The man, no, Badin tried to raise his body, but Lilith’s hand strongly pressed down on his shoulder.

Even though she was just one human woman, he could have easily brushed her off like scattering feathers, but Badin didn’t. Laila watched the scene blankly with a slightly shocked expression.

“Darling, Lilith. What are you doing? Calm down.”

Lilith’s hand, which had been pressing down on his shoulder, caressed Badin’s skin, who had transformed into a human. His pupils were seen glowing as if burning fiercely, then turning red.

“As I thought, you weren’t human.”

Lilith said. Veins bulged on Badin’s temple. It was rather strange that they didn’t burst immediately.

“Lilith, stop……”

“What are you? A demon? Or a monster? Or a ghost? Anything is fine. Why did you deceive me? Why did you lie to me?”

Badin said nothing. Or perhaps he couldn’t. Laila thought. When Eustar asked her ‘why did you do it’, when she summoned Badin to save him…

At that time, Laila couldn’t give a proper answer either. All kinds of emotions that couldn’t be explained by just saying it was for him surged, but it was too hard to put them into words.

Badin’s appearance, lying under Lilith with his arms limp as if dead, had now completely changed. Black hair, red eyes. An alien appearance never seen among the humans of Sierrow.

Is that all? His face had now completely changed too. The face that once looked like an ordinary handsome country youth now had a sharp beauty. It was a face so gorgeously handsome yet heartachingly pretty.

“Is that man dead?”

Lilith mumbled softly. It was amazing that her voice could be heard so clearly.

It sounded like sobbing, but Laila could understand everything she wanted to say. Everything already said, and not yet said. It flowed in like a river.

“Answer me, is he dead? He… died that day, didn’t he? Burned in the fire. That fire was the flame that burned him, right?”

The past Badin’s lips moved slightly.

“Yes.”

Lilith’s body leaned forward sharply. Badin raised his arms as if to embrace her, but in the end, his hands came down again without touching Lilith. He remained silent while the sobbing continued.

“If you’re a demon, make a contract with me.”

Lilith said. At the same time, her back seemed to glow faintly blue. It seemed as if something was about to sprout, her skin twitching.

“I can’t do that. What are you saying?”

“You can’t? You can. Because you deceived me first. But I realized the demon’s deception before I died. I realized it before you took my soul.”

The past Badin tightly closed his mouth. Laila unconsciously looked up at the Badin standing beside her. But she could tell without having to ask, without hearing an answer.

Badin never intended to take Lilith’s soul. He loved everything about her, but it wasn’t because he wanted to bind her.

“Make a contract with me. Pay the price for deceiving me and getting caught. Promise me! If you don’t, I’ll die right here and now!”

Badin’s thick forearms, broad shoulders visibly trembled, even to Laila’s eyes. It was a ridiculous, astonishing, and incomprehensibly sad sight.

An eternal being, born from inscrutable darkness and never dying, making such an expression over the life of a mere human.

“Was it painful?”

Laila said, not taking her eyes off the two. Badin didn’t answer.

He was calm as if watching someone else’s memory, but his face, frozen like a mask, was expressionless. Laila thought that was Badin’s answer.

“I promise.”

Finally, the past Badin answered. The last thing he saw was Lilith’s face, distorted in a smile.

Her body moved slowly, and the lovemaking began.

As the edges of vision darkened as if burning black, Lilith’s hair, which had shone beautifully and deeply like honey even after aging, turned black from the ends as if sinking into darkness.

Laila unconsciously squeezed her eyes shut. The feeling of fishy heat and miserable pleasure raising terrible flames and engulfing her seemed to transfer into her own body.

Badin said,

“She chose the path of becoming a witch herself, and chose the method of conceiving a demon’s child. As per the contract, Lilith became pregnant. It was a girl. That child was also born a witch.”

The vision that had turned black like a curtain had been drawn cleared again. Laila could see Lilith sitting in that chair. Her black hair hung down below her shoulders.

The fine wrinkles on her face had disappeared without a trace, her skin taut. In her arms, now younger, was a baby. The baby’s newborn hair was also pitch black.

The baby sleeping in Lilith’s arms opened its eyes. Round and bright red eyes, looking like glass beads, stared at Laila.

“I had to leave her,”

Badin said.

“She didn’t want me to stay by her side.”

“But you watched over her, didn’t you?”

Laila immediately asked back, as if refuting.

“You must have stayed by Lilith’s side constantly. Isn’t that right?”

Badin stared at Laila with a strange expression for a moment, then gave an answer slightly off-topic.

“I’ve continued the witch’s bloodline to keep my promise. Becoming many kinds, many forms of humans. It wasn’t difficult. Just tedious. But now I’m tired.”

“What happens to a demon if they break the contract? Do they just disappear? As people say?”

Badin let out a chuckle for the first time.

“That’s right. They disappear. That could be said to be the greatest blessing given to demons, but not many of them get to experience such a pleasant thing.”

“Will you disappear too?”

“Of course.”

“So that’s why you wanted me to have a child with Eustar. You needed me to break the contract with Lilith.”

Badin turned his head towards her. At that moment, Laila thought for the first time that Badin’s face somehow resembled her own.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Laila’s emotions began to tangle complexly. She couldn’t control it herself. Like watching embers catching fire and shriveling up into a crumpled ball, there was nothing she could do…

“The reason I’ve been fulfilling the contract all this time is because I loved Lilith. As long as I keep my promise, her soul remains bound to me. It doesn’t go anywhere.”

“Then what happens when you disappear? What happens to Lilith’s soul?”

There was no answer, but Laila felt she knew what he would say. Lilith would disappear with him.

The last trace of her existence in the world, even a handful of decayed soul invisible to human eyes, would cease to exist.

“One thing,” Laila said, frowning with hesitation. “There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Speak.”

Badin answered. Laila frowned with an even more troubled expression than before speaking, then looked at him.

“Do you not love Lilith anymore?”

Maybe so. Laila anticipated Badin’s answer. How could one love after being so tired? It would be surprising if any emotion even remotely similar to human remained, let alone love.

Badin, who had been silent, answered.

“Too much time has passed for love to remain.”

I suppose so. Laila thought. But something nagged at her mind. Like a small thorn that wouldn’t come out…

“But too much time has passed to lose love as well.”

Laila didn’t quite understand his words at first. Then Badin smiled, truly smiled, pulling his lips up. It was such a lonely and weary expression that one couldn’t think he was a non-human being.

“If there’s one thing you worthless humans have over eternal beings, it’s your finite life. The short time in which you can both hold onto love and lose it. There can be no turbulence in eternity. What moves and breaks cannot be called eternal.”

— So go now. And remember well what I’m about to say. You need to know the secret of Hyanmorik. You must know what it is to achieve your goal. Summon it and say this. Remember well, to him…

Badin’s last words were not heard with ears. They enveloped Laila’s entire body like a sheet. Then, she felt as if someone was pulling her sharply backward.

Something cold and hard touched her cheek. Even before opening her eyes, Laila thought she was lying face down on a rock again. Back again. To in front of that house. To meet Lilith before she became a witch…

But it wasn’t so. The moment she inhaled, a smell completely different from that of rocks pierced Laila’s nostrils sharply. It was a damp, moist, and malicious smell. Laila’s eyes flew open and she sprang up.

It was a dark place. Barely enough light came in to make out what was in front, and Laila knew it was thanks to a small window high up.

Outside the window was all hazy white, and she couldn’t even tell if it was sunlight or not. She couldn’t tell if it was day or night. It seemed as if a slice of time existing somewhere in between had been cut off and hidden here.

A damp floor and ceiling with moisture gathered, stone walls that seemed about to crumble after absorbing moisture for a long time, came into view one by one. It was a completely different place from the library. The strangest thing was that there was no door anywhere.

This space was created. Laila thought. It was clearly a space created by magic, or something similar to deceive the eye.

Otherwise, how could she be here? Unless that ceiling or this floor split open.

“Where…”

Laila, muttering to herself, turned her head towards the window as small as her palm.

“is this?”

As soon as she asked the question, a pale figure appeared in the previously empty window frame. It was a child.

Small feet and tiny hands. The child, with its round face propped up by matchstick-thin fingers, was looking down at Laila with an emotionless face. It wasn’t human. Though it might have been human once.

“Where is this?”

Laila asked again. The child’s large eyes moved indifferently like an insect.