It was a dream after a long time.

It hurt even though it was a dream. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and it felt as if all the organs in her body were turned upside down.

A hand with protruding scales grabbed her hand.

It was a bit ambiguous to say he grabbed it. He was extremely careful, only pretending to hold it without rubbing against her skin.

It was sad, albeit belatedly.

At this moment, the headache was nothing compared to this sadness.

A hand with scales let go. It was a natural thing, but there was not a single wound on her hand.
It’s better to stop now. The reason I want to become human is to stay where you are. If the cost of that is your life, having a human body is meaningless.

It exists.

He still seemed unaware.

The desire to bind blood and give him a complete human body had already become my desire.

Even if you don’t have it, I do.

Reaching out again, I firmly grabbed the hand he had let go of.

Scales dug into the flesh. He told me to let go with a pained expression.

I will control this power. So, I will keep you by my side. Forever.

He said with a heavy face.

This power is dangerous. If you can’t control this power, it will consume you.

His words were a bit amusing. Not the words themselves, but it was interesting that he used such a metaphor like a human.

How does it consume?

Literally.

He didn’t use a metaphor.

The demons have a different heart than humans. It’s the heart that becomes the source of magic. But humans are different.

I see… So?

Until the transferred power becomes entirely your own, this power will try to take your vitality to sustain itself. That’s why you’re in pain right now.

Ah…

It was one day when the blood-binding spell was not yet completed.

…Click.

Something cold touched my forehead.

The eyelids that I had touched flickered, and then my eyes opened.

“Now…”

The first thing that came into view was Gumin’s gold eyes.

“… Your Majesty?”

“You woke up.”

Rescal exhaled a sigh as if his body were collapsing and embraced me.

The arms supporting my weight were firm, but somehow, they seemed to be trembling.

“I’m fine.”

I reached out to stroke Rescal’s hair. I could tell how worried he must have been.

“I’m not injured…”

Instead of saying words to reassure him, Rasiliah frowned.

It was strange. Rescal’s hair was damp.

“Your Majesty?”

Rasiliah pushed Rescal away forcefully. At first, he resisted stubbornly as if he wouldn’t let go again, but eventually, he yielded to the push.

His hair was a mess.

The clothes were the same. Torn and stained with blood.

“What happened?”

“The palace was in chaos.”

“How? Did more monsters appear?”

“Mm.”

Rescal nodded slowly, as if he really didn’t want to talk.
And wearing the same clothes from two days ago, he guarded my bed.

Rescal tried to avoid talking as much as possible, but Rasiliah seemed to know how the past two days had been.

“Are you okay now?”

“I don’t know.”

In fact, that was the more significant problem.

Even now, two days later, it was still unknown where the demons were coming from, how they were appearing. It wasn’t like the strange people with peculiar patterns on their bodies from Viscount Pheellion’s mansion.

They just appeared somehow. Whenever they were somehow eliminated, they poured out from another place again.

It happened six times. Adding the one that appeared before Rasiliah, it was seven times.

Now, after confining all the remaining people in the palace into a protective magic circle, the Royal Guards were searching for the summoning circle somewhere in the palace. Since they appeared suddenly without any signs, there was no other answer but the summoning circle.

“Is the protective magic circle safe?”

“Not really. It just informs us of the presence of demons. They said it’s difficult to make the forces from different dimensions affect each other.”

“It’s a big problem.”

Rescal pressed his forehead against Rasiliah’s palm without saying anything.

Avoiding eye contact as if trying not to meet his eyes seemed like he was blaming himself for something.

“I’m sorry. Our plan went awry.”

Rasiliah spoke lightly, trying to comfort him.

Internally, even if Rescal had nothing else on his mind than that thought in my head, she imagined him continuing the conversation.

However, unexpectedly, Rescal said something different.

“It’s fortunate. That it went awry.”

“… Uh, what?”

Rasiliah, who was looking at her hair stuck damply to her forehead, was surprised.

He said it was fortunate. She didn’t expect Rescal to say such words.

“If you completely bind yourself with the blood of the demon I possess, my body will remain that of an ordinary human. It’s still too early for that.”

Rescal released his hand from my forehead.

Lifting his head again, he was making an expression I had never seen before.

It was a face that looked closer to a demon than a human.

“I’ll eliminate those demons first.”