Chapter 06
Titia knew that Joshua was kind. Other humans had a disgusting smell, but Titia’s scent was fresh, like fruit.
Humans who smelled that good were usually kind.
More than anything, Titia was surprisingly unfazed even while being bullied. She never even tried to find out who was behind it. Anyone would have gotten angry after being stung by a bee, but she went about her business just fine with her swollen eye.
She didn’t even care how her face looked to other people.
She had even liked the mustache.
Joshua couldn’t resist revealing himself, but instead of being startled, she calmly made him confess everything he had done.
And instead of getting angry at him for it, she casually asked his name…
No matter how poorly he had bullied her!
“Why doesn’t she get angry?! Is she stupid? Doesn’t she have any thoughts in her head?!”
“She’s just kind.”
“That’s right.”
“……”
All the strength drained from Joshua’s shoulders. The twins crouched down in front of the slumped Joshua.
As their muscles moved beneath their skin, Joshua watched them with a slightly envious expression.
“If I’d grown just a little more, Jer wouldn’t have had to live like a shut-in.”
“It’s not your fault, Joshua.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s my fault! That’s why even the Saintess dumped him so hard…!”
“That’s not it. The shut-in… no, the Boss just wasn’t the Saintess’s type.”
The unfamiliar voice suddenly joining the conversation startled Joshua so badly that even the hairs on his body stood on end. Unable to even scream, he stared at Titia, who slowly emerged from behind Jessica.
“I don’t know what happened, but I don’t think young Joshua was important enough to have that much influence over the Boss’s love life.”
“You, you, you… h-how…!”
“Jessica’s back was really broad and warm. I dozed off a little.”
“Jessicaaa!”
“I don’t like Joshua being depressed.”
“Still, I didn’t tell her everything. I only told her where you were.”
“Do you think that’s enough just because you didn’t tell her everything?! The problem is that you brought her here!”
“Nice to meet you. My name is…”
“Shut up, Ttwe-Ttwe!”
“Then I’ll speak quietly?”
Titia whispered in a soft, completely non-offensive tone and held out a handkerchief to him. Joshua stared at it for a moment before snatching it and pressing it tightly against his eyes.
For some reason, he suddenly felt miserable.
She didn’t know anything…
She didn’t know at all why Jer was like that, yet she was always so cheerful. Joshua hated seeing Titia hovering around Jervant.
But what Titia had just said was exactly the same thing Jervant had told Joshua when he was blaming himself.
‘You’re not important enough to have such a huge influence over whether my love life succeeds or fails.’
Jervant’s cold voice and Titia’s voice overlapped in his mind. In the end, Joshua burst into tears.
“Waaaaah! I hate you so, so much! You don’t even know Jer’s pain, yet you came here just to save yourself and turned his life upside down!”
“Ahh… So that’s why you bullied me.”
Titia finally seemed to understand and nodded.
But she didn’t make any excuses.
She simply listened quietly to Joshua’s resentment until she eventually dozed off.
“I really hate her!!”
Joshua clenched his fist and smacked Titia hard on the forehead. A bump immediately rose on her forehead.
“Try staying with the Boss for a while. I don’t know why, but my energy gets completely drained. At first, I thought I was just tired, but that’s not it. The moment I let my guard down, I end up falling into a dead sleep without realizing it.”
“……”
Joshua couldn’t say anything.
Instead, he quietly rubbed Titia’s forehead with his hand and apologized.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It was my fault for falling asleep in front of you while you were crying.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Being next to Jer really does drain your energy.”
“Why?”
“I can’t tell you that much.”
“Then can you at least tell me who you are?”
Joshua hesitated, then clasped both hands tightly and squeezed his eyes shut.
In a very small voice, he said,
“…A minion of the ‘Demon of Serael.’”
He had expected her to scream in shock upon learning that he was a servant of the demon that had nearly destroyed the continent.
But Titia calmly asked, just as before,
“Were you purified by the Saintess?”
That wasn’t the reaction Joshua had expected. He stammered for a moment before answering belatedly.
“…Half of me.”
“If even half of you was purified, wouldn’t that be fatal to a demon? How are you still alive?”
“It was the ‘Demon of Serael’ that was sealed, not me. And I’m not weak enough to die from a single purification. I’m incredibly strong!”
“Of course. You are a minion of the Demon of Serael, after all.”
The ‘Demon of Serael.’
It had once been an archangel who had brought the Celestial Realm to the brink of destruction, only to fall and become corrupted by evil before being reborn as a demon.
After descending into the human world, it had driven the continent to the verge of destruction. Its power was so overwhelming that even a mere crack in the barrier sealing it had contaminated the continent and caused magical beasts to run rampant.
But even more dangerous than that was the authority possessed by the ‘Demon of Serael’—the ‘Labyrinth.’
If the Labyrinth appeared, the destruction of the continent would practically be inevitable.
Before the Demon of Serael could completely break through the barrier and open the Labyrinth, the cracks had been repaired and the demon sealed once again.
Naturally, the three people who accomplished that feat were hailed as heroes who had saved the world.
“It’s because I was unlucky enough to be beside Jer that he ended up like this.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t tell you anything more.”
Joshua fell silent.
Honestly, he shouldn’t have revealed that he was a demon’s minion in the first place.
He had exposed his own weakness to Titia.
If the Saintess, the Crown Prince, or Jervant found out, they would undoubtedly go berserk and insist that Titia be killed immediately.
But Joshua didn’t care.
‘It’s not because it has no effect on me.’
Now that he had told someone, he might even be destroyed by the Saintess.
But Joshua hadn’t spoken impulsively.
He had sensed something flowing from Titia’s body—a strange energy that was vaguely unpleasant, yet resembled mana. No, it felt even more sacred than mana.
It had disappeared almost immediately.
‘I have a strange feeling that it could be a powerful help to Jer.’
A demon’s instincts were not something that could be ignored. They were usually frighteningly accurate.
And there was one more thing.
He was certain that she wouldn’t go around telling others about this.
Because…
“How old are you? I’m Titia, and I’ve lived for 21 years.”
She was asking a minion of the Demon of Serael something as trivial as that.
* * *
In a space surrounded by pitch-black darkness, Jervant held his throbbing head.
Just then, the door opened slightly and Joshua entered.
When Joshua hesitated at the entrance, Jervant instinctively remembered Titia shouting that she liked the mustache drawn across his philtrum.
He hurriedly covered his mouth.
He was desperately trying to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out, but Joshua misunderstood him and asked with teary eyes,
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Jervant silently shook his head.
Tears welled up in Joshua’s eyes.
He hadn’t originally been the kind of idiot who couldn’t even speak properly like this!
Joshua desperately missed the Jervant who used to tease him with that sly smile.
Sniffling, Joshua said,
“I just met Titia.”
The corner of Jervant’s mouth twitched again.
While Jervant lowered his head and struggled not to laugh, Joshua, completely unaware, bowed his head like a criminal and confessed honestly.
“I also told her that I’m a demon’s minion…”
At that moment, Jervant’s lips hardened into a straight line.
He suddenly raised his bowed head.
His eyes behind his glasses instantly became fierce.
“You told her that…? Why?”
“……”
Jervant sprang to his feet and grabbed Joshua by the shoulders.
His eyes looked almost deranged.
“You might as well have gone outside and announced that you’re a demon’s minion and asked them to kill you.”
Joshua became indignant at the sarcastic remark and protested.
“Don’t say that! Titia can be trusted…!”
“How long have you even known her?”
Joshua’s large eyes rolled around before he answered somewhat uncertainly.
“…My instincts?”
Jervant released Joshua’s shoulders and bit down on his lip.
As his emotions intensified, his eyes became bloodshot.
“We have to kill her. We can’t let her live.”
He looked as though he was about to call for Titia immediately, so Joshua desperately clung to him.
“Don’t! Titia really isn’t that kind of person!”
“Joshua!”
When Jervant shouted, the air became heavy.
The killing intent floating through the air touched Joshua’s skin, causing a faint pain, but Joshua only raised his voice further.
“It’s true! Jessica and Lynette didn’t stop me from saying it, either! They’ll deal with Titia before anything happens, so just leave her alone!”
“Did you make some amazing friendship that lasts a single day?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know either! It’s just my instinct! Titia’s energy could help you… Damn it, I don’t know!”
Joshua couldn’t finish his sentence and stormed out.
He still hadn’t fully matured as a demon, so he retained many childlike traits.
Even so, he had never made careless mistakes like that before…
‘Should I kill her?’
He bit his lip anxiously.
What if she told someone?
And what if that meant Joshua had to be destroyed?
If that happened, Joshua would…
I would…
Would I become completely isolated?
He sank heavily onto the floor.
He rested his arms weakly over his knees and lowered his head.
He became lost in thought.
As naturally as breathing, her image appeared vividly in his mind.
Black hair, thick and full eyelashes, a slender body, and a delicate, beautiful face.
Even the small mole nestled beneath the right side of her full lips.
She was an extraordinarily beautiful woman, the kind everyone would turn around to look at, yet she wasn’t afraid of being ruined…
‘Why aren’t you laughing? You didn’t even blink at my masterpiece.’
Remembering Titia’s disappointed face, Jervant finally removed his glasses and rubbed his face.
“…Ha.”
Clearly, the right thing to do was to eliminate her without hesitation.
Yet Jervant was hesitating.
He had laughed for the first time in nearly two years.
Jervant knew better than anyone how heavy a person’s life was.
Perhaps that was why he remained locked away.
That wasn’t the only reason he hesitated, of course.
Jervant had also sensed the energy Joshua had mentioned.
If it had been nothing more than ordinary power, he would have ignored it.
But the moment Titia entered, the energy inside his body had clearly stirred.
It had reacted to Titia’s energy.
It was so faint and brief that he had initially thought it was his imagination.
But if Joshua had sensed it too, then it meant something different.
Joshua, who was normally so tight-lipped, had revealed his true identity.
And Jervant, who was wary of others and rarely spoke to anyone, had been accepting of her more easily than he was of other people.
That alone was enough reason to keep watching Titia for now.
