A murmur of approval spread through the crowd. Though they didn’t openly criticize me because of my status, it was clear that they were uncomfortable with my intention to take the boy to the dormitory. While criticizing my actions, Bapharos had skillfully maneuvered to gain the support of the noble students.

“It is reckless to act in such a manner, even as the Crown Prince. And using your authority to intimidate the priest in the temple—this will not go unnoticed. His Majesty will surely hear of this.”

‘He will be the one to tell him,’ I thought as I left the temple. I could almost feel Bapharos’ glowing gaze on my back. As I carried the boy down the corridor, whispers surrounded me, but I paid them no mind.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Five years, I believe?”

The boy in my arms lifted his gaze at my words. I half-expected him to spit out a curse, but his lips stayed firmly closed. Still, the message in his eyes was unmistakable.

Contempt. Hatred. Murderous intent. His eyes said it all: ‘You, the one who condemned me to hell, now saving me? Are you pretending to be a saint?’

They were cold and eerily calm. If his gaze had been filled with rage, it wouldn’t have sent such a chill down my spine.

[This is the boy who will be serving as Your Highness’s attendant from now on.]

Suddenly, I remembered the first time I met him. I must have been around ten years old. The boy, roughly my age, had been brought by the nanny one day. He made no lasting impression on me beyond that moment.

[You’ve got quite a foolish-looking face,]

Those were the first words I ever said to him. I didn’t want to put him down; he looked really silly to me. When the nanny told him to say hello, he straightened up and looked at me with big, red eyes, his mouth hanging open in a silly expression.

I remember wondering if she had brought me a sickly child because his cheeks were flushed. It was only when the nanny tapped his arm that he finally closed his mouth. I remember thinking how stupid he looked at that moment.

[I-I am honored to serve you, Your Highness!]

[You even stutter. Do you have any kind of illness? Who recommended this boy?]

[Don’t be too hard on him, Your Highness. It’s just nerves, it’s his first time. He’s a clever boy, he’ll adapt quickly.]

What did I say in response? I don’t remember, but considering that the boy had served me for four years, I must not have dismissed him immediately. I compared the child before me to the man from the future I had seen. Their bodies were different, but the hatred in their eyes was the same.

The gods had warned me to change my actions. So instead of killing the boy, I had to keep him alive. I had to let him develop some sort of attachment to me, however reluctant – enough, perhaps, to make him give up his revenge.

It probably wasn’t a hopeless game. Had he remained fully human, it would have been impossible. But this boy was already tainted by a monster. As he continued to transform, his feelings toward me grew more complicated, evolving beyond mere revenge.

Having been a monster in my previous life, I understood them well. To a monster, humans were incredibly beautiful beings. Every monster harbored a deep, obsessive desire to possess and claim a human. Lust—an insidious, twisted craving—was the core of this desire, a dark and sticky longing that monsters had for humans.

Even in the future, I had seen it, it was clear. He hated me, but he had held me for four days and nights, longing for me despite his anger. That’s why I decided to bet on that.

When he reaches the age where he becomes aware of his desires, I will tempt him. I’ll make him grow accustomed to my body—so much so that the thought of killing me would feel like a loss. If he becomes deeply attached, he won’t be able to bring himself to end my life.

***

‘First, you need to get cleaned up.’

When we arrived at the dormitory, my first thought was that the boy needed a bath. His clothes were torn in several spots and his body was covered in dried blood. It wasn’t hard to guess what kind of treatment he had received at the temple.

A person tainted by a monster was considered someone who had sold their soul—a seed of a future monster, a traitor to their kind. He was probably treated worse than livestock as they dragged him here.

Even as I led him to the bathroom and undressed him, the boy remained quiet. He was, indeed, a smart child. Knowing he was weak, he kept his claws hidden, waiting for the right moment.

“Let me know if the water’s too hot.”

I said, pouring water over his body. Still, there was no response. He had no desire to speak to me.

As I washed him, something about his body caught my attention, making me pause in curiosity.

“You were only supposed to be one year younger than me. Doesn’t that make you 19 now?”

I asked as I looked down at his body. Earlier I had been too preoccupied with the vision of the future to notice the oddity. Something about him didn’t quite fit with his age.

He was only a year younger than me, but I didn’t think it was strange that I kept calling him ‘child’. He was so small. It was as if his body hadn’t changed at all in the past five years. He didn’t say anything about it – then again, he hadn’t said a word since we met today. I wasn’t disappointed; I’d expected as much.

“I’m sorry for what I did in the past.”

My voice was soft, but he must have heard it. “I am truly sorry,” I repeated the words as I pulled his wet body into an embrace. The moment I did, I could feel him tense up, stiff as a stone. Was he so repulsed that he could barely breathe?

“I won’t ask for your forgiveness. Go on hating me, go on resenting me, as you have done. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for the life I’ve ruined. I promise you that.

I waited for an answer, but he remained silent. Perhaps he was mocking himself, and I wouldn’t blame him. What I had done to him couldn’t be undone by a few words of apology. Although I didn’t fully understand human emotion, I knew that what I had done to him was wrong.

“You can sharpen your blade of vengeance if you like, but don’t kill me yet. If you do, there will be no one left to protect you. Use me until you’re strong enough to survive on your own. If you still want to kill me after that… I won’t stop you.”

As I spoke, I felt his fingertips tremble slightly. What could he be thinking? Well, it didn’t matter. He was smart enough to understand what I meant – killing me now, a member of the royal family would make it difficult for him to survive.

[Your Highness is like the sun. Your golden hair shines so brightly, and your eyes glitter like golden sand. You are so beautiful.]

Suddenly I remembered something the boy had said to me long ago. I remembered how his bright smile had been so dazzling that I had found myself squinting.

“…Zetak,”

His name slipped out before I noticed. He stiffened even more as if he could freeze. Yes, that was his name – Zetak. I hadn’t been able to remember it in the future, but now that it had only been five years, the name came to me easily. Like ripples on the surface of the water, forgotten memories came back all too quickly.

I remembered the boy’s almost absolute obedience, his unswerving loyalty. His attitude towards me was remarkable – loyalty, affection, even admiration. It was something I had never experienced in the demon realm, and nothing like it even after my reincarnation. Outwardly, people spoke politely, but behind my back, they called me ‘the walking corpse’. But Zetak had been different.

Despite being called a corpse and my indifferent behavior, Zetak’s affection never wavered. I could feel it growing stronger with time. Then I remembered the reason why I had finally rejected him.

[Your Highness seems to be very fond of this servant boy.]

One day I remembered something my father’s second wife had said. She had probably said it without much thought, but it left me with a deep question. Did I care for this child? Did I care for this child? I wondered. Had I, now reincarnated as a human, finally developed human emotions? So I decided to experiment.

In the fourth year of my acquaintance with Zetak, I grabbed him by the hair and pushed his face into the coals. The reason half of his face was burned off was because of that act.

I had thought that if this child was truly precious to me, I would feel some emotional stir when I saw him in pain. I believed I might experience what humans call heartache. But contrary to my expectations, I felt nothing as I watched Zetak cry out in pain.

Even when I threw him to the ground and tipped the bowl of coals over his body, I felt absolutely nothing. The experiment should have ended there. This child meant nothing to me. The moment I confirmed that it should have been over.

If that had been the case, I probably wouldn’t have thrown him out of the palace. But Zetak’s actions only made me want to crush him.