“—when will he wake up?” Esther could hear the Queen ask the royal physician.

“By tonight or tomorrow morning, the Crown Prince should wake up,” the physician replied.

The Queen gave out a sigh of relief and sat by her son’s side for a while. It also brought a smile to the young lady’s lips as she could not wait for him to wake and talk to her.

After staying for a while, the Queen and Esther left the Crown Prince’s residence. The Queen continued to attend to her duties while Esther left to resume her work in the library. After arranging the last of the shelves under her jurisdiction, she found herself going towards the abandoned part of the library attached to her section, the section carrying ancient mythology books.

It was the same dark and gloomy room she remembered it to be, with thick dust and cobwebs and windows so rusty they barely opened. She searched for a particular leather-bound book from the innermost shelves, the book that seemed to symbolize the last glory from an empire seemingly forgotten by the world, bearing one of the greatest truths the continent had ever known.

[The Devil]

After pulling out that heavy book, she brought it out of that dark room and went back to her assigned table and proceeded to read it. Like she did the first time, she handled the cover and the pages with the utmost care, not wanting to destroy the last bit of evidence proving his existence in the human world.

Esther stared at the terrifying image drawn on the second page of the book. She could not help but let out a bitter smile.

“Should I pity you? Nobody remembers…nobody knows…”

Esther continued to murmur under her breath as memories she had long buried slowly resurfaced in her mind.

“Is it not amusing how the only portrait of you existing in this place looks so despicable and horrifying? You surely offended the artist in some way. Maybe she’s a female whose heart you broke?” Esther let out a sad smile. “I wonder what you did back then, why you showed people this figure…”

She touched the drawing, slowly tracing each ugly line with a finger.

“Humans have short memories. They already forgot what you have suffered, how much you have sacrificed for them. They don’t even know your name anymore, only calling you a devil.

“The ones living today have no idea you are the reason why they are living well on these lands. None of them remembers how you have sacrificed yourself to protect this continent, how all existence including those divine creatures they worship as gods were only able to survive due to your sacrifice.

“I wonder…is it worth it?

“Did you ever regret it?

“If you were offered the same choice, would you sacrifice yourself again?”

Esther closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, her eyes regained their clarity.

“Though we could not be together because of your choice, I do not hate you—I never had, and I never will. I thought that after what happened to you, to us, I will never fall for another, but I guess fate is truly fickle. It took a terribly long time, but time does heal wounds. I can now say with confidence that I no longer yearn for you. My heart now belongs to another, and the man I love is here by my side. Though I don’t know what will come out of it or how it will end, but this time, I will not run away.”

She continued flipping the pages of the book and she let out sighs of disappointment seeing how the Devil had been mentioned only as an unholy creature, bringing nightmares to those he visits.

“I wish I can write another book for you to let everyone know the truth, but I guess things are better left as it is. Humans will only believe what they want to believe. At this point, your reputation is not something a single book can restore.”

She closed the book and put it back in its original position as she mumbled, “I can only hope that one day people will know the real you.”

—–

That night, Esther could not stop herself from visiting Prince Theron.

When she saw him in the morning along with the Queen, she knew he didn’t need medicines or physicians. The only help he needed was ample time to rest as he would wake up on his own.

Call it selfish or greedy, but seeing him for such a brief moment did not satisfy her. She wanted to have alone time with him, as she felt they had been apart way too long for her liking. She had been holding back enough.

Esther was in her residence outside of the city. With her powers, it didn’t take her much time to reach the Crown Prince’s residence. As usual, she put on the spell that made everyone inside the residence sleep and she went to his bedchamber without any restrictions.

Prince Theron remained unconscious as Esther approached his bed, the soft light from the oil lamps making him look as if he was merely sleeping peacefully. She remembered that her sleeping spell didn’t work on him, and she had a funny thought of checking if he would wake up if she were to snatch a kiss from those delectable-looking lips.

Sitting at the edge of his bed, she held his hand, gently squeezing it as if to tell him that she was here so he should wake up. The entire time, her gaze observed his pale face. A disappointed smile graced her face when there was no reaction from the young man. She placed her hand on his chest and closed her eyes. She could feel that his body’s condition was fine and felt relieved to confirm what she already knew.

She touched the bracelet on his wrist. “I had told you not to remove it but you still did. Do you know what could have happened?”

Her eyes turned moist as she looked at his face again. She could not bear the thought of losing him. When she had that vision, she realized what she would lose if something did happen to him. It was such a shocking realization.

Imagine, she did what she never thought she would ever do even if she were to die. For this weak human with a tongue of a rogue, she swallowed her pride and begged him to save his life!

“I need to punish you for this! You…You…ugh!”

Esther shook her head. She had come to terms about how important this man was for her. She caressed his cheeks gently, and without her knowing it, tears started to pool in her eyes. Yet despite this, her warm gaze never left the sight of his face.

“I will make sure to catch the one who is trying to harm you and punish them the way they deserve for causing you such pain.”

She leaned down a little and gave him a soft peck on his lips. The tears she was holding back rolled down from her eyes and fell on his cheeks.

Esther parted from his lips, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of gray eyes staring at her.

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