~Chapter 118~
When I saw myself in Damien’s arms, not breathing, my whole body turned cold.
“What…?”
I stepped back, and my legs gave out.
I almost fell, but Damien caught me just in time.
“Ruby.”
His face looked serious as he called my name.
His twisted expression was filled with confusion and sadness.
A purple ghost butterfly quietly appeared in front of us.
“Ancestor…”
I barely managed to speak and asked the butterfly,
“Is this… our future?”
The butterfly flapped its wings and answered my question.
[This is not exactly the future. It is the only solution.]
It was a confusing answer.
“I don’t understand. Can you explain a little more?” Damien asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I could feel his hand trembling slightly as he supported me.
The butterfly continued to explain.
[Curses clash with each other.]
I still didn’t fully understand, even though I had heard it before.
[The soul contract is the only curse that the Maledictus family can create and control.]
[You must get rid of the curse placed on the soul.]
The butterfly’s last words struck me like lightning.
‘It means me.’
The Devourer.
That curse was inside me.
I didn’t know how the Devourer ended up in me, and neither did the Devourer itself, but we were deeply connected, sharing memories.
It meant my soul was cursed by the Devourer.
“If we get rid of the Devourer, maybe we can complete the soul contract.”
I mumbled, suddenly realizing the truth.
“But how can we do that…?”
Before Damien could finish his sentence, the butterfly shouted something.
But it was like static—I couldn’t hear it clearly.
[Ah—]
Suddenly, the world around us started to crack apart with a sharp sound.
“Ruby, come here!”
Damien quickly pulled me into his arms and used the curse from his right eye to protect us.
As the butterfly’s power faded, the scene of Damien and me at the magic circle shattered.
Damien crying and holding my bloody, lifeless body turned into pieces and disappeared.
“I think the butterfly’s power is gone now.”
The curse Damien used floated away into the air.
“The butterfly needs a lot of strength just to speak…”
There was no trace left where the butterfly had been.
I reached out my hand toward the empty space and turned to Damien.
“Honestly, I still don’t know what that vision meant.”
Maybe it meant that if we can’t make the soul contract, that could be our ending.
Maybe it was showing the future if I die because the soul contract can’t be done and my life can’t be extended—leaving Damien to grieve.
‘Our faces didn’t look much older…’
The vision was so shocking I didn’t even pay attention to how old we looked. Maybe it was seven years in the future.
“Me too. I’m still confused,” Damien said.
“But at least we learned one thing.”
I put my hand over my chest and said,
“If the Devourer is destroyed, we can finish the third rite and make a complete soul contract.”
I didn’t know why the ghost butterflies showed us Damien crying over my dead body, but after listening to them, this fact was clear.
“We need to find a way to get rid of the Devourer.”
Damien looked up seriously at the big purple moon.
“But for now, let’s get some sleep. It’s really late.”
He took my hand and led me to the stairs down the tower.
“We’ll start researching how to get rid of the Devourer tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Led by Damien, I went to bed at two in the morning.
Tonight wasn’t one of the nights we slept together, so Damien took me to my room and said goodnight.
“Goodnight, Ruby.”
“Sweet dreams, Damien.”
I waved to Damien, who smiled gently at me.
As soon as the door closed, I shut my eyes.
‘I’m glad tonight isn’t our night to sleep together.’
If it was, Damien would have noticed right away that I wasn’t sleeping.
I closed my eyes and focused hard, picturing a strong image in my mind.
“Are you there?”
I focused on the image of the thing I feared most.
[Kihihihihihi.]
Right away, I heard its answer.
‘I’m glad tonight isn’t our night to sleep together.’
For the first time, Damien had this thought.
Usually, he felt disappointed when it wasn’t their night. Sometimes, if he got to share a bed with Ruby even when it wasn’t planned, he would be so happy.
But tonight, he was glad they didn’t sleep together.
He took a small lamp and headed to the study.
The mansion was silent. Only his lamp and the purple moonlight through the window lit the room.
‘If I was with Ruby, I couldn’t sneak away to do research.’
Why did he have to study alone in secret, instead of with Ruby? It was because he worried about her.
‘If I can’t find a way to get rid of the Devourer…’
If there was no way—or if the only way was impossible—
He was afraid Ruby would be crushed with despair. That’s why he wanted to do the research on his own.
Of course, he was determined to find a way no matter what.
‘I can’t lose her after all I’ve been through.’
He pushed open the heavy library door and went straight to the shelves filled with books.
He pulled out every book he could find and piled them on the desk.
‘Please, give me a clue…’
Getting rid of the Devourer wouldn’t be easy.
If it were easy, Ruby would have already destroyed it herself.
‘But the ghost butterflies said it’s the only way.’
Even if it seemed impossible, he would make it possible.
He went back to the documents he found when he first learned Ruby had the Devourer inside her, carefully reading them again to see if he had missed anything.
Thirty minutes passed. An hour. Then two. Still, he kept searching through the books, sighing as he ran his hand through his hair.
‘It’s just like what I read before…’
But he hoped it was wrong.
Or maybe he missed something.
Because the way to erase the Devourer written in his research was impossible.
“What’s going on? Why did you call me?”
When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar place.
There stood “it”—a face just like mine, eyes even redder than blood, sharp fangs, and long, white hair flowing.
It crossed its arms and stared at me.
“I have something to ask you.”
I spoke honestly.
Even if I was curious, the Devourer might not tell me anything.
But I thought it was better to ask directly instead of beating around the bush.
“Go ahead,” it said, tilting its head.
I hesitated for a moment.
Would I be punished for asking?
But then I remembered—it was the Devourer who brought this up first. I was just asking for confirmation.
“You told me once…”
I stared straight into its blood-red eyes.
“You said there was no way to get rid of you.”
The Devourer tilted its head.
“Except for one thing.”
“That’s right,” it nodded.
I asked what I most wanted to know.
“Is the only way—”
I paused and took a deep breath.
“Is the only way to get rid of you… my death?”
