Stepping out of the Holy City, Mowan gazed in the direction of the Empire.
Her pockets were empty; she was penniless.
The road ahead was full of unknowns, and the future she hoped for seemed a distant, flickering light.
But it had been the same three years ago. It had always been this way for her.
She had always been destitute, drifting through life like a piece of duckweed.
Despite living two lives, she hadn’t made much of a name for herself.
If anything, what she was experiencing in this life was what it truly meant to live.
In her previous life, she had moved steadily toward university, learning nothing but theoretical concepts.
It was only when she arrived in this world and was required to put things into practice that she realized the staggering gap between ideals and reality.
As she walked, the sky began to brighten.
Mowan panted slightly, leaning against a small tree by the roadside for support.
At the very least… during the first fifteen years of her life before leaving the Demon Empire, Mowan had learned quite a bit of magic from the Demon Race.
Using it for self-defense was well within her capabilities.
Otherwise, when she was exiled three years ago, she might have been mauled to death by wild beasts long ago.
How could she, traveling on foot, possibly keep up with Laedel, who had money and could travel day and night by carriage or horse?
But Mowan truly had no other choice.
Staying in the Holy City and asking Iserin for some spare change to help her leave was practically impossible.
She already thanked the heavens that Iserin hadn’t come to arrest her yet.
“Sigh…”
Mowan slapped her cheeks, trying her best to snap herself out of her exhaustion.
After resting for ten minutes, she set out on the road again.
It had taken her three years to walk from the Empire to the Holy City of the Human Race.
Now, she had to return to the Empire in one week or perhaps even less.
She was going back to that living hell—a chaotic nation where the people lived in misery.
If she couldn’t even handle the internal conflicts of her own country, how could she talk about the Human Race and the Demon Race living together in peace?
Her aching legs and exhausted body constantly gave birth to feelings of regret.
They tempted Mowan to surrender to fate, to simply lie down and wait for Iserin to pick her up and take her home.
Then, for the rest of her life… she could be a heartless fool, kept by Iserin like a pet.
But if she did that, she would never be able to change Iserin.
She would never be able to truly love her.
No…
That wasn’t even the key issue.
If she did that, the future of the Demon Race would be destroyed by her hands.
She was the hope for the Descent of the Demon God.
When the Empire needed her to sacrifice herself, she had to let her life burn out.
Her mother had taught her that since she was a child.
Though her country was full of flaws, she had to remember that it was the motherland that had birthed and raised her.
Every day and every moment, new life was born on that land.
As members of the Royal Family, they had to protect the future of the Demon Race.
Wiping away her tears, Mowan relied on her inner stubbornness to keep moving, one step at a time.
Having not closed her eyes for a day and a night, Mowan eventually reached her limit.
She found a quiet patch of woods and, under the hazy glow of the night sky, curled up on the grass and drifted into a light sleep.
***
When she opened her eyes again, she saw a familiar ceiling illuminated by the faint morning light.
Startled, she immediately tried to sit up.
She couldn’t.
Her waist was bound by Magic Chains.
Mowan took a deep breath, trying to struggle against the silver-white chains glowing with a faint luminescence over her abdomen.
*Creak—*
At the same time, the door was pushed open.
A familiar person appeared within the familiar room.
Iserin stood in the doorway, looking at Mowan with a cold, detached gaze that felt foreign to her.
Mowan glanced at her dressing table.
The stationery she had hidden under the vase was gone.
Iserin must have read the letter she left behind.
Even so, was Iserin still determined to drag her back?
Mowan bit her lower lip.
She sat on the bed, propping herself up with her hands, her body still throbbing with the soreness of her long trek.
“Didn’t you promise me that you wouldn’t leave me?”
“I’m not leaving you. I will come back. One day, I will return. If you are willing to wait for me — wait for me to transform the Demon Empire into a peaceful country where the people are kind — then the Empire will no longer exist. We can call it the Demon Kingdom for now; the monarchy won’t change overnight.”
“And you plan to do that with just your words?”
“With my bloodline. If I am still the only Demon Princess, I might actually have some say.”
“If I hadn’t brought you back, you would have starved to death by the roadside.”
“I would have hunted if I was hungry. I was just too tired and couldn’t help falling asleep.”
“Even if you managed to survive the journey, by the time you reached the Imperial Capital, your younger brothers and sisters would have already been born.”
“Then what should I do? Iserin, what should I do? Should I just stay by your side forever and wait for the war to conquer the Demon Race that you mentioned to tear me apart? Other than this way, I have no other road left to take!”
Mowan gritted her teeth, refusing to let more tears fall.
But in this moment, she was like a lamb waiting for slaughter, completely under Iserin’s control.
A deep sense of powerlessness washed over her entire body.
The thought that she still relied on Iserin’s kindness to have this current stable life made Mowan feel even more heart-wrenched.
“I told you, I am willing to postpone the war for you indefinitely. I am also willing to wait for you to redeem me and turn me into that person who longs for ideals, just as you said.”
“I’m not worthy, Iserin. I’m not worthy of changing you. I am a failure, and the words of a failure don’t deserve to be heard.”
Being forced time and again to remember her experiences from three years ago — the catastrophe where she was nearly pushed onto the execution block — Mowan had finally become what everyone expected.
She would never be able to let it go.
“I have to do something so that I can stand by your side as an equal and talk to you about my ideals.”
“You don’t need to care about those things. As long as you are willing to stay by my side, I will always listen patiently to every word you say.”
“The point isn’t whether I’m willing! Iserin, I really, really didn’t want to say these things to you… but you’re the one forcing me to!”
Mowan clutched her head, nearly driven mad by Iserin’s persistence.
“When it comes down to it, if I left, or if I died on the road — if I were crushed like an ant by the wheels of the Empire’s fate — then your goal couldn’t be achieved. Your Romance and Conquest Plan would be completely ruined. Because if I die, you’ll never be able to control the last Demon King again, which means the Descent of the Demon God will definitely happen! You just want to see me turn into a useless person who can’t think for herself, someone who only thinks about eating, drinking, and staying by your side, don’t you?”
Iserin’s brow furrowed.
“I have never looked at you that way, Mowan. I only want you to let go of your identity. You are just an ordinary person, and you have the right to your own happiness.”
“I can’t let go, just like you can’t let go of your identity as the Saintess. You know that your every move concerns the future of the Human Race, and I know that my life or death concerns the future of the Demon Race. This is our fate, Iserin. It doesn’t cease to exist just because I ignore it. It is always there, hanging over our heads like a sharp blade. You know this better than I do, don’t you?”
Mowan curled into a ball, hugging her legs in agony.
‘It would have been better if I had died early… if I had died three years ago, none of this would be happening today.’
But she truly had been changed by Iserin.
She was afraid of death now; she was afraid that she would never see the light of tomorrow again.
Iserin had given her hope.
It was a hope filled with love — a beautiful hope where the Human Race and the Demon Race could be together, free from strife and conflict.
Even if that hope was born from Iserin’s lies, Mowan still felt that the fantasy was beautiful and romantic.
It wasn’t just for her, but for other humans and demons as well; everyone should be able to pursue that kind of beautiful freedom.
She didn’t want to die.
If she died, everything would be gone, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything.
She wanted change.
She wanted to be with Iserin.
She wanted to create a world where she could be with Iserin rightfully and openly.
Would Iserin understand these fantasies?
She had written all her feelings into that farewell letter.
Would Iserin understand?
Actually, Iserin had probably always understood.
She just didn’t believe it could ever become a reality.