It was a quiet yet tumultuous night. Only a few close guard knights secretly followed Redian. Redian gripped the reins tightly to suppress something welling up inside him.
“You have to be kind, Redian.”
He recalled the cold red eyes whenever he couldn’t suppress his emotions. Redian had to endure, not to repeat those moments again. Even if it meant biting his inner lip until it bled, even if the veins in his hand holding the reins burst. However,
Why…?
Today, he couldn’t endure and ended up running out.
When did he start to feel this limit? Was it because he couldn’t contact Siani or because he had been forcibly listening to the nobles’ nonsense? No, it was since he heard she had gone out alone. That was the last straw he could bear.
“Your Highness, we’ve arrived.”
The black horse’s hooves, which had been galloping, gradually came to a stop at that cry. Hidden beneath a black robe, his blue eyes stared at the locked shop.
For what reason had Siani entered there, and with whom was she? What was happening inside?
Unlike that day when he knew everything, now he knew nothing.
What had changed between her and him?
“…It’s getting late.” He had been waiting enough by now. Redian murmured softly and dismounted from his horse. His expression, as he pushed down his robe, was exceedingly serene.
“Who’s there?!”
Suddenly alerted by their presence, the shop’s guards confronted them.
“Step aside. Do you realize who you’re blocking?”
Then the knights following Redian warned. The guards flinched upon seeing the swords at their waists. The swords’ engraved hilts alone indicated this was not someone they could block recklessly.
“If you speak of tonight’s event, I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and kill you, so behave accordingly.”
While the knights subdued the guards, Redian, without giving them a second glance, headed inside, focused solely on his purpose.
* * *
Redian’s hands around my neck were not just soft but cautious.
“…Rere.”
But I couldn’t react in any way.
It wasn’t because I found out the Summoner was a devil or because I was being strangled by his grip.
“You’re like a dog, really.”
Redian’s face changed so quickly, making him so unfamiliar.
We need to get out of here first.
But there was no time to be shocked. Now that the Summoner had revealed his true nature, no matter how strong Redian was, he couldn’t handle it. It was best to leave this place as soon as possible.
“No, Redian!”
Just as I was about to grab him as he headed towards the Summoner,
“Kuaargh!”
A piercing scream echoed through the narrow space. Redian had stomped down on the sword embedded in the Summoner’s heart with his foot.
“Who dares try to kill whom…”
The clean riding boots, even with blood splattered on them, did not get dirty.
“Keuugh!”
On the other hand, the Summoner’s face, looking at Redian, turned pale with fear and astonishment.
“Milord! P-Please, spare me!”
I recognized something.
Milord?
Neither the panting Summoner nor the floor turning crimson entered my mind. Only the expression the Summoner had towards Redian and what he called him remained clear.
“I anticipated this much when I started this.”
“Uugh!”
Redian looked down at the one writhing at his feet with a dry gaze. His neat and elegant eyes showed no emotion.
“If you wanted to beg for your life, you should have stayed hidden like a rat and begged your master for forgiveness.”
Redian, who had pinned the Summoner’s shoulder with his foot, pulled out the sword that was lodged in his heart.
“Aaaargh!”
Slash! Thick drops of blood spurted up along with the sword in his merciless gesture.
“Keuuugh! E-Everything was for you, Milord!”
As the Summoner’s body convulsed, drops of blood splattered onto Redian’s cheek as well.
“Didn’t you suffer through that long and grueling night?”
“Ah…”
Redian, wiping off the blood splattered on his face, cursed.
“Milord! De-Devil King! I witnessed and remembered your anger and despair!” The Summoner, clinging desperately at his feet, pleaded in a frantic voice.
What in the world is going on? Even as I watched in a daze, one thing was certain.
“P-Please spare me! It was all for Devil King! I thought this would bring you peace of mind—”
The devil’s soul was begging for its life at Redian’s feet.
“…Spare you?”
At that moment,
“You were once my loyal subordinate, Mephisto,” Redian muttered in a voice so cold it was hard to believe.
“De-Devil King!”
He then forcibly lifted the face of the Summoner crawling at his feet.
“But I hate it when anyone touches what is mine. You should know I don’t even want a scratch left on it.”
I had to cover my mouth to hide my trembling breath.
“Did you forget that already?”
It was clearly Redian, but not Redian.
“If it was for me, you shouldn’t have touched even a single hair.”
“Milord! The devil legion you led has wandered the earth for thousands of years. Just for the woman abandoning you—”
“If you let your tongue run wild one more time.”
The hand that had been brushing back his hair suddenly stopped.
“I’ll make sure to throw your soul into hell.”
As the scattered hair was brushed aside, his gaze became even clearer.
“It was my mistake to only peel off your skin.”
“Mi, urgh!”
“Save your last words for hell.”
With a voice tinged with laughter, the sword swung mercilessly.
“Uaaargh!”
Except for the final scream, no sound was heard. Everything vanished. The magic shop, the last traces of the torn apart Summoner. It was all… an illusion.
But it couldn’t be an illusion.
Before I knew it, Redian and I were left alone in the middle of the corridor. I clenched my hand tightly, having witnessed the point where time and space had shifted.
Rampage.
Yes. Those incomprehensible words and the sharp voice scratching its way out. It was the rampage symptom I had seen since the first time I met Redian. When the rampage ended, Redian would collapse, coughing up blood as if expelling someone else’s soul. But now,
“…Haa.”
Redian was standing there with his hand covering his face as if feeling dizzy. Even though the rampage had ended, he didn’t faint or cough up blood anymore.
He’s definitely changed. Redian quietly swallowed it as if it were his own soul.
After a long, long silence,
“Master…”
Redian slowly turned his head and looked at me as he regained consciousness. His eyes, red from the blood that spurted out, were cruelly beautiful.
“Come here, Redian,” I said nonchalantly, trying to hide the trembling in my voice. “You came looking for me, right?”
I pretended not to notice his pupils, which had briefly turned black, returning to blue.
“I thought Master had disappeared.”
At least the way Redian called and looked for me hadn’t changed.
“Master had no secrets from me…”
When I hugged the approaching Redian, he buried his face in my shoulder.
“But Master has been so busy lately.”
His breathing gradually calmed as I stroked his hair.
“I just wanted to get some fresh air and buy a necklace I wanted.”
I swallowed the words, ‘Why cause such a fuss?’ After all, the one in my arms now was my Rere.
“Ah, you must have been very busy lately… How did you find me?”
Also, my Rere needed to be calmed to understand.
Did he find me using the restraint? While acting as usual on the outside, I constantly retraced my thoughts. No way. That can’t be. Since Redian became the crown prince, I had cut off the connection to the restraint.
Is he doing something behind my back?
I recalled the conversation Redian had with his knight in the office the other day.
Hmm... I see.
“How did you find me?”
“…”
Redian looked up and met my gaze at my question.
“I told you I would find you no matter where you were.”
That smile, soaked in madness, made me even more languid.
“Even if…”
“I will chase you to the end of hell to find you, Master.”
It was then I realized.
“You’re at the end of hell.”
That Redian right now is not my Rere.
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