TPHRU 16

Chapter 16… 

The Birth of the Demon King – (Side: Yoann)

(—What is this… so warm…)

When Yoann came to, the sky was dyed crimson, and the trees stretched out long shadows.
Beside him lay a small girl, fast asleep with her hand resting gently on his chest. Her hair shimmered like silver in the setting sun.

(This girl’s hand… such a gentle power is flowing into me…)
Yoann carefully held the girl’s hand and sat up.
(She’s the one who saved me…)
A soothing warmth filled his body, and he could feel his strength returning. The heavy, dark emotions that had consumed his heart before he lost consciousness had completely calmed.

(Who is she? Why does she possess such a power?)
He gazed at her face in wonder.
An angelic face—so peaceful, so beautiful—that he couldn’t look away.

After a while, a voice called out from somewhere nearby.
“Lady Felicia! Lady Felicia—!”

Startled, Yoann leapt to his feet and hid himself hastily in the tall grass.

The girl stirred awake, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Through half-lidded eyes gleamed irises of clear amethyst.
“Lady Felicia, so this is where you were!”

A woman who appeared to be her maid came running, panting for breath, before kneeling before the girl.
“I’m sorry. I came to pick some flowers for Mother, but… oh? There was a boy here—a little older than my brother—lying on the ground…”

Felicia looked around in confusion. Her soft platinum-blonde hair swayed with each curious turn of her head, glowing in the sunset as if she herself were radiating light.

“You must have been dreaming, my lady. You were up late again last night by Madam’s side,” the maid said kindly.
Felicia tilted her head thoughtfully, the gesture so innocent and charming that it was almost breathtaking.
“Perhaps… I’m sorry for worrying you.”
“Come now, let’s return to the manor.”

Guided by her maid, Felicia stood and began to walk toward a large estate visible in the distance.

(That place… I’ve seen it before… the Dupre Marquis’s residence.)
He had glimpsed it once from his carriage window when he went out with his mother—the home of the king’s close advisor, Marquis Dupre.

“Felicia Dupre…”
He softly whispered the name of the girl who had saved him. The moment he said it, it felt as though a small light flickered to life deep within his heart.

If not for meeting her, he surely would have died.
Now that he had regained clarity, he realized how terrifying the surge of magic within him had been—raging uncontrollably, consuming his strength, even his life itself. And yet, the wild magic that had once threatened to destroy him now lay calm, almost peaceful, as if it had never existed.

“Felicia… the girl who saved me…”
He could still feel the warmth of her small hand lingering against his chest.

When Yoann returned to the castle, he learned that the men he had nearly killed had confessed to poisoning Cecil.
Though King Philip did not blame Yoann after learning the truth, everything around him changed.

Everyone feared his immense power.
They avoided him as if he were cursed—understandably so, since the terrifying strength that earned him the title “child of the devil” had been revealed before many witnesses.

Yet, strangely, Yoann felt a sense of liberation.
Their rejection had cut away any lingering attachment he had to the royal castle—this place, without his mother, had never truly been his home.

Soon after, Yoann formally renounced his right to the throne. In exchange for dedicating his magic to defending the kingdom’s borders, he requested permission to live in an abandoned castle deep within the forest—and the king granted it.

The old castle had once been home to a royal ancestor, but now stood deserted and forgotten. To Yoann, however, it was a place filled with memories—he had visited it once with his mother.

Cecil, too, had once hoped to find a new home there, feeling that neither she nor her son belonged in the royal castle. Perhaps, if they had left earlier, she might still be alive.

The forest surrounding the castle was rumored to be haunted by monsters, keeping people away—yet for Yoann, who wished to escape the malice of others’ eyes, it was the perfect refuge.

On the morning of his departure,
Yoann left the castle with only a single attendant. Upon his face, he wore the skull of a goat.

That was the moment—
the most fearsome Demon King was born.