Bathed beneath a scorching rain of blood, surrounded by rootless flames that burned without fuel, Rean’s Demonform hands gradually returned to normal.

Even though he’d already won, Rean felt no joy at all. No pride, either. He only stared blankly at Ifrit’s corpse, torn into scattered chunks by his own hands.

His ancestor had used a weapon forged by Lucifer, and only barely managed to seal this flame demon even with the advantage of the environment. And yet now, Rean had killed it with ease. It should’ve been something to take pride in, something to carve heavily into his record. So why did he feel so empty?

Come to think of it, when was the last time he fought a colossal enemy that only existed in history books?

He remembered.

It had already been ten years.

Rean closed his eyes. The memories of that day burst out from the depths of his mind like water pouring from an uncorked kettle.

If he’d had the power he possessed now back then, maybe that heart-rending regret would never have existed.

But the irony was that this power, the power to crush a mighty foe so easily, had only come after he’d gone through that regret, that grief. While everyone else had cheered for victory, he alone had been offering her his final remembrance.

It was also then that the man named Lein Christin buried his naivety and arrogance together with the girl who had passed away, and took her final wish as his one and only goal.

And that wouldn’t change in the future, either.

High above, Olga silently watched everything. Just moments ago, he had torn the rampaging flame demon apart like a storm. But now he stood there like a statue that had lost the ability to move, dazed and still, letting the searing blood keep splashing across his body and face without reacting at all.

She didn’t know what Rean was thinking, or what he was dwelling on. But on that side profile, stained red by blood and flames that weren’t his own, there seemed to linger an unforgettable sorrow stirred up by battle.

This man, who looked chuuni and frivolous on the surface, carried not only the responsibility of royalty and the valor of a warrior, but perhaps a past he didn’t want to tell anyone about.

Olga slowly descended to the ground. Her spread white wings were once more covered by her black cloak. She took small steps to Rean’s back, hesitating over whether she should disturb him.

“Rean, let’s head back...”

But just as she finally made up her mind and reached out, Rean, who had been standing there like a statue, suddenly swayed. He was about to fall forward, and she hurriedly caught him from behind.

“How are you? Are you hurt again?!”

Holding Rean, whose muscles had already gone slack, Olga anxiously checked him for wounds.

He had practically steamrolled Ifrit just now, but other than Rean himself, who could know whether he’d been injured in the fight?

“Wait there, I’ll heal you right away!”

“I’m starving...”

Rean slowly opened his eyes and covered his stomach, letting out a weak little groan.

“Hah!?”

Olga’s hand froze in midair. One of her eyes went wide while the other narrowed as she stared at the weak-looking Rean leaning against her.

“I haven’t eaten a single thing since I got back last night. Then this morning you chased me all over the place. Then I got clawed through just now. I’m starving to deaaaath—glrrrgh—”

Grinding her teeth, Olga pinched Rean’s mouth shut and shook his head like mad while cursing him out.

“Why don’t you just starve for real then?! You scared the hell out of me!”

“And whose fault do you think that is?! If you hadn’t been camping outside the city wall first thing in the morning waiting for me, I’d have finished everything by now. I’d be full and on my way to happily running away from home!”

Thinking back on everything that had happened since last night, Rean felt a fresh wave of irritation. It all came pouring out at Olga together with the growling of his stomach.

As Rean said, if Olga hadn’t been waiting by the wall for him, his schedule this morning would probably have gone like this: walk straight to the forest, happen to save the fathers who had entered it to collect ice serpent blood for their children, go with them to town to visit the kids, come here and deal with Ifrit and Renos, then head back to town for a proper meal before setting off for the Kingdom of Tiyehua. At minimum, it would’ve cut his time in half.

“That’d be even worse!” Olga glared at Rean. “If you ran off, what would I do?!”

“Don’t say it in a way that makes people misunderstand! What happens to you has nothing to do with me!”

“If you ran off, who would I marry?!”

“Who cares?! And didn’t I already say I’m not marrying you?!”

“In that case... even if I have to use force, I’ll make you submit!”

A sharp gleam flashed through Olga’s eyes. Remembering what had happened in that alley, Rean instinctively covered his chest, which had been left exposed after Ifrit’s claw pierced through it and it healed back up.

Though with how ruined his upper clothes already were, it didn’t really help at all.

If anything, it just made him look even more indecently sexy.

“I’m warning you, stop getting ideas about my body! Miss Angel, have some self-respect and remember your status—hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, don’t yank my arm! Seriously?! Is that how you drag someone?! What am I, a plow!?”

Contrary to what Rean had imagined, Olga really did grab his arm with force. But instead of doing anything else, she simply dragged him straight across the ground, scraping a clear trail behind his back.

Of course, Rean wasn’t the type to give up easily. He rolled, twisted, and struggled with every trick he had, desperately trying to break free from Olga’s grip. But her monstrous strength was clearly beyond what he’d expected. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get loose.

“Even if I have to drag you, I’m hauling you back to the Demon King Citadel today!”

“If that’s how it is, then even if I have to cut my hand off and reattach it later, I’ll—”

“Are you two little kids fighting or what...”

“Well, to us, they are little kids.”

The sigh drifting down from above made Rean and Olga look up at the same time. Only then did they realize that Glena and Gabriel had appeared overhead at some point and were slowly descending.

The moment Olga realized Gabriel had seen everything she’d just done, she instantly let go of Rean’s hand as if electrocuted and jumped far away.

“Th-that... Lady Gabriel, please hear me out. Things are absolutely not as simple as what you saw. I definitely wasn’t doing anything improper. I would never disgrace you...”

Rean thought, Oh please, quit acting innocent. Wasn’t she the one behaving indecently just now?

“It’s alright. I understand.” Gabriel gave Olga a gentle smile like a holy mother, soothing her flustered expression. “You’re working hard for peace, Olga.”

On the other side, Rean had finally escaped Olga’s restraint. He dusted himself off, got up from the ground, and casually cast a fourth-tier ice spell to extinguish the surrounding flames.

“I noticed the mana reaction over here was a little strange, but I didn’t expect it to be over this quickly... So? Rean, you’re not hurt, are you?”

Glena walked over to Rean’s side and gently wiped the blood from his face.

Even though she knew full well that Rean had grown dozens, even hundreds of times stronger than she was, in Glena’s eyes he was still the child she cared for. She couldn’t help worrying about his safety.

“I’m fine. Even if I was hurt, I can recover right away... More importantly, that bastard Mammon secretly sent people into our territory to stir up trouble, and even brought out the flame demon Ifrit. I’ve already dealt with it, but this might not be the last time. We’ll need to tighten our defenses from now on.”

With Olga and Gabriel nearby, Rean looked a little uncomfortable being fussed over by his mother, so he stiffly steered the conversation in a more serious direction.

That said, Rean also knew they couldn’t just stay on the defensive. If they wanted peace, the most fundamental solution was still for him to act personally and eliminate Mammon, Fifth Demon King. That wouldn’t just remove the threat. It would also intimidate the other Demon Kings and keep them from making a move on the Christins for a while.

“At the borders, our soldiers should be able to hold off an attack. But enemies sneaking in like this are much harder to deal with. You can’t inspect everything.”

After hearing Rean’s analysis, Glena frowned slightly. Christine might be small by Demon Realm standards, but its territory was by no means tiny. Catching every single infiltrator without fail was basically impossible.

“In that case, I can help.”

Hearing Rean and Glena talk, Gabriel stepped forward and offered her assistance.

“I can’t conduct direct searches, but setting up a barrier across all of Christine to detect abnormal fluctuations in magical power wouldn’t be a problem.”

Right... there’s an Archangel here.

Among the four Archangels of the Celestial Realm, aside from the defensive magic that earned Gabriel the title Light of the Imperishable, what she excelled at most was barrier magic. It was said that once she set a barrier, no one but herself and the now-deceased God could undo it. If she established that kind of barrier, they’d be able to respond the moment anything happened.

But...

“That barrier would be under your control, Lady Gabriel, right?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. I’ll be staying in the Demon Realm for a while.” Gabriel saw through Rean’s concern and answered with a smile. “Besides, if the marriage between Lord Rean and Olga proceeds normally, then we’ll all be family from now on.”

“That just makes me feel even less at ease...”

Rean clicked his tongue with a twisted expression.

Still, having Gabriel stand on Christine’s side was naturally a huge plus.

“Alright then. No time to waste, so I’ll get going first.”

Rean pulled Laevateinn from where it had been stuck nearby. The crimson flame sword turned into a streak of red light and vanished in his hand.

This fight hadn’t been a loss at all. He’d wiped out the enemies who infiltrated their territory, killed the flame demon, and even gotten a divine weapon.

Now all he had to do was succeed at the next step...

“And where exactly do you think you’re going alone?”

Before Rean could even take a step, someone grabbed his wrist from behind. Olga leaned close and asked in a low voice.

“You’re so annoying! Let go of me!”

Rean shook his arm, trying to throw her off, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t.

“In your dreams! I told you, don’t think you can ditch me again!”

Olga clung tightly to Rean’s arm.

Watching the noisy pair, Glena and Gabriel exchanged helpless smiles.