CH 145

It seemed like a long dream.

When Dietrich woke up from a very long sleep, everyone but him had forgotten her as if it was some kind of a promise. 

Even Veronica, who loved Anissa so much that she was wary of Dietrich, Yuric, who always took care of her first even while grumbling, and all the children of Lagrange who survived thanks to her. 

There was not a trace of her left in the world. 

Lancel gave the bedroom she used to guests as if it was natural, and the doll that she slept with until she was an adult was considered to be Rose’s. 

Somebody had erased her. As insignificant as a scribble of a pencil. 

‘Why?’

Though he asked himself, he already knew the answer. Because the shadow that had been constantly tightening around him had disappeared. 

All demons, including Baal, disappeared without leaving a trace.

He was angry at how they dared to completely forget her, but when he saw people who seemed to have forgotten that Lagrange even controlled demons, he wondered if he had gone crazy. 

‘Was it really a dream?’

When he asked such an empty question, it felt like someone had scooped out a handful of his heart and left it empty. 

No, that’s not possible.

It couldn’t have been a dream. 

His memory was too vivid for this void that seemed to cave in under his feet to be a mere dream.

The shape of the round body that slept crouching at his feet while trembling, and the lips that drew an arc while calling his name. 

Small hands, slender shoulders, and the bridge of the nose that wrinkled with every smile were vivid, but sometimes he was confused about the color of her eyes. 

‘Remember.’

From time to time, Dietrich was wary of his oblivion. If he himself forgets her, then no one would remember Anissa. 

Her empty space was just filled with pain. 

He didn’t even know the pain of being stabbed with a knife on his side, but he cried for the first time that night at the irreconcilable agony in his heart. 

Tears had dripped into his rough palms. He had never cried so he didn’t know how to soothe himself. 

Even after the breathless night passed and morning arrived, she didn’t come.

He had run to Euclid, thinking he had taken her to the South, but Hermann, who greeted Dietrich with open arms, didn’t remember her. 

As if they never had a history of being enemies. 

“War? It’s not like Southerners aren’t rude in everyday occurrences. What’s the point of going to war?” 

Dietrich let out a despondent smile at what Yuric said while shrugging his shoulders. 

“Besides, Euclid has a leader who deals with the power of God. How could we handle a guy like that?”

That was it. That was enough. 

It wasn’t in the distant past that he broke into the bedroom of the sleeping duke and grabbed his head. 

“Since you were sick for quite a long time, it seems that you still haven’t recovered your senses.”

Yuric grinned as his eyes lit up, coveting the Grand Duke’s position.

“I’ll be the head, for the time being, you just rest.”

Dietrich raised his body, contemplating if he should half-kill Yuric who was speaking impudently. 

But then he sat down, wondering what was the use of that. 

“Whatever.” 

Everything had lost its meaning. Everything was meaningless. 

Yuric, who was watching Dietrich leaning on the bed and washing his face dry with his hand, heaved a sigh and opened his mouth. 

“I’ve never seen a guy like you who’s so obsessed with dreams.” 

The people of Lagrange, including him, believed that Dietrich had a very long and vivid dream as he wandered between life and death. 

“If you woke up, you should forget about it. Why do you think a dream is a dream?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m worried you’ve gone crazy, you jerk.” 

Dietrich glared at Yuric and pulled a bunch of papers out of the drawer.

“Hey, give that to me. I should have dealt with that earlier but why are you hugging that?” 

Dietrich kicked Yuric who reached out to take the documents from him. 

“Urk!”

“Get lost. Don’t touch it.” 

These were the documents that Anissa handled when she was serving as his secretary for a very short time.

All the letters he had received from her while on the battlefield had disappeared, but the documents remained. 

There were squiggly, child-like handwritings that seemed to mark what she thought was important.  When he buried his face in the documents, he could smell the very faint lingering scent. 

“Crazy bastard.” 

Yuric murmured softly as he watched blankly at Dietrich with his nose on the documents. 

“Are you sure you don’t have loose screws?” 

Whatever Yuric thought, Dietrich couldn’t even take the documents out of the drawers often fearing that the scent would disappear. 

“Fine, just keep it to yourself. We can just write a new one.”

If a person wants to go crazy, he could just dream and go crazy. 

Yuric clicked his tongue and lamented. 

Dietrich listened to his sarcasm even as he fumbled on the spot where Anissa’s name had been erased.

“Who the hell is that Anissa?” 

Looking at him as if in a trance, Yuric scratched the back of his head and asked.

“My meaning.”

“What?”

“My everything.” 

────── 〔✿〕──────

Vassago hated Dietrich.

No, not only that, but he hated all the Grand Duke of Lagrange who had inherited the blood of Asmodeus. So when he erased Anissa from the world, he left only his memory intact. 

Because if he didn’t remember losing her, then it wouldn't hurt. 

‘He has to be in pain as much as I am.’ 

Asmodeus was a demon who didn’t have anything precious. And so Vassago had wandered around, looking for a scapegoat whom he could release his wrath instead of him. 

However, all the people in Lagrange who were dyed with shadows resembled Asmodeus and were greedy enough to bring and sacrifice their precious treasures for power. 

So Dietrich was the only one. 

He was the only one who made a precious person without knowing what it meant.

How happy he was when Anissa summoned him in order to protect him. 

Vassago drained his energy in order to conceal his ecstasy. He finally had a Lagrange whom he could take revenge on.

Just as he suffered from the loss of the person he loved, he wanted Asmodeus’ child to share his pain. 

“Where is she?” 

Dietrich, with an emaciated face, pointed his sword at Vassago’s neck. The demon, who no longer feared death, tilted his head. 

“Who are you talking about?” 

Vassago laughed a lot even in the pain of having his legs and arms ripped apart one by one.

“Anissa.”

“The dream you had? Rumors abound that the Grand Duke of Lagrange has gone crazy.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know, Vassago.”

Dietrich didn’t believe the nonchalant Vassago’s lie. The sword he held pierced the demon’s neck.

“Ahh, you are really great.” 

To be honest, he was a little surprised that he found out where he was hiding.

After all, the bonds of the contract were severed and Zagan, Amon, and Baal returned to the demon realm. 

Lagrange, who couldn’t handle the shadows, was just an ordinary person. 

“Answer me. Before I really kill you.”

Nevertheless, Dietrich found Vassago hidden deepest in the darkness of the North and pulled him out. That wasn’t enough and even suppressed him with a sword. 

‘I didn’t think he’d handle the holy sword.’ 

As expected, it was the relic of Hera who couldn’t stay still. Vassago looked down indifferently at his burning body and shrugged his shoulders.

“Go ahead.” 

Vassago had already broken too many rules. 

True death, not mere extinction, was just around the corner, and he had no longer any lingering feelings regarding his existence. 

“Why do I need to tell you where that child is?”

No, he pretended.

Dietrich grabbed the demon’s jaw, who was smiling broadly and uttered low.

“Because what you wanted isn’t Anissa.” 

Only then did Vassago, who was smiling like a clown, look at Dietrich’s stiff face.

The demon’s red eyes glistened with greed. 

“What?”

“Demons try to deceive humans by talking about contracts. What you want is not simply to erase Anissa’s existence.” 

At Dietrich’s words, Vassago chuckled and distorted his face. 

“Do you want to take revenge on your king?”

“The immoral shadow has never been my king. However, as you said, I hate Lagrange very, very much.” 

“Why is that?” 

“As long as the people of Lagrange exist, Asmodeus will not disappear completely.”

An insidious hatred colored the demon’s tongue black. 

Vassago grabbed Dietrich’s wrist, which had grasped his neck, with both of his hands. 

“I paid a fair price to destroy Lagrange. But your mother ruined my plan.” 

Vassago was a clever demon and his plan was perfect. She, who seemed like salvation in the eyes of men, would lead them to ruin.

“Camille Lagrange changed her mind. Because of you.”

“What?” 

Dietrich remembered his mother’s face which he couldn’t clearly recall well now. 

As he furrowed his eyebrows, the demon continued his grating giggles. 

“She must have been terrified to think that you’d be lost in agony for eternity. As human women do.” 

Vassago had told Camille, who wanted revenge, the name of the baby he had chosen to host. 

But on the contrary, she kidnapped the child of the prophecy who would save the North. 

‘Foolish woman.’ 

In the end, her son, who didn’t know that he would be left to stand on his own feet, had to grow up with a lot of trouble. 

However, as a result, Vassago’s plan was a success. 

Vassago used Anissa as bait and began waving the bait in front of Dietrich just as he had used him to bait Anissa. 

“.....What is it that you really want?” 

Ah, Human beings with precious things were such easy prey to handle.

Vassago smiled widely. 

“Anissa Euclid threw away her existence in order to save you but what are you going to give me just for the mere desire of wanting to see her again?”