Chapter 140: Devil’s Contract

“Just holding hands while sleeping is enough!”

“…Huh?”

“If girls hold hands while sleeping, they can have a baby.”

The way she spoke, as if teaching a child, left me speechless. But her innocent answer, fitting for a childhood friend, made a smile unconsciously form on my lips.

Idiot.

As if holding hands could actually make a baby.

Of course, there was no need to correct her. After all, it wasn’t like I had any plans to have a child anyway.

“Well, alright. Let’s do it your way.”

“Really?!”

Her eyes widened in surprise. The reaction made it clear she hadn’t expected me to agree.

With a faint smile, I gently took her hand.

“If it’s you, I don’t mind.”

“Hi—Hik…”

Her body trembled slightly, and her face turned bright red in an instant.

“Hey.”

“F-Fine. Then, if we do have a baby… let’s take them to hell together. I can hide them well there. It’ll definitely be… happier that way.”

Taking a baby to hell? That was certainly a devilish idea.

I wondered what kind of face she’d make when she eventually learned how babies were actually made. The thought piqued my curiosity.

“Alright, sure. But you have to do me a favor in return.”

Still unable to contain her excitement, she nodded vigorously.

“Tell me! As long as it’s reasonable, I’ll do it!”

“I… don’t plan on going to hell anytime soon.”

A brief silence followed.

At my words, the excitement that had been sparkling in her eyes vanished in an instant, turning ice-cold.

“…What?”

Her voice was chilling, making my spine tingle. It was the same voice I had heard when we first met.

“Just what I said. Until I atone for all my sins, I’ll stay here and seek forgiveness.”

“öt?”

The dark mist surrounding us began to swirl violently.

Luella’s face started to distort, warping into something barely recognizable as human.

“You mean… you’ve grown attached to this place?”

Her voice was laced with mockery.

“It’s not like that. I’ve hurt too many people. At the very least, I need to ask for their forgiveness.”

“You’re still the same naive fool.”

She slowly stepped closer.

The kindness that had once filled her gaze was nowhere to be found.

“I’ve told you so many times. Humans are creatures that will become as ugly as they need to be for their own benefit. No matter how much you struggle, no one will ever truly understand you.”

“Not everyone is like that.”

“Hah! Are you talking about that saint? Or maybe that noble lady? Or could it be… that fake mother you tricked?”

“I’ve committed unforgivable sins against them. And yet, they still chose to protect me.”

“Pu-huh.”

A twisted grin spread across her lips, stretching unnaturally wide. Her legs bent at an eerie angle, extending toward me.

Now at my eye level, she gently ran her fingers through my hair, still smiling unsettlingly.

“Tell me, Tina. Why do you think they go out of their way to care for you?”

“…”

“A weak, helpless girl like you, with no real abilities or strength to rely on… why do you think they bother with you at all?”

I already knew what she was trying to say.

That question had echoed in my mind countless times before.

Why would people like Viviana and Lillian—who could truly be called the protagonists of this world—concern themselves with someone as insignificant as me?

That doubt always led me to the same conclusion.

“That’s right, Tina. It’s because of your looks and your fragile little body that they care so much.”

The childhood friend’s black hand slowly covers my face. Darkness, so deep that I can’t see an inch ahead, swallows me whole.

“And the reason is… because I placed you in Tina Blanc’s body.”

“Tell me, Tina. If you had ended up in the body of someone completely insignificant and hideous, do you think they would have cared about you?”

The childhood friend’s words pierced my heart like sharp thorns. A truth I desperately wanted to bury cruelly resurfaced.

“Even those so-called ‘loving’ parents you adore—do you think they would have cared about you if I hadn’t put you into Tina Blanc’s body?”

Of course not.

The only reason I was able to receive Artasha’s love…

Was because I borrowed Tina Blanc’s body.

“Don’t be mistaken. They’re not some great, virtuous people who care about you. The only reason they do is that I made you into Tina Blanc. That alone gave birth to their so-called ‘kindness.’”

The hand covering my eyes slowly withdrew.

In front of me, my childhood friend smiled brightly.

That smile was disturbingly warm.

“Can love that depends on a single choice of mine really be real?”

“…But I’m different. No matter what, I will love you for eternity.”

“You mean you’re different from them?”

“Yes, I am.”

My childhood friend slowly approached me. Her eyes shone with a deep, chilling emotion.

“I don’t care what you look like. What I truly love is your soul itself.”

A pure white soul.

That’s what she called my soul.

“So don’t rely on the weak, meaningless love of humans. Only I can truly love you.”

She reached out her hand toward me.

She had reached out to me like this the first time we met, too. And back then, I had grabbed her hand without hesitation.

“Take my hand, Tina. Come to hell with me.”

“No.”

“…What?”

For a moment, surprise flickered across her face. But this time, I wouldn’t take her hand.

“Maybe you’re right. But even so, I will stay here and atone for my sins.”

“You want that meaningless love? In a body that isn’t even yours?”

“No, this is my body.”

At my firm declaration, a shadow of confusion crossed her face.

Tina.

Tina Blanc.

The daughter Artasha newly accepted. The name she gave me.

Now, I had fully accepted that name.

That name belonged to me alone.

“You’ve grown quite shameless, haven’t you, Tina? After stealing someone else’s body, you say that?”

“It wasn’t stolen, was it? You must have made a contract with the original owner, right?”

I answered calmly, unwavering.

Her expression hardened. As if I had struck a nerve, she fell silent and simply stared at me.

Demons cannot directly influence the mortal world.

Not until someone willingly accepts them.

The fact that my childhood friend had been able to push out the original soul of Tina and place me in this body—

There was only one explanation.

“What kind of contract did you make with this body’s original owner?”

The original owner had willingly made a contract and surrendered the body.

At my question, my childhood friend twisted her lips into a crooked smile and avoided answering.

“Ha, you used to follow my words so obediently.”

She reached out toward me.

From within the black mist, sharp thorns surged forth, wrapping around me. The chillingly sharp thorns grazed my skin, sending a cold shiver through me.

“Tina, I could kill you right now and drag you to hell.”

One of the thorns inched closer to my throat.

“Would you really kill me?”

“…If necessary.”

Her voice sounded firm, but I could sense the hesitation hidden beneath it.

“Alright, I see.”

I accepted her words quietly. Then, of my own will, I took a bold step forward.

The thorn that had been grazing my throat dug into my flesh.

Pierce!

“You—!!”

She shouted in shock.

For the first time, her eyes showed confusion and anger.

“Ugh… ah…”

I couldn’t breathe properly.

Blood splatters from all directions, accompanied by excruciating pain. However, the pain lasts only for a fleeting moment.

A pure white light radiates from the jewel hanging around my neck. A warm energy flows with the light, gently wrapping around my throat.

Amazingly, the deep wound heals in an instant, leaving not even a small scar behind.

“You scared me, Tina! What were you thinking, just walking in like that?!”

My childhood friend rushes over in a panic, inspecting my body. The trembling in her fingertips conveys her worry all too clearly.

Yeah.

She has always been like this.

Lillian calls this being a ‘demon.’ In truth, my childhood friend might be closer to a demon than anything else.

But to me, she has always been a precious friend—one who has protected me all this time.

“I’m not saying I won’t go at all. Once I’ve paid off all my sins, I’ll go to hell with you.”

My childhood friend’s face is laced with exhaustion. She seems thoroughly exasperated by my stubbornness.

“When you’ve atoned for all your sins, your soul will be pure again. You won’t be able to go to hell.”

“Then let’s live here together until I can.”

I take her hand with a gentle smile. She blinks at me, as if she doesn’t quite understand what I mean.

“…What?”

“Maybe not for eternity, but let’s live together here for now. And when I die, you can devour my soul.”

“…..”

“That way, inside you, we can go to hell together.”

I step close enough that our breaths mingle. Then, I press my lips lightly against her right cheek.

“…Eh?”

Caught off guard by my unexpected action, her face instantly turns crimson. I grin and whisper softly into her ear.

“You, me, and that child you wanted. The three of us—let’s live here together.”

“Hiiik!”

She jumps back in shock.

Her face isn’t just red—it’s completely flushed, burning with embarrassment.

Her eyes tremble deeply, revealing just how flustered she is.

She remains silent for a long while, seemingly lost in thought, her cheeks still bright red. Then, at last, she looks at me with regained composure.

“I will never eat your soul.”

“…Why?”

“And, Tina… you won’t be able to stay in that body for much longer anyway.”

“…Huh?”

“If a demon fails to fulfill a contract, they’ll revert to their original state. The original owner of that body is already gone and won’t be coming back, but… you won’t be able to remain in it any longer either.”

Her words catch me completely off guard. My heart begins to pound violently.

I won’t be able to stay in this body anymore?

“…What exactly was the contract?”

My voice trembles as I ask.

She lifts two fingers.

“First, to take you to the place where your deceased father rests. That part has already been fulfilled, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“And the second?”

Her fingers slowly lower. A mischievous smile plays at her lips.

“Second—Artasha Blanc.”

The cruel truth spills from her mouth.

“She must live out the rest of her life in misery… and die in utter despair.”

A truth so unbearable, I can’t turn away.

“That was Tina Blanc’s second contract condition.”