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

I get the gist of the situation.

"Yeah..."

nodded from the side

believe that Ren and the demoness over here have signed a mana

the contract, there was most likely a

then crossed her arms together and tapped

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 thus

Ren and staring at his sickly figure, Natasha placed her

soul is in the state that

and Natasha, Angelica's eyes

the two of them

queen while the other was the wife of one of the

because of luck. They were quite competent in

hand over Ren's forehead, Natasha further

already assume that

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

and [III]. Since 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 no choice but to believe that he signed

reached this point, her brows

ranked

more, Natasha's head snapped in Ren's direction. This time her face had a little shock in

proper analysis of the situation, she suddenly realized something. And that was that the

her daughter had reached rank, but

that she knew

to look at Maylin, hoping that perhaps her analysis

you thought, he

that possible? Didn't he get eliminated from the

twitched. Turning her head to the side,

I

...Why would he do

smile,

said that he was

Amanda who had been listening throughout their whole

everything that happened was

she felt many different things at

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

time, she

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

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

the situation from the

never taken part in her

about the fact that the demon he had contracted with was the one responsible for

Amanda had a feeling that the demon Ren contracted with was in fact the same demon that had contracted with Elijah, the elective representative

so, how he met

wondered why that demon had not targeted her again, but it was only now that she understood that Ren had

Amanda bit

became clear to her that Ren

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

"Oy!"

her thoughts was

mother was, she saw her with her back bent and her face a few

"M...mom!"

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

I can tell that you're awake. You can stop

"Eh?"

her hand, Natasha flicked

"Ouch!"

***

my forehead flicked,

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

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

"Looks like you're fine."

was then that I was able to see the current situation in the room, and when I did, I