The Author's POV

'As much as you think I didn't, I've always been proud of what you've achieved… even when it looked like I didn't care.'

There was truth in the words he said to her. It may not have looked like it, but he had always been proud of what she had achieved.

He may not have shown it because of his circumstances, but he was proud. He had always been.

The feeling only grew stronger when he could feel himself again. He couldn't have been more pleased with her accomplishments, and the fact that she handled everything on her own made him even prouder.

He was glad she was doing well.

Well… for the most part.

He knew that he couldn't go back in time and undo the harm that his neglect had caused her.

When he thought about her past and how his actions had harmed her, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt wash over him. She had been through a lot in her life.

Especially for someone her age. Growing up without a family… she must've truly been lonely.

He had never sought forgiveness or expected to receive it.

It stung, and now that he knew how to feel emotions again, his life was filled with nothing but pain.

Strangely enough, he didn't hate it.

Compared to the times when he felt nothing but numbness, this was much better.

He at least… felt something.

It hurt, but at the same time, he felt better than ever. His mind had never been clearer, and staring at the Prince before him, he had already made up his mind.

When he looked down, he could still see her looking up at him from below, and he found himself smiling.

'Yeah… this is how it should be.'

"Hm? Aren't you the human from before? You didn't run away?"

The Prince seemed rather surprised by his sudden appearance. Gervis too, but for another reason.

"You… what are you doing?"

The way Gervis looked at him changed, but Octavious paid him no mind and continued to gaze at Prince Adrian.

"I would like to make a contract with you."

The glare that Gervis was casting became even more intense, but the Prince stopped him from saying anything by waving his hand at him and smacking him toward the ground.

Bang—!

He then proceeded to look at Octavious.

"So you'd like to form a contract with me, huh?"

Prince Adrian studied Octavious from top to bottom. At first glance, he wasn't too bad. A tad bit worse than the dwarf, but overall, he wasn't too bad.

To have reached his rank while being a human was a testament to his talent and his gaze… he quite liked it.

Prince Andrian extended his hand, where a contract appeared.

"Very well, since you're interested in signing a contract, I won't stop you."

thought. He was good enough to join his

"Thank you."

head, staring at

"D… don't you dare."

the side, he could hear Gervis's muffled words, but he paid no

his hand

the force that emanated from it. It was very powerful. More powerful

"Go on, sign it."

sounding like soft whispers and tempting him even

in front of him for a moment before putting it down and turning his attention to

softly

Riiiiip!

movement, he tore the contract in half, completely freezing

expression froze with the atmosphere, and he

was when Octavious

say I wanted to sign the contract because I wanted to sign the contract. I only said it because I wanted

emanated from the orb as they rotated like satellites around it in a clockwise

"Wait… that power…"

drastically the moment the orb appeared,

what you

Crack!

orb that he was holding in his hand, the entire world became white, and golden runes flooded their surroundings, completely enveloping the Prince in their

How is

from his body, his efforts were fruitless. The golden runes whirled around him at a speed that was

"How da…mhm…mhhhh."

entire figure froze on the spot, and the surroundings turned quiet from that point on. The golden runes kept wrapping and circling around his body, stopping him

paid close attention, the golden runes around his body dimmed

clear that even though the Prince was trapped, his predicament would not

"Huu."

entire body began to shrink, and he had a hard time

in the prime of his life, he slowly turned into a frail and old man. Such was the consequence

he weakly moved toward the Prince. He weakly placed his hand over the Prince's shoulder and

when his gaze paused on a certain

He smiled at her.

is how

then, and a terrible father now. Perhaps he was never meant to be a father

just wasn't ready to

Still.

last time. Octavious really did see her figure overlap with someone he used to know,

'They… truly are alike…'

to meet her. His vision warped with images of them

Cr… Crack!

cracking sound. When he looked up, he saw that the golden runes that had encircled the Prince were beginning to disintegrate, which meant

he looked at Melissa once more, engraving her face into his mind

"Goodbye."

'I love you.'

found himself unable to say the last three. He didn't feel like he had the right to say such words to her, and

before hearing the sound of his own

BOOOOOOOOOOM—!

***

[Earth]

"Kill!"

kill all those

demons charged out from the pocket spaces that remained over the broken pillars, the sky darkened, and a sound like thunder rumbled through