“There is one way, but His Grace will never approve of it…”

“What is it?”

Considering the current situation where they looked starved and trapped in the barrier, wasn’t it worth trying anything?

I continued to urge the young priest who seemed reluctant to speak.

“Anything will do. You should at least try.”

Suddenly, the priest looked at me with a determined face.

“What can you do for His Grace, High Priestess?”

“…What?”
My entire body stiffened at the sudden question. No, it wasn’t the question itself but the implied meaning within the question that caused this reaction.

“His Grace sacrificed his life for the High Priestess. Would you be willing to do the same, High Priestess?”

“Yes.”

I answered without hesitation. My life as ‘Angelica’ was forfeited because I wanted to be by Hades’ side. If it weren’t for Hades, I would have been left behind like a cold, lifeless corpse.

“In that case, there is one option.”

“…Tell me.”

The young priest approached the bedside. While other priests threw skeptical glances at me and the young priest, they didn’t intervene.

“His Grace is currently dreaming. It’s a terrible nightmare where his demonic and human selves are intertwined.”

The priest stared directly at me.

“Your task is to enter that dream and make His Grace aware of who he is.”

“If I succeed…”

“Then His Grace will return as a human. But if I fail.”

The priest paused for a moment.

“You, High Priestess, will be trapped with His Grace inside that nightmare.”

I opened and closed my mouth in shock. This was a gamble that required more than just my life.

But why?

In less than a minute, I reached a conclusion.

“I’ll do it.”

Relief flickered in the priest’s face.

“I thought you would.”

Now, only the task of entering Hades’ dream remained, but I couldn’t hold back the question any longer.

“But what happens to everyone if I fail?”

The young priest glanced at me for a moment, then his lips came close to my ear.

“In that case, the priests you put to sleep will wake up and proceed with the ritual, opening the barrier.”

“…!”

My eyes widened.

‘Caught.’

I licked my lips. I wasn’t sure how to react.

‘Why are you telling me to enter the dream then?’

As if reading my thoughts, the young priest spoke.

“If you succeed, His Grace will wake up without any side effects. …But if you fail, both you and His Grace will be trapped. What happens if the ritual proceeds in that state, I don’t know.”

“Sorry, High Priestess. I don’t know that either. But…”

The young priest’s eyes were filled with sorrow.

“Perhaps your consciousness won’t survive the battle between the demon and human selves.”

I swallowed dryly. This was more than a gamble – it was a bet that surpassed life itself.

But the answer was clear from the beginning.

“I’ll start right away.”

As soon as I finished speaking, a white light flashed from the young priest’s hand, and the sight became pitch black.

When I came to my senses, I found myself trapped in some warehouse. It was filled with all sorts of strange items, and the eerie sound of shovels made me feel uneasy involuntarily.

‘Ah.’

I instinctively knew.

This dim and bizarre place was none other than…

‘Hades’s dream.’

I carefully examined my surroundings. I thought I might find a clue to locate Hades or some hint, but amidst the miscellaneous items, I couldn’t find any hint.

“You guys… Can’t you tell me something? At least, can you show me the way out?”

Naturally, there was no response.

I picked up a toy tentacle-covered toy that was closest to me. It felt slimy and made me uncomfortable, but I had to examine everything; otherwise, I wouldn’t know.

The toy had ‘Hades’ written in a child’s handwriting.

‘Looks like a toy Hades played with when he was a child.’

I swallowed dryly.

In that case, this warehouse…

‘Must symbolize Hades’s childhood.’

Thinking that way, my perspective changed. I found toys Hades played with in his childhood, diligently studied textbooks, and even practice swords.

Most of them were useless, but the more I looked, the more I could understand about Hades’s childhood.

For example, it was a mundane story that young Hades wasn’t truly happy.

It was challenging to find significant traces of pure love in Hades’s childhood.

‘I understand the meaning behind these tentacles.’

Not only tentacles, but there were also demon horns popping out everywhere, and grotesque distorted faces were drawn in various places.

I swallowed dryly.

The meaning behind all this was clear.

Hades was raised with a sense of duty to protect Donoban from the invasion of demons since a very young age.

It sounded nice to call it a sense of duty, but for a young child playing with simple toys, it would only be perceived as fear.

At that moment, a child’s sobbing sound came from behind a pile of toys.

I slowly approached the direction where the crying sound was coming from.

“Hades…?”

Perhaps, uttering the name of the child whose crying voice it might be.