‘Please help me, Father.’

When his father came looking for him, Theodore wanted to say those words.

He didn’t know how to handle his suddenly sprouted fangs, his teeth tearing into his own flesh, swallowing the flowing blood, that was what he wanted to say.

Despite knowing that his father disapproved of him, he still felt that way.

Although he knew that this man had never once spoken a warm word to him, he thought this time might be different.

With anxiety filling his red eyes and his hands trembling due to his elongated fingernails that didn’t look like his own, Theodore craved the denial he had never received before.

He hoped for an answer from the one who had experienced this before. He wished for words of reassurance that it would be okay, that it would pass soon.

But such words never came from the mouth of Grand Duke Caro.

“Don’t lose your mind. And never kill the witch.”

That was an order. Not a warm advice from a father to his son, or advice from an adult, but an order from the head of the Caro family to his successor.

In his cold voice, there was not a trace of sympathy or concern for the safety of the witch, nor any intention to prevent his son from becoming a murderer.

“You should know what happens when there’s no witch, from looking at your brother’s fate. You wouldn’t want to die like that either, would you?”

If he was truly a father who cared for his son, he would never have said such words to a son who had witnessed the death of his brother at a young age.

Especially since his son resembled his dead older brother so much, his eyes now turning red just like his brother’s, and his fangs were growing out.

All he did was warn him not to kill the witch if he didn’t want to become like his brother.

And then he ordered Theodore to be locked up in the underground dungeon immediately.

Theodore did not resist as he was led by his father’s confidants, sworn to secrecy, into the cold underground.

He just blankly stared at his father with red eyes.

‘Maybe it would be better to die instead.’

Looking at the man who only shared the same name and similar face, Theodore thought.

‘Rather than becoming a monster, perhaps……’

His thoughts didn’t continue for long. What followed was an insane thirst and pain until Theodore lost consciousness.

How tearful the denial was.

Theodore laughed bitterly as he recalled the memory of that time.

If his madness had run wild enough to lose consciousness, he certainly needed a lot of the witch’s body fluid. The worst-case scenario that Grand Duke Caro mentioned could have happened.

The first thing Theodore asked when he regained consciousness was about the witch’s life or death, precisely because of that reason.

He sighed in relief at the news that Lenatis was alive, but he certainly thought her condition would be terrible.

That’s why he got angry at the news that Lenatis was still in the underground dungeon, and despite his body not being well, he went to find her himself.

“She looks too fine.”

Contrary to Theodore’s worries, Lenatis looked too fine. She even looked energetic enough to raise her voice.

So he thought something was wrong. Because she looked too fine.

Because he hadn’t hurt her.

“Phew……”

Theodore clenched his fist, thinking of Lenatis’s face. Perhaps because the tension had eased, his hand was shaking again.

In his gradually fading consciousness, the fear that this might be the end was the last emotion that Theodore felt.

He thought that he would never be able to return as a human being, being consumed by madness like this.

Just like his dead brother.

He looked down at his still trembling hand. It was full of wounds, but it looked like a normal person’s hand. As he relaxed his hand, the fist he had clenched tightly loosened.

He stretched out his hand on a whim. And he looked down at his palm. It was still in the shape of a human hand, and it moved as he intended.

“……”

It was a relief.

Maybe, or maybe not.

* * *

“Oh!! Good!!”

As soon as I entered the room, I shouted. The room I was going to use alone was bigger than our house.

Moreover, although there weren’t many, the furniture in the room was much better than mine.

“Wow! The bed is good too!”

The bed was much softer than my previous one, and I couldn’t help but admire the almost new-looking blanket on the bed, unlike my old one which had worn out ends because I washed it too much.

Judging by this room and bed, I was definitely living in luxury.

“I wonder if my sister escaped well?”

If things had gone as planned, my sister would be in this room right now.

She would have been lying on this bed, unable to wake up after being tormented by the male lead all night. By now, the attending physician might have been checking her condition with a frown.

She should be doing well.

As I laid down on the bed, I thought more about my sister. We always slept together on a narrow bed.

When I was young, I used to fall asleep listening to the old stories or lullabies my sister would tell me. As I grew older, I would fall asleep discussing the day’s work, tomorrow’s tasks, or imagining the distant future.

The last person I would see before closing my eyes, and the first person I would see upon opening them was always my sister. And now, I was alone.

“Astella unnie……”

My voice was choked up as I called my sister’s name.

Because I missed the person I love so much.

“Hey, are you crying?”

I could hear nonsense about how much I missed my sister. I was clearly alone in this room, but suddenly I heard a strange voice laughing at me.

“Wait a minute? It doesn’t seem that strange?”

“Ah!”

When I jumped up from my seat and looked around, I saw a slime in the middle of the room.

In the dark underground dungeon, I just thought it was a translucent jelly-like figure, but in the light, I could see that the surface of the slime had a faint pink hue.

“Juseoren!”

“What?”

Ah, wasn’t this its name?

“Sokaen?”

…Or not?

The pink slime was gradually turning into a red slime.

“Sco… ka… ke… ut…?”

I racked my brain hard, but unfortunately, it seemed that I was wrong.

With each syllable I uttered, the pink hue of the slime deepened. At this rate, it looked like it was going to turn into a blood-red slime.

“My name is Sugien! You stupid human who can’t even remember one name!”

“Ah! That’s right! Sugien! Sugien!”

Thanks to the slime shouting its own name, I didn’t have to witness a blood-red slime.

I was relieved. No matter how cute a slime is, it would be scary if it was blood-red.

“But, how did you get in? I’m sure I closed the door?”

I definitely didn’t hear the door open. It wasn’t that I heard wrong, both the door I had entered through and the windows were still firmly shut.

The only thing that had changed was that there was a slime in the middle of my room.

“To a great demon like me, a closed door is nothing!”

Sugien spoke in a proud voice. If he were a person, I would have said his nose was in the air, but slime doesn’t have a nose.

“What? How did you do it? Do you have some ability to transcend space-time or something?”

I quickly got off the bed and knelt down in front of Sugien. Up close, it was even more shiny.

It felt like it would taste good. The kind of feeling that if you took a bite, it would be sweet like jelly or pudding.

“Hey, so can you take me to my sister? I just need to see her face for a moment.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Why? I’m not as heavy as I look! It’s because I wear loose clothes.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“Ah! Then, is there some complex magical problem or something?”

I guessed based on knowledge from books I had read in my previous life.

“Then, can’t you just let me see what my sister is doing right now? I would be happy just to confirm that she’s doing well.”

According to the random knowledge from my previous life, in romance fantasy novels, there were settings like magic circles that could communicate or magic mirrors that could see the other person.

“It’s impossible.”

With a cute face and a firm voice that didn’t match it, Sugien spoke.

“Why? Is it because I didn’t call your name correctly? I’m really sorry for that! I’ve definitely memorized it now, Sugien!”

“No. It’s because I don’t know how to do that.”

…What? He can’t do it because he doesn’t know how, but why is he so confident?

“Then how did you get in the room?”

“I just came in through the gap in the door!”

Sure enough, as Sugien said, there was a slight gap under the door. But it was a very thin gap.

“But it’s narrow?”

“I’m a slime, aren’t I?”

Sugien flattened his body and showed it off with a chuckle. It was thin enough to pass through that narrow gap in the door.

“Didn’t you say you’re not a slime?”

“….”

I recalled the fact that Sugien had vehemently denied last night.

“You’re a slime, right?”

“….”

“Is the ‘S’ in Sugien from ‘Slime’?”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

The slime got angry. It wasn’t very scary.

After all, it’s just a slime, whatever.