Chapter 206 - Epilogue

It didn't take long for the academy and Cirlus Kingdom people to return to Blue Turtle Island. Before dinner time, they had returned to the castle of the Cirlus Kingdom. It was possible because their magic ship was traveling at high speed, and their journey was not disturbed by magical beasts.

The people from the academy immediately rested after they got to the castle of the Cirlus Kingdom. As for the injured people, they were directly taken to the treatment center to be healed by the royal mage. Megumi and Kyouka also helped while Hikaru and Sintaro returned to their room to rest.

On the other hand, Ziel and Princess Iris brought Clara back to her room. Princess Iris left the two of them in the room because she knew that there was something that Ziel wanted to discuss privately with Clara.

After the door closed, Ziel created a barrier in that place and touched his fingertip to Clara's forehead. Not long after, Clara began to wake up from her unconscious state.

"Hmm... Ken? Where am I?" Clara slowly opened her eyes and saw Ziel in front of her. She was confused after looking around the familiar-looking room. Clara remembered that before she lost consciousness, she and the other girls were still on a certain island in the territory of the Cirlus Kingdom.

"You're already in your room in the Cirlus Kingdom, my lady." Ziel answered her question gently. He knew Clara still couldn't figure out what had happened.

"How can I be in my room? What has happened? The last thing I remember is that I felt sleepy and then lost consciousness." Clara tried to retrieve her last memory, but her memory was still hazy because she had just woken up from her unconscious state.

"Please drink this tea first to warm your body, my lady." Ziel gave Clara the hot tea that was prepared beforehand. Then Ziel explains how she got in her room at this time.

"Thank you, Ken." Clara smiled slightly and accepted the teacup. As she was sipping her tea, she began to remember what had happened. What stuck in her memory the most was when Kalya hugged Ziel and joined hands. Clara's body suddenly trembled, and the teacup in her hand almost fell.

"Can you explain everything to me, Ken?" Clara asked in a low voice and teary eyes.

"I understand." Ziel nodded slightly and began to explain his life experiences so far, except for the one about reincarnation.

He started his story when he became a butler for Princess Elise, Princess Aishia's younger sister. Then an incident occurred in the royal capital of Argaint Kingdom until he finally met Clara's father, Duke Castilene. After that, Clara already knew what happened next.

"That's not what I want to know, but about your relationship with Miss Kalya." Clara said in a voice as low as a mosquito.

"If it's about that, then it all started when we entered the academy." Ziel tells again about the beginning of his relationship with Kalya. From the moment they first met and how they ended up in a relationship. Ziel also said about his cottage near Kalya's mansion.

He also told about Princess Iris, who had found out about their relationship, and Ziel asked her to swear that she wouldn't tell anyone without Ziel's permission. Of course, all of that was a lie. He didn't want to bring up the master-servant contract they had made. It would demean Princess Iris as a princess of the Neigal Kingdom.

Clara believed what Ziel had said and looked a little guilty about her previous attitude towards Princess Iris. But then she pouted after remembering the relationship between Ziel and Kalya.

"Why didn't you tell me, Ken? Or should I call you Ziel?" Clara became confused as to how she should call Ziel. She was used to using that nickname on Ziel.

"You can call me whatever you like. I couldn't have said all the things I did if you didn't ask, my lady." Ziel didn't care how Clara called him because those two names were his.

"You are right. I am only your master and nobody to you." Clara misunderstood what Ziel meant, and she looked depressed.

"You seem to have misunderstood, my lady. If I find money on the street, should I tell you? If I buy food at the stall, do I have to tell you too? But if you ask me, I will answer honestly, just like now." Ziel tries to calm down a depressed Clara. What Ziel had done work and light returned to Clara's beautiful eyes.

"Is that true?" Clara looked straight into Ziel's eyes.

"Of course." Ziel answered confidently.

"Okay. I will forgive you this time. but you must promise that next time you will tell me about such an important matter." Clara pointed her pinky finger at him, and Ziel knew what Clara meant by doing that.

"I promise." Ziel hooked his pinky finger with Clara. A wide smile formed on Clara's cute face. After Clara finds out that Ziel has a special relationship with Kalya, she fears Ziel will treat her differently. But it turned out to be just her fear. Clara felt calmer after she knew that Ziel was still Ziel for her. Ziel's treatment of her didn't change at all. But suddenly Clara remembered something and her face became cloudy

"Is there any other girl close to you besides Miss Kalya?" Clara asked that because it wasn't only Kalya who had been close to Ziel recently. But there are also Princess Freya and Princess Aishia. Clara also knew that Lilith was close to Ziel. But at that time, she only thought that Ziel's relationship with the girls was just friends.

"Yes, there are other girls." Ziel answered flatly.

"Who's she?" Clara's face clouded over. She guessed that the girl must be among her friends.

"Freya and Aishia. But I can't say for sure my relationship with Aishia. But she is one of the most important people to me." Ziel answered her with a straight face. Meanwhile, Clara stared at him blankly but quickly returned to her senses and then screamed.

"You idiot, Ken!" Clara threw a pillow at Ziel's face. She was a little annoyed with the way Ziel answered her. Apart from that, she also felt jealous of the girls. Ziel could only sigh heavily and leave the room because he thought Clara's feelings weren't as bad as before. At least she's back to her old self. After Ziel came out, he asked Princess Iris to accompany Clara. He walked slowly along the castle corridor and suddenly disappeared.

***

The sky was getting darker, and the lights in the garden behind the castle started to glow to illuminate the surroundings. While the people from the academy were resting due to exhaustion from today's incident, someone was sitting contemplating in the garden while gazing at the seascape. That person was Lilith. Since returning to the castle of the Cirlus Kingdom, she has behaved a bit strangely and has a gloomy expression on her face.

"What are you doing in this place?" A man's voice came from behind her.

"Eh!?" Lilith was startled after suddenly hearing the voice because she didn't hear footsteps approaching her, and Ziel was already behind her.

"I asked why are you sitting here? Shouldn't you rest like the other students?" Ziel sat on the chair opposite Lilith. Right now, he could see her gloomy face directly. But Lilith quickly turned her face away from him.

"Ah, I don't feel tired and bored in the room, so I decided to breathe the night air in this place." Lilith tried to find an excuse to obscure her purpose of coming to that place. What she said was the truth, precisely partly the truth of why she went to that garden. She had to reason properly since she couldn't lie in front of Ziel because of the master-servant contract.

"Is that so?" Ziel looked at Lilith, but she kept her face away from him.

"Yes." Lilith gave a small nod in response.

"I sensed fluctuations in your emotions when I fought those people from the divine race." Ziel said in a low voice. He didn't put up a barrier in that place and didn't want anyone to hear their conversation. Lilith's body trembled after hearing Ziel's words, but she kept quiet and didn't answer.

"I can feel it from the master-servant contract. Although I don't know what kind of emotion it is, I know that fluctuations in your emotions appeared when I fought against those people. The fluctuations continued until they ran away. Can you explain to me about your emotions at that time?" Ziel narrowed his eyes at Lilith. He knew that those emotions were neither hatred nor anger towards him. Otherwise, the punishment from the master-servant contract would activate right then and there.

"Ah, that's..." Lilith seemed to be at a stalemate and could no longer make excuses if Ziel had said that.

"I asked you to answer it. I didn't use the master-servant contract to force you to answer because you've been taking good care of Clara all this time. Besides, do you know why I didn't give you the slave seal from the start but instead made a master-servant contract with you?" Ziel asked Lilith. He paid no heed to Lilith, who kept staring in another direction while talking to him.

Lilith finally turned her gaze to Ziel and dared to look at him. She shook her head because she also didn't know the reason Ziel made a master-servant contract with her either. People who have implanted slave seals or master-servant contracts will still be referred to as enslaved people. Even so, the one who made the servant-master contract would have more freedom and less punishment than the one implanted with the slave seal.

"I once had acquaintances of people from your race. She's different from the people of the divine race I've met. She is not arrogant and has no evil thoughts on this continent. I thought maybe you were the same as her when I saw you. But if you're the same as the average divine race, then I'll have to replace the master-servant contract with a slave seal." Ziel said softly at the beginning but became cold at the end.

"Please do not! I love my freedom right now! Please don't do that! I will tell you what I felt at that time!" Lilith got up from her seat and screamed in exasperation. Luckily Ziel quickly set up a barrier. He also didn't expect Lilith to react like that. Ziel just kept quiet and waited for her to continue her speech.

"I… My feelings become complicated when I see people from my race being killed by you one after another. I know those who look for trouble first. But still, I couldn't bear to see it and didn't want it to happen." Lilith lowered her head weakly.

Ziel got up from his seat and walked back the way he came. But before that, he patted Lilith's head gently. Lilith's body trembled slightly but then became more relaxed.

"I understand what you mean. As I've said before, I think that not everyone from the Divine Race has evil intentions on this continent. You and my acquaintance are one such example. Even though you may have been like them in the past, you can change. I promise you that I will not kill people from the Divine Race indiscriminately unless they are the ones who seek trouble with me first." Ziel left that place after saying that to Lilith.

"Thank you, Ziel." Lilith smiled sweetly, and tears fell from her eyes without her noticing. Her feelings became calmer after hearing Ziel's words. She kept looking at Ziel until his figure completely disappeared.

***

On an island in the territory of the Cirlus Kingdom, Oilllet sat bored, waiting for Fornius to return. She couldn't monitor Fornius as she did in Ziel's fight with Leviathan. The power that Fornius released was interfering with the signal from her magic projection.

Oillet frowned after remembering what Fornius had said before he left. Fornius told that if he didn't return by nightfall, he had Oillet go using the teleportation magic circle he had prepared.

"I will avenge you, Lord Fornius!" Oillet clenched her fists so tightly that her fingernails pierced her skin and bled. A tear rolled down her cheek without her noticing. Even though she was afraid of Fornius, but Oillet was always treated very well by him.

After Oillet reached the teleportation circle and activated it, a light enveloped the entire area, and Oillet reflexively closed her eyes at the dazzling sight.

"Where is this? This place is not the destination of the teleportation circle as lord Fornius has said!" Oillet became startled when she opened her eyes and saw that the surroundings were divided. Half of it was pitch black, and the other half was bright. Suddenly a black and white light shot into her body. Oillet's body shook violently.

"Ugh! What's this!?" Oillet was terrified because her consciousness was being taken over. She tried to rebel, but her efforts were in vain.

[You don't have to be afraid. Surrender your body to help me manifest myself on the Clorius continent and slay irregular existences. In exchange, I will help you get your revenge]

The voice seemed to know what Oillet was thinking at the moment. Those words were like the devil's persuasion for her. Oillet finally stopped rebelling and surrendered herself. She was silent for a long time until she finally slowly opened her eyes. Her originally golden eyes had now turned black on the left and white on the right. Her eyes stared intently at the human region.. To be more precise, in the territory of the Cirlus Kingdom.