(unedited)

When she was younger, not long after confronting Liel about his mark.

Lucy had once wondered what she would do if he turned into a demon.

Why is life like that? No matter how hard you try, sometimes things don’t end well.

So Lucy assumed the worst and made a plan for herself.

For example, a desperate plan to beg Liel, who knows all his secrets and wants to kill her, to spare her life because she will keep her mouth shut for the rest of her life, or if that doesn’t work, to escape to a foreign country.

Of course, she’s not sure that qualifies as a backup plan, but Lucy was serious.

Until today, however, there was no sign of Liel ever seeing Dioletta as a person of the opposite sex.

If there had been even a hint of that between them, Lucy would have made a better plan to escape.

In other words, she didn’t have a plan right now. She believed she had twisted the original.

Being Lucy, she had no idea that this would happen. Or in this way.

Snapping out of her reverie, Lucy asked, her face white.

“To love you?”

As if anticipating Lucy’s reaction, Liel chuckled and kissed her palm. His gaze remained fixed on Lucy.

The intensity of his gaze and the unfamiliarity of his touch sent shivers down Lucy’s spine.

Even after all these years of knowing each other, there was a line between them.

Just as other nobles would always set the tone with a kiss on the back of the hand, but not between them.

Not to mention it made her head spin.

Seeing Lucy’s furrowed brow, Liel asked innocently.

“Why? You can’t do it?”

His eyes, laughing and narrowed, momentarily hid the pupils of his eyes.

“But what can we do?”

“…….”

“That’s your only option.”

If she only has one option, it’s not really an option at all.

Lucy’s mind was too full of other things right now to even consider this obvious point.

“That’s not what I meant…… Wait a minute, I’m trying to…….”

She’s confused, but…….

Lucy’s eyes flickered back and forth, as if speaking her mind. Her sunset eyes roamed over Liel and her hand covering his lips.

After a short hesitation, Lucy asked with the most perceptiveness she had ever displayed.

“Is it m, me…… you like?”

No one, not even Lucy, was stupid enough to not realize that Liel was begging her for her love right now.

Even if she had been blind, at least this time.

Still, Lucy’s voice was shaky and unsteady, as if she wasn’t sure yet.

Inwardly, she knew she was sure, but part of her wondered if she was being too self-conscious.

But as if to mock her thoughts, Liel’s eyes twinkled with delight.

As if he’d been waiting for this moment, his face beaming with joy and delight.

Oh, my God.

That look could only point to one thing.

“Uh, since when……? No, why on earth……?”

“Since when? Why?”

You call that a question?

She could feel his lips pressed against her palm. Lucy’s entire attention was focused on her palm.

Finally, as if to give himself some breathing room, Liel pulled her hand away from his lips and answered.

“It’s no wonder I like you since the beginning.”

What kind of answer is that?

Normally, she wouldn’t have hesitated to retort, but in front of her best friend who had become a demon, Lucy cowered.

Don’t be like the original Lucy, and don’t offend Liel by quivering your lips.

She reminded herself of what she had to do to stay alive.

But the question still lingered in the back of her mind.

Is it only natural that he likes me……? Why……?

She tried to guess, but nothing came to mind.

The thing is, every word that came out of Liel’s mouth was so sudden to Lucy.

If he likes her, why is he confessing this way, why is he looking like that?

Other questions began to creep in.

She understood that she was in the same situation as Dioletta in the original.

But unlike Dioletta, Lucy hadn’t declared her intention to marry Dailor.

In fact, she even explains to Liel that she had specifically rejected his marriage proposal.

If that was the case, why was Liel staring at her as a demon?

Lucy resisted the urge to tear her hair out right now.

If marrying Dailor wasn’t the cause of his turning……, then what was?

Lucy tried to find a reason for his change in this silence that Liel had granted her.

One plausible reason soon came to mind.

“I know you don’t like me, and you don’t, but at least I—.”

The last time they’d seen each other, she’d thrown some pretty harsh words at Liel, who’d closed his mouth, unable to continue.

“Even if I…… find myself in an even more embarrassing and troubling situation than I am now…….I won’t ask for your help in such a matter.”

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t think of anything else. Maybe she had dug her own grave that day.

Even as she realized why, Lucy despaired. She realized that she couldn’t pick up the water that had already been spilled.

But the resentment remained.

Lucy had no idea that Liel liked her; she couldn’t possibly know.

For he had always been the same to her.

To others, his behavior might have been driven by love, but to Lucy, it was who he was.

From the time she was a little girl until now, he has always been kind to her.

So there was no way for Lucy to know that Liel was being nice to her because he liked her.

“…….”

She flinched, cringed like a guilty person, and glanced at Liel, who was still holding her hand and looking down at her.

Suddenly, Lucy realized that maybe she should have a conversation with Liel now.

“Liel, that…….”

She didn’t know what to say.

It was hard to get the words out of her mouth, given the subdued atmosphere and her curiosity.

“Maybe I should think about it first, and…… I’ve never seen you that way before, so maybe you could give me some time to……?”

As sweet as Liel was to Lucy, she was also sweet to him.

By now, Lucy was beginning to accept the change in Liel, along with the hope that she wasn’t going to die.

As proof, she stood by his side, trembling, even in situations that would have made most people scream and run away.

Liel was aware of her attitude, but he accepted it without resentment.

“Okay.”

So easily, too.

He was far too compliant for someone who had told her she had only one choice.

“R, really?”

Lucy asked again, sounding skeptical, and when Liel nodded, Lucy’s face lit up.

With the complacent thought that while his personality may have changed a bit, it hadn’t changed his essence, Lucy prepared to climb down onto the plush bed.

It wasn’t until her bare feet touched the cold floor that she realized she was dressed differently than she originally was.

“…….”

Where are her shoes, and why is she in her pajamas…….

“Where are you going?”

She heard a laughing voice behind her. Her tension that had just begun to loosen tightened again.

“To…… to my home, of course…….”

“I thought you said you needed some time.”

“Well, I did, so…….”

Shouldn’t she go home first, stabilize their minds and bodies, and then think about it?

“And, uh…… the coachman will be waiting down the hill, and…….”

Lucy replied with a stifled laugh, and Liel followed suit.

Unlike Lucy, who was smiling awkwardly out of survival instinct, Liel’s smile was natural.

Then his lips slowly opened.

“The coachman left while you were passed out.”

In fact, he had sent him back. He’d been planning to do this ever since Lucy had written to him— no, ever since he’d given himself to the demon.

“Huh……?”

Of course, there was no way Lucy could know what he was thinking.

“And, Lucy, I think you might be misunderstanding a few things.”

Lucy’s purple hair, haphazardly disheveled, came into Liel’s eyes.

His stomach clenched as he remembered her lying on his bed, tossing and turning.

“One is the time I gave to you, the time to turn that tedious friendship into love.”

I’m sick of it.

Despite the coldness in Liel’s voice, Lucy couldn’t help but feel a little hurt by the words that came out of his mouth.

She curled her lip and bit it, making a face. Still, Liel didn’t stop talking.

“The other is that the place you’re going to stay is here, not at Seywint Manor.”

Lucy’s lips, which she’d been biting to hold back her disappointment, reflexively parted.

The sight of Lucy’s lips, red with blood, was too much for Liel.

His body temperature, which had cooled to match his altered form, rose to a fever pitch.

“Why, did you think you could get out of here?”

And then Liel’s face came into Lucy’s field of vision, tilted at an angle.

Her mind quickly flashed through all the things Liel had done to Dioletta in the original.