CH 122

“D-Did you bring a bouquet of flowers?”

I snapped and turned my head. Only then could I hide my hot face.

“Haha, I’m sorry. Shall we go then?”

The sound of heavy footsteps approached. The next moment, my two feet were lifted into the air.

“Where are we going… Whoa?!”

Garou carried me without notice.

He lightly dodged Benny, who rushed at him, and shouted as if to declare.

“To get the most beautiful bouquet in the world!”

Swooosh.

With the sound of the sand sweeping away, the surrounding landscape faded away.

Garou ran into the garden.

No, it was more appropriate to say that he was sliding rather than running.

He turned his body into sand and sprinted so fast that I was suffocating in the gusts of wind.

“Wha, what are you doing?!”

I struggled like a fish out of the water and grabbed Garou’s gray hair.

No matter how much I grabbed and shook his head and even when I slapped him on the shoulder, Garou did not hesitate and smiled softly.

“Are you done hitting me?”

“T-This is…!”

I reversed limbs and clenched my fist. I was determined to give him a shot as I did in my dream.

But the words that followed hardened me as it was.

“You left me alone in my house and started making love, and now, you want to punch me?”

This brat saw it. My face turned brightly hot.

Restless, I covered my cheeks with the back of my hands, so Garou didn’t stare at me, but clicked his tongue.

“I’m so sad that I’m going to die. If I had found you first instead of that guy, I could have monopolized you…”

Garou jutted behind me, saying, ‘That guy.’ I looked back at where he was pointing.

Benny was chasing us with his body half demonized. He went with a terrifying force, but it was still not enough to catch up with Garou.

“It’ll be hard to keep up with me. I am the fastest demon among all the crown princes of all time.”

Garou boasted with a shameless expression.

Indeed, Benny’s body was a liquid as heavy as a lump of oil and Garou’s body was sand blown by the wind, so it was natural for him to win the running race.

“…If I can turn into a demon, he won’t be able to take me away.”

Even if it’s Garou, it would be difficult to keep hugging me who has become demonized.

I brought my eyebrows closer together and glared at Garou.

Even though I threatened him to put me down immediately, Garou seemed happy as if I was playing a joke.

“Don’t do that too much. There’s a reason why I took you out and kidnapped you.”

“You mean the bouquet? You could’ve just brought it.”

“Not that. There’s a story I couldn’t tell you because of that guy earlier.”

I held my breath as I tried to press my fingernails into his wrist.

The story I heard at the rose garden was shocking itself. Do you have any more information?

“As for what it is….”

The gorgeous-looking boy lowered his voice and suddenly tilted his head.

“Wait, how far have I said?” 

“…What?”

I thought it was a pointless joke, but Garou rolled his eyes as if he couldn’t really remember. It was amazing for me.

“Can’t you remember what you said?”

“I’m sorry. My head is a little messed up.”

“It looks like it.”

“Hahaha!”

Even though I was bluntly sarcastic, Garou burst out laughing as though it was really good.

He jumped over the fence dividing the garden section and tapped my temple.

“I’m not kidding. I always see memories of the past. The near past and the distant past are intermingled as if they are happening now, and the unpleasant memories keep repeating themselves over and over again. Because of that, these days, I don’t even know which is a dream or which is reality.”

It was unexpected for me, who thought Garou was a lunatic.

‘Is it because of the power of the demons?’

I let go of the strength in my eyes that were glaring at him and let out a deep sigh. I didn’t know what to say, but it wasn’t bad to listen.

“You said that the gods were not three, but four. The demon god also participated in the bets of the gods, but the demons prevailed, so other gods…”

“Oh, I remember that.”

Garou climbed up the high wall and fixed the posture that held me. It was very unpleasant to accidentally put an arm around his neck.

“Not that. What did I say after sharing the pomegranate cake?”

“We’ve never shared it. Neither me nor Benny ate a bite of the cake you gave.”

“Then after I eat.”

Thud! 

Garou jumped down the wall.

If I had not been immune to living with beasts, I would have been busy grabbing my surprised chest.

I brushed away the hair that was about to get into my mouth and retraced the story I had heard in the afternoon.

“…You said that evil spirits are the corpses of demons.”

“Ah.”

“When the demon dies, the rest of the body regenerates into a poor form and becomes an evil spirit.”

After saying it with my own mouth, I was surprised again.

Even after I found out that I was a demon, I kept my distance from the evil spirits.

I thought I was different from the monsters that constantly roar and tear the barriers up.

It turned out, there was a time when those monsters lived like I do now.

“That is our death… Yes.” 

“Did I say that the evil spirits still have demonic consciousness?”

“…Yes.”

I hugged Garou’s neck and lifted my head. The imaginary moon shown by the World Tree was shining brightly.

Ordinary people disappear from this world when they die.

Whether they ascend to heaven or die to earth, their souls leave the fake world and return to the side of God.

However, demons could never enter rest. We were rejected in heaven.

“A demon’s body dies and becomes an evil spirit. After that, it can’t control itself anymore. A body full of black magic will faithfully fulfill the purpose for which we were created in this world.”

I repeated the words I heard from Garou slowly and carefully.

“…Killing all races except demons.”

I closed my eyes and thought of the evil spirits who frantically swung their claws.

As demons who have become evil spirits, they must helplessly watch their murderers. For the rest of their lives, with no promise that the pain would end.

“That’s why the demons howl. Whoo, whoo, whoo…”

‘The shameless crown prince, Benny, and I are the same in the end. We are all going to be monsters.’

“So when demons are alive…”

Garou jumped up on a large tree. He leaned over like a spring and I buried my face in his nape. Thump, thump. I felt a quick pounding in the back of my neck.

“…They want a human shell.”

Whenever they face their own black body, they think of the end of becoming an evil spirit, so they want the shells of those who have died in peace.

“Even knowing that once you enter a human body, you can never come out again.”

I could never return Lily’s body to the ground. Like it or not, this body would live with me forever.

“That’s the price of black magic, whether it’s big or small…”

I turned my head and met Garou’s eyes.

“You did that.” 

Garou’s golden eyes were so calm as if he had already accepted my words.

“It’s a matter of course.”

Garou, who had been running non-stop, suddenly stopped in place.

A tall tower stood in front of me. It looked the same as the magic tower, but it seemed a little thick.

Garou put one foot on the stone wall of the tower and bent his leg as if pressing a spring.

“Even if you eat poison, you won’t die, you can play tricks on other people’s hearts, and you can see the future as if you were a god…”

After a while, we were in the air. It wasn’t surprising anymore, since there were several instances like this in the Duke’s Castle.

“Isn’t it strange that there was no price for such an evil power?”

Thud! 

Garou landed on top of the tower.

The whole of the Crown Prince Palace that was seen from the sky was dark. There was not a single light in the entire palace, not just the tower.

When the light flashed completely in such a splendid palace during the day, I even felt the illusion that the temperature had fallen.

“This world is hell. It’s a battlefield the gods created to fight us.”

Garou supported my legs and buried his face in my arms. A warm breath reached through the clothes.

“You and I will live in hell forever.”

As if it could be a very romantic thing, his eyes that became the reversed eyes were thinly curved.

“…Put me down.”

I pushed Garou’s shoulder.

Garou trembled as if he didn’t like it, but as soon as I hit him on the back, he immediately lowered me to the ground.

‘I don’t have time to worry about the future too far away.’

I crouched down in the corner of the old stone wall and sighed, phew.

My death, which would come one day, was more terrifying than I had imagined, but for now, it was not something I had to worry about.

“Is that the end of the story?”

Garou leaned against the wall and tilted his head. I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

“Garou. You… what you said earlier, are you serious?”

The information about the demons was shocking, but it wasn’t enough to rush out of the place.

However, Garou said something completely crazy shortly after he informed me about the death of the demons.

I decided that I couldn’t communicate with him anymore and left the rose garden.

Time passed and I still couldn’t tell if he was joking.

“You…”

I swallowed dry saliva and asked directly.

“Are you really going to destroy this world?”

Boom!

A loud explosion pierced my ears.

I grabbed my chest in surprise and looked around.

Bright red fireworks lit the night sky. It was a gorgeous, captivating sight.

I even had the illusion that I had entered a rose garden made of light.

“The most beautiful bouquet in the world.”

Garou smiled shyly and spread his arms out.

“I will dedicate it to you.”