Chapter 73

Monster…?

The deeper the intimacy between family members, the greater the harm caused by words.

The closer the person… the more poisonous the hurt.

That day, even the always optimistic Sheffy, who never had any worries, threw herself onto the bed in her room and cried bitterly. She couldn’t believe that her family… actually looked at her with such cold eyes, as if looking at an enemy.

She couldn’t stop crying. While crying, Sheffy took her fishing rod to the lake to fish. As soon as she caught a big fish, she hugged it and continued to wail. It was utterly miserable.

Seeing Sheffy’s eyes turning red while she spoke, Xiarette quickly held her slightly trembling small hand to comfort her.

“It’s alright, Sheffy… It’s alright, that’s all in the past now… Don’t think too much about it.”

“Mm… I… I know. Since then… Belith suddenly ignored me, and my parents became stricter with me. Every day in the Demon Clan felt suffocating… Xiarette, can you understand… that kind of suffocating feeling.”

“I understand… I really do.”

Though she hadn’t experienced that suffocation herself, Xiarette and Sheffy breathed the same air, and she was willing to share Sheffy’s joys and sorrows.

From then on, Belith was completely obsessed with seeking power, eager to grow stronger and become a worthy Second Demon Princess.

In fact, she did manage to carve a path for herself through her own efforts, becoming the core commander of the Fifth Legion, earning much recognition for both her intellect and strength.

But in Belith’s own eyes… it was still far from enough.

During this time, Sheffy never gave up. She often went to invite Belith to fish together, to go out for an excursion, or simply to chat about family matters. At the very least, even listening to her nagging apologies would have been fine.

The result was obvious — Belith refused all of it.

She said many hurtful words that deeply wounded Sheffy’s heart.

Countless times, Sheffy pursed her lips, on the verge of tears, but then quickly smiled and continued to try persuading her.

Perhaps Belith found her older sister annoying…

But the older sister just didn’t want her to walk down this self-tormenting path…

“This happened when Belith was fifteen years old… She was far too eager for success. In order to grow stronger and to quickly break through to Five Wings, she used her royal privilege… and secretly opened the Demon Clan’s forbidden archive, sealed for a thousand years. There, she found a forbidden magic that could rapidly boost her strength in a short time.”

“Forbidden magic…? That means…”

“Yes, the reason it’s called forbidden is because… there’s a price to pay.”

When the snow falls and the moon is full

72. You and I are safe and sound

Since it attempts to defy the natural order, there is always a ‘price’ that comes with it.

Belith’s desperate pursuit of power to prove her worth — that entire farce was a huge gamble.

As Sheffy spoke about this matter, a rare hint of lingering fear flickered in her bright eyes.

“Belith didn’t even tell Father or Mother… She entered the forbidden archive on her own under the pretext of ‘verifying the accuracy of the royal forbidden archive’s catalogue.’ The lost ancient magic she found there, if I remember correctly… was called [Origin].”

“Origin? I’ve never heard of such magic…”

“Of course you haven’t heard of it, because even I didn’t know about it before, let alone Belith. It’s a forbidden magic sealed in the archive since the era of the First Demon King, never exposed to the light of day. This magic… can stimulate the user’s potential, allowing the possibility of future strength to be realized ahead of time. It’s like leaping ahead in power, a shortcut that skips training and battle, directly reaching the destination through an improper path.”

“…”

Just hearing that such a bizarre magic existed was already astonishing enough for Xiarette.

Upon hearing its effects, Xiarette immediately understood that there must be a price.

If such a convenient magic really existed, why would it have been buried away? The fact that it was hidden indicated that it had reasons unfit for public knowledge.

Recalling the details of that magic’s activation, Sheffy gripped Xiarette’s fingers even tighter.

“[Origin] does not grant power beyond one’s potential, but it can potentially expand the user’s magic directly to the limit of that potential. For example, a demon born with naturally weak magic would gain little even if the magic succeeded — at most progressing from One Wing to Two Wings. But for Belith it was different… She carried royal blood. In the Demon King’s lineage, many had reached Six Wings throughout history, not to mention having me, her older sister, who was already Six Wings at the time… so she chose to take the risk.”

“And the price…? Sheffy, you said earlier that this magic only has a chance of success, so what if it fails? Disability? Inability to use magic? Or something else…”

“Death.”

“!”

A single, brutally simple word.

The price of failure was death.

And not just simple death, but a miserable death burned by the flames of purgatory, leaving no corpse, not even ashes.

This was not magical backlash.

Rather, it was the user’s [Magic Origin]—their core potential—that could not withstand the strain of such an instant leap, exploding and incinerating the body. It could be said to be a one-in-ten-thousand chance of survival.

“According to the records in the forbidden archive… [Origin] was personally classified as forbidden by the First Demon King. The reason was that, a thousand years ago, his children sought power to prove the Demon Clan’s strength. Out of ten, six died right in front of him. It was extremely tragic.”

“But… but Belith must have succeeded, right!” Xiarette’s mood grew a little tense as Sheffy continued, “Because Belith is fine now, isn’t she? And she managed to reach Five Wings… doesn’t that mean she succeeded with [Origin]?”

“No, she failed.”

“……”

A simple, brief reply.

The gap between reality and the story left Xiarette quite confused.

Failed…? But hadn’t Belith appeared today?

“Of course she failed. She tried to interpret ancient magic relying only on the bit of ancient language she had studied, so naturally her understanding was incomplete. Even during the First Demon King’s era, the royal family’s success rate wasn’t even fifty percent. How much certainty could she have? As soon as she barely finished chanting the spell, her magic origin began to burn.”

Sheffy’s voice suddenly trembled slightly.

“At that time, there wasn’t a single person in the forbidden archive… Even the archive’s administrator, bound by the rules, wasn’t allowed to set foot inside. Belith could only despair and await death. Her body wouldn’t even remain; no one would ever know where she died.”

“How could this be… no, wait…”

Even if Xiarette was a bit slow, she wasn’t incapable of putting things together.

She leaned closer to Sheffy, so close that their noses were almost touching. Xiarette was completely immersed in the story Sheffy was telling.

“Sheffy, what you’re saying… this was the ending Belith should have faced. But at the moment her magic failed, something changed the outcome…?”

“Ha, it’s better not to use the words ‘something changed,’ because the one who changed it happened to be me. I’m not a thi— cough, never mind what I am or am not, anyway, there’s indeed some twisted fate between Belith and me! Damn it… that forbidden archive, it was actually built right in the cave next to the fishing lake! With such strange and intense magic fluctuations so close by, how could I possibly not sense it!”

“So that means…!”

“Yes, yes, yes, of course I flew over to check it out! I abandoned all the big fish I’d caught, and even the administrator of the forbidden archive couldn’t stop me. At the time, I didn’t know it was Belith, but I just felt very anxious, because what I sensed… besides the magic fluctuations, was an intense will to survive. I can’t quite explain that feeling… but it was very real.”

“Mm… Sheffy is so good, so gentle.”

“Huh…?! Wuh… don’t suddenly pat my head, it doesn’t make me happy at all!”

“Mm-hmm, I just suddenly wanted to pat~ forgive my whim, okay~”

Although Sheffy was powerful, being able to sense someone else’s will to survive… that wasn’t something magic could achieve.

Whether in her past life or this one, Sheffy had always possessed a deeply buried gentleness in her heart.

Just like in her previous life, when she was almost late for school, running with an umbrella on a rainy day, yet still noticed the trembling kitten by the roadside nearly dying from the rain.

She held the umbrella over the kitten, but ran to school herself under the heavy rain, eventually catching a cold and having to take several days off.

Even though Sheffy said such things didn’t make her happy, her little feet lightly swinging and bumping under the bedsheet as Xiarette stroked her head completely betrayed her joyful mood.

At this point, the atmosphere of the conversation was no longer so tense.

Sheffy’s very presence while recounting the past always brought Xiarette a sense of comfort.

“That time could be considered one of the rare occasions when Belith spoke honestly… When I arrived, she was lying on the ground, barely breathing. Books from the forbidden archive were scattered everywhere. Her magic origin had already been burned to pieces, and in perhaps another minute at most, her body would have been completely consumed, not even leaving ashes.”

Sheffy recalled the scene, her expression full of emotion.

At that time, Belith could barely even speak.

But when her blurred vision saw Sheffy arrive, her eyes, soaked with tears, cleared slightly.

It was as if she saw those childhood days when she ran outside the Demon King’s Castle together with her royal sister, carefree and free from worldly troubles…

How beautiful those times were…

“Ah, Royal Sister is amazing!! You caught a big fish again!!”

“Royal Sister, look look! I found a four-leaf clover. I heard it can grant wishes…!”

“Hmm? What wish should I make? Of course, I wish to always always be together with Royal Sister! Royal Sister also likes playing with Belith the most, right? Right?”

The burning flame in her chest nearly scorched these memories away.

Always walking the path of seeking her worth, Belith finally shed tears at that moment.

Her silver hair stained with dust, she painfully stretched out her arm and palm toward Sheffy, almost begging as she pleaded:

“Royal Sister… save me… Belith doesn’t want to die… I want to live… I don’t want to die…”

This scene had an enormous impact on Sheffy.

Watching her family member plead and weep before her, Sheffy would never blame her for recklessly opening the forbidden archive.

Her furious expression seemed ready to burn all these damned magic books to ashes!

Violent winds swept through every corner of the forbidden archive, venting Sheffy’s rage.

But suppressing her anger for now, Sheffy naturally chose to save her family first.

“The situation was very critical at the time. All four of Belith’s wings were burning. For demons, that’s where their magic concentrates, so naturally, the wings burn first. Belith was in so much pain that tears were streaming down, but she could no longer speak or move. I just kept watching her lips, seeing her continually begging me to save her, promising that in the future… she would be an obedient child.”

“Sheffy… don’t cry.”

Xiarette reached out and wiped away the sparkling tears from the corner of her eyes.

Though Sheffy often complained about how annoying her sister Belith was, the affection she had for her family had continued from that evening of burning demonic flames until now — never once had she forgotten.

Xiarette fully recognized Sheffy’s efforts.

“You did it back then. You saved Belith.”

“Yes… I did it… but not perfectly.”

“Not perfectly…?”

“That’s right… Actually, I had already reached Eight Wings that year, but starting from that year, my magic became much harder to control. Not like now, where I can use it as I wish.”

“That’s natural. Every leap in strength requires an adjustment period — that applies to both demons and humans. Not to mention… Sheffy, your growth went far beyond common sense.”

Hard to control didn’t mean impossible to control.

The [Healing Magic] Sheffy released was even able to quickly repair Belith’s burned magic origin.

The demonic flames gradually subsided, and Belith’s deathly pale cheeks slowly regained color under the soft glow of the healing magic.

Just as Sheffy let out a sigh of relief, preparing to give Belith a proper big-sister lecture after she woke up…

The pure white demonic flames ignited again.

And this time, the fire grew even stronger.

“At that moment, I more or less realized that [Origin]’s effect was irreversible. Once it was activated, one had to accept the price of failure, like a curse. Forbidden magic will not stop until it burns its victim to death — it’s not something healing magic can simply resolve.”

“So it really was like that… Forbidden magic is forbidden precisely because it defies all logic. Otherwise, the First Demon King’s children wouldn’t have been burned to death. There definitely wasn’t a shortage of healing magicians in the ancient royal court.”

“Yes. If it happened now, I would have many ways to remove the curse for her. But back then… I panicked a bit. I didn’t yet know what Eight Wings could do for me, so I chose the stupidest solution.”

“W-what?”

“Hehe… well, maybe not the ‘stupidest’ solution. In a way, it was quite smart, because it worked. I used [Magic Element Link], directly transferring the curse from her body onto myself~ The flames on Belith disappeared instantly!”

“Sheffy, what did you just say?!”

Upon hearing this, Xiarette shot up from the bed like a spring!

She grabbed the hem of Sheffy’s nightdress, looking as if she was about to lift it up and strip her for a full inspection!

“Wah…?! Xiarette, what are you doing all of a sudden?!”

“I need to check if you got burned…! Are you hurt or not!! Honestly… Sheffy, how could you act so recklessly too! Do you think curses are something you can just transfer at will? The consequences could’ve been disastrous!”

“I didn’t have any other solution at the time…! Ah ah ah, stop! Don’t pull at my underwear…! Idiot Xiarette! This was years ago! If anything had happened, I would’ve been burned to death long ago!”

“Oh, right… ah, ouch!”

A light hand chop for you — just a little punishment, you’re getting off easy!

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