Chapter 147: My face in the Past

“…Great Demon?”

I blinked in confusion and muttered to myself.

[Her name is Rachel Biton.. She is a being of a different level compared to nameless demons like us.]

“…Then what about my real mother?”

[She died because her body was deemed useless while imprisoned. Also, it was probably to instill guilt in you.]

Lillian took a step closer to the demon.

“…The story of the Great Demon is something that only appears in myths.”

There was no longer any trace of a smile in her eyes.

“So, what is the reason you’re trying to take Tina to hell?”

[If it’s the vast and infinite hell, I could hide Tina there for her entire life.]

“With that logic, wouldn’t it be just as safe in heaven? In fact, it might be safer there.”

At Lillian’s sharp remark, the demon flinched and shuddered.

[W-well, heaven… I can’t go there with her…]

“…Hah.”

[What do you know about angels? I’m confident I can make Tina happy forever!]

With a single wave of her hand, Lillian’s pure white chains wrapped around the demon and shone brightly.

[Hiiick!!]

A painful scream escaped from my childhood friend’s mouth. Lillian looked at me with a satisfied expression.

“What do you want to do with Tina?”

“Huh?”

“Do you believe this demon’s words?”

I couldn’t easily answer that question.

Deep down, I still trusted her. She had always been kind and honest to me.

But to fully trust her… she had told me such a huge lie.

“Can I ask just one thing?”

[….]

“Then, what was the thing about having to go to hell to see my mom?”

The only reason I was going to go to hell was because I believed my real mother was there.

[…I’m sorry, it was a lie.]

“I know it was a lie. But why did you tell me such a lie?”

[Because at one time, she was everything to you.]

The demon hesitated, glancing at me before continuing.

[After she died, I couldn’t bear to see the light fade from your eyes. If I told you she was in hell… I thought you might find a reason to live again.]

“You were wrong.”

At my quiet voice, the demon lowered her head.

[…I’m sorry.]

A brief silence passed.

After a while, the demon, who had been keeping her head down, slowly looked up at me again. There was still a cross drawn in her eyes.

[Rachel Biton is looking for you. According to the dream demons, she will come to this world soon.]

“…So?”

[You can’t escape from her in this small land.]

Her voice was filled with certainty.

[That’s right. As the saintess said, wanting to take you to hell is just my greed. But it doesn’t have to be hell. If it’s heaven, you might be able to escape the touch of the Great Demon.]

“But, Tina. If you stay here, eventually, you will fall into her hands again.”

“How can she find me?”

[Your soul is too noticeable.]

Is it another tale of that pure white soul?

[Though I tried to hide it by immersing myself in darkness, it has once again instantly turned into light.]

A smile appeared on the demon’s lips. It was no longer the strange, twisted smile of the past; it seemed, in some way, to be a smile filled with genuine sincerity.

[You can kill me. If it’s your hands, I wouldn’t mind being erased. But promise me this, Tina.]

A long black thread grew from the demon’s hand and approached me.

Lillian tried to stop it by channeling her divine power, but Viviana quietly stopped her, holding her back.

In the end, the black thread reached right in front of my hand.

[Run away from here. Go to heaven. If it’s your soul, the angels will surely love you.]

“…..”

“…”

[If she finds you, that unfortunate past will repeat itself.]

The black thread wavered slightly in front of me.

I stared at it for a moment, then slowly stretched out my pinky and hooked it onto the thread.

“…..”

‘…So, you’re telling me not to be caught by that great demon, right? I promise.’

[Yes. Then, now, let me…]

“Instead, promise me something.”

[Huh…? What?]

“Promise me you won’t do anything bad from now on.”

The demon seemed stunned, its mouth hanging open without moving.

It seemed confused by my words, and after staring blankly for a while, it finally asked with a trembling voice.

[…You’re… not going to kill me?]

“Yeah. What kind of being are you to me?”

I could only understand after meeting my childhood friend.

The name ‘demon’ isn’t everything. Not every being called a demon is evil.

Perhaps the colored glasses we wore made them appear evil.

“Lillian, I believe what my childhood friend says.”

Lillian made a dissatisfied expression, but she didn’t seem strongly opposed.

Viviana, stepping in for her, spoke up first.

“Well, I think it’s fine to spare her.”

Viviana gave me a playful wink with a light smile as she looked at me.

“If it weren’t for that kid, honestly, Tina, you might not have met her.”

“Viviana…”

“And, that guy… she seems to be sincere only towards you.”

Viviana hit the demon on the forehead with the scabbard again.

The demon scowled and growled, but Viviana laughed as if she didn’t care about the threat.

“…It seems the majority already agrees.”

Lillian let out a deep sigh, as though she had given in.

“Come to think of it, it was that demon who made me lose Ariel and get ostracized from society.”

Lillian’s sharp gaze turned to the demon. I quickly stepped in between them.

“No, Lillian. That decision was entirely mine.”

“But it was that demon who made it happen, wasn’t it?”

“The one who handed over the sword, and the one who took it and killed someone. Which one do you think made the bigger mistake?”

“…That’s…”

Even if I was tainted by the demon, ultimately, it was my decision. Therefore, the sins I had to bear were endless.

“Please… punish me. My childhood friend did this for me.”

I looked up at Lillian with drooping eyes. On her face, a slightly sinister smile appeared.

Lillian approached me.

“Then, I guess it’s Tina who I should punish?”

One of her hands wrapped around my waist, and the other slowly pressed on my lower abdomen.

“Ugh…”

“Heh, come to think of it, it’s been a while since we did bladder training, hasn’t it?”

“Here…?”

Lillian’s lips came closer to my ear.

“Don’t you think it’d be quite exciting to be seen in front of others?”

I blushed at the whisper. Her face was getting closer.

[W-Wha… What are you doing?!]

The black threads crossed between Lillian and me.

[What kind of shameless behavior is this?!]

The demon stammered, and Lillian gave her a bewildered look.

“What? Shameless?”

[Your… your face is too close! You’re touching me without permission…!! And why are you touching my… my belly?!]

Lillian’s gaze turned toward me in confusion. I awkwardly scratched my cheek.

“Well… my childhood friend is innocent…”

“…As if I were the demon here.”

Lillian sighed briefly and approached the demon. As she raised her hand, a bright light began to flicker around her.

“Even if Tina likes you, I still can’t trust you.”

[…Then, kill me.]

“No, I can’t do that.”

The divine light filling the surroundings started to envelop the demon.

[What… what are you doing?!]

“Don’t move. One wrong move, and the divine power will burn you.”

At Lillian’s calm warning, the demon swallowed nervously.

The divine power tightly enveloped her and began to compress.

[Ugh…!]

The demon’s grotesquely long black arm disappeared. The thorn-covered legs and blurry figure began to shrink away.

Wrapped in pure white light, all I could see from my childhood friend was the cross-shaped eyes.

The light, which had been shrinking along with my childhood friend, had somehow grown to a height similar to that of a person.

Then, at Lillian’s gesture, the threads surrounding my childhood friend scattered into the air in an instant.

Seeing my childhood friend’s revealed appearance, I could only gape in disbelief.

[Huff…! Hah…! …Kkk…]

What flowed from my childhood friend’s mouth was not a neutral voice, but a delicate female voice.

Her body, which had been entirely in darkness, now revealed snow-white skin.

Her lips, thick and small, were at the corner of her mouth, which had been grotesquely torn.

Red eyes, snow-white skin.

The only black color was the long hair of my childhood friend.

“Huh? What is this…?”

My childhood friend fumbled with her body in confusion.

“…Unnecessarily beautiful face.”

Lillian scowled as she looked at my childhood friend.

“What did you do to me?”

“It’s nothing much. I just covered the shape of your body with divine power.”

Lillian, who approached my childhood friend, pinched her cheek.

“Ouch!”

At Lillian’s touch, the white, soft cheek stretched out.

“In other words, I trapped you inside a divine power shell. Be careful not to let the shell and form merge; it’ll sting.”

Lillian smiled brightly and looked at me.

“Now it’s obvious, this demon can no longer threaten you, so you can relax.”

“Eh? What?”

Despite Lillian’s call, I couldn’t help but stare at my childhood friend for a while.

‘That’s my face.’

To be more precise, it was exactly the same as my face from my past life.

Of course, it was a more mature version of my past life’s face, but it was undeniably my face from that past life.

The only difference was that, unlike my past life, it had a woman’s body.

“Lillian, what happened to her appearance?”

“Hmm? Well, actually, the appearance changes according to the demon’s imagination.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Maybe it takes the form of the person the demon thinks of the most?”

“…But why her body?”

My childhood friend’s face turned red. It was pitiful to see her keep glancing at me.

“Do you know her face, Tina?”

“Uh, well… that’s…”

“No, it’s not that!”

My childhood friend shouted. Her face turned as red as her crimson eyes.

“I-I didn’t want you to get pregnant or think they could be closer just because you’re a woman!”

An eerie silence fell over the space. Both Lillian and Viviana, somewhat dazed, alternated their gaze between me and my childhood friend.

“…Could this be the appearance of the old Tina?”

At Lillian’s trembling question, I weakly nodded.

“Yes, yes… It’s pretty ugly, right?”

The face my biological mother used to call ugly every day.

Because of that, I could never proudly show my face to anyone.

“…Tina.”

Lillian’s face seemed to darken. She grabbed my shoulder firmly.

“You can’t go back to your past life’s body, can you?”

“Huh…?”

“You have a pure soul, and your face is like that; it’s just cheating.”

In the moment I blinked at the sudden words, Viviana placed her hand on my other shoulder.

“It’s fine. I prefer the current Tina.”

“Of course, your past life’s appearance was also stunningly beautiful.”

These people…

What on earth are they talking about right now?

In my past life, I was a man.