CH 158

“Anissa………”

It was a name that felt rough as the tongue touched the roof of the mouth when called. 

Even though it was a popping pronunciation, his voice was endlessly soft and sweet when he uttered them that it sounded like a confession when he called.

“Yeah.”

I managed to answer him in a subdued voice.

“Anissa.”

“Yeah, I’m here.” 

"............."

“I’m here.”

I repeated the answer in a low voice but there was no response.

I hugged Dietrich who had collapsed in front of me after calling my name endlessly.

His breathing was hot. 

I felt like he was getting thinner and my heart sank.

“Dietrich.” 

This feeling was so terrible that I wanted to run away but I was scared that he wouldn’t open his eyes so I could only watch him.

But Dietrich found me again. 

I’m sorry I remembered too late. 

I squeezed him inside my arms fearing that he would burn out like a candle in my sight. 

Like the rain, his heart began to pour little by little, silently, but very deeply into my heart.

His aura, which always seemed like a foggy mist, enveloped me.

‘I see, so you missed me.’

Emotions flowed like water. 

They were telling me he missed me, that he longed for me so much that there were many nights he couldn’t sleep, and sometimes, it was hard to breathe. 

I was lost in those emotions and tightly closed my eyes. 

Although I blamed myself for not remembering, what should I do with you who said everything seemed all right when you saw my smiling face? 

What should I do with you who said it was a relief that you were the only one suffering? 

────── 〔✿〕──────

The rain stopped and morning came.

I kept watching beside Dietrich who couldn’t open his eyes and raised myself up to the noise outside.

As I poked my head out of the cave, the woman who made eye contact with me smiled brightly.

“Hello.” 

I didn’t return her greetings.

‘Who is she?’

A small island floating on a lake.

Why did people suddenly come to this humble place where no one would normally come and go?

My heart sank at the thought that there was a purpose.

“Hello, miss.”

Thinking that I may not have heard her, the woman raised her voice to say her greetings again.

“I am the saintess of Vallandia, Charlotte. I heard that the Grand Duke of Lagrange was here.” 

I looked at the silver-haired woman shining brilliantly in the sunlight.

A person I didn’t know.

No, did I really not know her?

I frowned at my inner doubt. Fragments of memories that had begun to rise shook in my head.

“There’s no one like that here.”

The woman was a rare beauty with gentle eyes, but I was wary of her like a cat raising her claws.

‘I feel like I should.’

“Is that really true?”

She tilted her head to the side with her eyes going wide.

She glanced at the man beside her and pouted her lips as if in a predicament.

“She said Dietrich isn’t here. What should we do?”

“No. He’s here. There is his scent.”

A man who was as beautiful as a woman like Charlotte didn’t feel like a human. 

As I stared at him, Charlotte introduced him with a smile. 

“Ah, I’m sorry for the late introduction. This is Vasha, a priest who serves Hella with me.” 

‘Priest?’

I snorted at her words. 

‘That man is a priest serving a god?’

I didn’t believe it.

I didn’t know the man’s identity but he wasn’t human, moreover, he was definitely not a priest either. 

‘The same goes for that woman named Charlotte.’

It was then that I remembered that Charlotte Vallandia was the only female protagonist in 'The Men's War of Roses'.

But, unlike her gentle face, she felt like a person with a more evil heart than Donovan.

‘What is that?’ 

I recoiled, frowning at the black mist blooming near her heart

“Miss, can we check inside the cave?”

“No.” 

“But we have to bring the Grand Duke back quickly or else he’d be in danger….Isn’t he in great agony right now?”

I glared at her who smiled as if she knew Dietrich’s condition. 

“I can make him feel better.” 

"............."

“So I hope you return him back to me.”

Charlotte held out her two hands as if Dietrich was a thing she owns. 

“Miss, you are a person who has nothing to do with him.”

Her laughable words pierce my heart like sharp thorns.

“Nothing to do with him?”

“I think there must be a misunderstanding, but Dietrich was supposed to come to me from the start. He’s just wandering lost for a while.”

“From the start?”

“That’s right. We would have been happy if the disrupter hadn’t shown up.” 

Charlotte was full of certainty. To the point that her white face shone with pride in helping Dietrich. I let out a dry laugh at her words and tilted my head.

‘That’s right. I also once had that thought.’ 

But I was wrong.

Everything, all of it, was wrong from the beginning. 

Because Dietrich’s heart wasn’t part of our calculations. 

Starting with that awareness, I remembered Charlotte Vallandia.

The original’s female protagonist, Dietrich’s destiny, and the woman called the savior of the North. 

But could you call unwanted salvation to be salvation? 

It must have been salvation done by opening the mouth of an unwilling person and shoving it down their throat. 

‘What Dietrich wanted was….’

“I’m the only one who can save him.” 

I pressed on my throbbing heart and negated her words. 

“That’s a lie.”

“Excuse me?” 

Charlotte’s eyes widened in surprise.

I grabbed her white, fine hand, still fluttering in front of me, and bent it back.

“Kyaah!”

“Every time you open your mouth only lies really come out, huh, Charlotte.” 

Charlotte lets out a small scream and stepped back.

Instead of helping her, the man named Vasha turned to look at me with a grin. 

The demon laughed and ripped his lips wide in a smile. 

At that moment, I realized why his aura, which was as muddy as a quagmire, had the same feel as Charlotte’s pure white aura. 

Now, it was visibly clear.

The reason why her aura, which was no different from Vassago's, was able to shine dazzlingly white.

Because she believed in all of her lies. 

However, the ability that was demonstrated by being blind to her lies could not have been divine power. 

“It’s already too late. Dietrich won’t wake up again.”

“It’s not yet too late.” 

He was the one who found me even in a world where everyone had completely forgotten me.

‘That’s why he’s going to wake up. Definitely.’ 

Because Dietrich loved me to that extent. 

I opposed Vassago’s words and glared at him.

I moved the aura according to my will.

Kkukkung- bam!

The land between him and I split, and the island began to rip apart.

It was the first time that the earth's aura had moved according to my will.

‘Is it because all the demons are sealed?’ 

An exhilarating feeling of being able to hit even the demon's face by lifting the whole island climbed up my neck, but I struggled to calm myself down.

‘However, he won’t die with just this much.’ 

Protecting Dietrich, who was asleep, was the top priority.

After realizing my intention to widen the distance between him and Dietrich as much as possible, Vassago smiled wide with his hands behind his back. 

“It’s no use. Dietrich’s soul is already being eaten by me.”

“Then I’ll just have to split your stomach open and take it out.”

Holding a white sword made of aura in my hand, I glared at Vassgo. 

The bewildered demon hardened his expression and stared at me. 

“What did you say?”

“Did you forget my ability? Vassago, I can kill you.”

“How do you remember my name? Your ability and memory were the prices of the contract!” 

The demon’s mouth belatedly went agape as he examined my face.

“Dietrich’s safety was my condition. My ability came back because you didn’t keep your end of the contract. As expected, you were also aiming for his soul.” 

I knew that the demon who hated Lagrange would not help me without any purpose.

I tilted my head and glanced at the demon's face turning white.

Vassago raised his voice. 

“But an ability that had once been taken wouldn’t have come back!”

“You must have forgotten but in our contract, my memory was like a deposit.” 

I wrapped an aura around the cave to protect Dietrich and rolled through the air, grabbing the demon’s collar. He gasped and stuttered. 

“I don’t think there was such a r-ridiculous provision?”

I smiled brightly at Vassago’s bewildered face.

“There is. A very small one.” 

I thought of the special line I added secretly to the contract.

I was the only human with a record of signing a contract with the same demon twice.

I wasn’t unaware that the devil's specialty was double contracts, and that he won't help me out of pure favor, but it would be too stupid to not even prepare for it.

“Anything is difficult the first time.”

Note: 

I will switch to using Hella instead of Hera since the raws are written like this 헬라.