Chapter 61

Chapter 61 – Time Was Not Always On His Side

Bella took his lips and licked them as if savoring a delicious food.

Her long fingernails, which were about to cut his throat, grew smaller and smaller, and she placed both hands on Kiel’s cheek, tasting her instincts that had been suppressed. The cold lips became hot, and the soft touch became rough.

She lost her consciousness as her eyes were closed by the slender, tickling touch on her back. Kiehl had Bella’s heart, so he could feel most of the emotions that she felt.

A mountain made up of corpses.

Bella, who was standing at the top, had infinitely cold lips.

The first touch of the lips led him to the summit he had longed for. Only the two of them in time and space…

…If only he could stop time like this.

…If only he could delay it a little bit more.

But, time was not always on Kiehl’s side.

* * *

A summoning circle appeared behind Kiehl, and a light glimmered over Bella’s unfocused red eyes. Taking her hand, he went to the summoning circle. However, it didn’t go in further and bounced off instead.

Reluctantly, he raised his hand to his holy sword. Without a single groan, Bella just lost consciousness.

“…I’m sorry.”

When her droopy hand was placed on the summoning circle again, she began to enter. At that time, Pur and Iwer ran from a distance when they saw the summoning circle.

“I’ll go first!”

“Pur! Wait a moment…!”

Iwer stopped her, but Pur was too excited and jumped to the summoning circle first.

“Why is the summoner circle in the air like this?”

“Bella… She lost her consciousness.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, Zanbar walked up to them from afar.

“Are you going to the human world now?”

“If you’re going to disturb me, go away!”

Meanwhile, Rinne, who was summoning it from the human world, could not stop pounding at the thought that she could finally see the face of the Demon King. Although when Bella’s palms were visible, she was still covered by a transparent membrane.

“Grandpa Jen, I think we failed.”

“It’s okay, the Young Master will take her out somehow.”

The summoning had already been unsuccessful.

‘I was going to sign a contract if I summoned her properly…’

And, not long after, a figure emerged from the summoning circle.

‘The person… Kiehl was looking for… Isn’t human?’

The first thing that popped out was Pur.

As soon as Pur came out, she ran to Jenkins.

“Wow! Jen! Long time no see!”

“Pur, how about the Miss?”

“I don’t know either!”

“How can you not know?”

Rinne was in a moment of panic and almost broke the summoning circle, but she concentrated again while muttering in astonishment.

“The bear… bear speaks.”

Meanwhile, Rio, who was watching, remembered what Rosanne had said a while ago, “I saw a bear talking.”

“Maybe, that… Purding?”

“It’s not Purding! It’s just Pur! Delicious human!”

Rio flinched.

“Jen, can I eat him?”

“If the Miss comes, ask her.”

When Rinne couldn’t stand it any longer, she and Rio could recognize the person Kiehl had been looking for so much at a glance. He was holding Bella, who was covered in blood. As he pulled out the holy sword from her back and blocked the blood from flowing behind her with his hand, Kiehl was crying.

“Jen… I, Bella…”

The twins were both thinking the same thing. They had seen a lot of his tired face and sad face, although it was the first time they had seen him cry.

“It’s okay, I know. She won’t die like that.”

“Why can’t she recover right away? Bella, wake up.”

“Did she shed all this blood?”

Pur looked at Rio and swallowed a gulp, and replied to Jenkins’ words.

“No! The Princess killed all the Talam troops and came over!”

“Talam… The general?”

When Rinne saw Bella summoned, she loosened her powers, and the summoning circle started to get smaller.

“I am completely exhausted…”

At that time, Iwer and Zanbar came out of the summoning circle at the same time. Kiehl reflexively hugged Bella and avoided them.

“Why me?”

“The Miss said she wanted Sir Zanbar to be there, too!”

Of course, Bella never did. However, since Iwer won the bet, she had to watch a scene that only Zanbar and Jenkins could do as a reward. As soon as Zanbar arrived, he stared at Jenkins with a faint gaze.

“Why the Princess!”

He turned his head towards the culprit of all this.

“What on earth…”

Looking at her, who closed her eyes as she lost her mind, Zanbar lost his words.

“The Miss is stabbed at the vital point with the holy sword in order to enter the human world.”

Zanbar slowly turned into a leopard, waving his three tails and revealing his teeth, “Little boy… To repay the kindness for raising you like this…”

“It was what the Miss wanted!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! How dangerous is the holy relic!”

“In time, she will recover on her own.”

“It’s a different story when it comes to holy relics, where is the sacrifice?”

“This… This is the sacrifice.”

Saying so, Rinne carefully showed the dead ant.

“Can she be summoned with something like that?”

Bella just told her to sacrifice a bug. Even though Rinne was a bit resentful, she did not respond at all to Zanbar’s anger.

“If she eats this human…”

“Ahh… That’s right.”

Iwer smiled awkwardly and looked at Rinne. It was only the twins, Jenkins, and Iwer, who were in charge of this work. They had worked hard all the way here, but the end result was becoming the Demon King’s meal.

“By the way, what about the girl who’s been following you?”

It was about Rosanne and Myu.

“If she eats them…”

Iwer did not like Rosanne very much, so she asked with a twinkle in her eyes. Meanwhile, the twins opened their mouths and said nothing.

“Your… Highness.”

“Ki, Kiehl?”

Without hesitation, Kiehl stabbed his arm and took the blood that had spurted through his arm to Bella.

“…Eat it, please.”

Though his blood was only passing between her lips. Seeing that, Pur slipped her little arm between Kiehl and Bella.

“No…! The princess doesn’t like to eat humans!”

When her little arm couldn’t stop it, she shoved her body in between.

“Pur, get out of the way.”

“Pur has to protect the Princess!”

“I, Bella…”

A red band of obedience moved around Pur’s neck.

“Pur is just doing what the Princess tells me to do!”

Jenkins was the only one who was calm in the uproar.

“Calm down, because she was expecting this and told me.”

As he continued, he then pulled a vial out of his pocket, “It was said that when a holy relic touches her, it only cuts off her power. The time when she can’t use her strength like that is when she is the weakest, so she has to be careful.”

While Jenkins blinked, Pur frowned, then slowly backed away.

“Show me where she was stabbed with the holy sword.”

Hugging Bella, he showed her back.

“Look, it’s subtle, but it’s recovering.”

“….”

“What was she doing before using the Holy Sword?”

Kiehl closed his eyes and focused on his small breath.

“It looks like she used up all her magic until she fainted.”

Jenkins opened the mouth of the vial and poured it onto Bella’s back.

“It could have been dangerous if something went wrong. Did the Miss attack the Young Master?”

It was said that the more she used her magic, the closer she got to her instincts. Kiehl pulled Bella’s head up and hugged her.

“Bella… can’t attack me.”

* * *

When Bella regained consciousness and opened her eyes slightly, she had no choice but to close her eyes again.

“It’s too dazzling.”

A shrill sound was heard at each of her words, and darkness spread out before her eyes. As she opened her eyes to the familiar darkness, she heard a familiar voice that seemed unfamiliar.

“Are you awake?”

“…Kiehl?”

Kiehl lit a candle.

She stared blankly, bewildered, as she followed her eyes at his actions.

“How are you feeling?”

He placed his hand lightly over the back of her hand and wiggled his fingers.

“…Where are we?”

The fingers paused for a moment, and the small candle flickered indefinitely as to what Kiehl’s expression was. Bella glanced around the dimly lit surrounding. A comfortable and soft bed and soft duvet that touches the skin… Curtains for the first time.

“Are we here in the human world?”

“…Yes.”

“How did we get here? …Ah.”

When she got up, her back was sore.

“Kiehl, did you stab me with the sword?”

“…Yes.”

Nonetheless, why was she still in pain…? Bella got up and stretched out her hand.

“What?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t get my strength back.”

Kiehl bit his lip as he stroked her hand.

“Then, you can’t recover?”

“I guess.”

“Well, get some rest.”

Saying that, he grabbed her shoulder and laid her back down slowly. A person who could not be overcome by force was too easily succumbed to his power. But, when he let go of her shoulder, Bella got up and sat back down like a roly-poly.

“Ah, so what. I will be back soon.”

Although Kiehl’s complexion didn’t look good enough to be visible even in the dark.

“What’s the matter?”

The next moment, Bella saw the bandage wrapped around Kiehl’s arm.

“Is this what I did?”

He couldn’t even touch it, and repeated folding and unfolding his hands just a short distance away from her.

“Oh, my gosh. I still… Because I didn’t inherit all the power…some control…”

“Don’t tell me… you don’t remember?”

Bella turned her head away from Kiehl’s absurd gaze.

“A… little?”

She remembered it sparingly, though she didn’t know exactly how far it was true.

“It’s like drinking alcohol and cutting the memory…”

As she said that, she could see Kiehl gazing at her resentfully and she pushed him back in regret, “Sorry. I’m a little…”

…She was like a monster.

When she used up enough energy to run out of magic, she used to wake up sitting among the fishy smell of a corpse. She used to despise herself for changing each time. No matter how much she lost her mind when the talk of the human world came up, her thoughts calmly came back.

Looking at Kiehl, she thought she would be calm.

“Maybe, you knew I was just an ordinary human…”

“Before moving to the human world… Don’t you remember?”

Bella lay down slowly and pulled the blanket up to the end. Looking into his eyes, she seemed to have made a big mistake.

‘Maybe, I swear at him?’

Kiehl, who sat next to Bella, gently grabbed her chin and asked.

“Why are you avoiding my face?”

“No, not avoiding…”

Then, he turned Bella’s head to meet his eyes.

“Tell me. How much do you remember?”

‘…What’s wrong with him?’

Was it because this place was on the bed? Or, was it because there was only one candle in the dark? He looked like a different person than the Kiehl she had always seen as a child… A strange atmosphere that was tense enough to make her hands sweat.

“That, uh—um…”

Kiehl grabbed the tip of her chin and lowered his head slowly.

“This… Do you not remember?”

If those amber eyes look kind of sad, perhaps, it was a hallucination?

Bella swallowed her saliva as his gaze demanded affectionate attention. At the same time, he slowly closed his eyes as Bella gently touched his cheek with her hand. There was no other reason why she raised her hand. A small wound on his cheek stood out.

“Did I do this, too?”

Kiehl stopped approaching and grabbed the bedsheet.

‘How can I not remember that?’