How joyful it is to have met Kalos.

Irene was so glad to meet him that she thought if her legs weren’t tightly bound by spider webs, unable to move an inch, she would have jumped into his arms in an instant.

Kyaaak-

But that was short-lived, as her upturned lips fell at the terrible sound like a scream from hell.

Irene’s face hardened.

As Irene tried to look behind her, a large hand covered her eyes.

“Don’t look.”

Kalos, who had already approached right behind her, covered her ears with both hands.

Thanks to this, Irene, freed from the horrific scream that seemed to tear her eardrums, looked at Kalos while blinking slowly.

People generally avoided purple, saying it was the color of demons.

It was the same for Irene, which is why she was more afraid to meet Kalos’s eyes.

But now she wasn’t scared at all.

Rather, Irene smiled unconsciously, feeling reassured to see her shabby reflection in his purple eyes.

Kalos raised his eyebrows curiously and asked.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Pardon?”

But because Kalos was covering her ears, Irene couldn’t hear him properly.

“What did you just say?”

“…Nothing.”

Kalos answered indifferently as he removed his hands from her ears.

This would allow the spider’s screams to be heard.

Irene flinched and tucked her neck in like a turtle.

However, contrary to her worries, the spider’s screams were no longer audible.

Was that spider dead?

Irene wanted to check but was too scared to do so.

There must be a reason why Kalos warned her not to look back.

“Ah!”

Still curious, Irene glanced back from the corner of her eye but was startled when Kalos touched her leg, and she looked at him.

Kalos was breaking the spider web tightly wrapped around Irene’s legs with his bare hands.

Snap, snap-

The tough and sticky spider web that had remained intact even when Irene struggled broke easily.

She knew Kalos was strong, but not to this extent.

Amazed and awed, Irene stared at Kalos, half in a daze.

After cutting the spider web so Irene could move, Kalos asked.

“Arachne’s spider web has strong adhesion, so a special medicine is needed to remove it completely. So it seems the remaining parts will have to be removed later… Is that alright?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

Though the remaining spider web and mucus sticking to her skin felt unpleasant, it didn’t hinder her movement.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“It’s nothing.”

Kalos replied indifferently to her somewhat belated thanks and straightened his bent knees.

Then he reached out his hand towards Irene.

“Let’s go back now.”

“…”

Go back, he says. Where to?

He must mean Esper Castle, right?

Is Esper Castle really where I should return to?

Come to think of it… do I even have a place to return to?

I didn’t go to Esper Castle of my own will in the first place…

Irene neither took Kalos’s hand nor pushed it away, just remaining still.

“…”

Frustrated with Irene’s reaction, Kalos inwardly heaved a deep sigh.

He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and return to Esper Castle right away, but that might push away the closeness they had just gained.

“…”

Seeing her trembling with a pale white face, his desire to force anything gradually disappeared.

In the end, he had to persuade her.

For someone like him who wasn’t good with words, persuading someone was a very difficult task.

He could threaten well, though.

“…”

Though he still didn’t know how to persuade Irene, he couldn’t stay silent forever.

Feeling he should say something, he opened his lips.

“Come back… with me, Irene.”

In the end, he just added a little to what he said earlier.

Kalos thought he couldn’t persuade Irene with just these words, but he was mistaken.

“…”

The words he spoke, even calling her name, penetrated deep into Irene’s heart.

Especially the word ‘with’ filled the empty void in her heart and brought tears to her eyes.

She had thought she was alone.

Her demon-like father killed her mother, and that father burned to death along with the house she was born and lived in all her life.

She was driven out of the familiar territory accused of being a witch, so she thought she had become perfectly alone with nowhere to return… but that wasn’t true.

I do have a place to return to.

There is someone telling me to come back together.

As thick tears rolled down Irene’s cheeks, Kalos asked in great bewilderment.

“Why are you crying?”

Irene didn’t answer and just cried sorrowfully.

Does she dislike returning to Esper Castle that much?

Well, she was forcibly brought there against her will, so she probably does dislike it.

Kalos wiped away the tears flowing down Irene’s cheeks with his thumb, wearing a somewhat bitter expression.

“Don’t cry.”

“…”

It was an awkward attempt at comfort, but it was enough to stop Irene’s tears.

Irene looked at Kalos with tear-filled eyes and asked.

“May I… return to Esper Castle?”

It was a ridiculous and strange question.

Kalos couldn’t understand why Irene, who had been crying so sorrowfully as if the world was ending when he suggested going back, was suddenly saying this.

But her expression looked so serious and desperate that he nodded without protest.

“Yes.”

“Anytime?”

“Anytime.”

I see. I can return anytime.

Finally reassured, Irene smiled brightly.

Though nothing was revealed about why he brought her or why he was treating her so well… it didn’t matter.

At least he wouldn’t hit her or condemn her as a witch.

Rather, he protected her and gave her a place to return to anytime… so I’ll follow him.

Her wavering heart tilted decisively to one side.

The moment Irene, having made a firm decision, took Kalos’s hand that had wiped her tears.

“…!”

She felt a pain as if her back was being branded with a red-hot iron.

Her mind reeled from the terrible pain that even swallowed her screams.

“What’s wrong?”

Kalos asked, noticing her strange reaction, but she couldn’t answer.

“Irene.”

As the pain engulfed even her consciousness, her vision gradually blurred, and Kalos’s voice seemed distant.

Finally, her body, completely unconscious, collapsed limply.

*

Kalos caught Irene as she fell into his arms.

‘Hot.’

It was like embracing a ball of fire.

She wasn’t this hot when he touched her earlier, so what happened?

Kalos’s face contorted terribly.

‘I need to take her to a doctor quickly.’

Where was the nearest infirmary again?

He considered calling a doctor to Esper Castle, but it would be faster to go directly.

As he was about to lift Irene, estimating the location of the infirmary, Kalos hesitated when he saw a fully bloomed flower tattoo through her torn collar.

Could it be…?

Kalos pulled apart the torn clothing to check the flower branch tattoo on Irene’s back.

When he first checked the flower branch tattoo, there were 4 flower buds and 3 fully bloomed flowers.

It was the same even after coming to Esper Castle.

But now, the flower branch tattoo on her back had 3 flower buds and 4 fully bloomed flowers.

A new flower had bloomed.

*

‘Mom, my back hurts so much…’

The child, struggling in terrible pain as if her whole body was burning, reached out towards her mother.

The child’s small face was covered in tears. Her eyes were so swollen from crying.

The woman looked at the child with sorrowful eyes but didn’t embrace her.

‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Rene…’

She only apologized while shedding tears, just like the child.

Why doesn’t she hug me if she’s sorry?

Did I do something wrong?

Am I not supposed to be in pain?

But… I didn’t want to be in pain.

Sorrow and resentment colored the tear-stained face of the child.

The child reached out vigorously, wanting somehow to be held in her mother’s arms, but never quite reached her.

Instead, someone else firmly grasped the child’s hand.

‘It’s alright.’

Not only that, but they tightly embraced and comforted the child writhing in pain.

‘You’ll be fine soon, don’t worry.’

The hand gently stroking her inexplicably hot back was both kind and cool.

Perhaps thanks to that.

The pain gradually faded.

Soon after the pain completely disappeared, the child finally stopped crying and fell into a deep sleep in the arms of someone both strange and familiar.

*

The hunt was forcibly terminated due to the sudden rampage of the demon beasts.

This incident turned more than half of Esper territory into a wasteland, with casualties continually mounting.

It ended to this extent only because Kalos noticed the guides’ strange behavior and responded quickly.

There were voices saying it would have been much worse if Kalos hadn’t acted quickly, but.

More than that, there were louder voices of criticism saying this wouldn’t have happened in the first place if the Esper family hadn’t engaged in the insane act of taming and selling demon beasts.

Especially the Temple side strongly argued that this incident occurred due to the Esper family’s negligent management of demon beasts, and they should be held strictly accountable.

“When did they applaud taming demon beasts as great, and now they change their attitude like flipping a hand when problems arise! Even bats would be less fickle than them!”

Jessie raged as if about to breathe fire upon hearing the news.

Though Dewey frowned in annoyance, he tried to calm Jessie in a composed voice.

“It’s nothing new for humans to act like this, don’t get too angry.”

Jessie glared at Dewey with a fierce expression.

“That’s why I’m even angrier. Humans are supposed to be evolving animals, right? Then shouldn’t their thinking mature too? This is worse than animals…”

“Jessie.”

Dewey called Jessie’s name sternly and glanced at Irene lying on the bed and Kalos sitting in front of her.

Oops. Only then realizing she had gotten too excited, Jessie hurriedly bowed her head to Kalos and apologized.

“I’m sorry, master. I got too excited and…”

Kalos leaned back in his chair and said in a quiet voice.

“You should apologize to Dewey, not me.”

“Pardon?”

“Did you forget he was once human?”

Ah, that’s right.

Jessie scratched her head and apologized to Dewey as well.

“Sorry. It was so long ago that I completely forgot.”

Dewey shrugged and said nonchalantly.

“It’s fine. I haven’t thought of myself as human since becoming an underground resident.”

“Oh, that’s good then…”

“If I had been human in the first place, if they had thought of me as human, they wouldn’t have killed me.”