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Julia repeatedly regained and lost her consciousness amidst the terrible pain. It was as if her whole body was being drenched in a boiling fire of sulfur. It had been painful to even breathe while her throat was already stinging and she was lying on something that seemed to be shaking just like a horse’s back.
She was inside her own dream.
The feeling of having been floating from a rather far high up place, the sound of wind gusting in her ears and a poor orphan—barely 20 years old—who was already plummeting downwards. Subsequently, the scenery began to change. A scorching heat was now swallowing the girl who had been as slender as a doll.
She then eroded far away—in the distance.
“……”
Julia slowly opened her eyes. The pitch-black darkness had ultimately met up with her.
After having rolled off the horse’s back, her memories began to fade every so often, but she was still able to recall that Bael had saved her. However, as if all of those things were only a mere dream, a red moon was visible just outside the huge window.
The surroundings were all in silence. When she closed her eyes once again, it appeared that she might have mistakenly thought of the moment when she seemed to have already died alone within the walls of the Vestra Imperial Castle.
“You’ve finally awakened.”
Her wish was shattered all of a sudden by an interrupting voice. Julia instantly burst out a tiny chuckle at the situation.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Ah……”
It was a little interesting to see how long it had been ever since she plummeted into the Demon Realm. On top of that, Barbatos’s rigid voice felt rather kind as if it contained some worries as well. It was even more so than those people of the Vestra Imperial Family itself.
She thought that perhaps she was still dreaming as she muffled her words.
“I just thought that I really wanted to live.”
“Of course.”
“I was never able to convey my greetings back then. Thank you for saving me.”
As she strained her arms to get up, she suddenly collapsed back. However, she avoided having her face shoved into the pillow instead. It was all thanks to Barbatos who had held onto her just before that.
As she was surprised by the unexpected help, Julia straight away looked upwards to him, but beyond the monocle, Barbatos’s eyes appeared even more startled than herself.
Then, there was a strange silence lingered in the air. As she was unable to stand it any longer, Julia began to speak up first.
“I……”
Barbatos’s gaze immediately turned towards her.
Julia looked down at his hand that was still holding onto her shoulder. When he first met her, he didn’t even want to touch her directly, so he took out a handkerchief, but he was now holding her shoulders with both of his own hands.
Her gaze slowly descended downwards. The wounds from being kidnapped by the horse before rolling amidst the woods and lurching against the bare ground were all gone already. Not only that, but the scars that were caused from being dragged towards the entrance earlier had completely vanished as well.
The problem was only the fact that she was currently not wearing a single thread at all. Surprised, her heart began racing rapidly, but she tried to not show her inner heart in response. Amongst the demons themselves, there were quite a few who did not wear any clothes while saying that it was cumbersome. Therefore, she didn’t wish to be seen as fussy.
Still, she was much more ashamed than she had expected to reveal her nudity to others. She couldn’t stand it eventually as she carefully tugged the sheet upwards, whereas Barbatos was already backing away from her in a hurry.
“Uggh!”
Thanks to that, Julia ultimately fell down and hit the bed face first. Barbatos proceeded to continue his words with a subtly averted gaze.
“Say your thanks to the Master, not me. If it wasn’t for the Master, you would have been torn into pieces and simply died without leaving even a single bone at all.”
“Still……”
“Also, I’m not a troublesome person like that Lerazier. Just be content with this.”
As he spread out his palm, a large, black robe began to appear all over the place. It seemed like he wanted her to cover up her body with only this.
Julia picked it up and conveyed her gratitude once again. However, the expression on her face as she was rummaging through the robe soon changed, albeit vaguely.
“Excuse me, but where’s the underwear…”
“Hmm?”
“Un-underwear.”
As he heard the word underwear, Barbatos’s expression instantly hardened as if he was looking at a dead worm.
Julia recalled if she had said something wrong, but there was nothing bothering her at all. She just asked for some underwear. She was actually going to ask Revenna for some proper clothes, but she was still ashamed to even think about walking around with only a robe draped over her naked body.
Even so, Barbatos’s expression that was looking down towards her had been very murderous, which made Julia quickly shook her head in response.
“No, it’s nothing.”
This other person had been Barbatos who was famously known for his hatred against humanity, so she wondered the reason he had thrown the robe at her.
Julia donned the robe and tied it tight against her waist while still struggling to contain her dizziness. Although the length was dragged onto the floor, it had covered her entire body regardless. At this kind of level, she didn’t think that it would actually pose any big problems for her to move meanwhile.
As she had already asked for her underwear earlier, Julia began to open her mouth even more carefully so that she wouldn’t offend his heart then.
“Excuse me, Mister Barbatos.”
“What is it?”
“If you don’t mind, may I possibly meet with Miss Revenna…”
Julia couldn’t finish her words at all. It was due to Barbatos’s look which had rotted to an extent that it could never be compared with the previous ‘underwear’ incident at all. Barbatos’s expression that was staring at her appeared just as if he was scrutinizing at an incomparable suicidal fool.
The problem seemed to be the fact that she had asked for something when she was just a trivial human being. Julia proceeded to apologize quickly.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to bother you, Mister Barbatos.”
“Are you an idiot? Do you even have a brain inside there?”
“It just feels like I’m still running…”
“Do you even know who was the one that made you that way?”
Surprised by the sudden criticism, Julia herself stuttered, but Barbatos seemed frustrated as well as he then wiped his face away. Julia stopped her words abruptly and started peering at him instead.
No way.
Julia’s expression which seemed to reveal her honest emotions had made him take off his monocle and proceeded to rub his forehead.
“It would have been impossible normally, but you are a precious key that will eventually turn the Master into the Demon God.”
“……”
“Try to see it for yourself then—with your very own eyes, human.”