughts.
She stared at his face in a daze. As she recalled the way those beautiful crimson eyes had once gazed at her with quiet intensity, she felt a sudden fullness in her chest and a heat rising through her body. Before she even realized it, the words slipped from her lips.
“…It’s breathtaking.”
“Breathtaking?”
“…Ah, ah!”
When Yujin turned to her slightly and repeated her words, she snapped back to her senses and flinched in surprise.
“I-It was a slip of the tongue! I just… the garden under the moonlight…it gave me that impression.”
“…I see. It certainly does have a certain charm.”
It was a sentiment only Yujin, a complete Transcendent, and Elicia whose body had become nearly that of a demon could truly express.
Of course, Elicia herself hadn’t been entirely honest about her feelings.
…It seems I’m more broken inside than I thought.
And Yujin too was well aware of that fact.
The sticky emotions in her gaze, the way she looked at him, were vividly conveyed to his senses.
In the past, he had assumed it was the characteristic melancholy of someone mentally exhausted. But now, he understood at least logically that this feverish emotion, burning with a heat incomparable to mere sorrow, was something entirely different.
I’ll have to draw the line carefully…
And he also knew that her feelings themselves were misguided. She had found someone to rely on in a desperate situation, and now that she saw a real chance at salvation, it was only natural for her to cling to him.
In that case, there was only one thing Yujin could do. That is to truly save her.
He had to make sure that she no longer needed to depend on him emotionally.
Let’s test the waters a little.
First, he needed to gauge just how serious she was about him. He spoke.
“Your Highness Elicia, have you ever thought about what you’ll do once all these problems are completely resolved?”
“Huh? After everything is resolved…?”
“Yes. To be precise, I mean after all the issues are settled. Once you have successfully undergone demonization without any complications and even gained societal acceptance as a demon.”
At those words, Elicia suddenly looked uneasy and parted her lips to speak.
“Societal acceptance…? Do you think people will accept me as a demon?”
“I have my own ideas on that matter. Naturally, making sure that happens is also part of my role.”
“…I see.”
Elicia understood what Yujin meant. It wasn’t just about successfully transforming into a demon while maintaining her sense of self. It was about making sure that Elicia, the demon, would be acknowledged by society.
Normally, no matter how powerful a Transcendent was, they would never be able to force humanity to accept a demon being that was universally rejected by everyone. But as she looked at the man in front of her, she found herself thinking… maybe, if it were him, it might be possible.
Yujin continued.
“Once that happens, Your Highness will become a Transcendent and live for a very long time. Of course, if you wish to live like a human, you could set certain boundaries for yourself and choose to leave the world when you have no more regrets. But even so, it’s important to consider how you’ll live once everything is resolved.”
“How I’ll live…”
“Yes. It’s the same for any patient, really. They endure their suffering by holding onto the hope of what comes after their recovery. That’s why thinking about life after healing is an essential part of the process.”
With that, Yujin turned to Elicia and continued.
“People who can’t imagine happiness in their future… they tend to die early. After all, how can someone who doesn’t think about tomorrow find the strength to endure the pain of today? For those people, the future is nothing but an endless void. And if the future is nothing but darkness, how could they possibly accept the idea of suffering for the sake of a life they can’t even envision?”
“……”
“So, I urge you to think about it. How you will live once everything is resolved and how you can find happiness in your own way. Having such hope will also be beneficial for Your Highness’s mental well-being. And it’s not an empty hope, is it?”
“Happiness…”
At the mention of a happy life, she unintentionally recalled the days when her mother was still alive.
A sharp pang shot through her chest, but she quickly shook her head. Her mother was gone now.
Then… how could she find happiness in the future?
Lost in thought for a moment, Elicia absentmindedly turned her gaze toward the man beside her. She looked at Yujin.
Beneath his jet-black hair, as dark as the night sky, were features so perfectly sculpted they seemed unreal.
Her eyes lingered on his face, and slowly, a vision of the future began to take shape in her mind.
She imagined Yujin holding her in his arms. She imagined him whispering words of love to her.
She imagined building a life with him, sharing a home, and being together forever.
Ah…!
A tingling sensation spread through her lower abdomen, and her heart pounded wildly. A flush of blissful warmth colored her cheeks.
It felt as if her heart was melting, dissolving into something as sweet as sugar, sending waves of happiness through her entire body. A pleasant heat wrapped around her, making it hard to think straight.
Yes, this was it. This was her happiness.
She had never expected that merely imagining such a future could fill her heart so completely. If this future were to truly come to pass, just how happy would she be?
As she smiled dreamily, lost in her thoughts, Yujin spoke.
“One way or another, once all these issues are resolved, Your Highness and I will have no further ties… From that point on, you’ll have to live your life on your own. I won’t always be by your side to help you, so please take the time to seriously consider your future.”
“…What?”
Elicia froze in place.
Just now… what did he say…?
“…I-I’m sorry, could you repeat that…?”
“Ah, you must not have heard me properly since you were deep in thought. It’s nothing important. I simply meant that Your Highness has your own life to live, and I can’t interfere with it forever. From the beginning, our contract was only meant to last until your issues were resolved. Once that happens, I will no longer be your personal doctor but will return to my position as a professor at the academy… meaning our connection will come to an end at that point.”
At those words, the warmth that had been melting her heart instantly froze over.
Suddenly, everything felt unbearably distant.
It was as if she were outside of her own body, observing herself from a detached perspective. Like a third party watching a scene unfold.
Like reading about her own life in a book.
That was how surreal this moment felt.
Yujin spoke.
“Now that you have some room to think about the future, don’t you? That’s why I intend to help you as much as I can before our connection comes to an end. There are actually quite a few people like that; those who have never imagined a life beyond their long-standing illness, only to find themselves lost when that time finally arrives.”
“……”
“When that time comes, I won’t be able to interfere any longer, will I? So please, think about it seriously now. No one else can decide how you should live your life; it’s something you must determine for yourself.”
She couldn’t hear his words. All she could hear was a dull ringing in her ears, and everything felt unbearably distant.
Had it been like this all along? Had he simply been doing his best to uphold their contract from the very beginning? Had she been nothing more than a fleeting connection to him?
Had she been mistaken? Looking back, he had only ever done his best as her doctor, yet she had been the one lost in meaningless delusions.
…Had she never escaped the fantasy of a prince from the fairy tales her mother used to read to her as a child?
No, now that she thought about it, of course. She was the same girl who had sneered at her younger self in the countless dreams she had seen. The one who told her that such things didn’t exist.
She had never even believed in it to begin with, so how ridiculous was it that she had now allowed herself to fall into such a sweet dream?
The hand that had reached out to her when she was hanging off the edge of a cliff had been so warm, so reassuring. She had clung to it with everything she had.
Was that why? Why had she never considered that once that hand pulled her back up, it would simply disappear?
Ah.
What a cruel person.
He had saved her from the edge of the cliff, yet at the same time, he was the one dragging her back into a desolate, empty ruin.
If he had gone through the trouble of saving her, shouldn’t he have held on to her until the very end? Why was he abandoning her now and leaving her all alone?
If this was how it would be, she would have been better off dangling off the edge of that cliff. Even if she risked falling into the abyss below, it would have been better to keep holding on to that hand.
Or perhaps… she should never have reached for it in the first place.
Because a world without that hand felt unbearably empty.
…No, not yet…
Yes, she was still clinging to the edge of that cliff. He hadn’t let go of her hand yet.
That was enough. As long as she never let go, everything would be fine.
She wouldn’t let go. No matter what happened. Never.
“Professor.”
She finally spoke. Her voice was calm, subdued, and completely unlike the way she usually appeared in front of Yujin.
“Please speak, Your Highness.”
Of course, since Yujin had brought up the topic with the intention of testing Elicia from the very beginning, he was more aware than anyone of the shift in her demeanor. Elicia reached out to him and said,
“Would you take my hand?”
“That’s rather sudden. May I ask why?”
“Hurry.”
Yet, instead of giving him a reason, she only urged him more firmly. Her voice carried a hint of insistence.
“……”
Yujin slowly narrowed his eyes. His crimson gaze rested steadily on Elicia.
“Your Highness, Elicia von Arcedium. How are you feeling right now?”
“Why do you ask? And why are you calling me that? Just call me the way you usually do. Or better yet, say my name.”
Her voice was filled with desperation, but Yujin responded calmly.
“Your Highness, to be frank, you seem quite unstable right now. I believe it would be best for you to return and rest.”
“I’m fine. So please, just—”
She stepped closer to him and reached out her hand, but Yujin subtly moved back. Seeing this, Elicia faltered and froze in place.
“…Why are you avoiding me?”
“Because you are trying to cross a line, Your Highness.”
“A line? All I asked was for you to hold my hand. Before we went for a walk, you escorted me, didn’t you…?”
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like you are simply asking me to hold your hand this time.”
“……”
“This is my fault.”
At those words, Elicia involuntarily shuddered.
“It seems I’ve allowed you to rely on me too much. I did intend to be a source of support for you, but not in this way.”
“What… do you mean by that…?”
“Your Highness, the feelings you hold are misguided. We can discuss, in time, how things came to be this way, but for now, you should go inside and rest.”
For psychiatrists, receiving a confession from a patient was not uncommon. And in such cases, they would explore why the patient had developed those emotions.
By uncovering the root of the patient’s suffering and addressing it, the misplaced feelings they harbored would gradually fade. At the very least, they would disappear by the time the treatment was complete.
Taking Tiamat’s advice to heart, Yujin gave the matter serious thought. As Tiamat had said, there was nothing to be gained by postponing this. The mere memory of her waiting at the door like an anxious puppy suffering from separation anxiety unsettled him.
So, he had deliberately led things to this moment.
However, Elicia’s emotions ran far deeper and darker than he had anticipated.
“…Misguided?”
At the declaration that her feelings were wrong, she stared at Yujin with empty eyes.
No, she could accept that much. But…
“…You knew about my feelings…?”
“It is my role to know.”
“…Ha, haha…”
At his response, she suddenly burst into laughter.
So he had known. He had known, yet he still said those things.
That once the problem was resolved, their relationship would end. That there would be no reason for them to be together anymore…
“…Don’t make me laugh.”
Like a deadly poison brewed over time, her emotions corroded her heart.
Unlike before, they were no longer sweet.
They were unbearably bitter, dangerously volatile, and utterly toxic.
And unlike mana, which moved according to rational will, demonic power responded to dark emotions.
Fsshh… Fsssshh…
Through the cracks in the seal Yujin had placed, a faint wisp of demonic power seeped out. His eyes narrowed as he observed it.
Is this dangerous?
He had become serious enough that he no longer mixed honorifics into his monologue.
If the demonic power was leaking out through the cracks in the seal like that, it meant it was rapidly spiraling out of control. When he took a closer look at her, he could see the demonic power inside her rampaging wildly.
There was no risk of the seal breaking. From the start, it was impossible for demonic power of that level to shatter a seal placed by Yujin, who possessed Tiamat’s mana.
However, Yujin couldn’t be certain what kind of effect the accumulated demonic power would have on Elicia.
“…It can’t be helped.”
With a sigh, he half-opened his eyes and murmured.
[Beautiful dream.]
Boom!
The word power took effect on the half-transcendent. Elicia’s eyes grew dazed, and the next moment, her body went limp as she collapsed.
Yujin swiftly moved forward and caught her before she could hit the ground.
He let out another sigh and looked down at her.
“Your Highness, I hope you have a pleasant dream.”
Thus began the first night of her stabilization treatment.
And just like that, their night walk ended in complete ruin.
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