The red eyes staring at Valentine without a trace of wavering were surprisingly static. What lay beneath that mesmerizing gaze was intense greed.

Valentine stroked Lucifer’s nape with her left hand. A low murmur followed.

“Come to think of it, you must be starving.”

Her delicate hand slid smoothly from his nape. The cold hand grasped his cheek.

“Is this not enough to satisfy you?”

As commonly said, demons feed on human vitality and souls. The last thing Lucifer had devoured was the soul of King Tristan, Edward XI.

Edward XI’s death was no coincidence.

Edward XI was murdered.

Killed. By Lumière, directly.

The politically arranged relationship between Lumière and Edward XI was terrible.

A queen who cannot bear an heir is not treated well. Though twenty years had passed since their marriage, there were no children between them. Even though its influence had been somewhat diminished due to Astaire’s tyranny and the national prestige had fallen somewhat, Sehera was still Sehera. The King of Tristan couldn’t dare declare divorce from the Imperial Princess of Sehera.

However, he did pettily wound Lumière’s pride. Edward XI kept a young and lovely consort by his side, and mocked and abused Lumière daily.

It wasn’t a situation that a noble Imperial Princess could easily endure. Lumière desperately dreamed of escape, and Valentine, who needed a way forward in Sehera, reached out to Lumière.

Because Cassian had occasionally mentioned Lumière, she made this choice knowing he wouldn’t prevent her return.

“You’ll feast soon enough. Just wait a little, Lu.”

“A feast, you say.”

Lucifer, who had briefly echoed her words, leaned in close. In an instant, he was suddenly very near. His seductive eyes gleamed right before her.

“Will you make your last wish?”

“Last wish?”

At her questioning response, the demon before her curved his lips almost imperceptibly.

“Nothing matters to me except my master’s soul.”

It was the truth. Even at this moment, what he desired most was her soul. He simply didn’t openly whine about it because he knew it would eventually be his.

Valentine patted Lucifer’s cheek a couple of times.

“You’ll eat anything I give you anyway.”

“I have no reason to refuse if it means increasing hell’s numbers.”

His voice was ominous in its indifference. Now all too familiar to her ears.

“Just remember that those who fall to hell suffer eternal torment without even the hope of salvation.”

Valentine blinked once. Eventually, her gentle gaze curved kindly. It was a somewhat bitter smile.

“Someday that will be me too.”

There was no answer from Lucifer. It was a silent affirmation.

Valentine wove her words into a small sigh.

“You know, Lu. Right now, I… being alive doesn’t feel real to me.”

Suddenly, a phantom pain from her nonexistent physical wounds ached. The phantom pain that occasionally assaulted her.

“I’m clearly breathing and my heart is beating. But I still feel like I’m wandering through Sehera as just a soul… unable to touch anything or communicate with anyone.”

Though she breathed, her breath was cold; though her heart beat, her pulse was static; though her body moved in the present, her mind lived in the past. Something she couldn’t escape bound her soul and wouldn’t let go.

Valentine slowly caressed the demon’s cold cheek. Her soft voice rang out gently.

“Don’t worry about anything. My last wish to you is already decided. It will never change. I won’t live like this for thousands of years.”

Wishes granted by demons are intuitive. Just as she had first seeped into a decaying body.

Hence, she had realized something belatedly.

This body that had received a new chance would not die. Not until this heartless demon before her took back the breath he had given.

Even if this body were torn to pieces, the limbs would move; even if it fell into a fire pit, it would breathe; even if it swallowed poison, the heart would keep beating. If that’s what defined being alive.

‘Save me’ — her first instinctively made wish had meant that.

Thus, of the three wishes the demon would grant, one would inevitably be for eternal rest at some point.

However, could one call a being without death alive?

Even the Holy Father would not dare define it.

Valentine erased her briefly held wicked thoughts and giggled in a small voice.

“So for now, we should let fools fight fools.”

“Is that why you told Liam about yourself?”

“Of course. There’s no reason for me to dirty my hands because of two idiots.”

Even if Gwenael hadn’t brought up the joust, Valentine would have given him a hint first.

Liam, properly stirred up, was now an active volcano. With just a little prodding, he would explode immediately and rampage like a mad colt.

Those blinded by jealousy sometimes did things beyond imagination. Now was the perfect time.

Just then, knock, knock. There was a sound of someone knocking on the door.

“Belle. May I come in?”

It was Lumière’s voice. Valentine rose from her seat and opened the door herself. Lumière stood in the outer corridor with an anxious face.

As if she had been to the salon today as well, Lumière was in formal dress. A bright light green dress elegantly wrapped around her. A necklace of large pearls emitted brilliant light.

It was a look that suited Lumière’s name, which means radiance, very well. Unlike her shabby days in Tristan.

“What brings you here?”

“Todaym Cassian asked me who you are.”

For a moment, Valentine’s lips twisted. Though Cassian had seemed unbothered when they met, perhaps it had still bothered him.

Lumière continued slowly.

“He said you told the Duke of Blumir that you were the deceased Madame Marguerite. He asked about the identity of the maid I brought, whether your background could be verified.”

Like a scene from a comedy, Valentine whispered in an exaggerated tone.

“Ah, men.”

“What does that suddenly mean?”

“I’m not sure if their relationship is shallow, or if he’s just foolishly loyal to His Majesty. He might have shared something that could have been a secret between the two of them.”

An obvious sneer bloomed. Valentine’s small shoulders shook.

“How wonderful it is, a secret between two people. Sharing whispers that no one else knows, monopolizing each other that way, and finally becoming an unbreakable relationship.”

Her red lips left a sensual murmur. Tsk, she clicked her tongue softly afterward.

“To kick that away themselves and break it, foolishly sharing it with others. They understand nothing.”

It was blind loyalty to the point of being ridiculous. Just as Valentine had been enchanted by Cassian in the past, perhaps Liam still couldn’t break free from Cassian even now.

Pfft, a deflating sound escaped through her lips.

“Isn’t it funny?”

“What is?”

“How they’re making such a fuss about someone who’s already dead. If they wanted to express regret, they should have treated them well while they were alive.”

Lumière agreed with those words. The world belongs to the living. Dwelling on regrets and speaking of remorse was merely deceiving the dead.

Thus, Lumière too did not mourn her dead husband. No, honestly, King Edward XI of Tristan wasn’t worthy of Lumière’s mourning.

Those years were moments so horrible that Lumière wanted to erase them. So horrible that when the moment of choice came, she gladly killed Edward XI.

“And it’s what I wanted, Lumière. I actually told him to tell.”

“Why? Was there a special reason you had to do that?”

“I didn’t want to curl up crying, abandoned in his past.”

Valentine muttered and needlessly looked down at her fingertips.

It was strange. Though she could barely feel the sensation of being alive, the time she spent with him was so vivid. As if even now, she could grasp those shared moments at her fingertips.

“…While I’m in such pain, I was curious because he seemed unbothered.”

Once a month, on the days of their secret meetings, the sound of flowing water would brighten her ears. The water stream that defied nature and shot upward would noisily echo in the quiet surroundings. The shadows of the two people melting into that clear noise, as if hiding in it.

Only the moonlight and God were watching the two of them. The sound of water droplets falling on the surface hid their breaths.

That scenery, still unchanged, held quite a special meaning for Valentine. Longing and regret were separate matters. The unforgettable memories formed there would only serve as the driving force that moved her.

Valentine’s lips curled up faintly.

“Still… it seemed to bother him. That’s good.”

“……”

Lumière, who had been staring at Valentine, moved her lips. She didn’t know what words to say.

Though they shared blood as siblings, Lumière knew better than anyone what kind of person Cassian was.

He might be a perfect emperor. His excellence as a leader couldn’t be denied either. He might be someone worthy of respect from afar. She acknowledged him as a monarch to whom numerous subordinates swore loyalty to.

However, when faced as human to human, she absolutely couldn’t say he was a good person.

“If I wasn’t even that much to him, this moment would have no meaning at all.”

“Belle…”