“Nonsense.”
A dry laugh leaked between his lips.
“I can’t believe it.”
Soon after, Demian shook his head and knitted his brow threateningly.
As expected, was it an unbelievable story?
Then again, even if these were the words of a saintess possessing divine power, there had not been a single person in history who could see the future or possess powers of foresight.
So his reaction was entirely normal.
Even so, feeling pushed away even by Demian—who had tried to save her in her final moments—made her feel inevitably crestfallen.
Slightly discouraged, she let out a quiet sigh.
“Haa, yes. It must be hard to believe, but…”
“Yeah, it’s a story I can’t possibly believe.”
He scowled, frowning one eyebrow in displeasure.
“Why on earth would I die at the hands of those bastards?”
“…Huh?”
“It makes no sense. I’m far stronger than those pieces of trash, so why?”
Trying to grasp the situation, Elise blinked rapidly and stared intently at Demian.
His green eyes, burning with fighting spirit, were blazing more intensely than ever before.
“And on top of that, dying without even being able to protect you? Just why on earth did I die?”
At Demian’s continuing questions, she unwittingly let out a laugh that sounded like escaping air.
It turned out that the part he found so hard to believe was the fact that he had died at their hands.
“That was the part you found hard to believe?”
“Yeah. Why the hell is the future like that?”
Paying no mind to the outrageous claim of having seen the future, he continued to press Elise.
“Tell me in more detail.”
“…Well.”
She revealed every single detail: how she had been betrayed by the three men, how Demian had tried to save her when everyone else demanded her death, and why a man with such formidable power had to die meaningless alongside her.
She even shared the fact that after experiencing a death she couldn’t tell was a dream or reality, she woke up to find those three men already preparing her execution at the stake three months in advance.
“Crazy bastards.”
Having heard the entire story from Elise, Demian’s face froze cold.
He softly muttered a curse under his breath, barely audible to her, before speaking:
“See. I told you, Elise.”
Demian added in a low voice like a growling beast:
“Their faces looked exactly like that. The faces of backstabbers.”
Though he tried to act as if it were no big deal, he was currently holding back a considerable amount of rage.
Through his innate animalistic senses and intuition, he had long noticed that Eshit, Ian, and Leonhardt harbored sinister schemes in secret.
Yet to think that insidious malice would reach out even to Elise.
“No wonder I had an intuition that I needed to keep watching over you continuously.”
Demian muttered quietly to himself.
“…So it wasn’t just simple stalking?”
Had he really been protecting her for such a reason?
She stared at him intently with wide eyes.
“I’m the sole heir to the throne of the Devlun Empire. If it were merely groundless paranoia, I would have cast protection magic on you or assigned guards.”
Even though he had every right to feel offended by the term, Demian laid out his answer calmly without letting a single trace of displeasure show on his face.
“Even if I have to stay up all night working after returning, keeping the woman I love safe is only natural, isn’t it?”
Shocked, Elise’s lips parted slowly.
Just how much had she been misunderstanding him all this time?
Describing it as rose-tinted glasses was practically adorable. It was a pair of sunglasses terribly clouded with bias.
And the ones who had covered her eyes with those sunglasses were none other than the three men who had betrayed her.
“It’s true that I’m blinded by love, but I don’t do such things without cause.”
“…I see.”
With a complexion darker than before, she stared straight into Demian’s eyes.
“It seems there were far too many things I misunderstood. I’m sorry, Demian.”
She even bowed her head to offer a sincere apology.
A single apology couldn’t undo all the times she had kept her distance and subtly despised him, but asking for forgiveness for her wrongdoings was an absolute necessity—if she was to remain by Demian’s side, that is.
“Elise.”
Demian merely raised one corner of his mouth slightly.
“You can do whatever you want to me.”
A dimple formed deeply at the end of his upturned lips.
Even while taking in his newly revealed sides one by one, Elise listened attentively to Demian’s words.
“It doesn’t matter if you curse at me or hit me.”
“Even though it’s a future that hasn’t happened yet, you were the only person who came to save me, and my benefactor.”
Listening quietly to his words, she added with a serious expression:
“If your taste inclination leans toward being cursed at and hit, I will willingly…”
“Ha!”
Bursting into laughter at Elise’s eccentric words, Demian covered his mouth and giggled.
After shaking his shoulders in laughter for a long time, he wiped away a tear that had gathered at the corner of his eye and opened his mouth again.
“This is why I can’t break free from you, Elise.”
At that moment, Demian’s eyes crinkled gently.
“When you’re this adorable, how could I not love you?”
Elise stared at him blankly despite herself.
Though he was naturally handsome, his expression had always seemed cold, perhaps because of his slightly upturned eyes.
Yet seeing him laugh like that made him look simply pure and radiant. It seemed he laughed like that when he was truly happy.
It appeared he still possessed endless charms she had yet to discover.
Her face flushing bright red, she laughed sheepishly and trailed off:
“It’s not really to that extent…”
“You can just use me. The only person in this world who can order me around like a slave, as the Crown Prince of the Devlun Empire…”
Demian slowly finished his sentence with a soft smile:
“…is you.”
So he does have that kind of taste…?
Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Elise cleared her throat, ahem.
“Ahem, in any case…”
She then returned to a serious face and continued:
“Because I don’t want to lie to you, I’ll tell you everything honestly. There’s something I promised you when I died together with you.”
“A promise. I’m quite curious as to what kind of promise that was?”
With an intrigued expression, Demian’s eyes flashed brightly.
She added with a small smile:
“A promise that in my next life, I would love you.”
At those words, he was struck silent, as if he had been dealt a heavy blow to the back of his head.
“So I’m going to love you now. Honestly, it might not be possible right this moment. But I will make the effort. And probably soon…”
These were words she would have been too embarrassed to utter under normal circumstances, but embarrassing declarations flowed continuously from her lips.
“…I will come to love you.”
Elise faced Demian’s eyes clearly.
The reason she could say this so boldly was remarkably simple.
“Because in that moment when you came to save me, I was grateful enough to shed tears.”
Demian had risked his life to save her.
Those weak hands that tried to untie her bonds to let her escape even on the brink of death.
That intense gaze that met hers to reassure her even as his focus faded.
Down to the warm embrace she was held in at the very end.
Even now, when she closed her eyes, those sensations were vivid enough to be felt on her skin.
“And I also need your help.”
“…Right, what should I help with? My lovely Lady Elise.”
“The ruin of those three men.”
Elise’s pupils contracted sharply like a beast’s.
“Their absolute end. And for that end… I need your help as well.”
Burning with vengeance, she slowly extended her hand toward Demian.
“Well now…”
He stared intently at Elise’s outstretched hand before finally taking it in his own.
“That is a remarkably… entertaining idea, Elise.”
Yes, that exact expression.
In a world where everyone else was black and white, she alone sparkled in beautiful colors.
Looking at Elise with an utterly ecstatic expression, Demian’s mouth turned upward in deep satisfaction.
