A surging emotion washed over her at the voice that firmly held onto her, precarious like a small boat swept up in a storm.

Carl, you fool.

When you come at me like this, it becomes harder and harder for me to let you go…….

It felt like the resolve she had built up with difficulty was crumbling down in an instant. She bit her lips tightly and barely held back her tears. Carl cupped her face and pleaded.

“Shailyn, tell me what you’re so afraid of. If you don’t tell me, I won’t know anything.”

Carl spoke like this while looking like he was about to cry as much as she was. When she met his wavering red eyes, her heart dropped with a thud.

“If I’m truly someone precious to you, tell me. What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m…… I’m scared of having to leave you behind.”

In the end, she squeezed her eyes shut and spilled the truth.

She realized that whether she told the truth or rejected him with lies, the hurt would be much the same.

If so, it might be better to be honest. Rather than regretting it like the tower master.

“Why would you leave me behind?”

“……Because I’m not the real Shailyn.”

“Then? Who are you really?”

When she blinked once, tears fell with a plop. Carl wiped away her tears and asked.

It must be a confusing and surprising story for him too, but Carl calmly soothed her while trying to understand the facts step by step.

Without doubting her words or driving her crazy by calling her insane.

“A person living in another world.”

She forcibly suppressed her irregularly heaving breath and answered in a trembling voice.

“I suddenly entered Shailyn’s body one day. It happened before I first met you. This place is like a fairy tale to me, and they said I have to find a prince to return to my original world.”

“Was that prince blond by any chance?”

The sharp-witted Carl keenly pointed it out.

“……That’s right.”

She readily admitted it, clenched her fists tightly and said.

“But now they’re saying I can have a happy ending not just with the predetermined prince, but with someone I like. Then I can go back.”

It couldn’t be more cruel than this. When she truly connected hearts with someone she loved, eternal farewell would come.

She lifted her tear-soaked eyes to look at Carl.

“Do you understand what this means too?”

“……Yeah.”

Carl gently wiped under her eyes with his thumb so it wouldn’t hurt, making a complicated expression.

His head seemed filled with all kinds of thoughts from the truth he suddenly learned.

She gently grasped the hem of his clothes, as he didn’t express any doubt about her words at all.

“Do you believe everything I’m saying……?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s you. If I can’t even trust the person I like, there’s nothing in the world to believe.”

Carl smiled faintly as if deflated, then seriously pondered.

“But then, should I not call you Shailyn?”

“No, call me Shailyn. In a way, I am Shailyn too.”

Shailyn’s memories had assimilated with hers, so her identity was actually ambiguous.

Neither completely real nor fake.

However, as long as the mission continued, she couldn’t become completely real.

“Then Shailyn, do you really want to return to your original world?”

She was momentarily speechless at Carl’s casually thrown question.

If it were before, she would have affirmed without hesitation, but now she wasn’t sure.

Even without the 5 billion from the real world, she now had abundant money, a new family, and most importantly, the person she liked was here.

But even so, she couldn’t readily choose to remain in this world.

Everything she had achieved as herself was in the original world.

“……I don’t know.”

When she finally confessed her honest feelings, Carl gently ruffled her hair.

“Then getting your bearings straight should come first. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear today’s answer, so think it over carefully and decide.”

She nodded at his words full of consideration for her, then asked.

“Carl, what would you like me to do?”

“I’ll just respect your wishes. Whatever decision you make, I’ll follow it.”

He spoke with a peaceful face as if sincere, then soon smiled mischievously.

“Isn’t that the quality of a bondservant?”

“……Goodness, you still haven’t forgotten?”

“My master is so peculiar that even if I wanted to forget, I wouldn’t be able to.”

Carl pressed her cheek firmly and released her face, then quietly added.

“I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

“……Me too.”

How common would it be to gain a bondservant like Carl in one’s lifetime?

Even if she returned to the original world, she would never forget Carl.

***

Underground of the Central Temple.

Morphina dismissed those attending her and went down alone.

After winding through corridors complex like a maze, she arrived at a prison blocked by thick iron bars.

Inside, Raviel sat quietly with his back straight, his shining platinum hair disheveled.

“Raviel.”

At Morphina’s call, he slowly opened his closed eyes.

Purple eyes exactly like hers flashed with a cold light.

“You’ve come to have good eyes.”

Morphina wore a satisfied smile. His desperate struggle to escape this place from earlier could no longer be found.

‘It was good that I let him go then.’

She had let him escape with the confidence that he could never run away, telling him to face reality.

Then something must have happened when he stopped by the Diart residence, because he returned on his own feet and entered earnest training.

The result was the dark holy power currently rippling around Raviel.

“You told me, didn’t you? That if I become the greatest being on this land, I can hold everything in the world in my hands.”

“That’s right, my son.”

Morphina gripped the iron bars and whispered in a snake-like sticky voice.

“You’re a being sufficiently qualified for that.”

“Can I have it even if what I want is a person?”

“Of course. If you just accept Him, you’ll have everything that exists on this land under your feet.”

“Good.”

Raviel’s lips curved in a strange arc after getting the answer he wanted.

After his escape with Shailyn came to nothing, he realized one fact.

‘Now you’ll never come to me on your own feet like when we were children.’

Then he’d have to make her come even by force.

If he had intended to back down after being rejected, he wouldn’t have struggled to escape this place and go find Shailyn.

He would have gone anywhere alone.

But Raviel wanted someone to be by his side rather than freedom.

He needed someone who would love him unchangingly no matter what happened.

Born as the illegitimate child of the High Priestess and emperor, having to hide himself while being neglected and lonely throughout his upbringing, what he wished for was truly modest.

But why was it so difficult to achieve?

“I will accept Him into my body. And I will have everything.”

Raviel declared with his smile gone. At this, Morphina smiled so wide her mouth seemed to split.

“I’m finally feeling the worth of having given birth to you, Raviel.”

She had never had greed for family in her lifetime and had only one reason for giving birth to Raviel.

To create with her own hands a vessel that would fulfill her long-cherished wish.

Maternal love or family affection were emotions that didn’t exist for Morphina.

During her time as an ordinary priest, having long since entered heresy and pledged loyalty, what mattered to her was the purpose that all Rudenians ultimately pursued.

For Rudvalt to descend and rule this world.

For that, there was nothing Morphina couldn’t do. Hiding the truth Raviel didn’t know under her tongue, she spoke cheerfully.

“Since your body and mind are ready, I should hold the ceremony too.”

The summoning ritual for Great Demon Rudvalt.

In the temple underground shrouded in deep darkness, the mother and son looked at each other and smiled.

So wickedly and evilly that it was unbelievable they were a High Priestess and head priest imbued with sacred light.