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“Ugh….”

Wendy, who had been rolling aimlessly in the snowfield, finally came to her senses.

Her entire body ached as if it were about to shatter. It was so cold that her body trembled. Tears welled up from the pain. She didn’t want to get up anymore. But…

“No… I can’t… The Count is still… Ugh….”

Wendy used a broken sword as a staff to pull herself up. There was no time to lie down. She had to save her master, Tristan, as quickly as possible.

Wendy recalled what Myohail had told her.

-“Listen well, my disciple. The Count’s ego is in an extremely unstable state. On top of that, with a demon involved, there’s no telling when he might go berserk. If you want to save the Count, you must first drive out the demon within his ego.”

Myohail, uncharacteristically serious, added to her.

-“If… by any chance, the demon takes over the Count’s ego and he becomes the Demon Lord… then there’s no other way but for you to defeat him yourself or for me to seal him away.”

Hearing that, Wendy thought that defeating the demon would be the end of it.

However, after barely entering Tristan’s inner world through the magic formula Myohail had prepared, she soon faced a dilemma.

“Master… you didn’t tell me about this situation….”

What came into Wendy’s barely standing view was a demon, held tightly by Tristan, unable to move.

Wendy realized.

That Tristan had finally become the Demon Lord. Neither Wendy nor Myohail had anticipated that he would become the Demon Lord before the demon could take over his body.

In the end, since things had gone according to Tristan’s plan, Wendy’s reason for coming here was almost meaningless. But she couldn’t leave now. The dark aura emanating from him was far too ominous.

Tristan’s hand burst into flames.

The flames of the abyss began to spread from Ruelberta’s neck.

“Kuh?!”

Ruelberta gritted his teeth and grabbed Tristan’s arm. Then, a bright red flame erupted.

“Burn to death!”

The flames were so fierce that they seemed to embody the concept of ‘Wrath.’ The flames spread from Tristan’s arm to his body. The intense heat, enough to scorch the skin, reached Wendy.

The flames of the two intertwined, soon forming a crimson blaze. It seemed like it wouldn’t extinguish until one of them was completely consumed.

Wendy thought.

If this continues, Tristan will surely lose.

She had learned about demons during her lessons with Myohail. The gap between humans and demons was vast, but demons were transcendent beings beyond comparison. From physical strength to magical power, they far surpassed both humans and demons in almost every aspect. It’s no wonder they’re likened to natural disasters.

Especially the abilities of high-ranking demons could be said to be closest to those of gods. So, no matter how much Tristan had become the Demon Lord, it was reckless to face a demon.

But even as his body burned from the demon’s flames, Tristan remained calm.

Was he anticipating death and resigning himself to it? His face showed neither fear of death nor the pain of being burned alive. It was just empty despair.

“Is this your ‘Wrath’….”

Tristan muttered as he looked at his arm, burning red like firewood.

“Indeed, Wrath is said to burn everything.”

Tristan, his arm blackened below the elbow, declared in an emotionless voice.

“But it’s meaningless.”

At that moment, Wendy saw it clearly.

Tristan’s deep shadow slowly rising.

“Kuh, Kuaaaah!”

Suddenly, a painful scream erupted from Ruelberta’s mouth. He began to writhe as if electrocuted.

Tristan’s shadow was embedded in the demon’s body. Like a spider finding its prey, it was sucking something out of the demon.

“This can’t be…! My ‘Wrath’…! My ‘Pride’ and ‘Jealousy’…! You’re stealing my ‘Greed’?!”

“I’m not stealing. It’s all being swallowed by the void.”

“What…?”

“Exactly as I said.”

Tristan’s expression showed neither mockery nor pity.

“Nothing is meaningful in the face of ‘Despair.'”

“A mere human…! Even if you’ve become the Demon Lord, you can’t surpass me, a demon! What are you?!”

“…….”

“Answer me! What are you…! What are you?!”

Tristan didn’t respond to Ruelberta’s shocked cry. He just quietly shed tears and shook his head.

“That question is also meaningless.”

Black tears streamed down his cheeks. Seeing those ominous tears, Ruelberta’s expression hardened.

“Wait….”

Whoosh.

Black flames rose from the shadow and engulfed the demon. The face twisted in shock and pain burned in the abyss’s flames.

“I curse you, Tristan!”

Ruelberta, with a face identical to Tristan’s, spat out curses filled with rage.

“I curse your family, your descendants, everything about you! I will destroy everything you have! And no matter what it takes, I will drag you down to hell!”

“Hell?”

“Yes! Don’t think this is the end. I am the ‘Wrath’ that will never disappear! Even if I return to hell, I will curse you again and again!”

A sneer spread across Ruelberta’s face as he foresaw his defeat.

“Ha! I guarantee you won’t escape hell. Fine. Kill me. I’ll be waiting for you at the bottom of hell!”

“That might be true. Considering the sins ‘this body’ has committed, it wouldn’t be strange.”

Even after hearing the curses, Tristan showed no anger and quietly spoke.

“But the place you’re returning to isn’t hell.”

“What?”

He tightened his grip on the demon’s neck and declared.

“It’s the ‘Void.'”

The abyss’s flames, which could burn even the soul, began to consume Ruelberta. His lower body had already disappeared into the black flames.

Only then did Ruelberta realize his fate, and despair flashed in his eyes.

“Tristaaaaan!”

Ruelberta, now a grotesque figure with melted skin and exposed bones, screamed. His hand, reaching out to Tristan, clawed helplessly at the air.

The demon’s flesh melted under the intense heat, and his bones crumbled. At some point, all that remained in Tristan’s hand was a dark, muddy figure.

Upon closer inspection, it resembled a horned boy. With an appearance reminiscent of an angel, he spewed curses at Tristan.

It didn’t take long for Wendy to realize that this was the demon’s true form and its ugly soul.

-!!

The abyss’s flames erupted from Tristan’s hand. He silently watched the burning demon’s soul with a cold gaze.

Wendy trembled at the horrific scene before her.

The sight of Tristan mercilessly burning the demon to death was far from the Count she knew.

‘The Demon Lord….’

An evil being who leads the world to destruction, the complete opposite of a hero.

Tristan had ultimately become such a being for Wendy’s sake.

But Wendy felt uneasy seeing him transformed into the Demon Lord.

At a glance, he seemed similar to the cold, sarcastic Tristan she knew, but the aura around him had changed.

If he had been a terrifying human before, now he felt like something even more terrifying.

Moreover, Wendy’s senses were telling her. He was someone who shouldn’t be touched or approached… something even more dangerous than the Demon Lord.

“‘Despair’ is a power that can burn even the soul.”

Tristan muttered in a quiet voice.

Nothing remained in his extinguished hand.

The demon had been annihilated, leaving not even a trace of its soul.

Though she should have been happy that the demon was finally defeated, Wendy couldn’t bring herself to feel that way.

“Co-Count…? Are you okay…?”

At Wendy’s question, Tristan didn’t meet her eyes. He just stood in the midst of the nightmare, staring into the void. Then, he suddenly coughed.

“Cough…!”

“Ah?! Count…!?”

Tristan coughed up blood.

Seeing the crimson blood spill onto the snow, Wendy forgot her own pain and rushed to Tristan.

“Are you okay?! We need to treat you quickly…!”

“…Who are you?”

“Huh…?”

“Who are you?”

For a moment, Wendy froze.

Thinking she might have misheard, she looked at Tristan again, but soon realized she hadn’t.

Tristan, wiping the blood from his mouth, was looking at her as if she were a stranger.

“Count. It’s me, Wendy…! Your exclusive maid….”

“Wendy? Exclusive maid?”

As if he didn’t remember, Tristan tilted his head.

Seeing that, Wendy’s heart ached.

“Never mind… That’s not important now. Cough, cough….”

Tristan staggered to his feet.

Coughing continuously, he tried to go somewhere.

“W-Wait! Where are you going?!”

“I’m leaving this place.”

“Huh?”

“And I’ll plunge everything into despair.”

“!”

Only then did Wendy realize the source of the unease she had been feeling.

Though his body hadn’t been taken over by the demon, Tristan had been tainted by darkness and lost his ego. And he had ultimately awakened as the evil Demon Lord.

“Ah….”

Wendy’s heart crumbled at the unbearable truth.

The Tristan she knew was gone. She would never see him again.

“Count… Sob….”

Tears blurred her vision. She hated the idea of parting like this. There were so many things she hadn’t told him… So many debts of gratitude she hadn’t repaid…

Overwhelmed by a sense of loss, Wendy collapsed to the ground and wept.

“I hate this… I don’t want to part like this… Sob….”

Maybe… Maybe if she hadn’t fallen for him, it wouldn’t hurt this much.

In the past, it might not have hurt like this.

At first, he had been so terrifying. The master of the mansion, he would spew venom with every word and dismiss servants without hesitation if they displeased him. He was a tyrant among tyrants.

Especially for Wendy, a maid prone to mistakes, every day felt like walking on thin ice.

But that had been Wendy’s misconception.

Though cold and aloof on the surface, he was the only man who cared for and cherished her behind the scenes.

Wendy remembered.

The man who had extended his hand to her when she was trembling in fear on the stairs to the Library of Truth.

-“Don’t you trust me?”

-“Then trust me.”

It had felt like a bright light shining down on her dark, gloomy life.

A moment she would never forget.

Moreover, when Wendy was trapped within Jörmungandr’s barrier, he had risked his life to save her. He hadn’t given up on her.

“He didn’t… give up….”

Wendy muttered her thoughts without realizing it. Then, she staggered to her feet.

Maybe there was still a chance.

Tristan had only lost his ego; his body was still alive. Once, when he had fallen into hell and lost consciousness, his heart had stopped.

Looking back, this might be a better situation than that. Not to mention, Tristan had even revived the Annihilation Maids.

It was too early to give up.

Just as Tristan hadn’t given up on Wendy, she wouldn’t give up on him. No, she couldn’t.

“Count….”

Wendy wiped her tears.

Tristan would have surely said she was still a crybaby, even if she had grown.

Wendy blocked Tristan’s path as he searched for a way out.

“What is it?”

“I-I know how to get out…!”

“What is-”

“But I won’t tell you!”

“……?”

Tristan’s gaze, as if looking at a stranger, made Wendy feel like crying again.

But she held it in and spoke again.

“Count… can you hear me?”

“…….”

“Don’t suffer, Count… What you saw earlier wasn’t your despair… So, huh?!”

At that moment, Tristan’s hand roughly grabbed Wendy’s slender neck.

“If you’re going to interfere, step aside.”

“N-No… I don’t want to… Not until I get the Count back….”

“If you don’t move, I’ll burn you to death.”

Tristan glared at her with icy eyes. This was the man who had just burned a demon to death without blinking. His words were no idle threat.

But Wendy had already made up her mind.

“I won’t… I won’t move even if I die…!”

Wendy mustered all her strength and shouted at the man she loved so much.

“I won’t move until I get my kind Count back…!”

*

How much time had passed?

When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see anything.

It was as if I had fallen to the bottom of hell, surrounded by nothing but darkness.

It was so dark that I couldn’t even tell if my eyes were open or closed.

I had a rough idea of where I was.

Since my body didn’t hurt at all, I must have really died.

“Sigh….”

It was a strange feeling.

There was no need to act so emotionally. Even if it was due to emotional resonance, using ‘Despair,’ which consumes life, in a fit of anger was no different from suicide.

But… thinking about it again, there might have been no other way. If I hadn’t stepped in, Wendy would have surely died at Ruelberta’s hands.

But saving her, my death flag, only to die myself, was a complete reversal of priorities.

“To fail after coming this far….”

It was disappointing to fail just before the finish line. But surprisingly, it wasn’t as disappointing as I thought.

How should I put it?

It felt incredibly exhausting.

Like I’ve lived for hundreds of years. I felt drained. Maybe I should just sleep…

As I was thinking that, my vision brightened.

“?!”

Suddenly, the darkness flipped to a bright light, and I had to shield my eyes from the sudden glare.

I wanted to curse whoever had turned on the light, but I held back. After all, I was probably alone here.

As I rubbed my eyes, a voice came from behind me.

“Brother, you’re the least suited to be a villain.”

“Huh?”

It was a nostalgic voice that tugged at my heartstrings.

Turning around, I saw shoulder-length hair swaying into view. And when I saw the face of the woman with that hair, I muttered her name.

“Jeong So-ra….”

“Long time no see, brother.”

My younger sister was there.

 

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