chapter 43

Bella never thought she wanted to die. She was not afraid of death because she had already died once, but she did not want to give up her life.

As she entered her room, the only haven in this Demon King’s castle, she took out her cell phone after a long time.

“For sure… There must have been another kid like me.”

They said [ 1:1 Inquiry ] [ Frequently Asked Questions ] could only be used once, so she looked at it again.

“Is there anyone who wants to end this life quickly because this life is so hard…?”

She couldn’t even go out into the human realm. To summon Bella, who would soon become an archmage, it would have to be like an archmage.

‘Which madman would become an archmage and needlessly summon the Demon King?’

If it was a job of that size, at least one line would have been written in the novel. So, that wasn’t what she was hoping for. Bella quickly scrolled down and scanned her eyes.

‘Wow… Still, it’s been a really long time since I’ve used a cell phone.’

It would be nice to lay back and read web novels while waiting for her reincarnation.

‘Is our waiting group doing well?’

When she returned, she wanted to forget all these pains and just sit around and chat all day saying, ‘I have possessed this life…’

“Found it.”

Bella gently pressed the part with her trembling hand.

[ A. Both reincarnation and possession are things that give you an experience of life. Life is precious. I hope you don’t let go of your life so easily if you don’t like it. ]

“…Hey, now that I have been sent to hell, I can’t find comfort in seeing these answers.”

She then read the additional comments below.

So, it was not okay to ask someone to kill you…

‘I don’t care because I’m originally a role that Kiehl defeated.’

She thought the last line was the harshest.

“…Happiness is bullsh*t.”

Even though Bella wanted to do [ 1:1 Inquiry ] right now, she didn’t know what kind of accident would happen if her cell phone was turned off. She sighed as she lay on her bed and turned off the cell phone, which she had picked up for a long time.

“There’s no answer. There is no answer.”

At that moment, she accidentally tapped her finger to press the gallery with the photos.

“Ah.”

With a brief exclamation, her heart began to fluctuate.

There was only one picture in the gallery…

On a cool summer day, in white and blue colors, reminiscent of Greece, she and Kiehl were smiling brightly in the picture.

How many years have passed since she separated from Kiehl? After she returned to the Demon Realm, she had forgotten to count the time. Bella let her own feelings out of her mouth that she had never said in her brief time.

“…I miss you.”

It didn’t matter when she spit out her words, which she had been holding down for fear that something big might happen to her.

“Kiehl… I miss you.”

Now that she said this, she wouldn’t be overcome with emotion and run to Kiehl. So, she confessed her feelings once more, regarded her cell phone like Kiehl and held it tightly in her arms.

“Yeah. I was originally destined to live and die here.”

Thinking positively, Kiehl seemed to be able to sustain his memories of living together until he went to the Imperial Palace.

The best thing to do was just to get someone to kill her here.

“Even if I die, I have to be of some help to Kiehl.”

Bella laid her head comfortably on her pillow after a long time. She hummed a song she sang together at the summer festival.

“…Nananana, I’m going to sleep, so that I can meet you even in my dreams.

And so, she fell asleep so gently, waiting to see him in her dream.

However, she forgot an important fact… That she couldn’t even sleep comfortably now. Her positive thoughts changed in an instant, like flipping the palm of her hand.

“Awoo, awoo— Woof, woof!”

Outside, some madmen were dancing amongst themselves and chattering.

“Ha… I really.”

Bella got up from the bed crying and opened the window wide. A little farther away, werewolves gathered in a circle, and in the middle was playing with one of them that was skinned. Sadly, that was a game for them.

“Woof, woof!”

Bella was numb because her head hurt. She stared outward and called out till her head and neck burst.

“Hey! Stop the dog barking! You bastards!”

Bella’s loud voice made it quiet in an instant. She took in a wild breath and raised her hand over her heart which was about to explode.

“We’re wolves!”

“Ahhhh—!”

Bella hated those blatant, out of context excuses.

“I’ll find them all! Really…!”

At that, she ran out of the window and ran to the werewolves. Before they could run away in surprise, Bella tore the wolves’ hearts one by one and squeezed them together. The fact that she had been cutting Zanbar all this time, and that she had cut down these guys after arriving in the Demon Realm.

It was Bella’s last concern. It was her last string of reason.

The night was quiet as the werewolves’ hearts burst in her hands, and the blood flowed.

She smiled briefly.

“Whoo… it’s quiet now.”

Her eyes were so terrifying that they even made frost at this time of the year.

“Yes. If I can’t die… Can I just kill you all?”

Later, the Demon Realm called that brief period the Age of Silence.

Inside the cave where the moonlight pours down through a narrow gap.

Kiehl, who had turned twenty, opened the box lying on one side of the cave without a change of expression. Inside the chest were various gold and silver treasures that glistened in the moonlight.

‘…As expected.’

When he took out the Holy Grail and lit it in the moonlight, the rusted part gradually turned white and returned to its original color.

“Did you find the Holy Grail?”

From afar, Roseanne with pink hair asked him.

“This is the last relic. Now, there are no relics lost in the Empire.”

“So… is the trip over now?”

Kiehl walked past Rosanne without answering.

“Kiehl! Come with me!”

After he strode for a while, he could see a tent set up by the party in the woods.

“You’re here? Huh…? What’s in your hand?”

At Rio’s question, Kiehl threw the Holy Grail in his hand and entered the tent indifferently. Rio took the Holy Grail and glanced around.

“Did the Holy Grail come to you at that time?”

“You’re in a hurry as well.”

Rinne shook his head and clicked his tongue.

“If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have pitched a tent.”

“Wow, it ends like this? In vain.”

“By the way, I thought it would take a few days to find it because it was like a ghost.”

Entering the tent, Kiehl threw his robe on the floor, walked to a corner seat, and sat down. He let out a long sigh before pulling out an old notebook out of his bag.

‘It’s going according to this content.’

Although he had already memorized the contents after reading it hundreds of times, the more he looked at Bella’s handwriting, the more he didn’t get tired of it. Thanks to the ‘Key Note,’ he was able to find the relics quickly, but he felt a lot of reluctance from reading the part of the book written as a novel.

After reading a few chapters, Kiehl repeatedly erased the ‘Roseanne’ part with a black pen.

‘Why does this woman keep showing up? Why does she keep coming back with Kiehl here…?’

By now, more than half of the novel was painted black.

He had various thoughts about the identity of the novel, though none of them gave me a clear answer. Maybe, it was a book given to her by the goddesses of fate. Bella must have come from the future, but either way, one path was clear.

…There was no Bella in this novel.

No matter how much he read, she did not appear.

It was as if it was fate that he would never see her again.

‘I will never admit it…’

He drew a picture of Bella, who was getting blurry, with his eyes closed. As he fell asleep, he remembered the song of the festival they sang together a long time ago.

‘Sing me a lullaby so I can fall asleep to your voice, to be able to meet you even in a dream.’

When he sang a lullaby, he hoped to see her even in his dreams.

‘Don’t leave…’

Rosanne, who followed Kiehl, stopped her steps.

‘Kiehl…’

At first, she just wanted to go on a trip, but as time went on, she felt her feelings for Kiehl growing more and more.

Although he was chilly and sometimes seemed to ignore her, sometimes, she would accidentally fall into his arms, or when he showed kindness, all negative thoughts were blown away, and her mind returned to him like gravity.

‘…But, today will be the last.’

She had implicitly expressed her feelings on several occasions, but he never responded. Then, Myu came up to Rosanne and sat down next to her.

“Miss.”

“Yes?”

Myu handed Roseanne a potion from her arms. She had bought it in the village she had stopped by before she came to find the last relic—the famous love potion.

“Do you know what this is?”

Rosanne tilted her head and gazed closely at what Myu had given her. Inside the small perfume bottle was a sparkling red liquid.

“What’s this…?”

Myu looked at Rosanne and took a deep breath.

“Miss. Spray this on your body and confess to Kiehl.”

“What?”

“It’s a medicine that instills courage.”

Hearing that, Rosanne shook her head as she returned the potion to Myu.

“I don’t want it.”

“It’s the last time. How long are you going to suffer like that? Maybe, you won’t be able to see him after today?”

However, when Rosanne didn’t move, Myu took her hand and headed for the tent where Kiehl was. She proceeded to spray the expensive potion on Rosanne’s hair and put her inside the tent.

“Ah! Myu!”

“You can’t get out!”

Myu was standing at the entrance of the tent, holding on tight, and Rosanne had no choice but to approach Kiehl’s eyes. He was leaning against a pole and groaning, twitching as if he had had a nightmare.

“It’s me, Kiehl.”

“—la.”

When Rosanne shook Kiehl, his wet eyelashes slowly rose. For Rosanne, he was always a strong person. He was also good at swordsmanship, and his thoughts were extraordinary… But, the eyes of Kiehl now were those he had never seen before.

Rosanne’s face turned red, and her heart pounded.

“Kiehl…”

“Bella…?”

Kiehl grabbed Roseanne’s head and pulled her slowly towards him.