His cheeks were flushed, giving him the appearance of being in a deep sleep. As I approached his body, the soul crystal once again took on the form of a boy.

“Here, I’ll return the last piece to you.”

Iscallion obediently bowed his head. I lightly kissed his lips.

‘I’m sorry to Shahar, but this is just part of the process….’

The last fragment of the soul within me flowed into him.

At that moment, Iscallion’s soul completely transformed into the form of a young man.

He looked at me with a sad expression before finally merging with his body.

I quietly waited for him to wake up again.

It didn’t take long.

When he opened his eyes, he had a dazed look on his face.

“Lou?”

“Yes, it’s me. Are you okay?”

“You’re Lou…?”

“Yes…?”

To my surprise, he remembered nothing except my name. He didn’t even know that I was Lou.

It seemed that the shock of his soul being shattered and then reassembled, along with returning to his body, had caused him to lose all his memories.

For the time being, I decided to take him back to the mansion. I planned to take care of him until his memory returned and then send him back to Pontos.

Fortunately, my parents welcomed Iscallion warmly.

Still unaware of his true identity and thinking he had been in a big accident with me, they took care of him like a son.

It felt like I suddenly had a grown-up younger brother.

His ruptured eye also returned to normal. It seemed that the oath had dissolved with the wolf’s demise.

However, despite losing all his memories, he remained gloomy. His previously reckless personality was nowhere to be found. He was clearly dejected.

“It’s okay. Take your time remembering. But from now on, you really have to live a good life.”

“Okay….”

Pinion, having taken who knows how much from Enril’s lair, completed peaceful negotiations with both the Holy Kingdom and Pontos without any military conflict, as I had requested. And all the events in Pontos were kept top secret.

“There will be no worries about diplomacy with Pontos in the future. We caused such a big incident.”

Pinion smirked.

But Pontos wasn’t easy either. The Grand Duke, who was thought to be kind, was a master at cutting ties.

Pontos was a chaotic country where nearly 20 Grand Dukes had ascended to the throne over the past 30 years, so they were very quick in making such judgments.

‘Well, Pinion will handle it.’

I left all the complicated matters to Pinion and spent my time leisurely.

When I opened the windows wide and basked in the sunlight, I could always see Iscallion diligently working.

These days, he was in charge of managing the mansion’s garden. There was nothing better than tending to living things to reduce the sins of the afterlife, and plants were perfect for nurturing many lives at once.

Although it wasn’t a suitable job for someone of noble birth, Iscallion worked quite diligently.

Even now, he was watering the plants with great effort….

“Huh?”

He disappeared in an instant.

Could he have gone off to slack?

As I looked around, I was startled by a voice right next to me.

“Lou.”

He was sitting on the window sill. In his hands was a large bouquet of flowers.

A handsome boy holding a bouquet was a very fitting combination, but for some reason, it made me sigh.

“I told you not to pick them. You’ve just added to your sins with this bouquet.”

“It’s okay. If it’s for you, Lou, I can bear it.”

Whether he understood my feelings or not, Iscallion forcibly handed me the flowers and smiled brightly.

Despite my worries, the fragrance was wonderful.

“How is it? Is the work manageable?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I thought tending the garden would be perfect for someone strong.”

Seeing his face, now more tanned, I smiled bitterly.

Though he had lost his memory, he was surprisingly gentle, but occasionally, his original violent nature would emerge.

I thought about what had happened just yesterday.

The fight had started over something trivial. A new servant, mistaking Iscallion for an ordinary gardener, had teased him.

As a result of picking the wrong target, the servant ended up with a face covered in bruises.

The head servant, who happened to be passing by, barely managed to separate them and immediately sent Iscallion to me.

Seeing the servant’s battered face left me speechless.

I held my throbbing head for a moment and questioned him.

“Is it okay to fight with your colleagues?”

“But that guy insulted you first. He said you were a lecher who only liked men’s faces. So, he was playing with me.”

“Even so, how could you mess up his face like that? He was already ugly, and now we’ll have to fire him.”

“What? Wait a minute, miss. I’m the one who got hit, so why should I be fired?”

The servant protested in an aggrieved tone.

“Do you even have to ask? Leon is handsome, and you’re not.”

And so, he was fired.

Worried that something like yesterday might happen again, I lectured Iscallion once more.

“Don’t pick flowers, and don’t fight with your colleagues. Got it?”

“Yes… I won’t do it again. So, can you pet me?”

He made his request with innocent eyes, and I couldn’t refuse.

I ruffled his hair, which resembled the evening sky. It felt like I was training a large puppy.

Iscallion smiled brightly, his face free of any wrinkles.

Whenever I saw that innocent smile, I couldn’t help but smile back. Iscallion had become one of the few small joys in my otherwise empty life.

* * *

Since I returned, my parents held parties every day.

As if to erase the somber memories of the funeral, the parties were grand and lavish.

Everyone celebrated my return. At least, they pretended to in front of me.

I didn’t dance with anyone and just sat idly, watching people enjoy the banquet.

I felt no joy. All I did was sip my drink and sit there prettily.

“How have you been? You came back safely.”

Michalis shamelessly sat next to me. He was an uninvited guest, literally.

“Don’t talk to me. Why do you keep hanging around after everything’s been settled?”

“Because I want to see you. We made quite a good team, didn’t we?”

I almost cursed him out but remembered all the eyes watching me and barely held back.

“Are you crazy?”

“Don’t be so harsh. You’ll need my help soon.”

“Help? What–”

When I turned my head irritably, I saw an ugly man striding towards me.

‘D*mn it….’

“Lady! I am proud of you for overcoming hardships and returning! In that spirit, may I have the honor of–”

The ugly man shouted in front of me. He was the eldest son of the Marquis of Focalor, notorious for his persistence and lack of tact.

Without hesitation, I linked arms with Michalis. He naturally pulled me close and asked in a gentle tone.

“Are you tired, darling? Shall we go inside?”

“Uh, uh… I’m a bit tired…?”

Michalis glared at the man. The man hurriedly ran away.

“See? You’re very grateful, right?”

I immediately unlinked my arm and asked.

“What do you want?”

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“What is the Underworld like? You’re the only one around me who’s been there.”

I realized what he really wanted to ask.

It wasn’t an emotion a prey would feel towards a predator, but a faint sympathy arose.

Long before I was born, even before Janet became a vampire. During that distant time, he must have always been curious about Violet’s afterlife.

‘Well, I did receive help….’

“It’s not as scary as you might think. Shahar is a very fair judge, so Violet would have received a judgment based exactly on her actions during life.”

Michalis smiled bitterly.

“Violet’s personality wasn’t exactly good, so I’m worried.”

“Hell isn’t that bad… if she wasn’t a heinous criminal.”

“She wasn’t that bad. Just a moderate villain.”

“In that case, she would have received moderate punishment and gone to paradise. If she was a model prisoner, she would have finished her sentence even earlier.”

“Was it painful? Because of the sins I committed…”

Since Violet died a long time ago, she would have already paid for her sins and gone to eternal paradise. She would have forgotten all about Michalis.

What he really wanted to know wasn’t her well-being.

What he truly wished for was probably…

“She would have forgotten all the pain and become free. She would have forgotten you, your name, the bond you shared, and all the grudges.”

The smile disappeared from Michalis’s face for a moment. He murmured bitterly.

“I see. That’s a relief. So now, the memories are entirely mine alone. Still, it’s a relief. I’m not the only one longing for someone.”

“If you’ve heard enough, get lost. Find your sense of solidarity through someone else.”

He soon returned to the sly expression I knew.

The taste of the drink soured. I put down my glass and stood up.

“Let’s see each other often, Lou, lonely souls!”

Michalis cheerfully shouted from behind me.

Without looking back, I flipped him off.