WSHV | Chapter 8

~Chapter 8~

Bellona pulled her hand free and lightly pushed against Deminic’s chest.

“I won’t betray you, so don’t worry.”

It was only words, but it seemed to give him enough reassurance for the moment.

Instead of stopping her again, Deminic grabbed the hand she had placed on his chest.
Their fingers intertwined—like he didn’t want to let her escape.

His clinginess made her eyebrows twitch upward, but Bellona didn’t comment.
Instead, she used her other hand to turn the doorknob and open the door.

“Miss! You really don’t look well today.”

Thank goodness she’d woken from that unsettling dream—at least now her terrible appearance made sense.
Even Rose was shocked at how pale she looked.

Bellona glanced sideways at Deminic, who was lazily looking down at her from behind the door, then replied.

“…Yeah. I want to rest today.”

“Do you need any medicine?”

“I’m fine. Just leave it there.”

She needed both hands to take the tray of hot soup and bread, but Deminic wouldn’t let go of her hand.

Bellona glared at him without thinking.

Grumbling, Deminic reluctantly released her.

“Miss, over there…?”

“I want to rest until late afternoon. So please come back later. Thanks.”

Bellona shot out the words quickly and stepped back.
Right away, Deminic slid the door shut and leaned against it with crossed arms like a guard posted outside her room.

He tilted his head and listened closely—checking whether Rose had left.

“What exactly were you worried about? That I’d scream about a strange man in my room and beg to have you thrown out? Once I decide something, I don’t take it back.”

Bellona plopped the tray onto the desk with a light thunk.
At that moment, Deminic’s cool, sharp gaze slid over her like a knife.

“Good. If you had shown even a hint of tattling, I would’ve killed you and your maid.”

His tone was casual, but the words were deadly.
Instead of being afraid, Bellona let out a small laugh—this kind of threat was weirdly familiar.

“If you’re capable of doing that, why are you still here then?”

Right. If he were strong enough to kill her maid so easily, shouldn’t he just leave?

“With the little strength I recovered, I only went back to my temporary hideout to grab that. I still can’t use my shadow-travel to move around. You wouldn’t know this, but it uses a huge amount of power.”

Bellona finally noticed the unfamiliar bundle sitting on the floor and felt a wave of disbelief.

“…I never said you could bring your belongings and settle in here.”

“I’d advise you not to touch anything. They’re related to dark magic.”

“…Are you sure you’re not lying about being unable to use your abilities?”

Deminic pulled something small from his pocket—the silver chain around his hand looked familiar.

The necklace’s clear gemstone, now a dark ash-gray, pulsed with a dangerous light.

“If I want to follow your advice, I can’t use any complicated magic anymore. Honestly, even going out to get this was pushing it. But I had to go while I still had some strength left.”

“…Doesn’t it hurt at all when you use dark magic? It’s still your soul. Aren’t there… any side effects?”

Did he really not feel anything while his soul corrupted, cracked, and drove him into madness?

“Not at all. The more I use it, the stronger I feel. Like I could take anything I want.”

His blood-red eyes stared at her with a strange, hungry intensity.

“That’s how you lose control. You don’t even realize the power is already too much for you.”

Her previous self might have scoffed at her now—feeling sympathy for Deminic was almost laughable.

“So, what, someone close to you died using dark magic carelessly? Went mad?”

Deminic’s face mixed annoyance and something like concern—almost like he cared about her feelings.

“Think whatever you want.”

Bellona snapped at him.
Emotional conversations were exhausting.

“Why don’t you tell me anything about yourself?”

“Because it’s pointless.”

She shook her head and smiled weakly at his persistence.

He was far too curious about her—despite the fact that in the next life he’d forget everything anyway.

“If you ever feel like you can’t trust me, just kill me then. Problem solved. Stop trying to get close to me.”

“I’ll decide for myself whether it’s pointless or not.”

His red eyes fixed on her like he wanted to dig out every secret she had.

“You keep acting like it’s nothing when I talk about killing you. That keeps bothering me…”

From the outside, Bellona looked lively—like someone who valued life.
It was impossible for him to know she longed for death more than anyone.

But he still managed to pinpoint the truth.

“Do you actually want to die?”

If he ever learned her biggest secret—that death itself was her strongest card—what face would he make?

Bellona stared at the enemy who had killed her again and again, yet never truly succeeded.

“At least not right now.”

Deminic was annoying, yes—but he made her want to keep living a bit longer.

She was curious about where this version of him would end up.

So she let a little honesty slip out.

“So don’t die either. Don’t get arrogant. The holy knights you fought were nothing. One especially talented knight will latch onto you. His senses are incredibly sharp. He’s the one you really need to be careful of.”

Davien’s holy power wasn’t the real threat.
She had originally been an ordinary noble daughter, not a natural holy power user.

But there was one knight blessed overwhelmingly by the gods—almost like he existed just to protect Davien.

Even Bellona, who disliked the temple, had to admit he was genuinely good-hearted.

“So I only have to avoid him? No other choice?”

“You can’t kill him early. It’s too late. His talent bloomed long ago—he’s about to be formally knighted. He’s been wandering outside the capital as a trainee knight, but… he’ll return soon.”

After living twenty-some lives, Bellona knew:
Some things couldn’t be changed, no matter how hard you tried.

Like this generation’s strongest holy knight—Ruilth—being taken by the temple after showing holy power at a young age.

“So be careful. Do everything you can to avoid meeting him. He’s either at the temple or out on missions tracking traces of dark magic.”

She hadn’t expected an answer from him.

But after a moment, Deminic said something completely unexpected.

“Alright. I’ll officially recognize you as my partner.”

“…What?”

Bellona had been quietly reading, thinking about her dream, so her reaction was delayed.

When she finally looked up, Deminic was already staring straight at her.

He was rolling a dagger between his fingers—one she recognized immediately.
When she looked at it, he set it on the table with a tap.

“Think of it as a sign of trust.”

The dagger of Eckaros.

A holy relic the temple had used to prevent Deminic from hypnotizing her.
She hadn’t bothered to take it with her when she left—she hadn’t expected to run into him again so soon.

“If your plan goes wrong, I can just kill you. Simple.”

He said that, yet he wore an expression Bellona had never seen in any life—one that didn’t want her dead.

She remembered how he had said he came here because he had nowhere else to go.

He might still be suspicious of her…
but part of him wanted to trust her.

So she decided to give him the certainty he was clinging to.

“As long as you trust me—and as long as you don’t touch the people around me—I won’t betray you in this life. I’ll take responsibility for my choice to help you.”

Afternoon sunlight slanted into the room, and Deminic froze as if time stopped.

He was always strangely sensitive to these kinds of words.

Even though he chose to stay here, even though he had just called her his partner—
he still expected her to stab him in the back someday.

Almost like betrayal was the natural outcome.

“You can doubt me as much as you want. I’ll prove myself again and again.”

Becoming the one person Deminic could fully trust was more than she planned, but… it didn’t feel bad.

To her, this was just one of countless lives—her choice was light and casual.

But she forgot something:

For Deminic, this was his one and only life.

And she had no idea how much she was already influencing him.

Or how her decision—so casual to her—would shake this entire life in ways even her twenty-one past lives couldn’t predict.