Chapter 49

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Chapter 49 – I Found You

The Demon Realm was much darker than Kiehl thought. Even though the full moon half covered the sky, its light was faintly illuminating the ecology of the Demon Realm.

‘Bella… You lived in a place like this.’

Walking alone to the Demon King’s Castle, he could see the monsters around him surprised to see him, though he didn’t care and went on his way. Kiehl swung his sword lightly when something approached, but it wasn’t difficult at all.

Just like the day he went to Daisy to find the first relic. Every step he took, he felt Bella.

Bella was waiting for him.

As soon as he entered the entrance to the Demon King’s castle, the road split into three branches. In the original story, each of the twins went one way, and Rio died here. However, he came alone and slowly headed to the third path, as shown in the novel.

Not surprisingly, no one was there.

Although there was something like a praying mantis, the moment he ran, it was cut in half so easily. Who in this world could enter the Demon Realm alone and go to the Demon King’s Castle so easily…?

At the end of Sector three, a large door was unlocked from its latch. He put his hand close to the door. Beyond this, there was the person he missed so much…

He calmed his trembling heart by fiddling with his pockets.

‘…Can I do it?’

How much would she have changed? What would she think of him when he came here…?

Though he wanted to see her right now, Kiehl was afraid to face her.

Carefully opening the heavy door, a figure stood tall under the moonlight. It was purposely decorated to look like a tall man, but her slender wrist was the first thing that caught his eye.

‘…Bella, it’s obvious.’

He wanted to call her name right away and run, but he couldn’t.

Right now, he had no choice but to do what she wanted.

Kiehl slowly raised his sword and approached Bella. Despite the fact that there were so many things he wanted to say, he said the lines exactly as they appeared in the novel.

“…I found you.”

After too long.

“I will deal with you myself.”

“I will take your heart.”

Bella’s sword rushed towards him without warning. The smell of the person he had longed to see reached him with the wind. Because it was a sword that had hit him countless times, she was struck in a single blow.

— “Kiehl, how many times have I told you? Those who seek your life will not attack with care.”

— “You should jump at me like you’re going to kill me.”

As she always does, she decisively stabs him, but stops at the end.

As if organizing memories one by one, the melodies of swords clashing became lamentations, and their gestures seemed to dance a farewell dance. Even though he could feel her all over his body, he couldn’t see her in that mask.

‘I want to see her.’

He wanted to see Bella, who was always smiling at him.

The naughty wizard who brutally killed, releasing the children Zanbar wanted to eat… She was the first to reach out her hand to him.

Even if she got angry with the demons in the mansion, she only smiled at him.

As he was going to fall asleep, she touched his hair while reading the children’s book. Saying that he was cute, she would then pinch his cheek.

She would always worry and asked if he had any injuries.

Even though she had a terrifying face, she always smiled brightly enough that the sunlight shining on her back looked like angel wings whenever he saw her…

“I should have seen your face one more time at that moment.”

…If he had known that he wouldn’t be able to see her for this long.

When Bella deliberately stepped back, Kiehl’s sword touched her neck. He stopped his hand as he watched her close her eyes.

Now, she was defenseless.

Kiehl put down his sword and bent his knees and slowly lifted the mask.

When chasing out the nightmares that tormented him, and when defeating bandits, she was still so terrifyingly scary.

“…Bella.”

When he call her name like back then.

He gambled, hoping that the ruby-like eyes could contain him and the wings behind her back could turn white.

Under the mask, the red eyes of the person in the dream were staring at him more and more clearly. When his fingertips touched Bella’s cheek, he breathed a sigh of relief, convinced that this wasn’t a dream.

He missed her like crazy. Even though he was looking at her, he missed her.

“I miss you.”

He couldn’t express this overwhelming and painful heart with these words alone, so his eyes reddened. It was the same with Bella. Her eyes fluttered endlessly, and she bit her lip as the tears formed.

“…Kill me and take my heart.”

She smiled and grabbed the tip of her sword and placed it in his hand. Kiehl shook his head instead of answering. What was she saying as soon as they met?

As if she had been waiting for this moment…

He resented Bella’s lips, which were terribly altruistic and selfish.

“Kill me.”

It had been eight years since they met. A person who loved so much that it was not a waste to sacrifice her life, kept asking him to kill her…

Tears welled up in Kiehl’s eyes.

“There is no way I can do that… How can you make such a request?”

“But… you have to kill me…”

He grabbed Bella’s hand as her blood dripped as she grabbed the tip of her sword and pointed at her neck.

“Then, can Bella kill me?”

Bella’s hand wrapped around Kiehl’s neck and trembled.

“…Could you?”

She could see him weeping sadly, and only then did she realize how crazy she was.

‘Ahh. What am I doing…?’

Obsessed with the idea that she should die as in the original story, she was making this child in front of her do something she couldn’t even do herself.

“…No.”

The words she had been holding back leaked out between Bella’s lips. She slowly raised her hand and touched Kiehl’s hair softly. It had been a while since she had touched him, and his sunlight-like hair just felt unfamiliar.

“I’m sorry.”

She was the person who wanted Kiehl not to get hurt and wanted him to run towards a happy ending more than anyone else.

“I’m sorry for hurting you…”

Kiehl closed his eyes halfway and melted as he savored Bella’s touch. It was a soft, nostalgic hand.

“How did you know I was the Demon King?”

“We spared so many times, how can I not know that?”

Even if he had come unaware that Bella was the daughter of the Demon King, he would surely find out by the atmosphere of the battle. It was because the moment their sword collided, he felt something vaguely her.

“Haha. That’s right.”

It wasn’t like they were trying to take each other’s lives, it was like dancing a sword dance.

‘He has also changed because of me.’

Bella gazed down at Kiehl softly.

Although he had grown up, he still had many of his youthful face. Just like the old days when she bent her knees to meet his eyes. If it had been as in the original story, her breath would have stopped here without his hesitation.

Bella pushed Kiehl away for a moment, then thrust her hand deep into her chest.

Fwoop.

It was the first time she heard her own heart taken. In an instant, her breath was choked and she lost her mind.

It was time for her role to end as in the original story.

Bella pulled out her beating heart and put her hands in front of Kiehl.

“You’re not going to kill me, so take this and go back. You need this.”

“I don’t need this…”

“It’s okay, I won’t die. Instead, it should be kept well. Keep it away from holy things.”

Kiehl took Bella’s wrist and uttered firmly again.

“Bella, I really don’t need this.”

She was embarrassed by how determined he was.

“…What?”

“Thanks to Bella, there are many people who recognize me in the Imperial Palace.”

“Thanks to me…?”

…Did something change again?

Bella squeezed her own heart in her hand.

Kiehl struggled to smile, rubbing her wrists with his fingers and explained, “The things I learned as a child helped a lot. Even if I don’t have this heart, there are a lot of people who recognize me.”

With those words, her anxiety gradually disappeared.

“Then, let’s go together, Bella. I will make sure you can spend your time comfortably in the Imperial Palace.”

Bella bit her lips tightly.

What a sweet word… was it what she wanted so much?

She wanted to get out of this damn place quickly. To add a little more of her greed, she also wanted to see Kiehl grow up to be a great Emperor, too.

But…

‘Can I really go? What if I interrupt his love with Rosanne…?’

Bella heard the two even kissed on their first meeting.

There was something else that worried her more than that. Since she intervened in this life and everything almost collapsed, though if she intervened again, would things still be as in the original story…?

She had a record of scratching Rosanne with her cat’s claws. In addition, it also looked like she had already killed quite a few characters during her travels.

“I want to be with you, but I can’t go because I’m afraid I’ll change your destiny again.”

If she did, she would have to spend eternity in this hell.

Kiehl looked at Bella’s right hand, who was struggling to get out. She was trembling so much because she wanted to go to the human world.

Destiny. What the hell is that?

She already spared her life and even gave her beating heart as a gift.

“Do you like it… here?”

Bella couldn’t speak for a moment.

“Yes. So, when you want to come play, come play.”

It was actually a difficult story. It would be easy to go back to each other’s world, though it was always difficult to get over. Because she had been trying with Jenkins for over half a year, Bella knew it was impossible.

The more she stayed here, the more she received the power of her predecessor, the Demon King, and the vessel to hold her was fixed.

“I’ll always be waiting here.”

Just by seeing Kiehl’s healthy, dignified and tall figure, Bella seemed to be able to survive without going crazy, although she couldn’t die now.

‘I’ll just hold on a little longer, until the end.’

However, Kiehl resented Bella, who was smiling calmly. He had barely come this far, but this figure kept getting farther away.

“Let’s go to the Imperial Palace together. Let me repay you for the kindness when you raised me.”

He didn’t want it to end up like this. By saying that, it was as though he was saying Bella and him were tied to the word ‘family.’

This was his last persuasion.

‘…I don’t want much anymore, just stay by my side.’

Nonetheless, the stubborn Bella smiled carelessly and pushed Kiehl away once more.

“I will always be here until you live happily ever after.”

At her answer, Kiehl looked at Bella sadly as if the tears would fall when he blinked. He eventually opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry, Bella.”

A long blue snake crept out of his pocket and spit out smoke.

“…I can’t be in a world without Bella.”

The tears that fell in one blink were rather sharply shining in his amber eyes, like a ray of light in this dark place.

“I’ll take your heart.”

The snake turned into Iwer, who snatched Bella’s heart from her hand, and put it into Kiehl’s chest.

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