In that moment, Adel unconsciously pleaded.

“I want to live…”

“…”

“Please let me live.”

Even with her crying plea, Valentin still stared at her with silently sunken eyes.

The target of his malice was so clear. When she realized that, tears inevitably overflowed.

‘Why.’
Why her? Why now of all times?

If what she hoped for was for him to let his guard down, the demon succeeded.

If she had wished for her heart to be torn into shreds, it was a horribly perfect victory.

Even in the midst of him strangling her, perhaps there was no mistake, or maybe I was imagining things, but preparing excuses for myself was horrifying.

Something indescribable, whether it was a sense of betrayal from within, filled her. The area around her eyes felt warm as if it was on fire.

“Va, len…tin?”

Adel stared into Valentin’s empty pupils.

Only now did she realize that she knew nothing about Valentin.

Not the true nature of the demon he was hiding, nor his abilities, or even his name, not the ‘Dragon of Bezelven’ or the ‘Shadow.’

Was all the judgment I made about Valentin from the beginning completely wrong?

Maybe he wasn’t capable of such cruel deeds, or perhaps there was a misunderstanding.

He might be a demon, but not evil in his heart. He might even be pure…

‘It’s my punishment for my mistakes.’

The price I paid for turning a blind eye to what Grita became after watching it with my own eyes has finally come.

He, who had been silently watching Adel for a while, suddenly lowered his head.

Valentin’s dry lips touched Adel’s tear-soaked, soft cheek.

Feeling the sensation of his lips on her soft skin, Adel felt a mix of excitement and fear. It felt like her head was about to explode.

“…”

It seemed satisfying yet desperate at the same time.

His eyes, looking like he was gauging whether more tears would flow if he twisted her neck, were cruel.

With trembling lips, Adel whispered.

“Do as you please…”

“…”

“If you’re going to kill me anyway, at least without suffering…”

If he had decided to kill someone, begging wouldn’t make a difference.

“…”

Adel completely released her grip, giving up all resistance.

Although she tried to cope with it, tears kept streaming down.

He was looking at her with a very peculiar gaze. It seemed like her reaction was overly sensitive, considering he had only placed a finger on her neck.

“Ah…”

He even let out a sigh and grinned.

Looking down from such a high place, the plea to spare her life seemed so insignificant and strange.

Suddenly, the movement of the shadow ceased.

“Uh…”

Gradually, he clutched his head.

It seemed like a sudden headache. With his forehead wrinkled, his entire body stiffened.

He blinked his eyes very slowly.

Adel watched as the light gradually returned to his pupils.

When her eyes, ruined by tears, met his, Valentin seemed to immediately realize what I was doing.

“Ah…”

He quickly withdrew his hand that had been on Adel’s neck, his face turning pale in an instant.

“…”
And his reaction stabbed Adel even deeper.

How shallow his firm belief was that he could not harm me, how little he knew about his true nature…

Valentin wiped my face with his dry hand. Under that hand, an extremely weary face was revealed.

“Adel.”

When Adel recoiled from the anxious hand that had reached out, the expression disappeared from Valentin’s face.

It was eerie, as if he had become an emotionless being, feeling nothing.

“N-no, don’t…”

“…”

“It wasn’t my, my mind. Oh, it’s been a long… dream, no, ‘foreign substance’…”

“Was the name of the woman in that dream also Adelheit?”

The voice uttered was excessively cold, even to hear it was too much.

Avoiding eye contact as if to escape from it, he slowly raised his gaze.

The rare confusion in his golden eyes was no longer embarrassing.

“How…”

“What kind of dream it was, why you grabbed my neck in the first place.”

“…”

“Will you honestly answer if I ask?”