“This is certainly better than the last one.”

“Thank you.”

The familiar bowed its head in gratitude at Barmas’s generous evaluation.

Ignoring the familiar’s greeting, Barmas put the refined crystal in his mouth. As soon as it touched his tongue, it melted like cotton candy, filling his mouth with an unpleasant taste.

Barmas momentarily frowned and ground his teeth with an audible sound. The familiar observed his mood carefully before cautiously asking.

“…Perhaps it’s not to your liking?”

“It’s still better than the last one.”

That was all he could say, unable to admit he actually liked it.

The taste of the life energy he had been collecting was definitely improving day by day. However, the problem was that while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t getting any better either.

“Haah…”

Compared to the life energy Barmas had consumed before, this was of infinitely lower quality—enough to make him sigh—but without it, he would have starved to death before Romei even woke up.

Barmas swallowed the remaining red liquid in his mouth. It was also life energy, and the slight dizziness he had felt until just moments ago subsided.

‘But this won’t last long either…’

Barmas was a devil with relatively accurate calculations, and he was also quite objective in his self-assessment.

He had been able to endure this far because he had regularly consumed high-quality life energy until now, but if this situation continued, he might even die in severe cases.

However, rather than embracing other humans and setting traps to consume their life energy, he preferred to endure and, if it came to it, die cleanly.

Toward Barmas, who sat on the stairs ruminating on the unpleasant taste of the life energy, the familiar cautiously asked.

“…Lord Barmas. I apologize for interrupting your meal, but could I ask for your evaluation of the life energy I brought? It might help me gather better energy next time…”

“Ah. This is not bad. The taste is still unpleasant, but there’s a limit to what energy you can bring.”

“Then next time, I’ll do my best to bring you delicious life energy that will be as minimally unpleasant as possible.”

Barmas casually waved his hand at the familiar’s response, which showed loyalty with its entire body. It was a gesture indicating that he understood well enough and the familiar could stop.

“You may go now. Good work.”

“Yes, Lord Barmas!”

The familiar, who hadn’t expected to hear words of appreciation from him, bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle in gratitude before departing.

As its form disappeared and scattered like smoke, a servant passing through the corridor spotted Barmas sitting on the stairs and stopped in surprise.

“Lord Barmas…?”

To the servant who approached with a look that seemed to wonder why he was sitting in such a humble place, Barmas abruptly gave an order.

“Go prepare dinner and bring it to me. Oh, and make the portions quite generous.”

“Yes. Understood, Lord Barmas. I’ll prepare it right away.”

Despite the strange request, the servant showed no sign of confusion, acknowledged his instructions, and immediately set off.

Barmas sat blankly on the stairs, killing time until she returned with the meal. It was his tearful effort to prevent Romei from discovering his lie.

* * *

After struggling through but enjoying the dinner he had brought, Romei brushed her teeth and immediately fell asleep.

She had spent nearly half the day forcing her body to move and using her joints, which had completely drained her energy, making sleep come naturally even if she didn’t want it.

Barmas felt anxious every time he watched her sleep, wondering what would happen if she didn’t wake up, but he didn’t show it.

Still, as the regular pattern of falling asleep at night and waking in the morning continued, his anxiety greatly subsided. Thanks to this, he wasn’t as anxious as before.

It was different from when he couldn’t sleep because he was endlessly waiting for someone who might never wake up, fearing Romei might die while he briefly dozed off.

Meanwhile, Romei gradually recovered her original physical condition day by day.

Barmas praised her, saying she was doing well and would soon be able to move quickly around the mansion, but he knew it wouldn’t be as easy as he made it sound.

Given how long she had been bedridden, it would take quite some time to return to her normal state.

However, Barmas also knew that more important than the slow pace of rehabilitation was encouraging her not to lose her will.

She couldn’t completely avoid feeling depressed when her body wouldn’t cooperate as her mind wished, but she needed to be helped to quickly shake it off and stand up again.

So Barmas, living up to his claim of having reformed, boosted Romei’s morale with all kinds of praise.

His efforts paid off, and after about two weeks, Romei could skillfully use a spoon without Barmas’s help. Moreover, she could easily move short distances.

For someone who had struggled even to leave the bed, this was truly remarkable progress.

Then one day, while maintaining this regular lifestyle combined with steady rehabilitation therapy, Barmas asked:

“By the way, may I ask why you suddenly decided to get up?”

“…You’re asking this now?”

Romei asked incredulously as she sat in front of the vanity table, where Barmas had said he wanted to personally put on the necklace he had prepared as a gift.

It was understandable, considering that three months had passed since she had begun a proper normal life. She couldn’t understand why he was bringing this up now when he should have asked long ago.

Barmas, seemingly aware of how strange his timing was, answered honestly.

“I was curious back then too, but I was afraid I might disturb someone who had just made up their mind.”

“…You’re afraid of things too?”

Romei looked at Barmas’s reflection in the mirror with surprise.

Though he was carefully handling the small necklace’s clasp with his large hands in front of her, he seemed to have nothing to fear both externally and internally, and she had thought that was actually the case.

However, Barmas furrowed his brow at Romei’s question, responding as though her words were absurd.

“Of course I’m afraid of things. Even the most wicked devil has at least one weakness.”

“Oh, really? The you I saw didn’t seem afraid of anything, but I guess I was wrong.”

“That’s right. I’m afraid of many things.”

“What are you so afraid of?”

“Romei.”

Barmas replied immediately to her question, without needing to think further. He seemed like someone who had been waiting to say exactly that.

Just then, the clasp of the necklace Barmas had been handling locked into place, and the necklace settled around Romei’s neck.

A clear, shining blue topaz descended over her thin, lightweight chemise dress.

The color, in stark contrast to Barmas’s bright red eyes, was beautiful enough to enchant anyone, but Romei’s gaze remained fixed on him.

He buried his face in Romei’s shoulders, which were clearly visible with her hair cut short, and murmured.

“You’re what I fear most.”

“I’m… that frightening to you?”

“Yes. I’m afraid you’ll leave me, afraid you’ll run away, afraid you’ll never wake up again…”

“…I’m not doing that anymore.”

“I’m still afraid sometimes. Sometimes I think you’re smart enough to make me let my guard down like this while secretly preparing to die.”

“…If you had such thoughts, why did you help me all this time?”

Romei was curious about why he had helped her for over three months without saying anything, despite being so anxious.

“You could have just confronted me directly with your suspicions. You’re good at that sort of thing.”

Barmas chuckled at the fact that her assessment of him remained cold despite the considerable time they had spent together.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t interrogate you anymore. I’ve told you several times that I’ve given up such bad behavior.”

“That’s true, but… You still have your skills from the old days.”

Barmas didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Romei’s response.

It hurt that she treated him like a cold-blooded person, but it was also true that, as she said, there was nothing he couldn’t find out if he used his skills.

Nevertheless, the reason Barmas hadn’t done so was simple.

“…Because I might make the same mistake as before.”

“Ah…”

“Once is enough for such foolishness, so I’m asking you now. Through conversation, not interrogation.”

Then he added.

“And didn’t we talk about this before? That if we had communicated earlier, things wouldn’t have escalated this far.”

“Come to think of it… you’re right.”

“So tell me. The reason you changed overnight. I’m going crazy with curiosity and anxiety.”

Barmas urged Romei, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

Just moments ago, he had buried his face in her shoulder, but now he had raised his head and was staring intently at his reflection in the mirror. Anyone could see he was waiting for an answer.

‘I don’t have such a grand reason to expect so much…’

Romei felt pressure, though no one had put any on her. She felt there should be some tremendous reason and catalyst that had caused her to change 180 degrees from before.

However, Romei had no such grand reason; there had only been a very small and minor turning point.

In the quiet silence that settled in the bedroom, Romei opened her mouth.

“I just… thought the rose garden where we took a walk together was better than I expected, and when I considered that you might be sincere with me, I thought it might be okay to live.”

“…”

“That’s all there is to it.”