CH 13

Returning to the room, Sellonia heard the full story of the incident through Ella.

“I was about to run to the Miss, but he suddenly appeared and blew the beasts away, you know?”

Ella eagerly explained with an expression as if she had met a hero.

“The beasts?”

“Yeees! I guess what the ladies said is true. Well, they said that Sir Beast of the Night has terrifying powers.”

When did the beast become Sir Beast?

However, Sellonia couldn’t be bothered. Because Ella was admiring with her eyes twinkling.

“Anyway, the beasts attacked him several times after that, but he just finished them off with a thick twig he was holding!”

“I see.”

“Yes! Really, if it wasn’t for him… Ugh, just thinking about it makes me dizzy. How glad I am that you’re safe.”

In conclusion, it’s true that her life was saved thanks to the man, yet she doesn’t know if it was his intention to save her.

Regardless of whether he was a beast or a man, due to her using up all strength, she fell and her back went out.

If it wasn’t for healing, her bones wouldn’t have stuck like this.

She probably would have had to lie motionless in bed for over a month.

“It was really, really cool! You should have seen it too!”

Leaving behind Ella, who jumped up and said she liked that, Sellonia recalled the conversation she had with the ladies this afternoon.

The Beast of the Night that appeared a few months ago, the Demon King. They said he was distributing food for the starving and killing criminals.

She doesn’t even know how he’s alive, and he has no memory and even acts like a righteous man.

How is the world turning?

Knock, knock.

“Miss, the Duke has returned.”

While she was racking her brain, the news of her father’s long-awaited return came from outside the door.

Sellonia went straight to her father’s office.

[You thought I’d just wait and see?]

Letting him stay in the mansion was like holding a ticking time bomb that didn’t know when to explode.

He’s dangerous.

Didn’t he even threaten to light a fire in front of her and burn the house down?

“Father!”

“Selli, did you thank him well?”

Galloway, sitting at the desk in the spacious office and handing over documents without changing clothes, raised his head right away the moment his daughter visited.

“You let him stay at the mansion?”

“Yes. He saved your life, so I have to pay him back. He’s the main character who’s been making a fuss in society these days. They say he’s the Beast of the Night.”

Her father said that and laughed, saying that young people these days are amazing.

“Father, since we have expressed our gratitude enough, how about paying a reward rather than allowing him to stay at the mansion?”

Seeing that her father seemed to be inclined towards him, Sellonia came up with another idea that she had been impatiently thinking of.

She didn’t know if her father would agree if she offered to pay him back without hesitation.

“Of course, of course. We obviously have to pay the reward separately.”

“Then right now, I’ll…!”

“But it would be better to let him stay at the Duke’s residence for a while. It seems that he’s wandering because the place where he’s staying isn’t fixed.”

Sellonia, the only one who knew everything about her stubborn father’s decisions, was stunned.

“Father, even if he’s a benefactor who saved me, he may be a dangerous person. How can such a person…”

“Sellonia.”

The gentle father’s expression turned stern in an instant.

He even called her name instead of her nickname.

At this time, he became the Duke of Basin, not her father.

“Don’t forget your duty as a noble. If we don’t repay this kind of favor, what will happen to the face of the Basin family?”

“But…”

“You must also know how to give as much as you have.”

Her father had a reason for doing this.

Perhaps it’s because her father, who has been involved in aristocratic society since childhood, has a firm belief in noblesse oblige.

It seemed like he wouldn’t back down no matter what he said.

As she pondered what to do, Sellonia always met her father’s straight gaze.

Duke Galloway Basin.

A father who truly loves his daughter.

A strong side that always gives Sellonia infinite affection and unconditional trust.

‘Then Father might believe me.’

It’s hard to believe even for her, but if it’s her father.

After much deliberation, Sellonia carefully tried her luck.

“Father, he… mmmph!”

“Sellonia?”

“That person is uh, mmmph!…”

Taken aback, Sellonia tried to open her clamshell lips.

Although she tried to force it open with her hand, her mouth wouldn’t open.

“Ah, hmmmp!”

It was the same no matter how many times she did it.

Her mouth shut every time she tried to reveal his identity. It’s as if it was trying to make her voiceless.

Crazy. What is this…?

“Sellonia, are you okay?”

Galloway stood up from his seat with a worried look on his daughter’s strange behavior.

Then her eyes caught a fountain pen and papers on the desk.

‘Writing! Let’s write it down and show it to him!’

Sellonia hurried over to her father’s side and picked up a fountain pen.

“Sellonia, why are you like this?”

“Dad, please look at this.”

She wrote it down quickly on a blank piece of paper.

“That man is uuuuuoh?”

Galloway read aloud his daughter’s scrawled handwriting as he moved behind her.

“No. That’s not it, hmmp, hmmp!”

She’s going crazy. I can’t speak or write.

Every time she tried to write the word ‘demon king’, her hands became stiff as if paralyzed, and she couldn’t write.

She tried to write it yet somehow, only a mysterious earthworm crawled on the paper.

“Phew, Sellonia. Stop your jokes.”

Galloway sighed and touched his forehead.

He tried to listen to his daughter, yet she didn’t say anything and while writing something, she playfully drew worms.

“Father, that… hmmp!”

Now she can’t even deny that it’s not.

Although she had considered begging with her tears shed, that didn’t work either.

She meant, what on earth is this?

“Selli, he’s the benefactor who saved you. Besides, the people’s sentiment is now leaning toward that nobleman. The Basin family owes a fortune to such a person, and if we just give money and send him back, what will people think of our family?”

“…”

Sellonia understood her father’s words at once.

It was only natural to give him a reward.

However, if they give him a reward and send him back, the people of the Empire will think of the Basin family as typical nobles who think that everything can be solved with money.

Giving grace wasn’t all about money.

What ordinary people wanted from nobles was recognition.

Even though there’s a high difference in social status, since they’re all people, they expect human-to-human friendship.

Through this case, her father wanted to show the human side of the Basin family and their generous distribution.

The Beast of the Night was voluntarily helping those in need by himself.

It was a great opportunity. If only he wasn’t the Demon King.

Yet she couldn’t reveal to her father that he was the Demon King.

She couldn’t say it even if she wanted to tell that he was dangerous.

‘Something like this…’

Although she didn’t know how things were going like this, she couldn’t just wait and see that dangerous human squirming next to her father.

Wasn’t he the one who threatened her to open her mouth? So, she had to deal with it on her own.

“I will! I’ll look over to make sure he’s comfortable.”

Eventually, Sellonia let out something that wasn’t even on her mind.

First of all, she planned to get rid of him as soon as possible while keeping an eye on him to prevent him from doing anything stupid.

“Right. Nice thought. As expected of my daughter.”

“Hahaha…”

Sellonia forced a corner of her lips into a smile.

Galloway patted Sellonia affectionately on the shoulder with a look of satisfaction.

“Sally, this father has a broken heart today. I was afraid that you, who had fallen, would never wake up.”

She understood at once what that meant. Her father, like before, was afraid that she wouldn’t wake up for more than three months.

“You can’t get hurt anymore. You must always take care of your body. This father has no one else other than you.”

“Yes. father.”

Sellonia embraced her warm father, who opened his arms.

Even in his warm arms, where she felt the love of her family, she wasn’t happy. Because of that damn demon king.

***

Midnight when everyone was asleep.

He stood alone in the large room he had been shown to be at ease. In front of the window, where the pale ivory moonlight is filtering through the clouds.

“Ugh…”

His pale face was distorted as if he was in pain.

He gritted his teeth hard to contain the groans that leaked out.

The strong bite twitched fiercely around his chin.

His whole body was already drenched in cold sweat.

Still, he stood upright. He was holding onto the window with one hand.

On the back of his hand that gave him strength, blue veins bulged out.

“Whew…”

As if he was accustomed to the excruciating pain that started again, he caught his breath and his sharp blue eyes sparkled red.

The woman from earlier came to his mind.

Confused blue eyes. Purple hair that reached her waist. Red lips contrasted with the bloodless pale face.

She was a woman he had never seen before.

If he had seen her, there was no way he wouldn’t remember it. It wasn’t a face that would be easily forgotten.

But, unlike him, she knows about him.

Although she remained ignorant until the end, he was absolutely certain.

For that woman spoke to herself. How is he alive when he was dead.

How is he alive?

These were the words she uttered when the confidence that the person she believed was dead was shattered.

Was I the person she knew dead?

Is that why everyone doesn’t recognize me?

‘It doesn’t matter anyway. If only I could get my memories back.’

He intended to stay with this woman.

A clue that he might know something about himself. So he couldn’t miss it.

If she doesn’t talk, he just needs to make her speak.

Because he’ll have a lot more fun that way.

Originally, anything easily obtained wasn’t fun.

“Damn…”

He endured it patiently, but in the end, he sat down leaning against the window, spitting out disgust at the pain that made his whole body collapse.

Today was also a terrible night.