The words never left my mouth. A firm grip on my shoulder pushed me against the wall. I didn’t twist his arm to free myself, the way his grey eyes burned with anger and icy indifference. But it didn’t matter – what really froze me was that his pupils were slit vertically. If they hadn’t been, I might have pushed him off me by now.

For a brief moment it felt like time had stood still. I couldn’t even register the pain in my shoulder where he held me.

“Would you even forgive me for this?”

“You.”

The only words I could manage after a long pause were just that. I had opened my mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. My lips moved silently a few times as I looked up at him. His gaze, from a higher vantage point, brought me back to my senses. He – the man –

“You ignored my advice and smuggled Karial away.”

Zetak? My lips moved to form his name, but no sound followed. The man – he – released his grip on my shoulder. I must have looked completely dazed. Slowly, he reached out and stroked my cheek.

“Well, I’ll let that go. You didn’t interfere yourself. But why did you continue to tolerate my rudeness?”

Because you looked like him? He leaned closer, pushing me against the wall as he whispered in my ear. A shiver ran down my spine. His deep voice was that of a grown man, far from the teenage tone I remembered.

“Were you lonely? Is that why you were so forgiving of someone who reminded you of me?”

“How many others were there?” 

The brush of his lips against my ear as he spoke made me jump involuntarily. A strange, cold sensation ran down my body.

“With such a cold expression, yet so desperate to connect.” 

His whisper was sweet as honey, almost intoxicating, but with a sharp, cold undertone. The whole moment felt surreal. This wasn’t the reunion I had imagined. I hadn’t expected anything like a typical lovers’ reunion – no hugs, no kisses. We were never the type for such gestures. 

Still, I hadn’t expected a reunion to be so cold and unsettling. I thought he would walk up to me quietly, take my hand, and I would ask him if he had returned safely. Something simple, a brief moment of emotional connection – that was the extent of what I had imagined. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

That was all I could say. I wanted to ask more – why he pretended not to know me, why he spent the whole day just watching, when exactly he was coming back. There were so many things I was curious about, but all that came out was such a simple question. He looked down at me quietly.

“I was curious about your life.”

“……”

“During the time I wasn’t here. I wondered what kind of life Your Highness led.”

“Curious, huh? Well, was it amusing? Watching me wait, not knowing you’d already arrived?”

A faint smirk appeared on his lips, but his eyes told a different story. His grey eyes seemed strangely pained.

“Amusing? Do you think I found that amusing? How do you think I felt watching you all day today?”

“……”

“I didn’t want you to live like this.” 

His voice was deep and calm. 

“I didn’t want to see you like this. Lifeless, like a corpse, just getting by.” 

He laughed. He cried. He wanted to see me live more like a person, among other things. As he muttered under his breath, he sounded almost like a child struggling to contain his frustration. Without realising it, I found myself gently stroking his head. It was like I had done before, slowly running my fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know what you expected when you looked at me, but… I’m fine.”

“……”

“I’m fine, so there’s no need for you to wear that face.”

I lowered the hand that had been gently caressing his head. His perfectly shaped forehead, his eyes, his nose and even his lips, which I slowly traced with my fingers. Why had his hair changed? What had happened to his eyes? Why had the scales disappeared? There were so many things I wanted to say. But nothing came out, as if something was stuck in my throat. Reality. Perhaps it was only now that the reality of his return really hit me.

I raised both hands to gently cradle his face. There were no cold, serpentine scales. The soft texture was undoubtedly human. But…

“Your body temperature…” 

It was too low. I didn’t say the words out loud, but he looked human on the outside, but he clearly wasn’t human. It seemed he had successfully shed his old skin. I had so many things I wanted to ask him when I saw him – what life was like in the demon world, if he had any injuries, if he had built up his followers as he would in the future. But as soon as he was standing right in front of me, all those words vanished from my mind.

I watched as his dilated pupils slowly returned to their normal round shape. I couldn’t tell what had upset him so much. Perhaps he had imagined something unpleasant. Whatever it was.

“You’re early.”

“I’m late. The target was five years.”

He was talking about an absurd figure. I thought he was joking, but his eyes were serious. It seemed that he really intended to return within five years. I couldn’t understand where this confidence came from. At the same time, it made sense – it was so like him. The level of his gaze had changed. Unlike before, he was now looking down at me. The moment I fully realised this, it was as if the feathers that had been stuck for so long began to turn. Only then did the passage of seven years really hit me. He had returned.

“…Zetak.”

I called his name. He didn’t answer, but it didn’t matter. Zetak. I said it again. The name I hadn’t spoken in seven years felt strangely unfamiliar and yet infinitely familiar.

Now I understood why he had been staring at me and Bapharos so intently. Even though we were separated, he had been listening to our conversation. Perhaps Zetak had been angry from that moment on. He had asked the steward to warn us not to touch her, but we had ignored his request.

When I took the recording stone from my pocket, Zetak grabbed it. I thought he was just going to check it, but my expectations were completely shattered. With a sharp crack, the recording stone shattered in his fingers. As if it didn’t matter, he casually dropped it to the ground.

“I don’t need it.”

There was no trace of remorse in his voice. “I don’t need this.” He wasn’t referring to the Recording Stone, but to the hatred that had bound him. I had been worried and had decided to smuggle Karial away, but it seemed that Zetak had long since cut and discarded his past. My actions, which I thought were for his benefit, were ultimately useless. Not only did they not help, they only added to his burdens. Why didn’t you listen to me?

In the past, the mere mention of Karial’s name would cause his eyes to glaze over. He once said that if he couldn’t kill her with his own hands, he would lose sleep in frustration. But he had changed. Now he didn’t seem to care at all about Karial’s life or death. He didn’t even glance at her death; instead, his eyes were fixed on me, not the recording stone.

“You haven’t changed at all, Your Highness.”

Well, there probably hasn’t been much change. The more you can control your energy, the slower the ageing process. In fact, it seemed almost ridiculous to talk about ageing when I wasn’t even thirty.

“You’ve changed a lot. What has happened to your eyes?”

“I’m not sure. They changed after the shedding.”

I stared at his eyes in silence. The colour of his irises was pale, making the deep black of his pupils stand out even more. It probably wasn’t good. At this speed, the change in his pupils was more noticeable than when his eyes were red. I wondered if I should lower my head again as his pupils often constricted.

“Don’t lower your head.”

But despite my thoughts, other words came out of my mouth. He had received his citizenship and assurances from the Temple that he was safe. It was all something he had worked hard for. What did it matter how others looked at him? Now I could look at him boldly, without fear. I also wanted him to walk proudly, without hiding anything.

“The change in colour could be because you have given up all human aspects. As long as there’s no problem with your eyesight, you should be fine.

In the future, he told me that he had deliberately left the scars behind. It was his way of holding on to a part of his humanity. Perhaps that was why his past had remained unchanged. But now it was different. He had shed all the parts that were not human. As a result, the human colour faded and the fused monster colour appeared on the surface.