Chapter 143: Please Call me Tina

“I-I told you everything! Now you’ll let me out of here, right?”

A soul, stained in a dull, ashen gray, pleaded with the demon.

The demon hesitated for a moment before curling its lips into an ambiguous smile and replying.

[Let me confirm if what you said is true.]

“I-It’s true! I remember everything about my mother!”

The soul, shouting in desperation, was once known as Tina Blanc.

A foolish soul that chose to follow her father to hell, abandoning her mother.

Of course, she never imagined that her father’s soul would end up in hell when she made that choice.

But in the end, the place that suited this ashen soul the most was the very hell she arrived at, chasing after her father.

“L-Let me out of here!”

She once spoke as if she could follow her father anywhere, but the moment she was thrown into hell, she changed her stance as easily as flipping a hand.

[If you leave this place, your father will be left all alone… Are you fine with that?]

“I-I don’t care! If I had known he was such a pathetic man, I never would have followed him in the first place!”

A man who ruined himself through gambling, lost everything, and drowned himself in alcohol until his miserable end. A soul like that naturally belonged in hell.

Tina Blanc only realized what kind of man her father truly was after following him into hell.

“Please, let me go! Return me to my body! I want to go back to my mother!”

She called her mother a disgusting murderer before, yet now that she knew the truth, she referred to her as ‘mother’ again.

A daughter as wretched as her father.

And yet, one could not place all the blame solely on this girl. After all, this was simply human nature.

The human heart sways like reeds in the wind, and human promises change like the seasons.

Even those who wear the mask of virtue will, when standing on the boundary between good and evil, ultimately choose evil.

That is why demons adore humans. Perhaps, even more than angels, demons find themselves enamored with humans.

[Wait. Once I claim your soul, I’ll send you back to your body.]

Of course, it was a lie.

There was no way for a soul that had fallen into hell to return to the mortal world in its own body.

Unless it was through a contract, a demon’s words were always lies.

Yet foolish humans were all too quick to fall for those lies.

“Really… really? Okay. If I wait just a little longer, then I’ll…”

Murmuring in relief, the girl remained unaware as the demon turned its attention back to the mortal world.

Using the information obtained from Tina, the demon lured Artasha out.

The greatest reason Tina wished to remain in the living world—Artasha Blanc.

If only Artasha disappeared from Tina’s sight, the demon could drag her back to hell once more.

The demon was already certain of the outcome.

Blood is thicker than water.

And for a woman like Artasha, who was bound by strong maternal instincts, this truth was even more deeply ingrained.

Now that she had learned her daughter’s soul resided in hell, Artasha would inevitably follow the demon’s words.

Who would she believe—the daughter she had given birth to in pain, or the stranger who had taken over that daughter’s body and pretended to be her?

The answer was all too obvious.

Artasha was a kind woman, but she was also a foolish human who would never let go of her child.

So, without a doubt, it would happen.

[I’m sorry for hurting you, Tina. But this is all for your sake.]

During the brief time she was trapped, suppressed by the vast holy power of the saintess, Tina had drifted far from the demon’s grasp.

The soul that had once been tainted by darkness was now slipping away, beginning to shine brightly again.

This could not happen.

Tina had to remain by the demon’s side.

Only then could she be kept from becoming virtuous. Only then could her soul be kept from shining.

And only then could the demon finally escape from that monster’s eyes.

The eyes of a child who had lost her beloved mother, drowning in despair. Eyes devoid of life, resigned to awaiting death.

If Tina opened her heart to Artasha, it would all happen again.

[I will never see those eyes again.]

Hell.

In the endless expanse of that void, Tina could be hidden from any being.

And so, she would take her.

Even if it meant being resented for all eternity.

The hand of my approaching mother gently reached out, tidying my disheveled collar.

“Just how frantic were you that you came in such a disheveled state?”

She gently wiped the sweat from my forehead with a handkerchief and carefully removed the damp strands of hair stuck to my face, one by one.

“M-Mother… You’re okay, right?”

I grasped her hands tightly, my heart filled with desperation.

If anything were to happen to my mother because of me, I felt as if I would be crushed under the weight of that guilt.

“What happened to make you like this?”

At this point, what meaning would there be in hiding it? Perhaps it would be better to be completely honest.

“T-The thing is… The demon left my body… But… I think it might have gone toward you, Mother…”

“A demon…”

Mother’s eyes wavered slightly.

Anyone else would have dismissed it as nonsense, but I was certain that my mother would never take my words lightly.

“Actually, I had a visitor not too long ago.”

“What?!”

My heart dropped. I bit my lip unconsciously in my anxiety.

“W-What happened?! They didn’t harm you, did they…?”

“I’m safe, my child. Don’t worry too much.”

“T-Thank goodness…”

But then, a single word caught in my mind.

…Huh?

I blinked blankly, replaying my mother’s words in my head.

Just now… she called me ‘child.’

Ever since she had given me my name, she had never called me that. Not even once.

Why now?

‘It’s nothing.’

To her, I would always be a child. She must have said it out of habit.

I shook my head, trying to push away the lingering unease, but a faint sense of dread settled in my chest, refusing to disappear.

“My daughter has come to find me.”

“Yes? Yes, that’s right. I was worried about you, so—”

“No.”

Mother firmly interrupted me. She gazed at me with a solemn expression before speaking quietly.

“My lost daughter.”

“…What?”

“I’m talking about the original owner of your body.”

Tina Blanc.

The true owner of this body.

Unlike me, she was my mother’s real daughter, connected by blood.

“Y-You saw her…?”

“She was in a spiritual form, so I couldn’t touch her. But she remembered all the memories we shared long ago.”

I couldn’t understand.

The real Tina Blanc had left with my father.

Given Ronnie Blanc’s past, she had likely gone to hell. It made no logical sense that Mother had seen her.

It had to be my childhood friend’s scheme.

“M-Mother. That person is not Tina Blanc. I-It’s a trick! The demon is trying to deceive you!”

“She said you would say that.”

Mother’s unwavering voice made my heart pound wildly.

Her eyes were so different from usual.

I couldn’t breathe properly. My body trembled like a leaf, and my mind slowly went blank.

“You could be right. But the child I saw remembered memories that only my daughter would know.”

I felt as if I would collapse and vomit right there.

I had always known that I was not her real daughter.

But my selfishness wouldn’t allow me to accept the thought of my mother calling someone else her child.

I needed to explain.

To tell her not to be deceived by my childhood friend’s tricks, to beg her to believe me.

But all that came out was the sound of my ragged, panicked breaths.

If—if the person Mother met was really Tina Blanc… then what should I do?

Can I Really Belong Among Them?

One day, I suddenly took over the body of her real daughter and stole everything from Artasha. Do I even deserve to stand among them?

My vision sways.

My wrist starts itching again. A surge of impulse flares up within me—I want to bite down hard on my tongue, to make it stop.

No.

I don’t want to be abandoned by Mother.

I don’t want to lose her again.

“M-Mother… p-please, call me Tina…”

My vision blurs. Stumbling forward, I grasp her hands with trembling desperation.

“Hah… Huff… Please… call me… Tina…”

Mother gazes at me in silence.

A deepening silence. The more it stretches, the more it feels like my insides are melting away in scorching flames.

“M-Mother… Mom…”

A long sigh.

At that sigh, I can no longer hold back my tears. They spill down my cheeks.

“M-Mom…!”

No.

In the end, I’ll be abandoned.

“…Now, I finally understand your heart.”

A warm, affectionate voice.

The unexpected words leave me momentarily stunned, my eyes blinking blankly.

And then—

A sudden embrace.

My body is pulled in tightly, and before I know it, my face is buried in Mother’s warm chest.

“Mmph…”

“Heh, I made my daughter cry.”

Mother cradles my face against her and gently strokes my hair.

“I’m sorry for not giving you the trust you needed.”

I look up at her in a daze. Her eyes, just like always, are filled with unwavering warmth and love.

“I… might not deserve to be called a mother.”

“M-Mother…”

“Tina.”

“Y-yes…?”

“You are my one and only daughter in this world.”

With those words, she softly presses her lips to my forehead.

Smooch—

“Thank you… for coming into my life.”