It had already been a month since the wedding.
On a warm afternoon filled with gentle sunlight, I was resting alone in my room.
‘This is all Rastan’s fault…’
The only thing I had done was eat lunch and take a short walk in the garden.
But Rastan told me not to overexert myself and pushed me into the bedroom to rest, while he went off to work.
‘It’s good to be careful since it’s early pregnancy, but it’s not like I’m some fragile sugar sculpture.’
I grumbled inwardly, but lately, I had been overcome with sleepiness even during the day.
So when Rastan insisted — not quite forcing me, but close enough — I would usually pretend I had no choice and obediently come in to take a nap.
But today, for some reason, even when I lay down, sleep wouldn’t come, so I was sitting in the rocking chair by the window, looking out at the garden.
The ducal estate’s garden, landscaped with great care solely for me, was dazzlingly beautiful every day with its colorful flowers and trees.
Three gardeners tended to the vast grounds all day long, even replacing flowers immediately whenever they began to wilt.
I had once asked if it was really necessary to go this far, but Rastan’s answer had been firm.
For my sake, nothing was too precious, and compared to the wealth of House Blake, it was merely “a single cup of water drawn from the sea.”
Being so deeply loved by my husband was both happy and, at the same time, awkward and strangely embarrassing.
‘I had a husband in my previous life too, but this feeling is new.’
Thinking of the man who had been my husband in my previous life for the first time in a while left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I had heard that Gerald, who had been sentenced to forced labor, was sent to the harshest site where only the most heinous criminals were sent.
‘The mine’s name was ah… what was it again?’
Though it was called a mine, it was practically no different from a prison camp, where criminals guilty of charges such as serial murder, treason, and other violent crimes were sent.
It was the sentence handed down after taking into account all the evil he had committed against the Empire and society.
‘How many people died or had their lives ruined because of that bastard?’
Moreover, Rastan had requested special surveillance from the mine so that Gerald wouldn’t be able to slack off or be assigned even slightly easier work.
So Gerald would spend the rest of his life being worked relentlessly in that brutal place without a moment to rest.
‘With a body that had never done physical labor before, he must be suffering quite a bit.’
From what I heard, he still believed that the punishment he received was excessive compared to his crimes.
Considering the harm he had caused so many people, it was by no means a heavy punishment, but I actually preferred that he believed that. Because thinking that way would only make him feel more wronged and suffer even more.
If he believed it was entirely his fault and that he was paying a just price, he might at least be able to accept that life of labor and confinement. But if he believed it was unfair, nothing would change, and only he would suffer.
‘What good is it if only his body suffers? His mind should suffer to death as well for it to be fair.’
No matter how harshly he was being worked, I wondered if it would ever be enough to repay the crime of abusing young Rosie and leaving her to die in the snow. But it seemed I had done everything possible within the human realm. The rest would be for God to judge after he died.
However, if Gerald lived and died with such thoughts without ever truly repenting, it was certain that he wouldn’t receive a favorable judgment from the God Legnin either.
‘I hope you won’t find peace even after death, Gerald.’
As I withdrew my gaze from the splendid garden, I finally noticed that my hand had unconsciously moved to my lower abdomen.
On the day I removed Rastan’s curse, there was something I newly realized after fully regaining my ability.
‘This place I had thought existed only inside a novel was actually a world that existed in another universe.’
Considering that, unlike my previous life, I had regressed to a world where Ifrit existed but Rosie did not, perhaps there were countless worlds like this one — similar, yet slightly different from one another.
It broke my heart that I had returned to a world without Rosie, but I chose to believe that somewhere, in another world, Rosie was living happily.
The day I learned my true identity and the origin of my power was one of the turning points of my life.
Long ago, I had been a demon, but fortunately, I was reincarnated as a human and regained that ability completely.
In the end, the attempt by those high-ranking demons to curse Rastan had turned into something beneficial for me.
They themselves had exhausted their power doing it and were annihilated by Rastan.
‘They really got hit hard by karma. Who told them to mess with an innocent demon?’
I let out a small laugh and looked at the powder-like light that was still shining above my hand.
It floated gently upward, sparkling in gold, and gathered near my palm.
‘Now I will use this for the people I love.’
As I looked at my ability, manifested as light, I recalled the events of the day I removed Rastan’s curse.
***
“Who is Rosie? …Is it perhaps the name of a young girl?”
Because I had talked in my sleep while dreaming of Rosie, Rastan came to learn that I had regressed.
And I also learned that he remembered everything from my previous life.
“Evelyn. No matter what point in time you go to, I will remain by your side in the form you know.”
“Sob… You… hic, you must not go anywhere…”
At his gentle words, all kinds of emotions surged up inside me, and I buried myself in his arms and cried uncontrollably.
Only after calming down some time later was I able to tell him the good news.
“Your curse has been completely removed. Forever.”
Trembling, Rastan placed his hand over the spot on his chest where the sword had been embedded. He lightly infused mana into his hand, but there was no reaction from the place where the sword had once been.
“Originally, a dark blue light should appear here. But…”
His face became dazed as he confirmed that the curse was gone. It was an expression I had never seen on him before.
“For so many years, no matter what I did, it could never be undone… You have saved me.”
I tried to smile out of habit, but saying this made me slightly nervous. Still, I swallowed and spoke.
“And there is something else. The thing that had been embedded in you as a curse was, long ago, my ability when I was a dream demon.”
I told him everything I had seen in the sword’s memories.
Rastan was surprised to learn that I had been a dream demon, but fortunately, he accepted it without much difficulty.
“There is even a Demon God trying to go to heaven, so there is no reason a dream demon could not be reincarnated as a human.”
However, he tilted his head slightly, saying something felt strange.
“But if that were the case, I should at least remember your existence. Yet I have no memory of you at all.”
Being afflicted by that curse had been an extremely important event in Rastan’s life.
So it made no sense that he would have no memory at all of me, someone directly connected to that event.
No matter how much time had passed, it should have been something he could never forget.
As we thought about it together, Rastan offered his own guess.
“Perhaps when you died as a dream demon, I lost my memories of you.”
He said that when those demons extracted my ability, they must have also extracted and erased the memories others had of my existence.
“It is the same as if the existence of the one whose ability was taken had been erased from the beginning.”
“As if I had never existed at all…?”
He gave a small nod.
“That is why those who did such a thing are considered especially cruel even among demons.”
They had arbitrarily erased another demon’s very existence.
“Demons may harass and fight each other from time to time, but attacking in such an extreme way is taboo even in hell.”
If such acts of mutual destruction became common, there would be no demons left in hell.
As I carefully reflected on the memories of that day, I asked something that came to mind.
“Could that also be related to why I was reincarnated as a human rather than a demon?”
“It is likely so. For demons, especially lower demons, their unique ability is both their identity and the essence of their life force.”
He lightly waved his hand, and the ink bottle resting on the desk across the room floated up into the air.
“If you could completely separate the black pigment from that ink, only plain water would remain. It is the same. A demon whose unique ability has been entirely extracted is no longer a demon.”
With that explanation, I finally understood what had happened to me.
“Because I died after no longer being a demon, I was able to be reincarnated as a human.”
“That would be correct.”
It was the same conclusion as what Ifrit had said when he kidnapped me.
“An ability is deeply and intricately rooted in its owner, like the roots of an ancient tree. So if I tear it out of you, you will be left in tatters.”
Just like human abilities, a demon’s ability was surely deeply intertwined with its true self. No, the connection was probably far stronger.
Removing a human’s ability might break the person, but for a demon, it could erase their very existence.
After thinking for a moment, Rastan spoke.
“As you know, I am a Demon God. Hell is my domain. Yet I never understood why I suddenly wished to leave that place… Perhaps the answer lies in the memories I lost.”
He was asking me to enter his subconscious again, as I had before, and find those memories.
It wasn’t difficult for me at all, so I nodded readily.
“Alright.”
“And one more thing. There is always a longing deep within my heart, something that aches unbearably, but I do not know what it is. I would like you to look into that as well.”
For his request, we once again lay back in the bed.
