With trembling eyes, the prince looked down at his small clenched fist and soon muttered in a low voice.
“Yes. I want to become the emperor.”
He was born of noble blood.
A great human being, different from others.
Just like the first emperor!
He was born as a chosen one who would seize all glory and wealth!
As if anticipating his answer, the demon immediately asked again.
– If I grant your deepest wish, what will you give me in return?
“Anything!”
Gwenalt, consumed by the madness of being able to reclaim the glory of the imperial family, shouted without hesitation.
“If I can become the emperor, I will do anything!”
No matter how long I observe, there are no exceptions to human greed.
The demon permeating the void laughed gleefully.
[This is the timeline separator]Hurry. Let’s hurry and die.
For her and the child.
Pryde, who had escaped from the square, headed straight to the tomb of the first emperor located beneath the imperial palace.
More important than disposing of that weak prince was sealing the demon.
Before wanting to live longer.
No, before wanting to see her.
He had to seal the demon inside himself before his will was broken by the urge to dare name the child who resembled her.
“The baby doesn’t have a name yet. Delphine wishes for you to name the child!”
“I, a sinner like me, cannot name your holy child…”
Pryde, who muttered softly, silently looked down at the tomb where the first sinner slept.
Looking at it again, it was truly a shabby and lonely tomb.
So much so that it was hard to believe it belonged to someone who had enjoyed all the glory and wealth a human could.
Pryde, standing in front of the rotting wooden coffin, took out a small glass bottle from his bosom.
Three things are needed to seal a demon.
The body and soul of the contractor.
And the noble blood of a saint to suppress the demon’s rampage.
The glass bottle contained a few drops of red blood.
It was secretly collected from Delphine’s scratched arm before leaving the mansion.
Would she resent him if she found out about this?
But he was happy that he could be sealed with her blood.
If it was her blood that bound him, he was willing to endure eternal punishment.
Pryde began to draw the ancient demon sealing formation recorded in the first emperor’s diary on the floor.
The three vertices of the triangle located in the center of the circular formation.
He dropped one of her precious blood drops on one of them.
And he stood in the middle of the triangular formation himself.
Having finished all the preparations, he recited the name of the demon in a low voice.
The demon who descended into the human world, taking advantage of the chaotic gap in the creation of heaven and earth.
The name of the demon he contracted with, who constantly tempts and corrupts humans, was…
“Baphomet.”
As soon as the name was called and it escaped from his body, the demon roared with a majestic voice.
– Foolish human. Do you dare try to imprison me in that mortal body?
It was a completely different voice from when it proposed the contract and tempted him.
‘Is it finally revealing its true colors?’
Despite the overwhelming pressure, Pryde merely smirked and smiled indifferently.
A contract with a demon is absolute.
In other words, it also meant that the demon could not kill the contractor with its own hands until it took his soul.
“Demon. Your long amusement is over.”
He muttered softly towards the demon permeating the void.
“I will be your last contractor.”
Because you will be trapped in my body and will never be able to escape to tempt other humans again.
A black light began to surge and rise from the sealing formation.
Surrounded by that black light that bound his body like iron chains, Pryde uttered his last words.
“Delphine.”
The only thing he wanted to say lastly was that.
The only thing that came to mind at the end was also her face.
Even in a situation where his body was being eaten away, he closed his eyes with a peaceful face and a smile.
It was at that very moment.
Poof-.
The sound of piercing through the fragile human flesh and muscle reverberated in the narrow underground chamber.
Pryde quietly opened his eyes, not at all flustered.
A dagger was stuck in the abdomen of his body that had returned to being an ordinary human the moment he called the demon’s name.
When he raised his head, he saw the prince trembling while holding the sword.
“You, you, enemy of the family!”
Gwenalt shouted, glaring at him with eyes mixed with madness and venom.
“…Ha!”
Pryde let out a hollow laugh with the dagger stuck in his stomach.
That demon took advantage of that brief moment to tempt another human.
However, even without the power of a demon, he had always boasted of unusually strong power and physique since childhood.
He wouldn’t die easily from this level of injury.
Rather, it was the prince who was intimidated by his seemingly too relaxed attitude.
Gwenalt, who had never stabbed or killed a person with his own hands, stuttered in a frightened voice.
“Why, why aren’t you dying…? Aaargh!”
Pryde grabbed his neck with one hand and lifted him into the air in an instant.
The prince exhaled painfully, gasping for breath.
It was a grip strength that was hard to believe belonged to a man who was spilling blood from his stomach after being ambushed.
“Ugh… Ba, Baphomet…”
The prince begged in agony, his face turning bright red.
“Hurry and… save me, the ro, royal…”
“Oh my. How foolish.”
Pryde rebuked coldly, applying more force to his hand.
“Did you believe the demon’s words without a contract?”
– Hahahahaha!
The demon’s evil laughter was heard.
“That’s… im, impossible. I am… a special… human…”
The struggling prince’s body soon went limp.
Pryde loosened the grip on his neck as if discarding him.
But something was strange.
His breathing was getting rough, and his vision was blurring.
No matter how much he lost the demon’s power, he couldn’t be struggling this much from just this level of injury.
Cough.
Only after coughing up dark red blood from his mouth did he realize that the prince had coated the dagger’s blade with poison.
– Hahaha! With that body about to face death, you cannot seal me!
The demon spat out a vicious, tearing laughter.
– I can finally get my hands on your soul. The soul of the human with the strongest will!
Oh no.
Pryde smiled bitterly.
In the end, just like the countless people who tried to fulfill their wishes with the demon’s power, he too was facing a miserable end.
He fell to his knees on the sealing formation.
He had lost too much blood.
His vision was gradually blurring.
His body, afflicted by poison and the sword, trembled involuntarily from the terrible pain.
Only after the demon’s name was called and it left his body did he feel the pain.
Yes, this was what pain felt like.
He spat out blood again with a strange feeling.
It was a human sensation he was experiencing for the first time since making the contract with the demon.
He thought he had never regretted that contract, but now that he could die as a human, he felt a bit happy.
Was this also a sensation he felt because the demon had left his body?
‘Delphine.’
In his increasingly blurry vision, the ridiculously small front of the brown shoes appeared.
The pink silk dress and the swaying red hair.
And the emerald eyes that looked at him collapsed in a pool of blood with a shocked expression.
He knew from the moment he first saw her.
Only she would become the reason for his life.
And that it would make him very painful.
His life would become painful from desiring something he could never have no matter how much he tried throughout his lifetime.
People say that when you die, usually the past flashes before your eyes like a revolving lantern.
Even now that death was truly approaching, the only thing that came to mind was solely her.
The doll-like girl grew up before his eyes.
Into a dazzlingly beautiful girl.
A pure young lady who didn’t know about the dirty desires her cherished commoner slave harbored towards her.
A more mature figure wary of him who appeared as a marquis.
Delphine.
Perhaps we wasted too much time.
If we had known that we would only be together for a little over a year.
Then, I would have had more conversations with you and been a bit more honest.
“Del…”
His blurring vision completely flickered.
Only his very faint breathing lingered in the quiet underground tomb.
[This is the timeline separator]Delphine was sitting with her exhausted body leaning against the bedside.
“My lady. You just finished giving birth. Why don’t you lie down and rest instead?”
Anna urged her, who was sitting up with a pale face.
Delphine smiled softly with effort to soothe the nanny.
“Just a little… I want to wait a little longer.”
She was afraid that if she laid her head on the pillow like this, she would fall asleep.
After going through a terrible difficult birth and losing a lot of blood, she actually only wanted to faint right away, but it wasn’t time yet.
Ioan hadn’t returned to the mansion yet.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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