It was my first time feeling it.

The light green force, fresh like the color of spring, glistened like powder scattered by a fairy and covered Sislin’s? wounds.

“.....”

Sislin’s hands, which had been sliced up from holding the shards of glass, were unblemished.

—It had been a long time.

Since his body felt so light.

I stared blankly, seeing the power of my ‘buff’ at work for the first time.

It was simply amazing.

It was the same for Sislin, who quickly became fine.

“Ack!”

At that moment, Sislin put his hands on the insides of my arms and lifted them up.

With a heart pounding expression, I was made to wrap my arms around him.

“..Sisl, are you okay?”

Until just now, he was a man who was crying and staying on his knees, but he looked fine except for the bloodstains.

It was the usual robust Sislin.

“.....”

Sislin could not hide his doubts and tried to summon the power of Mephisto with his hand.

Kikkk— Jijik—?Something like a black electric current sparked and then disappeared.

It was fleeting, but he felt a powerful force.

Very different from before.

Then he answered in a low voice.

“I think everything is better.”

“Really?!”

A bright smile appeared on the girl’s face. Did it work?

The innocent girl really seemed to be happy that she kissed him and made him better.

In a way, it was right.

It was the moment when the power was gradually strengthened, breaking through the limit and completing his power. He would not have been able to do it without her abilities.

Of course, he felt extreme pain in the process, but it was sort of more like a pleasure, focusing only on the exhilarating sensation she gave him as she kissed him.

Sislin looked at Annette, who appeared innocent without knowing anything, then called Owin after a while to rectify the situation.

Owin looked quite overwhelmed at the sight of his master, who had become fine (he was biting his lips and holding back his tears), but he didn’t show much.

However, he bowed his head in front of Annette and expressed his sincere thanks.

Soon after, Owin went out to crack down on the ‘eyes and mouths’ of the Imperial Palace.

It didn’t take long for him to clean up the messy room, wipe the bloodstains off, and put on a new shirt.

“Annette, I’ll bring you back to your residence.”

“..Uh? No. It’s okay.”

‘No, you’re not going to be okay so soon, are you?’

Like a lie..

“I’ll take you.”

In the end, at Sislin’s request, we rode together in a carriage.

Daegeukuek, daegeukuek.

I sat idly as the carriage passed through the night streets.

‘..Did I, by any chance, dream it all?’

Glancing towards the side, sitting there was, as usual, a handsome face with no bruises at all.

In addition, it was not easy to bring up what had transpired earlier.

“Sisl.”

“Yes.”

He replied with a low ringing of his rib cage. His sharp, dark eyes glanced at me.

“Just now..”

“Just now?”

There were many things I wanted to ask.

‘Is it true that you went back to ‘that day’? That’s why you grabbed me like that?’

However, I remembered that he was ashamed to show such an appearance, and the question did not come out easily.

Furthermore—

At that moment, I remembered the voice he whispered with a soft smile on my lips.

“Not enough.”

“.....”

“—For a while more.”

Uh-huh,?I coughed lightly and looked forward. Ultimately, I laughed awkwardly.

“No. Nothing.”

Sislin looked forward again with a calm face as per normal.

‘I should have cleared up that the kiss we had earlier was nothing.’

‘..Or it would be awkward. But is it right that it’s nothing?’

Without realizing it, I closed my eyes tightly as I remembered myself hugging that sturdy neck and Sislin, whose dark hair scattered as he exhaled a hot breath.

My heart was beating a little.

‘It’s a big deal.’

How much more will Sislin use that as an excuse?

But there was no such thing.

Sislin quietly took me to the ducal residence and said from inside the carriage.

“Good night, Annette.”

“.....”

I was absentminded, then belatedly nodded my head.

The carriage just left.

‘....?’

For a while, I stared blankly at the leaving carriage. And with a strange feeling, I entered the mansion.

Victoria told me she was very worried because I went out all of a sudden, but she was glad things worked out in the end.

I answered in moderation and went to my bedroom.

It was very late at dawn.

I lay on a bed that was neat and clean, covered with a soft goose down duvet, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“..What?”

Then, when I finally realized the identity of this feeling, I suddenly muttered.

“Why am I sad?”

—It was a mystery.

It wasn’t during breakfast or lunch that Sislin contacted me again. The next day, in the late evening..

「I have sent a carriage, so please come to the Imperial Palace.」

‘Oh my god, why am I feeling sad over the note?’

‘Should I not go?’

I squinted.

━━━━???━━━━

The Magic Tower District, where the Magic Tower was located.

The people looked excited ahead of the national foundation festival. The scenery of the colorfully decorated streets was beautiful, and the streets were full of laughter.

Heinrich was walking there.

As if he had lost his mind.

The light had disappeared from the beautiful human.

“Resign from the candidacy of the next tower lord. A lowly person like you doesn’t deserve it.”

What did he want to come here?

..For his father’s belated interest?

How funny.

He told his biological father that he would never see him again, pretending to be dignified, but he was just wandering around like a scumbag whose mind was broken.

He didn’t know how many days had passed, and it had been a while since he last drank water.

But the body had long since forgotten hunger.

Like a mentally drained man, Heinrich erased his thoughts from his head and just walked.

His feet were very heavy, but he didn’t know how to stop.

Disheveled silver hair was hanging over his cool face.

Whoi—

Heinrich licked his chapped lips.

“Not the first time.”

Yes, this wasn’t even the first time.

That his mind was broken.

The first time was when he was shunned by his father and witnessed the dead body of his mother.

There was someone who made the boy who was in that state live.

“Sister..”

‘My Annette.’

‘My broken spirit and heart, you put it back together again.’

It was in the Forest.

It was when he was crying at the lakeside in winter because he missed his mother one day.

A blonde-haired girl, who had been talking to him a lot these days, sat down next to him.

Her name was Annette.

A 12-year-old who was one year older than him.

However, Heinrich had never once called her ‘sister’.

“Ah, are you crying, Heinrich?”

“Who is crying! It’s you again.. Go away.”

No matter how hard he tried to blame his mother for leaving and turning away from him, the truth was, there were more days he wanted to see her.

Whenever he missed her like that, he felt the worst, so he purposely went to a cold place and sat there all day.

‘I must freeze my heart.’

‘If I freeze my heart to be as cold as that lake, this sadness will be dulled and I will be less sad.’

He used to think like that when he was a kid.

“But, the weather is so cold that I can’t leave you alone?”

“..What does it matter?”

“I brought you some hot soup.”

“I’m not going to eat.”

Nom nom, slurp slurp.

The unfamiliar blonde girl began to eat the soup alone next to him.

“Warm and so delicious!”

“.....”

“Ung, it’s great.”

..She’s a really weird kid.

‘I feel bad because she keeps worrying about me.’

Besides, the smell of the soup was so savory that it annoyed him.

“Would you like a bite?”

“.....”

Heinrich, who was already drooling, eventually surrendered and had no choice but to nod his head.

“Just one bite. Because you ask.”

“Yes!”

The corn soup was sweet, savory, and very warm.

It was a taste that made hot blood circulate to the tips of his fingers, not allowing anything to freeze the heart or chest.

Why was it so delicious?

The soup the girl gave him.

No matter how much soup he ate after that day, it didn’t taste as good as it did back then.

“..Heinrich, are you done eating?”

“Noisy.”

Heinrich raised the soup cup with the bottom exposed, and spoke with a flushed face.

“..I mean, the original amount was little.”

“Pssh, huh!”

Annette smiled brightly, and Heinrich thought that the innocent-looking girl was a little pretty.

Then, the girl said,

“Heinrich, you don’t have to miss your mom.”

“.....”

“I will always be there for you until you are happy.”

‘I will give you that much affection’, the little girl said just like an adult.

Heinrich’s heart was pounding.

The girl took Heinrich’s hand, her green eyes bright.

She was very warm.

His heart, which had been frozen on the painstakingly cold hill, and wished to harden, melted easily in her body temperature.

Heinrich asked, carefully raising his silver eyelashes.

“..Why?”

The girl smiled beautifully when he asked, and for some reason, that tickled his heart as if there was a foxtail.

“Because you’re the best to me!”

Annette was the only one who could smile like that to him.

It was still the same today. To him, there was only Annette.

What reconnected his broken heart and made him alive.

“..Sister.”

Heinrich muttered a little, calling her.

‘Suddenly, I miss you.. I really feel like I’m going to die.’

Heinrich, who had lost the light, came back to life.

He licked his lips.

“Annette.”

The steps that had been slow with no power got faster and faster. All of a sudden, Heinrich was running.

What would happen after a while was—

Something he couldn’t dare imagine.

Ame:?I think I have no more tears left to cry. I’M BOTH READY AND NOT READY!!

Tassie:?I DON’T WANT TO READ THIS ANYMORE BUT AT THE SAME TIME I CAN’T STOP! We really should rename this as “The Obsessive Male Leads Want To Eat Me Alive Because I Took Care Of Them As Children And Now They All Love Me Suddenly Because I Kept On Making Promises That I Didn’t Keep And Didn’t Have Any Intention To Keep”. Yeah I’m kinda salty :kek: