Delphine sprang up from her mother’s lap.
Before she knew it, she had become that little girl in the pink dress and brown shoes again.
With a face full of excitement, she ran towards Ioan.
It didn’t matter how he was here.
In this place, such trivial facts didn’t matter at all.
“Ioan! Let’s play!”
Delphine called out innocently.
“How about we play hide-and-seek, which we couldn’t do before because of Father and the servants watching?”
She boldly grabbed Ioan’s hand without hesitation.
It was an action she couldn’t even imagine when they were a noble young lady and a lowborn slave.
She had always been mindful of the eyes around her, and only when everyone was asleep at night would she go to him, holding ointment in her hand as he groaned from being whipped by her father.
“Here, we can play during the day too!”
At that innocent cry, the boy Ioan smiled wistfully.
He followed her words without a single question.
Delphine ran across the field, constantly bursting into laughter.
She enjoyed the wind, ran around on the hill, played with field grass and pebbles, secretly kissed Ioan’s cheek, and giggled shyly.
No matter how much they played, the dark night never came.
The girl who secretly cried under the blanket and the boy who groaned in pain and unknowingly called for his mother and the saint were not here.
How much time had passed like that?
Pryde, who was looking at Delphine, who was as vibrant as a tree that had grown in the full sun, suddenly said,
“Let’s go, Delphine.”
“Huh? Where to, Ioan…?”
Pryde smiled softly, looking at her innocent face as she asked in confusion.
“To where our child is.”
…Child?
Child.
Our child.
Only then did it hit her.
“…Ah.”
Delphine suddenly lowered her head.
Her hands, which had been like little bird’s feet, were now thin but long.
When she looked up, Ioan had already become a grown man, looking down at her gently.
She was the same.
Her long red hair fluttered in the wind.
Delphine muttered blankly.
“Right, our child…”
We should go see our child.
I wish the child could stay in my arms forever, but that can’t be.
With a look that sensed farewell, Delphine slowly turned around.
Her mother, who had come close to them at some point, was smiling at her sadly.
“Mother…”
“Del.”
Her mother, who called her name so affectionately, asked quietly.
“Have you… reached happiness at the end where your heart is heading?”
Where my heart is heading.
Delphine suddenly realized.
From a very young age, perhaps from the moment she first met Ioan.
Her heart had always been heading towards him.
Delphine silently held Ioan’s hand tightly.
He also firmly interlocked his fingers with hers and held her hand.
Surely her life had been lonely and difficult. There were times when she wanted to give up.
Nevertheless, at the end of walking in the direction my heart was heading, I…
Delphine nodded with the most peaceful expression.
“Yes.”
At that resolute answer, her mother smiled brightly and nodded.
“Then go. Just as I was to you, be a mother your child can always rely on.”
A lifelong support.
A reference point to hold on to when the heart wavers.
A presence that always comes to mind when things are hard.
“Tell your daughter to walk in the direction her heart is heading, and that happiness will be at the end, just as I told you.”
As Mom did to me…?
Delphine couldn’t bring herself to ask that question, her throat clogged.
But her mother, who understood her heart without words, just smiled and waved.
“Don’t worry and go. We’ll see each other again someday.”
[This is the timeline separator]Delphine opened her eyes.
The first sensation she felt was the warmth on her hand.
As she turned her head, Ioan, who was holding her hand tightly, smiled softly at her.
The next sensation she felt was the sound of a child crying.
“The baby was quiet until now… I guess the little one knew Mommy woke up.”
Anna rushed over with tear-filled eyes and placed a small, warm baby in her arms.
As if never having cried, the baby stopped crying as soon as it was held in her arms.
“Arwen.”
Ioan, who was next to her, whispered in a low voice as he looked at them.
“Our child’s name.”
“Arwen…”
Delphine looked down at her daughter, who looked just like her, with a face full of emotion.
At the same time, Lin, Belly, Esmeralda, Anna, and Betty, who were beyond the magic circle.
They all ran towards her, shouting words mixed with incomprehensible cries.
Seeing that, Delphine burst into a bright smile with a tear-streaked face.
The long hell had finally ended.
Her heaven was here.
#Epilogue
The trial to punish the sinners of the Holy War began exactly 12 days after Delphine woke up from her coma.
In the process, all kinds of evil deeds committed by the Empire over the past three hundred years were revealed to the world.
The Emperor of the Astrax Empire, who stood in the defendant’s seat in the courtroom, admitted all those charges with a haggard face.
It seemed he had accepted that execution was inevitable.
However, he appealed to those participating in the trial in a resentful tone until the end.
“But there is a separate demon contractor! It was he who actually moved the Empire!”
The stern-faced judge dismissed his opinion in a resolute voice.
“The demon contractor is dead.”
“That, that man is dead?”
The Emperor asked with a dumb expression.
“Who killed him?”
“At the hands of Archbishop Maleud, who participated in the Holy War… Of course, it was the result of God’s help.”
“That, that can’t be!”
Then the Emperor, who had been accepting all the charges with dead eyes, jumped up and screamed.
“How could an ordinary human kill that man! He, the demon contractor, must call the demon’s name…”
“An ordinary human! Are you insulting God’s messenger now!”
The judge’s stern voice rang out.
“Nothing is impossible in the name of God! The victory in this Holy War was entirely possible under the grace of the Lord!”
The sound of booing towards the sinner filled the large courtroom.
The Emperor sensed that something had gone wrong, but there was not a single person in this courtroom who would listen to him.
So he stood on the execution platform in the square where people had gathered like clouds, as the sinner and the one responsible for the Holy War.
“It’s unfair! I’m innocent! The real culprit is someone else!”
That was the last statement the Emperor left as his last words before vanishing as the morning dew of the execution ground.
Thus, the Holy War ended with the complete victory of the Holy Army.
It was a war with unusually few casualties, hard to find in history.
In particular, the Empire had almost no civilian casualties.
It was because the Imperial Army and the leadership, including Veritas, had been annihilated at the border.
In the fierce 12-day meeting at the Holy Palace, it was acknowledged that this was thanks to the great achievements of Ioan Pryde, the demon contractor.
In addition, the earnest plea of Delphine, who had just woken up from her coma.
The petition of the La Rouge executives.
And with some political reasons added, Holy Emperor Graniel I finally proclaimed to the entire continent that the young archbishop had sealed the demon contractor with the power of God.
With the blood and sacrifice of Delphine, the descendant of the saint, they were finally able to win this war…
The evil demon contractor who had ruled the Empire for three hundred years and the red-haired saint who defeated him with the power of God.
Their story quickly became a legend.
In the end, the Empire fell and the demon contractor was killed by the saint and the holy man, a common legend with the moral of virtue triumphing over evil.
The truth hidden behind it was something that would gradually be forgotten in the back alleys of history…
[This is the timeline separator]Three years later, Linosa Island.
A girl with dirty blonde hair came running into a hut by the beach.
The child jumped onto the bed covered with cozy blankets and cushions and called out cheerfully.
“Mommy, wake up! Wake up!”
Delphine struggled to open her eyes at the urging of her daughter who had no morning drowsiness.
“Mm…”
What time is it?
Looking at the clock on the nightstand, it was early morning, close to dawn.
Delphine muttered in a voice heavy with fatigue.
“Ari, Mommy is tired…”
“Why? Couldn’t sleep? Why couldn’t you sleep?”
Delphine couldn’t bring herself to answer the innocent question of the child who knew nothing.
Arwen had been asking “why” or “how” a lot lately.
Cleverly avoiding answering the question of why she couldn’t sleep, Delphine asked back.
“Ari, why did you call Mommy?”
“Oh, I wanted to take a walk with Mommy!”
Then Arwen, who answered quickly, added while watching her reaction.
“But if Mommy is tired, Ari is okay not going…”
She was a child who resembled her appearance and personality to an amazing degree.
If there was one thing Arwen was uniquely similar to, it was her strangely cautious attitude when dealing with Delphine.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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