DNCTFB 20

<Episode 20>

Just as she suspected, the penalty for breaking the contract only applied to her.
But still, she had no intention of breaking it. Not when the contract was first signed— now, her feelings were different. She wanted to understand her.

“You seemed to want me to avoid pain. So you wouldn’t want me to die, would you?”

“It’s a strange thing.”

Deonis laughed softly, his tone mocking.

Magical power was an original sin. If the goddess wanted him to suffer, a mere human refusing to die…
Maybe that was why he was curious. What made her willing to defy even the goddess?

And did she really intend to help him… or was there something else behind her kindness?

Before becoming a mage, she didn’t know him—there could be no loyalty there.
He glanced at the knight beside him.

“Though I carry magical power, my loyalty born from blood will never change. I swore it to Prince Deonis.”

That was what he once vowed.

Sir Rohan’s blue eyes looked unwaveringly at Deonis. Rohan was a knight through hereditary lines; his parents had also served the late Emperor.

Before Deonis became a mage, Rohan firmly believed his prince would ascend the throne.

‘“Prince Deonis revealed his magic. That is terrible punishment from the goddess, a shame to the royal blood. The only reason to spare this sinner is to honor the late Emperor’s spirit, but from now on, Deonis Teodel Balkaras shall lose all royal rights and spend his life atoning for the empire.”’

Even after a new emperor took the throne, Rohan couldn’t alter his loyalty.
Meeting Deonis again after years, he saw a colder man—but one still fighting monsters for the empire.

‘“If the day comes when you truly lose your humanity, you may cut me down.”’

He had doubted himself countless times, fearful his inner monster might break free.
Seeing Deonis like that pained him—he only wished his prince could live more like a human.

“Breaking the contract would pain you, wouldn’t it? You’re drawn to her, even to hurting yourself?”

He recalled what he saw earlier: Deonis slashing his shoulder after meeting the magic tool maker. It echoed the way young Deonis once endured pain as self-punishment.

‘Always punishing yourself… or do you simply need the wound?’

He had feared Deonis was still tormenting himself. But the red in his eyes now was yearning.

It wasn’t until after Deonis handed her the bandages that Rohan understood the truth:
Deonis had allowed the magic tool maker to touch him—for her sake.
He’d wounded himself so she could help him.

It was the first time Deonis had ever let someone near him after magic bloomed. For over ten years, he’d kept everyone at a distance—even his loyal knight. Rohan saw this as a hopeful sign.

“My tool maker doesn’t like me. You just saw her running away.”

“No one worries about someone they hate.”

But for Deonis—who’d been stripped of human privileges young—remembering human feelings was hard.
His broken world held only pain and anger.

“My father was also a mage, so she seemed afraid of me.”

“That’s…”

Rohan frowned, but Deonis didn’t waver. Melody was a forced contract—he was certain she couldn’t truly feel anything for him.

“I don’t care if she hates me. Even if she does, I’ll wait.”

Deonis stalked deeper into the forest, following her trail.
Her steps led beyond the barrier.

“Outside the barrier.”

It seemed like a suspicious move.
Once he left the barrier, the pain vanished—and his senses sharpened.

He sensed magical devices hidden in the forest—someone had planted them.

‘Let’s clear out whatever’s irritating me.’

He hunted and killed the hidden monsters. Their bodies drifted toward the devices— so if she discovered them, she’d assume it was just normal hunting.

He discovered a small cabin. Inside, he found her.

She was coming and going from his home near the barrier’s edge— placed just out of reach of monster traffic.

‘Clever.’

Deonis approached the small box in the yard. It contained a letter, strange magical tools, and frozen sandwiches.

[Come home. Your fate is waiting for you.]

The words ‘home’ and ‘fate’ grated on him like nails on wood.

Deonis frowned harshly. That someone—her someone—called her his fate…

‘She says she loves a mage?’

He remembered the morning chat:

“Do you love the Duke?”
“No… not like that.”

“Does he love you?”
“No, it’s not that, either.”

“Then it is love?”
“There’s only one person I love. Someone will come for the Duke… not me.”

He heard her voice again inside that room—talking casually with a maid. She did have someone she cared about. Maybe someone far away… or gone.

Still, Deonis didn’t mind—even if she loved others. As long as she stayed near him.

But she would never fulfill that fate. He wouldn’t let her.

Deonis was a parched desert—Melody’s touch was a drop of water. Sweet, and leaving him thirsty for more.

He stayed at her house until she fell asleep— she gazed at the window until exhaustion overcame her sleep.

Back at Rohan’s side, Deonis issued an order:

“Send the ravens—find everything on Melody Riuud.”

The Ravens were the late Emperor’s spy network.
Even now, they chose Deonis as their master—even over the current Emperor.

“We already started, did we not?”
Rohan replied.

But their information was incomplete.
Melody had been living near the barrier—and only the last three years inside the wall were known.

“I felt a mage with her. We must find them.”

Deonis would defy her fate—and that alone was enough.

Meanwhile, early morning— Melody rushed to the temple before heading to the Duke’s residence.

The grand marble temple stood strongly against the sky. White-robed priests moved gently.
The knights watching the doors wore pure-white armor from head to toe.

“Here at the temple? I haven’t seen you since you started working for the Duke.”

Her fellow magic-tool maker, Winnie, greeted her knowingly as she entered.