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

"Thank you."

at the contract

"D… don't you dare."

Gervis's muffled words, but he paid no attention to them and grabbed the

his hand touched it, engulfing him

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

"Go on, sign it."

sounding like soft whispers and tempting him

him for a moment before

softly

Riiiiip!

the contract in half,

froze with the atmosphere, and he

when Octavious chose to

didn't say I wanted to sign the contract because I wanted to sign the contract. I only said it because I wanted to get close enough to

runes emanated from the orb as they

"Wait… that power…"

changed drastically the moment the orb appeared,

exactly what you think it

Crack!

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

How is this

whirled around him

"How da…mhm…mhhhh."

on the spot, and the surroundings turned quiet from that point on. The golden runes

the golden runes around his body dimmed considerably

though the Prince was trapped,

"Huu."

orb, his entire body began to shrink, and he had a hard

a frail and old

that didn't matter to Octavious as he weakly moved toward the Prince. He weakly placed his hand over the Prince's shoulder and

his gaze paused on a certain girl who was looking

He smiled at her.

is how it should

been a terrible father then, and a terrible father now. Perhaps

he just wasn't ready to

Still.

overlap with someone he used to know, and something trickled down the side of his

'They… truly are alike…'

meet her. His vision warped with images of them as a happy family. As a family that

Cr… Crack!

was deep in thought when he was startled out of his musings by a loud cracking sound. When he looked up, he saw that the golden runes that had encircled the Prince were beginning to disintegrate, which meant that the Prince would soon be free

he didn't have much time left, he looked at Melissa once more, engraving her face into his

"Goodbye."

'I love you.'

word. He found himself unable to say the last three. He didn't feel like he had the

the sound

BOOOOOOOOOOM—!

***

[Earth]

"Kill!"

kill all

broken pillars, the sky darkened, and a sound like