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

the situation. I'm sure

"Yeah..."

the side

Ren and the demoness over here have signed

there was most likely a clause

She then crossed her

the fruit and the curse broke, 'she', the demoness, suffered from the backlash of the curse and as a result broke the boy broke the contract with 'her' and was

staring at his sickly figure, Natasha placed

explains why his soul is

to the analysis from Maylin and

she could even explain the situation, the two of

that surprised by this, however. One was the elven queen while the other was the wife of one of the top executives

jobs because of luck. They

her hand over Ren's forehead, Natasha

we can already

as she glimpsed in Angelica's direction. The pause was brief,

Amanda previously told me that he's made it past the round of sixteen of the tournament we can exclude rank [I] and [II] contracts, leaving me with

analysis reached this point, her brows proceeded to knit

be ranked around

This

suddenly realized something. And that was that the only possible way for Ren to have survived the

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

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

Maylin, hoping that perhaps her analysis was wrong, but

you thought,

is that possible? Didn't he get eliminated from the

Turning her head to the side, she softly

I

...Why would he

smile, Maylin

that he was

discussing the reasoning behind Ren's elimination, Amanda who had been listening throughout

that happened was because of

were currently a mess as she felt many

grateful and even touched by what Ren did. After all, he did just try to sacrifice his life for the sake of

same time,

things. She hated the way that he just did things without caring about himself or what the

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

situation from the

never taken part

she wasn't exactly sure, she could tell that Ren most likely didn't know about the

in fact the same demon that had contracted

how he

but it was only

Amanda bit

that Ren still did

her. This was only natural. Especially since they hadn't known

"Oy!"

of her thoughts was her

her head to look in the direction of where her mother was, she saw her with her back bent and her face a

"M...mom!"

sight as she stood up from her seat. However, her mother's following words caused her to freeze

you're

"Eh?"

Natasha

"Ouch!"

***

my forehead flicked, my eyes

couple of inches away from mine. Caught off guard by the sudden situation, I felt my cheeks warm up a little as a bitter

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

"Looks like you're fine."

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