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Claudia blushed, feeling a belated sense of shame.

Since she was little, she pondered over tens of thousands of things that she’d say if she signed a contract with a spirit in the distant future, but to her dismay, such pathetic words came out of her mouth instead.

“That’s not what a human child would say.”

After all, the humans were the ones who always made the requests. Spirits were always the ones granting what the humans wished.

Claudia must be the only human who had said such strange things like if the spirit promised to sign a contract with her, she would make sure the spirit did not suffer.

But, there was a reason why she was so desperate.

Claudia sighed and spoke again.

“I would like to sign a contract with you. I mean it.

“A child like you could sign a contract with any spirit you desired. At a closer look, summoning the Spirit King with your level of affinity should not be a problem.”

“I’m here because it didn’t work.”

Unfortunately, a strange spirit caught her in its grasp, so she couldn’t even send a summoning to the spirit world. She risked her life to come here rather than sign a contract with the strange spirit.

The woman seemed a little surprised at her remark.

“Did you come all the way here on purpose?”

“Yes. That’s how desperate I was.”

“That’s amazing.”

The woman’s eyes glistened slightly, and she carefully examined Claudia. The woman just looked at her blankly, but Claudia could sense the intelligence and kindness in the gaze.

‘Somehow, she resembles my brother.’

They didn’t look alike at all, but the overall atmosphere reminded her of Felix.

Claudia was weak to these types of people. If she were forced or threatened, she would jump away in repulsion, but if she was coaxed with gentle words, she would be caught in an instant.

The atmosphere was different, but Irene was a similar case.

If she signed a contract with this spirit, she would certainly be captured. Claudia spoke with that in mind.

“I didn’t intend to interfere with the Spirit’s work. If you sign the contract, I’ll leave promptly.”

“Why do you want to sign a contract so badly?”

Why?

She was able to respond without delay because she had already made up her mind from the beginning.

“There’s someone I want to protect.”

And above all, the most important thing.

“I want to be able to stand alone.”

“That’s a truly humane reason.”

A gentle smile appeared on the woman’s lips.

“You don’t stand alone when you make a contract with a spirit. It’s like becoming companions walking down the same path together. Spirits are also immature beings. Though, I didn’t know that…….”

She gazed in the air for a moment as if lost in thought, her eyes imbued with regret and remorse.

“Perhaps, I can entrust you with a favor.”

And at the same time, she looked apologetic.

“At first, I wanted to see what kind of child you were.”

“…….You wanted to test me?”

“I’m sorry if I offended you. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a child with a lot of affinity like you.”

She wanted to grasp if they had any mutual interests.

As she said that, she effortlessly passed through the complicated maze that Claudia had struggled through for a long time while holding onto Claudia’s hand.

The woman seemed quite familiar with this place. Claudia wondered if she could escape with her eyes closed.

Claudia felt empty. If she had wandered a little longer, she would have been able to escape without asking for help, so it was a little disappointing. Perhaps she had given up too quickly.

‘It’s okay. I can do better next time.’

With that in mind, Claudia caught sight of the beautiful garden again. It was the same garden that she had seen through the gap in the brick.

When she saw it again from a different perspective, it was so mysterious that she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

No matter how beautiful the flower garden here was, it couldn’t compare with the Chamberlain’s flower garden, which wasn’t limited by money.

Instead, it was more like a small and cozy place, but she could feel the unconcealable love and affection the owner of this place had for this flower garden.

After leading Claudia to the heart of the flower garden, the woman carefully scooped out the soil from under the tree with her hands.

She couldn’t believe the woman looked so dignified and elegant while digging. But why was the spirit digging in the ground…….

Claudia looked around in wonder. At first, she thought it was a flower garden because the flowers were in full bloom, and there was a fountain, sculptures, and even a swing.

But on closer inspection, the white sculpture looked undoubtedly like the woman in front of her. It was carved with such detail and so delicately that it made her wonder if it was actually a sculpture.

And in front of it, a square monument made of marble was carved with a scale, symbolizing balance, and a dove, symbolizing peace.

The written words were…….

[Arista Camoli]

“I wanted to get through it myself, but unfortunately, I cannot reach out to that child anymore.”

Claudia ran her fingers over the engraved name. The woman in front of her was not a spirit. It was a ghost buried in this tomb.

How on earth did she communicate with the dead? How could her warmth be so warm?

Claudia struggled to suppress the countless questions running through her head. Even though the person she was talking to was already dead, there was little room left for fear.

Because, as if it was leaving its last will, she thought she should listen to the woman who seemed to be about to disappear at any moment.

Claudia asked.

“Who is that?”

“Could you hold out your hand for me instead?”

‘That child will also help you.’

After Arista said that, she gave Claudia a box dug out from the ground and hung a necklace around Claudia’s neck.

* * *

The Devil’s bastard.

It was a term referring to Felix, who unintentionally possessed the power of the devil in his body.

‘How the hell does he know that?’

At the same time, Felix pushed me aside.

I was helplessly shoved away.

‘No. We came here to get through this together.’

I shook my head desperately. Although I had a substandard sense of love, I was exceptionally quick to notice the danger of death or the instinct to survive.

I could understand that this situation was a crisis where our lives were at stake.

If it hadn’t been for the devil, Felix could have used magic. However, in his current state, he was as helpless as me. It was also dangerous to use magic.

I was going to clench my teeth and approach, but Felix looked back at me with an adamant gaze. It was a look that urged me never to come to his side no matter what.

The blue light (of his eyes) was like an invisible shackle – I couldn’t move.

With a dismal look, I remained stuck in my spot. While doing so, I saw blood seeping from his palm.

Sometimes Felix would hurt himself as a way to suppress his desires. I remembered him holding his hands behind his back earlier. Since we were stuck close together, he must have hurt himself again to endure it.

“The disgusting smell of your blood must have led me here without my knowledge.”

Oh. At that moment, I understood.

I realized how he became conscious of Felix’s existence.

It wasn’t that the magic didn’t work. He recognized him by smell.

The man’s ability to identify whether a person was a devil or not through the smell of blood made me doubt if the man was really human and not an animal.

Wasn’t the Lord a human? Although I did hear that non-human beings could also sign a contract with spirits.

‘In the first place, maybe he isn’t the Lord.’

I thought so and gritted my teeth.

“Regardless, the boldness of stepping into my realm deserves high praise. If you’re here to find a place to die, I’ll gladly bury you here. I’m sure Arista will be pleased.”

It was because of me.

I couldn’t help but think it was because of me.

I made light of¹ Felix’s difficulties and ignored them. Consequently, due to my negligence, it ended like this.

This was definitely the worst outcome.

“You seem to hate the devil a lot.”

Felix fiddled with the ring on his left ring finger. The artifact with a dark red crystal sparkled like a flame every time he changed the angle.

“I feel the same way.”

“What’s this? Self-hatred?”

The man looked at him and snorted as if it wasn’t even funny.

“Do devils use artifacts now?”

“It depends on who uses it.”

There was a saying that the artifacts had different effects, even if they contained the same amount of magic.

Sorcerers didn’t need artifacts at all, so they merely didn’t use them. Besides, their powers couldn’t even be compared to those of ordinary people.

At that instant, I noticed that the light flickering in the crystal gradually turned bright red like lava.

Boooooom!

I couldn’t help but close my eyes tightly for a moment when the explosion occurred with a deafening roar.

The energy generated by the enormous dust storm was so intense that my body was swept back slightly by the wind.

‘Isn’t that meant to be fire magic?’

‘Ah, I remember now.’

Felix was, after all, the owner of the ability capable of breaking a statue’s waist with air-cooling magic.

At the same time, my body floated. Of course, I didn’t suddenly become light enough to be blown away by the wind.

Before the dust that spread out like a fog dissipated, Felix took me in his arms and ran away.

* * *

^{1. To “make light of something” means to act as if something is not serious, especially when it is serious.↩}