Chapter 22…
The Bond Between the Princess of Heat Haze and the Demon King.
Yoan nodded quietly with a gentle smile.
So it really had been him — that boy. His light had seemed to be fading, as if his life itself were about to go out, and the young Felicia had instinctively reached out her hand to him.
“Then, that wasn’t a dream…?”
“No, it wasn’t a dream. You saved me back then, Felicia.”
“Saved you? I just… you looked so pale, like you could stop breathing at any moment, and I…”
“Yes. If you hadn’t healed me, I would have died. My body couldn’t withstand the runaway magic inside me.”
After seating Felicia on the chair by the window, Yoan began to speak — telling her what had really happened back then.
When Felicia finished listening to everything, the story was so painful that she couldn’t hold back her tears.
Yoan hesitantly reached out and gently wiped them away.
“Since that day, Felicia, you’ve been my only hope. The one I wanted to protect. That’s why… I’ve always been watching you.”
He continued, his face contorting as if in pain.
“But perhaps… when you healed me that day, you used up most of your magic. If you hadn’t met me, maybe… there were lives you could have saved.”
He meant Mother and Brother. Felicia realized that this man truly had been watching over her all along — sharing her pain and sorrow, blaming himself, yet never turning away.
That warm, trustworthy feeling she’d always had toward him — it hadn’t been a mistake.
“I’m sorry, Felicia. Perhaps I shouldn’t even exist before you like this…”
Yoan clenched his fist, his expression filled with anguish. Felicia’s chest tightened painfully at the sight.
It was as though she were seeing that boy from back then again — and before she knew it, she threw her arms around him, this man so much larger than herself.
“Please, Lord Yoan, don’t blame yourself. My magic was never strong to begin with. The fact that I could heal you that day… that was a miracle.”
“Felicia…”
“You’ve saved me too, Lord Yoan. If you hadn’t been watching over me, I wouldn’t be alive now.”
As she said it, something tugged faintly at her chest — a memory.
Yes… last night, Yoan had saved her. But not just then — even earlier…
“Lord Yoan, could it be… back then as well? When I was poisoned…?”
When she had been poisoned and hovered between life and death, a shadow had appeared — holding her hand, guiding her toward the light. That voice…
Yoan gave a faint, fragile smile.
“Yes… When I saw through the crow’s eyes that you’d collapsed from poison, I was terrified — you overlapped with my mother’s image.
Since the day you saved me, I’ve trained constantly — not only refining my magic, but strengthening my body so it wouldn’t be consumed even when I used all my power.
I never wanted to lose someone precious again. I wanted to protect you, Felicia.
—So when it happened the second time, I was glad… glad I could save you.”
Her heart and breath had both stopped once. How much power had he poured into saving her?
It had been Yoan — the one who pulled her back from the land of the dead.
All this time… she had been protected by him.
