Zagnac slowly lowered his body as his breath hovered near her lips. There was only a gap big enough for a finger to fit between them. He paused his lowered body and whispered softly with a half-closed gaze.

“If not, push me away.”

“….”

“I am not doing this because I need human energy.”

With his eyes closed, Zagnac carefully and gently put his lips on top of Azela’s. A quivering breath entered her parted lips cautiously. Until now, according to her feelings, she had to push him away… to make him not cry when he was left alone and to erase herself from his heart.

Azela placed her hand on Zagnac’s chest.

“….”

However, she did not have the strength to push his breath that was slowly digging into her mouth.

In the first place, there was no way she could push away such a trembling breath. For this moment, it was okay not to think of him, who would be left alone, who would be crying after she disappeared, or even who would change like Daniel.

Azela lifted her hand, which had rested on his chest to his back, and wrapped it lightly around his neck.

“…Mmm.”

With a small moan, she pulled Zagnac by the neck and he reacted violently. His soft tongue quickly intertwined with hers, and the sweet breath came and went. The space between

Azela’s lips filled with Zagnac’s breath.

“Don’t cry.”

His lips, which were not likely to get away, parted slightly, and a soft voice stimulated her ears. Before she knew it, she was crying.

His thumb gently wiped her tears.

“…Zagnac. I’m… afraid you’ll change your mind.”

“Azela.”

“I am scared and afraid that this love will eventually end with your change of heart, just like Daniel… If you even leave me like that, I won’t be able to live anymore.”

“I won’t change my mind.”

“Everyone says that. I will not change, I will love you for the rest of my life, and there is only you… but in the end—”

Zagnac’s lips collided again over Azela’s weeping lips. Many of the words she wanted to say were swallowed on his lips. The second kiss with him tasted like salty tears.

“I won’t change.”

“…Zagnac.”

“Because I’m not human, and only you, Azela, can give me these feelings for the rest of my life.”

“….”

“In the first place, it is a love that cannot change even if I want to change.”

“After I die, I will be alone and cry like Lane.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know how long the devil lives, but you…”

“I will be alone, missing you.”

Azela bit her trembling lips tightly and nodded her head.

“Though that’s nice, too.”

“What?”

“You may think that it is unhappiness and sadness that I will miss you for a long time.”

“…It’s true. Look at Lane crying after the dwarf left.”

“But without you, I would spend that long time empty with nothing.”

Tears flowed incessantly from Azela’s eyes.

He said he would become a selfish person for her, but in fact, she was a selfish person. In the end, she didn’t want to hurt him, so she didn’t want him to wake up to his feelings, and she wanted to erase herself from his mind.

Even confessing her feelings now was selfishness, hoping that he would accept her anxiety in a way.

“For a long time, to be able to think of you and miss you for the rest of my life… that alone makes me happy.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Zagnac smiled brightly. The smile was like the bright sunlight floating in the sky on a sunny afternoon. Just as she was about to say how she could not worry, he continued.

“It will be sad at first though I will laugh at the traces you left behind, and I will be happy with the memories you left behind.”

“Zagnac…”

“I can’t help it that you don’t feel the same way as me, but if you feel the same way as me…”

Pausing for a moment, Zagnac lowered his upper body again as the corners of his lips drew an arc, unlike a moment ago.

“Don’t try to push me away anymore. Don’t try to decide my feelings on your own. Even if you come and try to push me away, it’s useless.”

Another long kiss followed.

It was the same kiss but different from usual. First of all, it was salty from her tears, and second, Zagnac was smiling as brightly as the sun. His caress was soft and rough.

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Azela opened her arms to receive him and held him in her arms. She could not lie down because of her wounds that had not yet fully healed, so he wrapped his arms around her waist and sat her on his lap.

“Hng…”

Azela let out a heated moan as his flesh swelled up inside her.

A feeling of happiness that couldn’t be explained in words swelled at the same time. The feeling of happiness that was growing endlessly made her anxious like a balloon that didn’t know when it would burst though Azela decided not to think about it anymore.

“…Azela.”

Because he was in front of her calling her name.

“I love you.”

He uttered it with a clumsy look, but she didn’t care because he whispered clumsy emotions with a voice she wanted to hear. It was a feeling of love that she hadn’t heard in years. It was something she wanted to hear so much.

“…You might regret it.”

Azela whispered softly as she hugged his back tightly. It was a final warning to him to run away from her, and it was his last warning to run away from him as well. Zagnac clenched his teeth and moved even harder.

Perhaps that was his answer, he held her waist tightly so that she wouldn’t run away and persistently chased after her lower body.

“Hu-uht!”

Azela clung even harder to his body. A cracked voice flowed through Zagnac’s open teeth, who pushed her to the edge.

“Something like, regret… Kuht!”

He couldn’t spit out the words until the end due to his passionate body movements, but for some reason, she seemed to hear all of what he wanted to say. The two bodies, which had been shaking for a long time, finally stopped with his suppressed moans.

She buried her face in his hard, sweaty chest.

Tears and laughter came out at the same time.

That night, in Azela’s dream, Irene visited after a long time. She smiled as she looked at her, and Azela also smiled at Irene without crying. They looked at each other and smiled throughout the dream. Then, lastly, before Azela woke up in her dream, Irene asked.

“You have finally found happiness. Is that right?”

Azela smiled and nodded her head.

“I’m happy.”

Perhaps that was her wish, Irene nodded her head with a satisfied look and hugged her.

“Now, I can leave comfortably without worrying about Master.”

With those words, she woke up in the morning. As she glanced to her side, instead of Irene, her eyes saw Zagnac, who was sleeping while holding him.

Azela reached for his arms with a smile.

It was a happy dream.

* * *

“Kyaaaak!”

The bedroom was so bright that it was hard to believe it was night, and Sylvia woke up from her dream with a scream.

Again, she was chased by people, and in the end, she had a dream that she would eventually die. No matter how brightly the candles were lit, or decoctions of medicinal herbs said to be good for a good night’s sleep… placing them next to the bed did not change anything.

It’d been several days already.

She was afraid to fall asleep, she stayed up all night for several nights and when she fell asleep, the dream followed Sylvia without fail.

“You will never sleep comfortably for the rest of your life.”

Livia came to visit her though the words she ignored echoed in her mind.

Sylvia wiped the cold sweat running down her chin with the back of her hand. There was no one in the bright room. Daniel didn’t visit her often. Even though he must have heard of the emaciated Sylvia’s condition because she couldn’t sleep, he did not come for her.

“…It’s all because of Azela.”