“Selene, promise me one thing.”
Aoke’s calm voice sounded like a distant rumble.
After reverting to his true Beast Demon form, his body grew as tall as three men stacked together.
His muscles were knotted like the roots of ancient trees, and grim fangs protruded from his lips, gleaming with a cold, ghostly light.
“W-What…?”
Selene asked shakily, as if she still had not fully grasped what was happening.
“Stop smiling like that. It really does not suit you.”
With that, Aoke grabbed Selene. His hand had grown so large that he could lift a girl like her as if she were a toy.
He glanced at the building… it had already collapsed.
A clean, diagonal gash ran across the wall, and along that slanted plane the wall and roof slid down together, leaving the entire room exposed to the open sky.
Looking farther in the direction of the cut, he saw that nearby apartment buildings of similar height, as well as the towering spires in the distance, all bore the same angled slash.
One after another, they broke apart and crumbled amid thunderous noise.
He then looked down at his own chest. This was the Beast Demons’ greatest source of pride: a body as unbreakable as steel. On top of it was the powerful Mana Barrier he had set himself.
—and yet, across both, ran the same diagonal line as on those buildings.
A chill spread steadily along that line.
He knew his time was running out. So he lifted Selene high into the air and drew back his arm toward the sky where dawn was just beginning to break, taking the stance of a throw—
“…Aoke! What are you doing?! Put me down! I will share my magic power with you right now and heal you—”
When Selene saw the coldly gleaming line across his chest, she finally understood what was happening.
Her face went pale as she pounded desperately on the massive hand gripping her body, struggling with all her strength.
“Why are you doing this?!”
When she felt that his grip did not loosen in the slightest, Selene finally broke down crying. Tears streaming, she looked up at Aoke’s face.
“Did I not swear it already? I said I would protect you. As long as I am here, no one can hurt you. We Beast Demons never make vows or promises we cannot fulfill.”
Aoke bared his teeth in a grin. Selene had never seen such an expression on his face before. It was as if he had completed the very task he was born to do… so satisfied, so at peace.
“My father suffered his whole life… because he lost to the Hero and failed to carry out the vow he made at the beginning. I was always afraid I would end up the same way… but thankfully, I did it.”
“Goodbye, Selene. I hope you will be happy.”
With his final farewell and final blessing, he hurled Selene with all his remaining strength toward the dawning horizon. He heard her cries quickly fade into the slightly chilly morning wind.
“All right. This is the scene I have always longed for—facing the strongest human of them all.”
He turned around to face the woman radiating endless pressure… and the sword in her hand.
She slowly lowered her stance, preparing to unleash another strike.
‘Just how earth-shaking will this blow be?’
Facing the surging magic power before him, overwhelming like a landslide and tsunami, he felt the blood of a warrior boiling within him… boiling one last time before the cut across his chest froze it completely.
As if to welcome it, Aoke spread his arms wide toward the Azure Magic Sword.
—
“Lian.”
“Mmm… let me sleep a little longer.”
The gentle call by her ear dragged Lian out of her dreams… but she did not want to wake up at all.
There was nowhere more comfortable than the bed at this very moment.
The person holding her was the warmest and softest in the world, and she wished she could lie in her arms forever.
“It is time to get up. We are going out together today, remember? That child should already be waiting.”
“Who… just let her wait. Nothing is more important than my sleep.”
She then felt her cheek being lightly poked twice. Growing annoyed, she wriggled her whole body deeper into the embrace inside the blankets—
“No. Lian. You really have to get up. There is something important waiting for you to do.”
Soft hands cupped her cheeks and forcibly lifted her head out of the covers. Under this slightly rough treatment, Lian finally opened her eyes unwillingly.
“Mmm… Meliya…”
The woman before her had deep red hair spread across the pillow.
Her moist crimson lips were right before Lian’s eyes, close enough to touch with just a little more movement…
She was gazing at her with deep affection. Without thinking, Lian leaned toward her lips—
“No. Sleepyhead. Get up. Did you forget what day it is? Today is that child’s birthday.”
Meliya raised her right index finger to block her lips. Her eyes were still gentle… but with her left hand she stretched Lian’s cheek mercilessly.
“Ow, ow, that hurts! I get it, I get it, let go already! I remember now, I remember!”
Why was it that after changing into this form, everyone liked to mess with her face?
The sharp pain on her cheek instantly chased away all her drowsiness. Lian looked at Meliya with watery eyes, and only then did Meliya release her cheek.
“What a naughty child. What were you planning to do to your Aunt just now?”
She lightly patted the reddened side of Lian’s face, then pulled back the blanket and sat up.
Blushing fiercely, Lian watched as Meliya gathered her messy bed hair and took a black hair tie from the small table beside her, neatly tying it into a braid.
After a simple grooming, she walked to the window and drew open the curtains, letting sunlight flood the Duke’s bedchamber.
“I was not… not thinking of doing anything… I just wanted, like before, a—”
Lian had wanted to say ‘a good morning kiss.’
But when she saw Meliya slowly stretching her slender figure in the morning light, saw the rosy skin faintly visible beneath her thin nightwear… she choked on her words.
She felt no improper desire. After all, this was her wife, the wife she saw every day and every night.
It had not been that long since they were last so close… yet she always felt a strange sense of distance between them.
Was it because her appearance had changed so much? Or because she herself had become a girl, giving rise to strange thoughts she never had before?
Lian could not quite understand it. While she was lost in these worries, Meliya had already changed out of her nightwear and put on a dress that looked very warm.
“Why are you still spacing out? Do you not move unless I kiss you?”
“N-No—”
Just as Lian was about to deny it, Meliya sat down beside her and placed a light kiss on the reddened half of her cheek.
“Eek…”
Lian toppled over, steaming like a boiled duck.
A short while later, once dressed, Lian was brought by Meliya to the dining hall in the main building for breakfast… still wearing her maid outfit.
“Mmm…”
“Eat more, fill yourself up. Ah—”
“Y-You… do not do that… everyone is watching, it is so embarrassing…”
Naturally, many attendants who served the Duke were present in the dining hall.
They stared at the colleague who was being fed spoonful after spoonful of porridge by the Duchess, their faces full of confusion and envy.
“…Who is that child?”
“I have never seen the Duke treat anyone in the household so kindly… it feels like even the Lady does not get this treatment.”
“I think I know her. I have seen Sister Feiyin take her along several times.”
“Even the Head Maid takes special care of her… come to think of it… do you not think she looks a lot like… the Hero?”
“Hey!”
“Shh… are you crazy? Saying something like that, even the Duchess would get angry…”
Their whispers were already very quiet, but to Lian—who was acutely aware of others’ reactions at the moment—they sounded as loud as shouting right next to her ears.
To escape this face-burning embarrassment, she gulped down the entire bowl of porridge Meliya had scooped for her in one go, then grasped at a new topic based on the maids’ chatter.
“S-Speaking of which, why have I not seen Feiyin? At this time she should be bringing the Lady over, right—”
“You were looking for me?”
Someone poked Lian’s shoulder. She turned around and found that Feiyin had appeared behind her at some point.
“I have to ask you… can you explain this time how you managed to do that?”
Lian was not surprised—Feiyin had made entrances like this many times before.
Still, Lian remained quite curious about how she managed to evade her senses and awareness so thoroughly.
“I can. This time I will tell you. Please come with me, and I will tell you in private.”
Lian had expected Feiyin to brush it off as usual. This answer, however, completely caught her off guard.
Feiyin’s voice sounded very serious, and she even lowered her head to make a request of Meliya beside them.
“Duchess, may I borrow Lady Lian for a short while?”