Eustar stood there for a long time even after confirming Mel had gone out. He suspected she might secretly come back to eavesdrop.

Fortunately, Mel was a person with discretion. Once he judged that she would not eavesdrop or peek at what was happening in the room, Eustar opened Laila’s bedroom door without knocking and entered.

“Well, who do we have here.”

That voice was incomparable to anything else. Very attractive, but… At the same time, a savage and ferocious instinct was stirring. It was like the howl of a beast, but also like the sweet whisper of an opera singer.

Eustar glared at the Deceptor’s face looking back at him, then turned his gaze to Laila. She was not under any threat, but her rigid, frozen expression was clearly visible.

“Are you alright, Laila?”

His voice was gentle, but unlike usual, it had a slight edge to it.

However, the cause was not with Laila… Laila exhaled a long, sharp breath as if she had risen to the surface from deep underwater, then nodded.

“I’m fine.”

Then the Deceptor exclaimed as if amused.

“Of course she’s fine! What could possibly be wrong? Did you think I was going to chew up this young witch, bones and all?”

“You’re certainly capable of that.”

At Eustar’s low voice, the Deceptor’s lips split into a wide grin.

His lips, jagged like a poorly painted clown’s, glistened with an eerily strange color like an oil film, and his black hair that shot upwards swayed like the flames of a bonfire.

The Deceptor cackled and said:

“Well, now that the prince has arrived, what shall we do? From what I can see, this young witch seems to be head over heels for you, Eustar. Shall I leave so you can consummate the marriage?”

Eustar bared his teeth like an angry leopard and said:

“Get out right now.”

Upon hearing his words, the Deceptor’s hair grew even longer and surged up violently.

It was as if oil had been poured on a raging fire. Laila realized that not only his hair, but the flames in his eyes had also intensified.

But it did not last long.

The moment he returned his twisted lips to their original position, the black hair that had shot upwards settled down, covering his cheeks. His plaster-like face, devoid of any human warmth, looked extremely dangerous and seductive.

“Alright, I’ll leave. Have a wonderful night then. Humans sometimes get a glimpse of the corner of heaven through their unions, don’t they?”

There was a whooshing sound. But Laila knew that it was not heard with her ears, but ‘felt’. Along with a thin strand of pitch-black smoke rising, the Deceptor’s form disappeared from their sight as if it were a lie.

Only then did Laila let out the breath she had been holding. At the same time, her knees buckled, and her fingers trembled as they gripped the carpet. Not just her lips, but even the tip of her tongue felt cold.

“Take my hand, Laila.”

Eustar approached her and held out his hand, but this time Laila rejected him with all her might. Then, her fingers slipping several times, she barely managed to stand up.

“What is this all about?”

Laila asked, clenching her fists with all her strength. Before Eustar could answer, she shouted again in an even more angry voice.

“Just what in the world is going on here!”

“Calm down, Laila. I’ll…”

“Calm down?”

Laila strode over to him, closing the distance. Her wide steps looked almost frustrated that they couldn’t make a thumping sound because of the carpet.

Laila spoke again:

“Calm down? How? A demon just appeared before my eyes. Not a joke, not something fake, but a real demon! And you were the one who brought it here! Why didn’t you tell me anything about this until now?”

“Laila, wait… Hold on. Sit down here.”

Eustar grabbed Laila’s shoulders as she struggled in excitement and sat her down on the bed. Then he immediately turned and approached the door.

“Where are you going!”

Eustar turned his head and said calmly:

“I’m going to tell an employee to brew a cup of tea. Laila, you’re… shaking too severely right now. Your hands are cold, and your lips are blue. You look like someone who’s just come out of ice water.”

“Forget it. You know as well as I do that drinking tea won’t solve this.”

Laila said with a resolute attitude. Eustar seemed reluctant to give up, holding the doorknob for a moment, but eventually he returned to her side with a short sigh.

“May I sit?”

The moment Eustar sat down beside her, Laila instinctively almost moved away from him. And after thinking for a moment about why she had such an impulse… She shook her head, clutching her forehead.

“Tell me.”

At Laila’s words, Eustar looked at her with docile eyes.

A heavy silence settled like powder through the small gap between them. Eventually, Eustar let out a sigh as if resigned, and Laila’s gaze stared blankly at his face.

Eustar said:

“Alright, fine… It was something I had to talk about someday anyway.”

He ran his fingers through his long hair as if combing it.

Laila, who had been looking at his face shadowed by light, quickly turned her gaze elsewhere, but fortunately, Eustar was lost in other thoughts and didn’t notice her awkward behavior.

“It’s… true. As you said, it’s a real demon. But I didn’t summon it. I can swear to that.”

“That’s impossible. A contract must…”

“It wasn’t a contract, Laila. In my case… I didn’t make a contract with the demon. To be precise, I was used in the contract.”

A deep furrow formed between Laila’s brows.

“Eustar, that story…”

Eustar’s green eyes slowly scanned Laila’s face.

“It was my parents who wanted to make a contract with the Deceptor. I was… the sacrifice used in it. To put it simply.”

Laila did not quickly understand his words.

Of course, not in the theoretical part. She had learned many things about demons from her mother and knew well the dangers that came with making contracts with them.

“In the Dark Ages, it was said that witches would summon demons using young babies as sacrifices to mate with them.”

At Laila’s words, Eustar laughed in a low voice.

“Yes. It was a very famous nonsense. But in the case of my parents, it was real.”

Laila shook her head.

“I don’t understand. Eustar, if it’s your parents, then the previous king and…”

“The queen. That’s right. But Laila, do you know? That royalty are the easiest prey for heresy and cults.”

Heresy and cults. As soon as Laila heard those two words, she felt even the hair on the back of her hand stand on end.

Among the historical events that happened in the Kingdom of Sierow, all the terrible things that could make countless people suffer from nightmares were perpetrated by such people.

The witch hunts of the Dark Ages, those who led them were also like that. They boldly used the name of God, but how many of them truly had faith?

Laila’s body trembled. Eustar, as if understanding, patted her shoulder and continued speaking.

“The cult that brainwashed my parents was very vicious, I hear. Of course, this is just what I’ve been told. I’ve only seen their faces in small portraits.”

“What… What did those people want to gain by using you, their own son, as a sacrifice?”

Laila asked in a trembling voice. Eustar fully understood her fear, but when it came to answering, he couldn’t help but laugh wryly.

Letting out a short, hollow laugh, Eustar said:

“They wanted a body that wouldn’t age or die. At least that’s what I know.”

Laila exhaled sharply.

“Such a thing…”

“It’s an absurd wish, of course. Making a contract with a demon and not aging or dying? That’s impossible. Don’t you think? The biggest and most important collateral in a contract with a demon is the human soul. But for that soul to be taken, the life force of the body must first be completely depleted… My parents, though they ruled a country as king and queen, were foolish enough not to even think of such a thing.”

After finishing his words, Eustar closed his mouth for a moment before adding as if joking:

“Well, maybe they were intelligent at first.”

Laila asked:

“If those people used you as a sacrifice, Eustar. How did you… survive?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Eustar brushed back his fallen hair.

“I don’t know exactly either. Who would? They might have chanted the spell wrong, the magic circle might have been incorrect, or maybe they just annoyed the Deceptor. Anyway, instead of becoming a sacrifice, I became a host, and conversely, everyone present there became sacrifices. My father, mother, and the leader of the cult and his followers, everyone who was there.”

It was said to have been a horrific scene. Some of the employees who first saw the scene at that time completely lost their minds, and the corridor became a pandemonium of vomit and screams from people who had looked into the room.

Laila tried not to imagine that terrible scene as she slowly caught her breath.

“Then, Eustar. If you became the host of that demon, could it be…”

What should I ask? Laila’s mind was in a confused tangle. Having heard such shocking stories, she couldn’t even guess if she was speaking properly.

Laila swallowed dry saliva, then cleared her throat while rubbing her tingling neck.

“…Do you not age or die?”

Eustar stretched out his legs and briefly stretched as if he had expected that question.

“Well, I’m not sure. So far, I’ve grown at a normal rate and aged like other people. If I had become a body that doesn’t age or die, shouldn’t I still be wrapped in swaddling clothes? Of course, I know that immortality doesn’t work that way, but it’s all old tales. There are no immortal beings, so there’s no way to confirm. I do heal faster than others when injured, but I can’t test whether I die or not by trying to end my life just to check.”

A faint smile mixed in at the end of Eustar’s words. Laila was dumbfounded by his attitude, which was almost nonchalant, but she also thought it was better than his sharply edged appearance.

Laila said:

“Even if you became a host, the contract was still established. A contract between you and that demon was formed, Eustar. What price did you pay to it? What did you promise to give?”