Romei had been leaning against the castle wall for quite some time, lost in thought. She finally turned to Rajie who stood guard beside her and asked with feigned casualness, hiding her true intentions.

“Lord Barmas has many familiars under his command, doesn’t he?”

“…Yes.”

“I imagine there must have been many familiars who have fallen out of Lord Barmas’s favor over time?”

Rajie’s facial muscles, which had tensed in anticipation of what strange question Romei might ask next, relaxed gently.

Inwardly relieved that she wasn’t asking peculiar questions like last time about group activities or ways to engage in orgies, Rajie answered.

“There have been some, certainly.”

“Do those familiars also go to the t*rture chamber?”

Rajie briefly revisited past memories.

Seeing no suspicion of her intentions in his reminiscent expression, Romei waited patiently.

Finally, Rajie answered.

“Sometimes they go, but sometimes they don’t.”

“…There are cases when they can’t go to the t*rture chamber?”

Romei asked in surprise at his unexpected answer.

She had thought, given Barmas’s personality, that familiars might never leave the t*rture chamber, but she hadn’t considered they might not be allowed to go there at all.

Rajie continued.

“It happens occasionally. When Lord Barmas judges that spending time in the t*rture chamber might restore a familiar’s sense of obedience, they are sent there. But when that’s not the case…”

“He kills them.”

When Romei guessed the words that would follow, Rajie nodded.

“But sometimes he takes them to the t*rture chamber for revenge or to vent his anger. Those are cases when they never leave the chamber.”

“…Does Lord Barmas have reason to seek revenge against his familiars?”

Romei asked, unable to understand. All the familiars she had seen so far were completely loyal to Barmas, treating his orders with the same reverence as their own lives.

Talk of revenge suggested that Barmas had suffered some kind of harm from a familiar, but he didn’t seem the type to easily fall victim to anything.

Rajie answered quite kindly, seemingly understanding her confusion.

“Once, a familiar had relations with another devil.”

“…My goodness.”

Romei was shocked. She found it amazing, even admirable, that someone could manage such a thing under such intense surveillance.

Rajie continued his story with a look of understanding, seemingly sympathetic to her reaction.

“That familiar died in the t*rture chamber. It seems Lord Barmas felt simply killing them wouldn’t satisfy his anger.”

“…”

“Anyway, all punishments for familiars are determined solely by Lord Barmas’s judgment. So I cannot answer beyond this.”

“But it’s certain that when you become useless, you’re discarded, right?”

“…That’s correct. Familiars have a duty to be loyal to the master who controls them, and if they fail in that duty, they’re naturally discarded. I think any devil, not just Lord Barmas, would do the same.”

“Hmm…”

“But why do you suddenly ask about this?”

Romei noticed that Rajie wasn’t asking because her question had aroused suspicion, but out of simple curiosity. She smiled faintly and gave an answer that wouldn’t raise any doubts.

“We were just talking about the t*rture chamber, so I became curious.”

“Ah…”

“If he would take someone to the t*rture chamber despite their loyalty to Lord Barmas, I wonder what happens to those who aren’t loyal. It’s concerning.”

“…”

Rajie felt a small but profound touch of emotion at Romei’s words. Despite suffering hardships because of him, even if it was on Barmas’s orders, she showed concern for a familiar’s position, which moved him deeply.

But Romei was merely testing Rajie.

Though not exactly the same, she was in a similar position of serving Barmas like a familiar, so she aimed to get suitable hints about what might cause him to discard her.

And Rajie fell perfectly into her trap.

‘Thanks to you, I’ve gained valuable information. If I fail in my duties and earn Barmas’s hatred, then show there’s no hope for rehabilitation…’

She could achieve her desired outcome: death.

A smile involuntarily spread across Romei’s face. Just imagining the moment of death filled her with an unexpected sense of liberation.

The mere thought of escaping this indelible, terrible sense of loss and miserable pain felt like heaven. She even wondered why she hadn’t thought of this method sooner.

Moreover, Romei had just spoken harshly to Barmas. He was surely angry, and if she acted negligently from here on, she could achieve what she wanted.

Her only concern was her friends.

While regretting the choice she had made to save her friends, Romei still worried about their well-being.

Unlike before, when just five of them were alone in that vast forest, they were now in the capital, beyond Picardin. No matter how strong and evil Barmas might be, they would be safer with more people around to protect them.

A cool breeze cut through the silence between Romei and Rajie. Romei quietly closed her eyes and let the wind touch her bare skin.

Her soft golden hair rippled like golden waves in the air. The breeze caressing every corner of her body seemed to celebrate the freedom she would soon face.

“The wind feels refreshing.”

“…Aren’t you cold?”

Rajie asked out of concern that she might catch a cold and face Barmas’s irritation, but Romei gently smiled and shook her head.

“Not at all. It’s refreshing right now.”

“…”

“And I feel, just a little bit, happy.”

Rajie couldn’t understand what could make her happy after all she had just endured in the office.

But Romei’s expression looked truly happy, so Rajie could say nothing. He simply watched her quietly.

* * *

【 Discard Me 】

After taking a light tour around the castle exterior, Romei soaked in hot bathwater before returning to her bedroom.

Having decided to live negligently from now on, she planned to lie quietly in bed and try to sleep. She had no intention of getting up even if Barmas—or Barmas’s grandfather, for that matter—came.

The water was already spilled, and she planned to spectacularly shatter the container that had held it.

But before that, Romei picked up the paper, pen, and ink that she had tucked away on top of a corner cabinet where they wouldn’t be noticed.

Perhaps due to two months of neglect, a layer of fine dust had settled on the expensive paper.

Romei opened the window slightly to dust it off. The once hazy writing became much clearer.

Sitting at the small table beside her bed, Romei examined the records she had once zealously written to reveal the secret of the trap.

‘I really… did my best.’

The papers were filled with accounts of what she had experienced here, despite the difficulty of writing in code to avoid detection by Barmas or his familiars.

The past days when she had tried her best to survive each day seemed like a fleeting daydream, causing Romei to let out an inadvertent hollow laugh.

Then she rose from her seat and threw her past efforts into the fireplace that had never once been lit.

The pure white papers inscribed with black letters scattered chaotically inside the fireplace with a rustling sound.

Romei tossed the remaining pen and ink bottle between them. The ink bottle seemed to hit the wall, shattering with a clinking sound before the ink inside blackened the papers.

The irreversibly stained papers lightened Romei’s heart considerably. It was the relief that comes when one gives up everything.

“…Goodbye.”

Leaving behind a brief farewell to no one in particular, Romei made her way to the bed.

She slipped into the covers that the servants had neatly arranged during her absence. As she laid her head on the pillow, fatigue descended upon her like a debt collector.

She closed her eyes. Then, she fell into a deep sleep, seemingly pulled into unconsciousness.

* * *

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door, awakening Barmas from his contemplation as he sat at the desk in his office, quietly staring at the cloak Romei had left behind.

“Lord Barmas.”

Only then did Barmas shift his gaze from the cloak and speak with a dry, parched face at the servant’s voice calling him.

“…What is it?”

“I apologize for disturbing your time, Lord Barmas, but there is an urgent matter to report.”

“Just state your business briefly.”

When the servant behaved with excessive caution, knowing his mood wasn’t particularly good, Barmas responded with an irritable voice.

In the ominous atmosphere where it seemed the servant might be dragged to the t*rture chamber at any moment, the servant held their breath briefly before compressing the report into something very concise.

“We just received a report from Rajie that the woman won’t wake up.”

“…What did you just say?”

Barmas asked with a suddenly contorted face. A more detailed answer came from beyond the door.

“The woman was secretly napping in her bedroom, and when he tried to wake her, she wouldn’t get up no matter how much he shook her…”

At that moment, the firmly closed office door flew open. The startled servant hastily took a step back and bowed their head.

Regardless of whether the servant greeted him or not, Barmas immediately headed toward the bedroom, putting everything else aside.

His footsteps toward the bedroom revealed undisguisable anxiety. His face, focused only forward, was firmly set with worry.

During that brief time crossing the corridor, Barmas desperately hoped that Romei was not dead, willing to do anything if that were the case.