The Author's POV

"Mhm."

Hearing her mother's words, Amanda nodded her head.

Staring at Ren who was lying down on the bed, Amanda turned her head to look at Angelica. A complicated look flashed across her face.

She still couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that the cat that had been following Ren all the time was in fact the same demon that had cursed her mother, but she felt that there was more to the story than it was let out.

"Are you sure about this Natasha?"

Maylin asked while turning to look at Natasha. The icicles in the air trembled slightly.

"This is the same demon that stopped you from seeing your daughter for fifteen years. Are you sure that you want to let her go just like that?"

With her eyes locked on her daughter, Natasha sighed.

"What other choice do I have. Just take a look at my daughter..."

Waving her hand, all of the icicles that were aiming at Angelica vanished out of thin air.

"...Okay."

Giving a cold glance to Angelica, Maylin added.

"Just because I'm not killing you right now doesn't mean that I won't be doing it later. I'm only doing this for her sake."

"..."

Under Maylin's pressure, Angelica kept her cool.

She wasn't a count-ranked demon for nothing. Despite the fact that she had been subjected to the power of one of the strongest people in the human domain, she was able to remain unfazed.

"Let her be Maylin."

Natasha's voice rang throughout the room as she stepped in front of Maylin. Then, turning her attention towards Angelica, she took a deep breath.

Memories of her past surfaced inside of her mind.

She could still remember getting chased and threatened by her, and it honestly frightened her. But, for the sake of looking strong for her daughter, she remained composed.

"...C.can you explain the situation?"

There was a faint tremble in her voice as she asked Angelica her question, but following that, her words became more concise and the tremble vanished.

Turning her head, she looked at Ren.

"What happened for him to turn this way?"

There was an awkward silence following her words.

"You don't have to hide anything. I can tell that it is somehow connected with my awakening."

A complicated look appeared on Angelica's face as she heard her words. It wasn't long before she eventually opened her mouth.

"You're correct."

Lowering her head, Angelica lightly glanced in Ren's direction.

"The reason why he's in that state is indeed due to the fruit that he gave you."

"I see."

Rather than being shocked, a look of understanding appeared on Natasha's face. She then turned to look at Kevin.

"If I don't remember wrongly, you previously said that if something happens to her, the boy over here will die, correct?"

"...Yes."

Kevin nodded his head as his brows furrowed.

pursed her lips before turning her attention back toward

get the gist of the situation. I'm sure you also have an

"Yeah..."

from the side

that Ren and the demoness

in the contract, there was most likely a clause that stated

crossed her arms together and tapped onto

that the moment I ate the fruit and the curse broke, 'she', the demoness, suffered from the backlash of the curse and

staring at his sickly figure, Natasha placed her finger

also explains why his soul is in the state

and Natasha, Angelica's eyes opened up a

situation, the

One was the elven queen while the other

jobs because of luck.

over Ren's forehead, Natasha further

he is still alive, we can already

Natasha's words halted mid-sentence as she glimpsed in Angelica's direction. The pause

Since Amanda previously told me that he's made it past the round of sixteen of the tournament we

reached this point, her brows proceeded to knit

mean that he would be ranked around in order

snapped in Ren's direction. This time her face had a little shock

the situation, she suddenly realized something. And that was that the only possible way for Ren to have

was already shocked by the fact that her daughter had reached rank, but rank? What

more prominent from the fact that she knew that he was around the same age

her analysis was wrong, but instead, Maylin's next words caused the shock

like you thought, he indeed rank is

How is that possible? Didn't he

Turning her head to the side,

how should I say this...he

would

smile, Maylin

he said that he was

Maylin were discussing the reasoning behind Ren's elimination, Amanda who had been listening throughout their whole time, powerlessly sat back down on her

everything that happened was because of

she felt many

what Ren did. After all, he did just try to sacrifice his

same time, she was

way Ren did things. She hated the way that he just did things without caring about

understood why Ren acted the way he did, and it was exactly because she understood this that she felt the way

he told her the situation from

Ren had never taken part in

sure, she could tell that Ren most likely didn't know about the fact that the demon

fact the same demon that had contracted with Elijah, the elective representative back

so, how he met her made

always wondered why that demon had not targeted her again, but it was

eyes, Amanda bit

Ren still did not

did not discourage her. This was only natural. Especially since they hadn't known each other long enough to develop a full sense of

"Oy!"

of her thoughts was her mother's

where her mother was, she saw

"M...mom!"

at the sight as she stood up from her seat. However, her mother's following words

you're awake. You

"Eh?"

Natasha flicked

"Ouch!"

***

my forehead flicked, my eyes snapped

my eyes, the first thing I saw was a familiar-looking face a couple of inches away from mine. Caught off guard by the sudden situation,

before me. She may have looked like Amanda at a first glance, but there

"Looks like you're fine."

moving her head away from me. It was then that I was able to see the current situation in the