[Aaah! Our Demon King!]

When the startled Rael called for Joseph, he appeared with a pop and immediately moved Rubellan to the dormitory.

“What should I do? The school nurse…”

But the school nurse was someone Rubellan had just thrown into the abyss. Who else could she turn to?

“A priest?”

[Human! There’s a limit to stupidity! Are you trying to kill our Demon King? You cruel thing!]

Showing a demon to a priest made no sense either.

[His physical wounds will regenerate! Well… it just takes longer than for other demons.]

Realizing this was because of the bloodline Rubellan had mentioned, Rael felt a pang of sympathy. Looking at Rubellan lying motionless with closed eyes on the white bed, she felt a heaviness in her heart. Then a question arose.

“…That apple.”

[Hm?]

“What happens to Rubellan if he eats it?”

[He’ll become immortal!]

“Immortal…”

[Then the Demon King won’t have to feel threatened anymore!]

Her feelings grew complicated.

“It won’t make humans endangered?”

[Our Demon King doesn’t care about mere humans!]

“I see.”

Her hands became damp with sweat.

Immortality. What a sweet word that was.

“Would a human become immortal too if they ate it?”

Even as she asked, Rael never considered eating the apple herself. She believed returning to dust after living according to nature’s course was a blessing.

[Probably. Why? Interested, human? Typical human greed! How about making a contract with me to borrow demonic power instead? Interested in that?]

Rael shook her head at Joseph, whose eyes gleamed excitedly at the mention of a contract.

“I would never make a contract with you.”

[What? Why? I’m actually quite powerful!]

“…You’re way too noisy.”

She would surely die from exhaustion dealing with his endless chatter.

[Hmph! I’m not interested in weak humans like you either!]

Sulking, Joseph circled around Rubellan, examining him closely.

“So once you get the apple, you’ll leave the academy?”

[That’s right! We have no interest in this pathetic human school!]

“I see.”

Rael’s gaze shifted to Rubellan. Looking down at him, a storm of emotions whirled through her heart.

* * *

The drawer in Rael’s room slid open, revealing the key in question. She had thought she’d lost it when the women’s dormitory was destroyed by monsters, but fortunately her room wasn’t severely damaged, so she had retrieved it the next day along with other important items like her home key.

The fact that it remained in her possession through all that chaos suggested this key was bound to her by persistent fate. Or perhaps something else was truly bound to her persistently. Rael gazed down at the drawer, lost in thought.

“Immortality…”

That distant concept was beyond her imagination.

Holding the key in her hand, Rael faced an internal conflict. If this key fell into demonic hands, wouldn’t Herman be turning in his grave?

Would she be recorded in some historical text as the human who handed a key to demons?

“……”

How had it come to this?

Perhaps her sympathy for him was merely the result of demonic arts. Demons were said to be more cunning than humans could imagine. Could all his actions until now have been tricks to get her to hand over the key?

Sticky sweat ran down her hand as she clutched the key tightly.

‘If I disappear, they think my power will return to them.’

Without the golden apple, Rubellan would spend his entire life—until death—under constant threat from his brothers. Joseph had said demons don’t die of old age, so for an unfathomably long time, he would fight and fight… trampling his own brothers to maintain his position.

“Good heavens.”

How could such a cruel fate exist?

No sage, no magician, no historical account had ever mentioned that demons had emotions and stories. They were only known as evil and cold forces of darkness. She had learned something she shouldn’t have known.

In the darkness, Rael’s face turned ashen.

* * *

“What is this?”

“My withdrawal form, ma’am.”

“What?”

The administrative manager looked at Rael in shock.

“Did something happen?”

She asked carefully, looking at Rael’s face, which was too haggard to be called human. The manager knew how much glory an academy graduate status would bring to Rael’s life, especially since she wasn’t from a noble family, so the sudden withdrawal was perplexing.

“…No. I just don’t have any talent.”

That wasn’t entirely untrue. Compared to students born with natural magical power, Rael had to work dozens of times harder just to barely reach their shadow.

“But… it’s such a waste.”

Just one more year. In one year, she could receive a diploma and become a proper mage.

“I’m ashamed to stay here.”

The manager gave Rael a sympathetic look at these words. Assuming her self-esteem had hit rock bottom, she offered brief words of comfort. She had too much work backed up to try holding Rael back any longer.

Thump. A red stamp marked Rael’s withdrawal form.

Rael’s steps were heavy as she left the administrative office. All her belongings fit in one small bag.

“I’d grown quite attached to this place.”

At first, she had considered at least graduating. But when she saw Herman’s portrait in the hallway, guilt made it impossible to hold her head high.

The vault was something he had dedicated his entire life to creating in order to protect the golden apple. How sinful would it be toward Herman for her to proudly graduate from his academy after handing the key to a demon?

This was the moral reason Rael had no choice but to withdraw.

The demon, having obtained what he wanted, would leave the academy. Then the academy, the pitiful demon, and her confused self—everything would find peace again.

This was the most righteous choice she could make. The only path where no one would get hurt or wounded.

“Goodbye.”

Rael’s gaze fell somewhere on the men’s dormitory. She hoped the fate she had exchanged for her prosperous future would become an easier path for him.

* * *

Eyelids slowly rising, the haziness in those red eyes was clearing.

Blink. Blink.

The man shifted his gaze from the ceiling to the foreign sensation in his hand. Opening his palm, which looked like someone had pressed something into it before leaving, a golden key gleamed.

The man’s eyebrows twisted subtly. He slowly sat up.

His feet touched the floor. With his other hand, he swept back his disheveled hair. Then he rolled the gleaming key between his fingers.

“Herman’s key.”

He immediately recognized what it was. What he had wanted so desperately was absurdly placed in his hand.

He thought about who could have been clever enough to place the key in his hand and leave.

The answer came easily.

“Rael.”

* * *

“Waaah! What do we do, Edwin?”

When Rubellan reached the vicinity of Rael’s dormitory, Vivien’s wails were echoing. She held a white letter in her hand.

“I didn’t even know Rael was struggling at the academy. What kind of friend am I? Waaah, what should I do?”

Vivien was clutching Edwin and sobbing loudly, saying Rael had quit the academy.

“……”

Rubellan gripped the key in his hand tightly. Her scent was no longer present here.

“Joseph.”

[Yes, my lord!]

Joseph appeared in midair.

“Where’s Rael?”

[The human has left! Her luggage was only as big as my head! Very modest indeed!]

“Why didn’t you report this immediately?”

[Eh? You were sleeping! You slept well, and your arm has healed nicely! Oh right, the human left this for you!]

A white letter popped up in front of Joseph. Rubellan took it from the air. But he couldn’t bring himself to open it right away.

After a long hesitation, the letter finally opened with a soft sound. In the center of the crisp paper that looked like it might cut, a short message was written in neat handwriting.

[Congratulations on becoming a swan.

—From a human bewitched by a demon—]

Rubellan folded the letter. The motion of tucking it gently into his inner pocket was smooth.

[What shall we do now, my lord?]

“We should go open the vault.”

[Hmm? Aren’t you going to look for that human? I thought you rather liked—]

Rubellan turned away without responding to Joseph’s words.

* * *

[Th-this is…!]

Joseph’s eyes bulged when the golden light burst forth as Herman’s vault opened wide. The legendary golden apple, which he thought existed only in myths, was displaying its presence in the vault with a mysterious glow.

Rubellan picked up the golden apple. All the trouble for this small thing flashed through his mind. And one human, too.

He bit into the apple. He could have simply absorbed it, but for some reason, the image of a pale human crunching into a red apple every morning came to mind.

Rubellan’s face contorted as he swallowed the crunchy apple.

“Herman, with that level of ability, you could have made it taste better.”

It was bitter, terribly bitter. Or perhaps it was his heart that was bitter. A wry smile spread across Rubellan’s lips, as bitter as the golden apple’s taste.

* * *

“I wonder if that guy has strong teeth.”

On her way home, Rael muttered while rinsing an apple she had unconsciously bought from a street vendor.

How would one chew a golden apple? Was it gold-plated?

Unpacking in her childhood home, she couldn’t help feeling a bit lonely. This house held her late grandmother’s warmth, so she hadn’t visited often since entering the academy. Seeing traces of her grandmother in the now-empty house always made her emotional.

“So this is where I end up.”

Rael laughed bitterly at the irony that all her efforts had led her back to the village she had tried so hard to escape. Yet strangely, she didn’t regret what she had done.

If someday history recorded her as a human who was bewitched by a demon and offered up a treasure, wouldn’t that be a notable life in its own way?

“Let’s say adventures in my life are over now.”

She neatly arranged the washed apples in a bowl.

Crunch.

The bursting apple juice was sweet and tangy.

“I thought I’d be sick of apples by now.”

Strangely, tears welled up as she ate the delicious apple.