Chapter : 01
Prologue
1. Prologue
“Cassandra.”
The moment I heard the low voice from behind me, my back involuntarily flinched.
If I turned around, I would come face-to-face with the beautiful face of my beloved younger brother.
I quickly put on my polite, social smile and turned around.
“Alexei…… Gah.”
When did you get behind me?
Alexei smiled and pulled me into his arms from behind. His firm chest pressed against my back.
Gasp.
The solid, muscular chest against me made a small moan escape my lips involuntarily.
His veined arm wrapped around my shoulders, and I could feel Alexei’s chin near my ear.
“My Cassandra.”
“Hahaha……”
I laughed reflexively, but my heart was pounding and my mouth had gone completely dry.
He had come along with my false status, yet he was far too impressive.
Sometimes, he was so magnificent that it was difficult for me to keep my head straight.
“What were you talking about with the mage?”
About possessing this body.
I talked about something I could never tell you.
I want to stop living in someone else’s body while pretending to be someone else.
And I want to stop being troubled by looking at you, someone who was never mine to begin with.
“……G-graduation party. We were talking about the graduation party.”
“Oh.”
Could you please stop whispering right next to my ear?
You’re all grown up now, and when you keep doing things like this, you put me in a very difficult position!
“And?”
“Eek!”
In the end, I covered my ears with my hands and looked up at Alexei.
Perhaps my reaction amused him, because Alexei let out a low chuckle and politely took a step back.
Even that tiny movement looked elegant and noble.
In the darkness, golden eyes as beautiful as a demon’s gazed down at me.
His handsome face, so beautiful it was almost intoxicating just to look at, smiled at me.
“Did the mage ask you to be his partner?”
“Huh?”
How did he know?
Though, in truth, that was merely an excuse, too.
Before the graduation party began, the mage would come to pick me up as my partner.
And we were planning to attempt dimensional magic.
To return me to my world.
When I didn’t deny it, his expression turned faintly cold.
“Really?”
“Haha, Alex.”
I took his hand.
Once upon a time, this hand had been about the same size as mine.
Now, it was large enough to completely cover my face.
The face that had once looked down at me coldly, almost as if it despised me, now softened like paint spreading across a canvas the instant I touched him.
“Cassie.”
Alexei raised my hand and kissed my palm.
I let out a little laugh at the ticklish sensation.
“Alex, my Alexei.”
At my words, his golden eyes curved seductively.
Between Alexei’s hand and the face hidden behind it, I could see his beautiful nose and sharply defined brows.
His delicate eyelashes trembled over the shadow cast by his brow bone, making even me feel my heart flutter.
“My one and only……”
The words flowed out as naturally as water, but then suddenly stopped, as if they had caught in my throat.
No.
I bit my lip and desperately forced the words onto another path.
“……Alexei.”
You have grown up so perfectly.
You’ll be able to live well even without me.
I had been arrogant.
And because of that, I had judged things wrongly.
I believed that if I wasn’t there, no one could save you, and that you were destined to fall into ruin.
Looking back now, it was almost laughable that I had believed in something so absurd.
I wasn’t even a member of this world.
Who was I to dream such a dream?
Even before a being like me suddenly appeared in this world, there must already have been arrangements in place for your sake.
An extra should disappear like an extra, without leaving a trace of its presence.
No matter how desperately I struggled and tried—
Even if I had been so desperate that I was willing to stake my entire life on it……
You should know your place.
A sharp voice echoed in my ears.
I flinched as though I had been burned and pulled my hand away.
“……Cassandra.”
Alexei’s brow furrowed.
But neither the tenderness in his eyes nor the smile on his face disappeared.
His large hand merely moved toward me, as though he intended to take mine.
Once, I had placed my face against that hand and blown air into it.
Young Alexei had laughed, complaining that it tickled.
I had loved that laughter so much that remembering it still hurt.
“……You’ve already grown this much.”
From the beautiful boy who once glared at me as though he wanted to kill me—
To the breathtakingly alluring young man standing before me now.
They had been beautiful days.
“You’ll be fine.”
Even if it hurts unbearably.
“Cassandra!”
Perhaps Alexei finally understood what I meant.
His face finally abandoned its pretense of gentleness and twisted fiercely.
Though he always pretended to be meek and gentle in front of me, the essence of Alexei himself was as close to evil as a person could be.
I had known that from the beginning.
“I can’t be fine without you.”
I wasn’t Alexei’s adopted older sister, Cassandra.
This body wasn’t mine.
Neither was my status as a duke’s daughter.
Even this world, where I opened my eyes every morning and continued to breathe, wasn’t the place where I belonged.
I had to go back.
Even if there wasn’t a single person there who loved me.
“Don’t go, Cassandra.”
Because that was the only thing that was truly mine.
How long could I keep doing this?
Living in a world that didn’t belong to me, receiving love that wasn’t mine, and ultimately deceiving everyone?
“Alexei, my beloved little demon.”
I smiled and looked at him.
I could clearly see the delicate muscles of his beautiful face stiffen ever so slightly.
Our time together had been so long and so deep that I could notice even the smallest changes in his expression.
That was why, no matter how determined I was, I inevitably grew weak.
I wanted to do something—anything—for him.
I found myself willing to accept almost anything he did.
I became a slave to the desire to soothe him, to make that hardened expression soften again.
In the end, I reached out and gently stroked Alexei’s cheek.
Alexei, do you know?
You were the center of gravity that kept me from floating away into nothingness.
You were the weight tied to my ankle.
But even so, I couldn’t live with my feet planted firmly on this earth by relying on that alone.
My life was simply too overwhelming for me to remain in this world for your sake alone.
I’m sorry, Alexei.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that I couldn’t love you enough.
I’m sorry that I have no choice but to leave you behind……
“……Make your world bigger, even without me.”
I want to go back.
I have to go back.
I don’t want to live inside lies anymore.
I can’t endure this any longer.
Alexei, do you know?
I’m afraid.
I’m so afraid that even breathing scares me.
Waking up every morning while worrying about when everything will be discovered, wondering how long I’ll be able to continue living here……
“Cassandra!”
“……!”
The sudden call tore through my hyperventilation.
My body, gasping for breath as though I were suffocating, was abruptly pulled into Alexei’s arms.
“A-Alexei?”
It happened in an instant.
Before I could even react, I was trapped against Alexei’s broad chest.
“It’s all right, Cassandra. Calm down.”
His low voice fell beside my ear.
At once, my chaotic thoughts began to settle.
But—
I can’t breathe……!
Of course.
Alexei had grown into a young man nearly 190 centimeters tall, and his huge, broad body was packed with muscle.
Being held by him was practically no different from being embraced by a gigantic carnivorous beast.
There was no reason to be surprised by his weight anymore.
And yet—
“A-Alex……”
He had always been gentle with me.
His embraces had always been soft, with him barely putting any weight on me.
This completely natural weight felt terribly unfamiliar.
“You’re heavy. I’m scared……”
“……Cassandra.”
It was the moment I finally managed to speak.
“How long am I supposed to keep pretending I don’t know that you’re planning to abandon me and leave?”
“……!”
My body froze.
Alexei, whom I could barely manage to look up at, was smiling.
Filled with a terrifying madness.
“Cassandra. My Cassandra.”
His golden irises gleamed with frightening intensity.
The veins in the whites of his eyes had burst, staining them red.
No way……!
Before I could even open my mouth, something strange began protruding from between his hair, twisting like the horns of a goat.
“Alexei! No! Please……!”
With our bodies pressed together, I could feel the violent cracking of bones from Alexei’s back.
Crack.
I watched as enormous bat-like wings rose from his broad shoulders.
The wings tore through the skin of his back as they emerged, blood dripping from them.
“No…… no……”
My lips trembled.
How far had you fallen to become like this?
Since when had you become so close to a demon that I could no longer reach you?
Had everything I had worked so hard for been completely meaningless?
Why had Alexei ended up like this?
No way.
Everything I had tried to change—
Everything I had worked so hard to transform……
Could it be that, instead, I had merely become the stepping stone that summoned the future that had already been promised?
Had I ultimately brought about the destruction that was destined to happen?
“Alexei, no……”
Tears spilled heavily from my burning eyes.
I blinked through my blurred vision.
The eyes before me were like molten lava, streaked with gold and red, staring directly at me.
“Cassandra.”
Sharp, beast-like fangs appeared between his lips, stretched into a long, sinister smile.
“M-my God……”
“It’s all right, Cassandra.”
Don’t cry.
Alexei whispered gently as he wiped away my tears.
His seductively curved smile was almost frighteningly relaxed.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
And somehow, that made him look even more like a demon.
“How…… How can I not be afraid!”
You’ve become like this!
Even when I screamed at him, he merely smiled.
“Now, we can be together forever.”
“……What?”
Now?
The deliberate choice of that word made my mouth fall open.
But before I could ask what he meant, my lips were blocked by another pair.
A wet, heated kiss that pressed against me until I could hardly breathe.
My fingers clung desperately to Alexei’s sharply defined back muscles.
My toes curled, and my waist trembled.
The feverish kiss clouded my mind.
“……Haa.”
The moment our lips finally parted, I tried desperately to draw breath.
But Alexei kept his lips against mine and whispered.
“Don’t worry, Cassandra.”
“What……”
“You can’t leave me.”
What?
I can’t leave you?
What did he mean by saying I couldn’t leave?
But the question I tried to ask only echoed inside my mind.
My lips moved, but they could no longer form words.
“You…… You……”
“It’s all right.”
Alexei’s kisses continued over my fading consciousness.
“Just close your eyes, my love.”
“No…….”
“When you open your eyes again, it will be a new world.”
A world where you and I will never be separated again.
Those were the last words I heard before I was dragged into darkness, unable even to blink.
“Poor Cassandra.”
The demon’s whisper seeped into my fading consciousness.
My poor, poor Cassandra.
“Please, don’t resent me.”
If you must resent someone, resent yourself for falling into my grasp.
Resent yourself for bringing me down into becoming your slave.
Because I am guilty of nothing more than willingly allowing myself to be captured by you……
