“Father, Father grabbed my leg. He reached out from hell saying he can’t die alone and is trying to drag me down…!”

Meric began crying loudly. He also kept making incomprehensible sounds as if he had lost his mind. Daniel crawled over to him with his injured body.

“Father is still controlling me even in death. I– here…!”

“Get a hold of yourself. We’re not dead yet.”

Daniel grabbed Meric’s arm. Meric started crying even more sorrowfully in shock.

To Meric’s eyes, Daniel covered in mud appeared as Duke Bergis who had been struck by lightning and burned.

“Father! So you’ve finally crawled up from hell to take me. I tried to believe when you said you loved me. But that wasn’t love, was it? Now I know it was a demon’s whispers to control me!”

“No, Meric. I’m Daniel. Daniel Sillingdeer.”

“Daniel Sillingdeer! A demon who deceives everyone with words of love just like Father!”

“I’m not a demon. I truly love my wife, your sister.”

“Lies! Ugh!”

Meric cried out in pain as his body tensed from shouting. He glared at Daniel while tears streamed down.

“If you’re not a demon but real, then tell me in detail when and how you fell for Lenore.”

Meric spoke through gritted teeth. Father had never been able to tell Mother how he fell for her.

After repeatedly asking, the only answer he finally drew out was ‘I married her because she seemed like she would bear children well.’ When he was surprised if that was all, he countered asking what more was needed.

This man won’t be able to give a proper answer either. Even if he makes something up, he won’t be able to have eyes full of certainty in his emotions that are both gentle and strong like Prince Zig who has fallen in true love.

Meric tried to test the demon before him.

After contemplating, Daniel lay back looking at the sky and struggled to speak.

“The first meeting…”

* * *

Ropes tightly binding his limbs, a sack smelling of rot over his head.

Young Daniel thought about what wrong he had done to end up like this. No matter how much he thought, he didn’t know. He had just gone to the shopping district with his father when he was suddenly grabbed by some thugs while briefly distracted.

“Am I going to die like this?”

The bag over Daniel’s head became wet with tears. The thugs had brought him here, tied up his limbs tightly and put this bag that smelled of rotten fish over him.

‘Just stay quiet and we’ll send you back safely once your father pays up handsomely.’

The kidnappers said irritably when he cried and begged to be saved. They also said if he kept crying they would cut off one of his legs and send it to his father.

Daniel shut his mouth tight in fear but the tears kept flowing endlessly.

No thoughts came to mind about what to do. He had grown up very preciously as Count Sillingdeer’s only child. He had never been roughly treated by anyone and had never learned how to handle situations like this.

All he could do was try to see where he was imprisoned through a small hole made from wear and tear. The hole was so small and all he could see was a wooden barrel that looked bigger than his body. It was a frustrating view.

As he cried, feeling his life was as precarious as his limited view, the door suddenly burst open.

“Let go! Let this go, you bad men!”

It was the voice of a girl around his age. It seemed the thugs had kidnapped another child. The girl was resisting fiercely, making continuous stomping sounds.

“If you don’t quiet down we’ll put a gag in your mouth!”

When the kidnapper threatened, the stomping sounds stopped abruptly.

“Should have shut up earlier. Little thing.”

When it finally got quiet, the kidnapper shoved her toward where Daniel was sitting. The girl tripped over Daniel’s feet and fell.

“Stay quiet until we get the ransom from your parents! We’ll send you home once we get the money.”

The kidnapper slammed the door shut and left.

Left alone together, Daniel carefully observed her through the hole. The girl who had fallen across his legs was also tightly bound with ropes on her limbs.

She slowly raised her face. Her chin was red, seeming to have hit it when she fell. After continuously squirming, she succeeded in sitting up using Daniel’s body as support.

“Were you kidnapped too?”

The tears that had briefly stopped at the appearance of a stranger started flowing again. As the wet spot on the sack grew larger, she looked at him in surprise.

“Are you crying?”

Strangely, when asked if he was crying, his pride was hurt but the tears wouldn’t stop. As tears dripped under the sack, she became flustered and tried to comfort Daniel.

“Are you crying because you’re scared? It’s okay. Don’t cry.”

“Not at all, it’s not o-okay, how is this okay, uhuhu.”

Daniel spoke negatively, saying we’re going to die now. Lenore, who had initially tried to comfort him, couldn’t stand it when he would stop crying briefly only to start again after getting tired.

“Crybaby. You cry more than Meric.”

“I’m not a crybaby.”

Though he didn’t know who Meric was, Daniel felt indignant. But he still couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

Lenore made a disgusted face and turned her back on him. The two spent several days awkwardly trapped in the damp room.

Daniel finally stopped crying when the kidnapper came in furiously.

“Your father says he can’t spend money on you.”

After expecting to extort money from Count Sillingdeer, they hoped to get some from Duke Bergis too. Angry at not getting any money, the man hurled abuse at Lenore.

“Parents would even borrow money to save their child. But since your father won’t, maybe you’re some bastard your wh*re mother had with someone else?”

“That’s not true!”

When Lenore flared up, he snorted.

“No parent wouldn’t care if their child died.”

“I said that’s not true, you bad man!”

“If you’re really Duke Bergis’s daughter, there’s only one reason he won’t pay. You’re a worthless child that he doesn’t care if you die.”

The man muttered about having to sell the worthless brat quickly and left.

Lenore breathed heavily in anger before starting to cry. Daniel was bewildered when the girl who hadn’t shed a single tear or been discouraged about being kidnapped until then started crying.

“Don’t cry. It’s okay.”

“Shut up! What’s okay! Nothing is okay!”

Their situations had completely reversed. Daniel realized how troubled she must have been when he was crying and felt remorseful.

“Even if your father paid, that man wouldn’t let you go.”

Daniel tried to comfort her, saying why would he still be imprisoned if the man was so happy about receiving plenty of money from his father.

“Your parents must be worried about you.”

Lenore cried even more sorrowfully.

Daniel deeply regretted choosing the wrong words of comfort. He didn’t mean to make her sadder. He rambled, not knowing what to do.

“I’m sorry. Ah, no. Your parents must be worried about you too. The bad man just lied to you. It’s okay. We’re both just going to die here anyway.”

Fortunately, Lenore gradually stopped crying when comforted. Though negative words were mixed in, it seemed to have provided some consolation. Meanwhile, Daniel who had tried to comfort her sniffled, depressed at the thought of soon dying or being sold.

“We won’t die. We won’t be sold either.”

Lenore pushed his shoulder, telling him not to cry.

“Don’t you want to go home?”

“I do…”

“Me too. I’m going to go home and check whether that bad man was lying or not. So let’s work together and escape.”

She declared with a determined face and held out her bound hands to Daniel. Escaping was their priority so they could get back.

From then on, the two began secretly untying their ropes while avoiding the watchful eyes that checked on them occasionally. Though it took quite a while to untie everything, the two eventually succeeded.

“Let’s go.”

“Wait, together…!”

When Lenore tried to leave first, Daniel hurriedly tried to get up but fell.

Lenore approached him and held out her hand. Daniel flailed around without seeing her hand. His vision was dark. They had untied the ropes binding their hands and feet, but had forgotten to remove the sack on his head.

“Ah, I can’t see! You didn’t leave me behind, did you?”

Daniel reached out and groped anxiously in the air. Lenore tried to turn the sack on his head to align the hole with his eyes.

“The hole is too small. I need to make it bigger.”

When it didn’t work well since there was only one small hole, Lenore tried to tear and widen it with her hands. Her finger that came through the hole poked Daniel’s eye.

“Ow!”

Lenore shushed him.

“Sorry. I was trying to widen the hole.”

“Be careful. That really hurt. But… couldn’t you just take this off?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Lenore realize there was an easier solution. She immediately removed the sack.

After being in a stuffy, dim view, Daniel felt indescribable liberation when his vision cleared up.

“Than… k you…”

Was it due to the emotional impact of being free? When Daniel properly saw her face for the first time, he felt his heart suddenly flutter. Though he hadn’t hit anything, his face burned hot as if it had been scraped against the floor.

“Let’s go.”

Without noticing his condition, Lenore took his hand and slipped outside. The long corridor was dark and gloomy like a nightmare.