Though spring had come long ago, the Demon King’s Castle was filled with a cold atmosphere like the depths of winter.

“What a sight.”

This was Sezl’s impression as she entered the room where not a single ray of light penetrated.

“Are you dead or alive?”

Sezl sighed at the sight of Rubellan, who had become completely ruined in just a few months. He was slumped in his chair, his body drooping. Sezl immediately approached him and kicked his leg with her foot.

Whether the kicked leg didn’t even hurt, Rubellan still didn’t move at all.

“Have you lost your mind?”

Only when Sezl’s hand stroked Rubellan’s smooth chin did his eyes move. But there was no emotion in his eyes. Not even displeasure.

“Did you struggle so desperately just to live like this?”

She deliberately chose provocative words because she wanted to get some kind of reaction from him.

“Are you planning to keep your mouth shut forever?”

Frustrated, Sezl pulled back the curtains by the window. Though the light should have been blinding, there was no change in his expression. That wooden appearance made her even more frustrated.

“What changes by staying like that? Will that heart of yours stop beating?”

When she poured out sharp words, Rubellan’s hand slowly moved. For a moment Sezl’s body flinched, but his hand only swept back his own hair.

Perhaps that hair, which had been poking his eyes without him knowing when it started, was finally bothering him.

“I can’t stand watching this because it’s so frustrating. Get up. This isn’t like you.”

“This is what I’m like.”

Finally that heavy mouth opened.

“So your lips weren’t stuck together after all.”

“What do you want?”

At Rubellan’s clearly annoyed reaction, Sezl sighed, but even a lukewarm response was better than no response at all.

“Aren’t you curious about how Rael is doing?”

His eyes flashed sharply at the name ‘Rael.’

“Birds often bring news of her, you know. There’s nothing interesting happening here these days, so the birds at least bring news from there.”

At Sezl’s words, his gaze became even more fierce. If something had happened to her, it would have been a disaster.

“No need to look at me with such murderous eyes. It was just trivial news that the human was crying a little.”

Rubellan’s hand twitched.

“Something about heading to the temple, or whatever. Hmm… well, humans are always lonely and sad creatures.”

Sezl waved her hand dismissively.

“Some longings have expiration dates. After those moments of desperate yearning pass a few times, one day you become so indifferent that you don’t even think about it anymore. Emotions are bound to fade. Humans are especially quick at that.”

Of course, Sezl thought that someone like Rubellan wouldn’t be so easily forgotten from Rael’s memory, but right now she added a little exaggeration to get Rubellan moving.

“At this rate, it won’t be long before you’re completely forgotten from that human’s memory.”

That’s how memory works. Instinctively, the mind tries to shed painful memories.

“Well, maybe quickly forgetting demons and meeting ordinary people would be a happier ending for humans. You’re doing this because that’s what you want, right?”

His dry gaze turned to Sezl. Seeing Rubellan’s eyes turn cold even at such light provocation, Sezl judged that it was nearly impossible for him to forget Rael.

“If you can’t abandon your attachment, move while even a little longing remains in her heart.”

That brief moment would be the last chance.

“Some longings need to be discarded and shaken off, and some longings can only be filled by meeting.”

Sezl placed her hand on Rubellan’s shoulder and patted it a couple of times.

“You’ll have to choose for yourself which of the two you’ll be.”

Her hand fell away, and Sezl left the room.

The provocation was enough, and now only his choice remained.

If he still hid away for a hundred years even after she had said this much, Sezl resolved to treat him like an idiot for the rest of her life.

* * *

Sometimes, one’s throat becomes choked with an inexplicable, terrible longing.

To cool that emotion that couldn’t be resolved, or to soothe wandering steps that didn’t know where to go, the place Rael headed to was the temple. This was one of the places that gave her peace, and also the place that had suddenly come to mind since seeing the baby shoes in the box.

That’s how connections work.

Wouldn’t it be a perfect blessing to be able to see someone to your heart’s content when you miss them, when you want to see them?

Whether family, friends, or lovers.

But most people couldn’t maintain such connections.

She suddenly thought of the many people she had sent away. And felt a little sad.

Among them were coincidences, inevitabilities, and sometimes even ill-fated connections. After countless repetitions of those connections reaching out and breaking, she found herself here.

Step, step.

Only Rael’s footsteps echoed in the empty temple. Rael quietly sat in the front seat before the goddess statue. In her hands, white baby shoes were still tightly clutched.

What did she miss most right now? The baby whose face she never saw, or the one who had given her these shoes, or perhaps… just those times?

“I suppose there are days when you vaguely want to see someone.”

Vivid afterimages of the past flickered in her mind.

Especially him with black hair and red eyes.

That’s what it means to have shared the same time, experiences, and memories. When one scene from a certain period came to mind, all the memories related to that scene came flooding back in a chain reaction. Like dominoes falling one after another when one topples.

And the last domino piece that left the greatest meaning in her life was always Rubellan. All the moments she had lived ultimately connected to him.

But he wasn’t by her side now. In order to cut out sad memories, Rubellan was the first thing she had to let go of.

‘I miss you.’

She couldn’t even dare to speak those words aloud. After scratching his heart to cover her own wounds. What audacity did she have?

But so much…

At the same time as she let out a long breath, her eyes stung. Her tear ducts seemed ready to burst at any moment.

And at that moment, like a crack appearing in the lonely space where she had been alone, she heard someone entering the temple.

Rael quickly wiped away the tears that had been welling up with her sleeve. Even though it was a temple, she was embarrassed to have her sadness discovered.

While she was wiping her cheeks until her sleeve became damp, the air suddenly became familiar.

Familiar footsteps, familiar air flow, and a cool fragrance that put her mind at ease. It was a strange feeling where her heart beat fast while simultaneously feeling stable.

The sound of shoes grew closer. The longed-for fragrance also became thicker.

Her heart, which had been pounding, trembled finely. Her desire to turn her head to confirm the owner of the footsteps mixed with her desire not to shatter her own expectations.

The approaching footsteps stopped nearby. She felt the owner of the footsteps sit in the seat next to her, close if you considered it close, far if you considered it far.

Sometimes there are things you can know without seeing or hearing. And this moment was like that. Without turning her head, without asking, she could know.

Who he was.

And that she had missed this being so much that just his appearance made her heart ache.

“What wish were you making?”

It was definitely a plain voice. So peaceful, unlike what she had expected, that it was almost laughable.

Rael answered with a faint smile, seemingly having never shed tears.

“…I was praying that all those I loved would be happy. What wish did you come to make?”

Though it was an awkward conversation like they were meeting each other for the first time, neither could be unaware of the affection soaked in their voices.

The man answered.

“I was praying to become human so I could die on the same day, at the same time as the person I love.”

At his answer, Rael almost gave him a playful scolding, asking what was the point of making such an impossible wish.

She swallowed her hollow laugh.

How had she tried to tear away someone who seeped in naturally like air even in such a sudden meeting?

“You don’t seem close to God.”

At Rael’s answer, the man immediately replied. Like he had been expecting Rael to say exactly that.

“That’s why I’m not praying to God, but to you.”

To pray to a mere human for something even God couldn’t grant. Rael thought he was being foolish.

“Do I look like God to you?”

“If you’re the one who can grant my wish, I’d gladly think of you as God.”

“There’s no greater blasphemy. If it’s about granting wishes, wouldn’t it be faster to ask a demon rather than God, and isn’t one closer at hand?”

A conversation so natural and comfortable that it made their long separation seem meaningless.

“Then you must be a demon.”

“Me?”

Finally, laughter burst out.

“You’re the only one in this world who can grant my wish, Rael.”

Only then did Rael’s head turn, and their gazes met.

“Rubellan.”

Since when had he been looking at her with such transparent eyes?

Actually, she had felt that straightforward gaze from the beginning.

At her call, Rubellan shot up from his seat. His previously peaceful appearance was nowhere to be found. He approached Rael directly and embraced her.

A slightly cooler body temperature than humans wrapped around her. She thought she was probably the only person in the world who felt stability from this low, chilly body temperature.

Strength entered his hands and her breathing became a little difficult, but she didn’t want to push him away. The white shoes in her hands became warm within the embrace of the two people pressed together.

She should have relied on this embrace from the beginning. Yes. That’s what she should have done.

Rael realized that this embrace was the perfect space of rest she had been looking for.

Her head leaned against his solid chest. It felt like all the longed-for and sad times that had passed were melting away right here, right now.

It was a perfect moment.

Like a dream, his voice resonated in her ear.

“Rael.”

A demon calls my name.

“…Rael.”

The most solid being in the world, harboring a terribly tender heart.

“Rubellan.”

Then I will gladly answer his call.

When a demon calls my name.

⌈When the Devil Calls Me⌋ The End

Thank you for reading. Side stories won’t be posted unless there is a specific demand for them. Until then, see you in my other works!