The Author's POV

"What a pitiful child."

My vision returned to what it was prior to the visions after the demon took his hand from Melissa's head.

I didn't know exactly how long had passed, but during the time where I was looking through Melissa's memories, it felt as if years had passed by...of course, I knew that it was only my imagination.

Thud—!

During the time that my vision returned, Melissa fell to the ground on both knees. Her complexion looked rather pale as what seemed to be tears flowed down the sides of her eyes.

I couldn't blame her.

Relieving what she was desperately trying to hide and forget, and knowing that the closest people she knew were also watching her deepest secrets...

'Shit.'

I could tell exactly what she was feeling.

Lowering his body, the demon stood at eye level with her.

Patting her head, he gently spoke to her.

"Your life is truly hard. You wanted to make your father proud throughout your entire childhood, but no matter what you did, he never satisfied you."

"Even when you excelled in a different field, he ignored you and only cared about your achievements in the combat field...yet, you had no talent for it, but you knew this..."

"Of course, you knew this. You're a smart child after all, am I right?"

Melissa's body trembled as the demon's gentle words echoed throughout. Slowly, she started to nod her head.

'Don't respond to him!'

I shouted inside of my head as I tried to move, and open my mouth, but it all proved to be fruitless.

I couldn't activate any of my skills, nor feel my mana.

I was desperate.

Melissa may not be aware at the moment, but the demon was definitely using some sort of skill at the moment. A skill that would severely weaken her mind the more she listened to him or spoke to him.

"Even though you trained for twelve hours every day, to the point of exhaustion, as a way to finally show your father the results of your achievements, he completely disregarded your achievements and treated you like trash...all because you couldn't take the first spot."

Extending his hand, the demon patted Melissa on the back.

"When your father dismissed you after you placed second, that was the turning point of your life, wasn't it? You stopped caring about him, or about anyone else's opinion, right? You felt free when you stopped caring, right? ...and why do you treat everyone so harshly? Is it because you don't trust anyone but yourself?"

With each question that the demon asked, the paler Melissa's complexion became, and it wasn't long before her eyes started to lose some clarity.

'Oh no.'

alarmed when

This pattern...

resulted in the creation of contractees. After thoroughly exposing the secrets and breaking their minds, demons used this exact scenario to convince their victims

'Not good.'

same spot,

distance others from you so that you don't get hurt again, right? It's a pitiful life, the one that

the back. Over time, her complexion worsened, and it wasn't long before her eyes

'Shit.'

inwardly cursed inside of my mind

you just

demon finally took notice of Melissa's

things a little bit. I'm not supposed to break you just yet. His majesty

attention to

was no dust on his clothes, he turned

are harsh, he wasn't exactly wrong about you being talentless. It's a pity

was then

a nice gem over here. One that I am very

steps toward me, the demon soon reached

able to catch a glimpse of a strange twinkle in his eyes. While he analyzed my body with his

quite young, yet you seem to be extremely

he looked, the more he seemed

away from me, he then turned his head and his eyes lingered on Liam's and Kevin's bodies for a

other two seem to also be quite the talent. It's quite hard to choose between the three of

again face my direction, the smile on his face

'No!'

from the corner of my eyes I stared at the others who were

started to beat faster as deep anxiety started to permeate my

'Not my memories!'

to panic when I realized that the

let that

Anything but that!

thought of all the things I had been trying to hide

me made my skin crawl. Especially after they would find out the truth about my

I was helpless at the

the demon's hand as it soon reached out

"Sleep tight."

dark after

***

'Is it happening again?'

toward an area surrounded by iron

before, with Melissa, he could not control his body as it

'...Are these Ren's memories?'

could make out what was going on at the

'Bastard.'

he remembered Melissa's state a

wild. He called it a game, but this felt like