CH 63

────── 〔✿〕──────

‘I miss you, Dietrich.’

Dietrich touched the already mottled sentence once again. [1] 

‘When do you think you’ll come back?’

‘I heard that Henri was gravely injured. Are you all right, Dietrich?’

‘When Dietrich comes back, I want to go to the square. There’s going to be a festival.’

Even when he was staying in Lagrange, he intentionally didn’t visit her, but Anissa only sent tender letters as if she didn’t feel the distance he tried to place between them. 

He clenched his fist as he looked at the letters which he couldn’t reply to. Some sentences were full of resenting him, while others were full of missing him. 

However, at the end of every letter always contained her wish for him to come back soon.

“.....I don’t even know what I’m going to do if I go back.”

Dietrich muttered low, raising the corner of his lips. In a place where no one knows,  it was a lonely smile shown in some corner. 

On a night when the demon was sleeping, and even the moon did not rise, reading Anissa’s letter on a lonely night made him want to reply right away. 

He picked up the pen only to put it down dozens of times. 

However, he never wrote a single letter. He couldn’t do it. 

Because he felt like he would really go back. 

It makes him want to throw all this away and go back to that shabby palace. 

But the moment he returned, this momentary peace would be destroyed. 

‘Please remember the contract between you and I.’

Dietrich recalled Baal’s words. Regardless of the demon’s impatient warning, he didn’t forget a single letter of their contract. 

‘I’ll become the ruler of the North.’

The power of the contractor was the power of the shadow.

Baal was convinced that Dietrich would become the Grand Duke of Lagrange and made him the king of the shadows. 

The demons were not a very loyal subordinate by nature. If he would not be able to succeed the title of the grand duke, he would be swallowed up by Baal before Alphonse. 

“You’re not asleep.”

The boy who appeared in the barracks that Dietrich used alone was Yuric. With the dry wind blowing in the wilderness, his shiny blonde hair was now dry and flaky. 

The boy trudged inside lifelessly and sat down on the table. 

“Roll up your sleeves.” 

“No.”

“Then you apply it.”

Yuric grumbled and held out an ointment. It’s an ointment that was really effective for bruises, but it was a product that was difficult to find in the north because it was a specialty of the south. 

“Anissa asked me to give it to you. She said if she gave it to you herself you’d probably throw it away.” 

Dietrich looked at the ointment with a strange gaze without accepting it. 

Products produced only in the south rarely enter the north, and if they do, they were often sold at very high prices. 

“She won the lottery. Did you read her letter?” 

“No.”

“Are your fingers broken? Are your arms broken? Why is it so hard for you to reply even once?” 

“It’s none of your business.” 

“You must be so at ease.” 

Yuric shrugged at Dietrich’s cold response and stood up from his seat.

“Father took Alphonse back to Lagrange.”

“...........”

“It means the war is about to end. How can you not think of telling your sister any news even once in three years?” 

Yuric frowned in frustration at Dietrich’s indifferent attitude. 

“I thought you cared about Anissa, but it seems I must have been mistaken.” 

He sighed and then pulled out a few sheets of paper from his pocket.

“See this? These are letters that Anissa sent to me.”

Letters written in similar handwritten sentences on a paper that was sent to Dietrich flashed in front of his mind’s eye. 

“Is Dietrich alive?”

“..........”

“These are letters she sent asking me one thing.” 

Despite Yuric sighing with his words, Dietrich didn’t answer until the end. 

“More than half of the Lagrange children are dead. She said she couldn’t sleep because she was afraid you wouldn't come back.”

“I already told you it’s none of your business.” 

Dietrich could no longer stand Yuric’s nitpicking. He grabbed the boy’s collar and threw him outside the barracks. 

“Ack! This jerk, really!” 

“....wait.”

Yuric struggled to pick himself up from his awkward position and angrily looked at Dietrich who poked his head outside his barrack. 

“What!”

“Did you say Derek and Alphonse went back to the estate?” 

“Why should I answer you?”

Yuric’s feisty attitude changed as soon as he saw a black hand stretching out of Dietrich’s shadow. 

He answered right away donning a peculiar refreshing smile. 

“Ye-yeah. That’s what I said.” 

At Yuric’s confirmation, Dietrich stepped out of the barracks following Yuric, his handsome forehead wrinkling into a frown. He didn’t have a good feeling about this. 

────── 〔✿〕──────

“It’s really true.”

The sacred tree from Joseph’s basement certainly had the power to suppress the demons.

“Kkuuuu.”

I looked down at the tail of the little demon which was fried as if it had touched the sun, and shook my head. 

“Hm. Does it hurt?”

“Kuu! Kuuuuu!”

As if protesting against me, the little demon cried and raised its voice. I apologized to the demon crying sadly while hugging its half-burnt tail. 

“I’m sorry. I really wanted to check if it works.” 

“Kuu! Kuuuuu!”

“I told you I’m sorry.” 

“Kuu!”

“So noisy. Do you want to be fried again?” 

The little demon only closed its mouth after I threatened it following Dietrich’s sharp tone of voice. 

“It’s going to grow back up again anyway, what a crybaby.” 

The shadow demons didn’t really exist in this world anyway. Compared to the eternity given to them under the pretext of a contract, they only stay for a fleeting moment. 

“Kkung! Kkukku!”

“Really?”

I opened my mouth at the little demon’s appeal. 

“It really doesn’t grow back? The purification tree has such ability?” 

“Kku!”

“I’m sorry. But now that you don’t have a tail, I think you’ve become cuter and cooler.”

I stroked the little demon’s short tail and smiled awkwardly. 

‘That means the purification tree has this ability.’

The contents written in Josef’s book seemed to be true. 

“Then it’s really possible to purify all the shadows of Lagrange.” 

It was no exaggeration to say that the north, especially Lagrange, was a land completely dominated by shadow demons. 

It was thanks to the darkness that the days were short and the moon did not even rise. 

‘If only I could grow enough purification trees to cover the whole of Lagrange.’ 

My current ability may be considerably lacking but it might be possible to grow one tree at a time. 

My heart pounded at the small hope that bloomed in my heart. 

Lagrange’s great power stemmed from their ability to wield shadow demons, but this family’s unfortunate history was also due to the shadow demons. 

“Will Dietrich listen to me?”

I let go of the little demon and whispered softly. The demon snickered and made fun of me at my words. 

“After I drive the shadows out of Lagrange, there will be no need for us to make contracts with the shadow demons. If only it was that simple.” 

There was no end to people’s greed. Those who amassed vast fortune coveted more money, and those with power wanted more power. 

I didn’t know if Dietrich, who would become the most powerful ruler among Lagrange’s past rulers, would be able to give up his power. 

‘If it’s the Dietrich I know, I’m sure he would.’

It’s already been three years since I met him. With a low sigh, I pulled out the brooch from my pocket. 

There was no one to ask about demons without Baal. 

“Did Dietrich really change? They say the greater his power, the faster he’ll change.” 

“..........”

“If you don’t answer, I’ll bury you under the sacred tree.”

I grumbled as I put the brooch of Vassago that Dietrich had left behind on the ground. 

‘Of course even if it answers, I still plan to bury it.’

Whether it was because he paid attention to my words and intentionally left it behind or because he just forgot about it, the brooch of Vassago was rolling around in Saint-Dena’s office like a useless piece of stone. 

“Baal said that you can still hear what people say even if you’re sealed.” 

I remembered what Baal said as he snickered when he saw Vassago sealed in a jewel.

‘I’ve been sealed before, too. Aren’t you going crazy out of boredom? I’m sure you’ll be fine.’ 

I wondered what in the world he did that he ended up being sealed, but Baal didn’t open his mouth any more. 

“If you’re also a demon, this sacred tree won’t be too pleasing for you.”

“I don’t know if I’m good at this, actually.”

I muttered, looking down at Vassago who didn’t respond. 

Things that she never even told Veronica poured out from her lips.

“What if Dietrich doesn’t listen to me? It might really be better to just run away.” 

I wanted to free the Lagrange children from the shadow demons. To do that, I purified the aura of the children. 

However, in the end, I needed the cooperation of Dietrich who would soon become the grand duke. 

In the first place, I started believing that Dietrich would be different from the previous grand dukes. 

“If you only replied to me, I wouldn’t be having doubts like this.” 

Veronica kept telling me that Dietrich was already tainted by the demons which bothered me even more. Saying that there should be no more contracts with the shadow demons was the same as reducing Lagrange’s power. 

“Huh? Isn’t it time for you to answer?”

I put my hands on the ground where the seedlings were planted and closed my eyes. A white aura glistened at my fingertips and soon leaves sprouted from the small branches. 

Now, I just had to concentrate and use my abilities for the flowers to bloom but I heard someone approaching. I hurriedly withdrew my hands and got up from my place. 

“Princess, His Grace is looking for you.” 

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes.”

The maid from the main palace continued with a cold gaze, looking down at my flustered face. 

“Follow me right now.”