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.

words, Natasha pursed her lips before turning her

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

"Yeah..."

nodded from the side before

have enough evidence to believe that Ren and the demoness

likely a clause that stated that neither party

crossed her arms together and tapped onto the right side of her arm with

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

and staring at his sickly figure, Natasha placed her finger underneath

why his soul is in the state that it

the analysis from Maylin and Natasha, Angelica's eyes

she could even explain the situation, the two of them had

the other was the wife of one of

didn't get their jobs because of luck. They were quite competent in

her hand over Ren's forehead,

he is still alive, we can already assume that the contract that

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

[I] 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 a tier

analysis reached this point, her

would be ranked around

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 only possible way for Ren to have survived the situation was for him to have reached a rank

that possible? 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 same

look at Maylin, hoping that perhaps her analysis was wrong, but instead, Maylin's next words caused the shock inside of her body to

thought,

possible? Didn't he get eliminated from the

twitched. Turning her head to the side, she

how should I say

...Why would he

smile, Maylin

he said that he

elimination, Amanda who had been listening throughout their

everything that happened was because

were currently a mess as she felt

did. After all, he did just

the same time, she

hated the way Ren did things. She hated the way that

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

situation from the start, Amanda

Ren had never taken part in

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

with was in fact

he

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

Amanda bit her

her that Ren still

was only natural. Especially since they hadn't known each other long enough to develop a full sense of trust between each

"Oy!"

out of her thoughts

head to look in the direction of where her mother was, she saw

"M...mom!"

she stood up from her seat. However,

I can tell that you're

"Eh?"

her hand, Natasha

"Ouch!"

***

forehead flicked, my eyes snapped

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

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

"Looks like you're fine."

muttered before finally moving her head away from me. It was then that I was able to see the current situation in the room, and when I did, I almost