After the spirit restrained Elliot, Paul lit the bonfire again. Only then did my vision, which had been reached only the weak light, become clearer.

“Ha… I can finally breathe.”

I blinked and quickly looked at Damien’s feet. Although I felt it with my hand to check it, it would still be different from checking it with my eyes under a bright light.

“Hmm…”

It certainly seemed like I had the ability to heal, as I had seen in web novels and webtoons. I remembered that most saints had the ability to heal, so I couldn’t help it but feel strange.

I kept stroking Damien’s soft feet.

“Master…”

Damien looked up at me with wide eyes. He seemed to lie down calmly when I told him to, but he looked very uncomfortable.

“Shh, lie down some more. You did something really ridiculous. Do you know?”

The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became. Although I didn’t want to scold him for being hurt, I wanted to say it properly.

“Don’t do this next time. I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me to survive alone. Do you understand what I mean?”

“….”

Damien didn’t respond even though I put my hand on my waist and threatened him. He wasn’t the type of person who responded right away when I spoke.

“Answer me.”

“…But Master, I have a duty to protect my master.”

“I also have a duty to protect you, though you still won’t listen to me?”

“….”

Oscar intervened in place of Damien, who still stubbornly refused to answer.

“But, master.”

“What?”

Oscar came right next to me and gently placed his chin on my shoulder.

“You see.”

“What is it?”

“Look at this.”

“Huh?”

Oscar thrust his arms in front of me. He said while pointing at the very thin wound.

“I was hurt, too…”

I looked pitifully at the guy, his red eyes shining brightly like a puppy.

“That kind of thing gets better quickly if you apply saliva. Go away.”

“Ah, master! Treat my wounds like Damien!”

“Shh, I’m talking to Damien right now. Get out of the way for a moment.”

“I…! I’m also the Master’s servant, but why is it that only seaweed punk gets his wounds treated? This is absolutely discrimination, you know?”

As he put his chin on my shoulder, I pushed away his face when he shouted since it was too noisy. However, Oscar looked like he was hurt by my actions, with tears in his eyes.

“I too… I want to kiss Master, too!”

I looked pitifully at Oscar, who was throwing a tantrum like a child.

I didn’t kiss Damien. I healed him with my breath, you b*stard!

Our lips never even touched in the first place. I didn’t know when it came to Lucian, but I planned never to touch my lips, even if I used my abilities in the future.

‘…My lips are Lucian’s.’

“Ah, really! You always hate me, Master!”

“I didn’t kiss him. I only treated him!”

“Then, please treat me as well.”

“It’s better to just leave it alone!”

“If it gets treatment, it’ll get better quickly!”

“You really!”

As I turned my body to the side to say something to Oscar, who did not easily back down, Paul slowly approached me. Then, he started applying some glue to Oscar’s arm.

“…Fox, if you sleep with it like this, it’ll get better soon.”

“What’s this…?!”

Seeing Oscar gaze at Paul with a face full of confusion, I found that sight so funny that I burst into laughter. Even though they had only met for a short time, Paul knew how to put Oscar in his place.

Of course, it didn’t seem like it was intentional.

At that time, Elliot, who was tied to the tree, let out a laugh. It seemed like a nuance of ‘I was caught by those things?’

“Girl.”

“….”

I didn’t even pay attention to him because I thought he was calling me to say something nonsense, so he just started chattering.

“Can you untie me? I have no strength anymore. Isn’t it too much to tie me up like this? Even though I look like this, I’m still a prince.”

“You’re talking like a prince.”

“Then, what do you call me if not the prince? Still, I have no desire for the throne.”

“If someone like you becomes emperor, it would be better for the empire to collapse.”

“Haha, it’s really absurd.”

It seemed most absurd that he had been tied up by the spirit he was controlling. Well, I was a bit surprised by that as well.

It turned out that the dark spirit he was commanding turned out to be a water spirit.

I knew about the water spirit because Paul told me about it. I thought it was just a shiny water drop. While I didn’t know why the water spirit became corrupted, perhaps it has something to do with the distant past? If that trash booger king had been a person who controlled the water spirit rather than the dark spirit from the beginning, would things have been different from now?

A question suddenly occurred to me, but since it was just an assumption anyway, I ignored it.

“Ha, I’m tired.”

After the problem was resolved to some extent, I felt sleepy. Now that I think about it, I’ve been going through all sorts of things since morning. I would have to walk again tomorrow to find the temple, though I felt like I should sleep now.

Unable to overcome the rapidly pouring fatigue, I lowered my head, and someone supported my head and laid me down.

As soon as I thought my head hit the floor, my mind flew out, and I headed towards my dream that way. When I transitioned into a familiar dream, I found myself standing alone in the maze forest, no different from before I fell asleep.

The fact that I was alone made me realize that it was a dream, and I immediately started running.

Yes, wasn’t there the biggest purpose behind why I came to the Maze Forest myself? A much more important figure than Elliot…

“Cassandra!”

I shouted so loudly that the whole mountain rang.

“Know you’re going to die if you get caught!”

The reason I didn’t kill Elliot wasn’t because I didn’t want to commit murder but because I felt like I needed to keep him alive.

I couldn’t really explain it because it was just a feeling, but I felt like he was someone we needed.

I didn’t know what I would need him for, yet that was how I felt anyway. Though not Cassandra… She deserved to disappear. If it weren’t for the barrier of the maze forest, she was a ghost that would have disappeared long ago. That was just about it.

Therefore.

If she really got caught, she would be dead.

I noticed the emerald hair running away in the distance and took a powerful step forward. Somehow, I had a good feeling today. I didn’t know if it was because my real body was in the maze forest or if it was because I could use my abilities in reality, but I was able to run faster than before.

I saw the trees whizzing past me, and I finally started hearing Cassandra say something crazy. Although I was far away, I took a deep breath.

It felt like my breath could touch her.

Just as I thought, when I inhaled my breath, her red magic flowed out of her. Seeing what was possible at a greater distance than before made me feel like I could use this same ability in real life. Her red magic flowed between my lips, and once again, a magic circle was drawn in my head.

I infused power into the magic circle. Then, my body increased from one to two and then to four. I ran as if to surround Cassandra.

She looked back for a moment and shouted with a brooding look.

“Don’t come!”

Saying those words, she hurriedly went somewhere. As I ran along what looked like a trail, I came across a wide open space. As I was following Cassandra, I had no choice but to stop for a moment, but my copies were still following her.

It was because I wanted to.

I looked at the same copies of me chasing Cassandra and then looked at the open space. The open space, which was as vast as the Duke’s house, was full of small raised mounds of dirt. The reason I got goosebumps was because the pile of dirt looked like a tomb at first glance.

As I looked at the countless piles of dirt, I heard Cassandra struggling not far away.

I took a deep breath before going over to her. While the cold feeling between my lips felt strange, I didn’t think it would be a big problem. When I moved step by step, breathing in and out, a faint magical power began to rise from the pile of dirt.

It was truly a strange sight.

Countless magical powers of various colors, none of which overlapped, began to flow out. If this were truly a tomb, there would be traces of the death of this many people, and magical power would also be traces of them.

As I slowly looked around the open space, I felt very slightly sorry for the ghosts of my ancestors.

Of course, I have no intention of letting Cassandra go.

When I hurriedly arrived at the place where I heard the sound, I saw the copies that looked exactly like me, holding both of her arms.

“Cassandra.”

“You d*mn thing!”

“You still have a foul mouth.”

“What makes you different from me? You, too, are like an unknown ghost! Why should I be the only one treated like this!”

Truly, her voice was amazing. The loud ringing voice made my ears tingle. I dug my fingers into my ear canals and bent Cassandra’s knees so I could look her in the eye.

Red eyes full of hostility glared at me.

I grabbed her chin firmly and gave a low growl.

“How am I like you? I have returned to my original place, and you are really just an evil ghost who tried to take over someone else’s body.”

“…What?”

Cassandra muttered with a look of confusion at my words.

I thought of Lucian.

My lips trembled as I remembered him holding me tightly, whether his own body was in tatters or not.

“How dare you do that to my Luci and think you would get away with it?”

When Cassandra saw my mouth twisting, her red eyes grew as if they were going to tear apart. I took a deep breath as I mercilessly pressed my fingers against her lips. Instead of passing over, you would disappear, you d*mn thing.

A cold and hot ambivalent energy began to quickly seep into my body.

Of course, with Cassandra’s screams.

__