The priests who had been looking at each other with firm words eventually retreated.
I saw confusion flowing between their gazes but ignored it.
When we arrive at Vine, we will take a completely different path from them.
"...”
The Vine knight looked at me as if he was a little surprised.
Oh, those eyes again. Dark green eyes.
I hid my nervous hands between the hems of my dress and spoke to the knight.
“Shall we go?”
“Then I will accompany you.”
The knight bowed his head. Then he held out his hand.
I placed my trembling hand on it.
“Go back to the temple. I will contact you separately.”
I did not forget to speak clearly to the attendants. Otherwise, they would be the kind of people who would chase after the carriage.
“...I understand.”
The attendants decided that it was impossible to refuse, so they eventually retreated.
It was a good start.
“Then, please take care of me from now on.”
I spoke to the knights of Vine.
-Tak.
A carriage that was not flashy but neatly maintained inside was visible.
It smelled new. Was it unused?
While I was thinking that, the door closed. The carriage was well-maintained enough that it didn’t even squeak.
“Let’s go.”
The knight’s voice was heard from outside.
Vine's carriage shook less than the temple’s carriage. The coachman seemed more considerate than expected.
Even though he was a demon escorting a Saintess, that was how it was.
It was strange.
***
Just before the temple’s carriage entered Vine's territory, Belled von Vine was in his office.
They say that demons are true to their desires and like flashy things.
Peek, he let out a faint sneer.
It’s true that they are true to their desires, but whether they like flashy things is another matter.
He didn’t like unnecessary flashy things. Maybe when it was necessary.
“The Saintess’s carriage is entering the realm of night.”
A report came in. Belled, whose thoughts were interrupted, absentmindedly looked in the mirror.
His familiar appearance after seeing it for so long that he got tired of it. He saw a neat man with black hair wearing a pure white shirt.
White was the perfect color to catch the eyes of monsters, but he didn’t care.
In this place where everything was black to avoid the eyes of monsters, he freely wore white and bright-colored clothes.
Because he knew that such things wouldn’t harm him.
He won’t die to monsters.
No, his ‘last’ won’t be to die to monsters.
―Wow!
When he looked at his dark green eyes reflected in the mirror, they emitted a strange light.
The Demon of the Mind’s Eye, Belled von Vine.
All demons have their own unique ability, and his unique ability was ‘the eye that sees the end.’ He could see the end of certain states or objects, but usually, like now.
“...”
Belled read his own end in his eyes through the mirror.
It was always the same. He would eventually turn into a monster and die because he lacked the magical power necessary for survival.
An ugly, beast-like death that would run wild and die.
He laughed at himself. Ever since he realized his power, he had always seen his own end.
And that made Belled a fearless demon.
He won’t die before he becomes a monster.
That strong belief led him to victory on any battlefield.
Because he wouldn’t die in war. Because he wouldn’t die even in battle.
It was also thanks to that ability that Belled’s followers won among the demons who fought over territory.
His sword, with its powerful force and the assurance that it wouldn’t die, was enough to subdue other demons and bring them under his control.
That’s why he was glad to visit this time.
“The Saintess is coming.”
He laughed.
He wouldn’t die anyway.
Even if the Saintess had designated this place as a demon family, his end wouldn’t have changed.
So the Saintess was just a plaything to him. What kind of pleasure would that human give him?
“I thought the temple was just a shell.”
Divine power? He knew that some of that kind of thing remained in humans in a twisted form.
But the fools who are sitting now as priests only bow their heads and say, “Your Highness,” even when Belled passes by, and they do not say that he is a devil.
They were unthinkable fools.
They were people who didn’t even have the strength to feel the curse of God.
But.
“Is the Saintess a Saint?”
How did she choose this Vine at once?
‘It’s not Vine.’
‘Is there some kind of mistake?’
When the three families that might be demons were initially pointed out, everyone thought that it wasn’t just the Vine.
Of course, the Vine were the founding families of the empire.
When this empire was founded, Belled himself had exploited the humans’ firm belief that demons would not help humans, so he knew better.
And yet she chose Vine specifically. And she chose it at once without any doubt.
“How’s the Gate of Hell going?”
The demon who had been reporting on the Saintess lowered his head.
“It’s the same. It takes a lot of magic power to open it, but as you know, it’s hard to survive with the magic power generated by humans.”
Belled touched his forehead at those words.
The Gate of Hell was gradually closing. If the gate closes completely like this, those inside hell will be completely cut off. That means they might die.
Magic power was needed to open the gates of hell, for the survival of other demons inside the gates of hell, and for the survival of other demons including Belled here, but that was woefully inadequate.
Magic power.
The energy that can be purified from the negative emotions of humans.
It comes from emotions such as fear, despair, sadness, and betrayal.
No matter how much conflict and war were caused among humans, there was a limit.
The best way would be to open the gates of hell on the day the Saintess said she would open the gates of heaven, and receive magic power from the despair of all humans. There was no way the Saintess would do that.
His lips twisted.
“Let’s go.”
Right now, the gates of hell weren’t the issue.
The key was whether the Saintess had really noticed his true identity.
If she was going to be a nuisance, he was more than confident that he could fake a natural or accidental death.
Or maybe he could try making a deal with some wise priests who know that the riches and glory of this life are sweeter than the heaven of the afterlife.
It would be dirty, though.
He smiled.
It would be a lot of trouble. There would be a limit to what you could do with money, but it would buy you time to prepare for war.
And that war would be his victory.
His end would not be to receive divine power from the priests and die in war.
“Are you really going to go yourself?”
The demon asked, looking troubled. But Belled nodded confidently as always.
“If not me, who will?”
It would be better than going after checking each of your ends and knowing that you would not die at the hands of the Saintess.
The demon, knowing that he had said that briefly, lowered his head.
***
That was the way he had come. It was easy for Belled to disguise himself as one of the knights who would serve the Saintess.
Instead of his well-known and comfortable black hair, he put on a helmet over his silver hair that had been dyed for a moment.
“His Highness the Duke of Vine is a kind man.”
And the moment he met eyes with the Saintess who could not hide her trembling voice while speaking confidently,
he saw something strange.
Death... three?
Once falling to her death, once dying on the altar, and once...
“...!”
His eyes became dizzy. He did not have enough magic to read it. There were too many variables, or death was too far away.
To a human Saintess, there was death farther away than that?
However, what caught his eye more were her previous two deaths.
Once she died as the Duchess of Orobas, and once she died with the emblem of Yubar.
The Saintess who enjoyed three lives against the will of God was also interesting.
But then this time for her... was the third.
Then the Saintess knew the answer.
Since Yubar and Orobas had been watching her for the past two lives, she knew where the real demon family was. Even knowing this, she confidently walked in here.
If she had immediately and confidently denounced this place in the name of God, those priests would have just thrust their swords at her without the need to send the Saintess herself.
She had come here on purpose.
Was she coming because of a sense of justice? To gather evidence? If it was evidence, the priests could have forced her to do it.
Her cautious and trembling eyes were intriguing.
“I will accompany you.”
It was the same when he pretended to be a knight and escorted her.
She didn’t give off the feeling of a warrior. She didn’t give off the feeling of a priestess enforcing justice.
She didn’t give off any aversion to the devil either. The trembling he could feel in his fingertips was hesitation, fear... fear of death.
Belled, who had seen countless deaths, couldn’t help but recognize it.
His green eyes took on a deep, strange color.
Maybe this Saint wasn’t the ‘Saint’ we had in mind, that’s when he thought about it.
“Bam...!”
Of all things, the timing was just wrong.
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