"Upon returning from the Demonic Realm, Rosalie and Damien found themselves back in the Imperial Palace that belonged to Prince Rostan.
There, the duchess learned that Damien managed to arrive in Izaar re monts after Rosalie was brought to a eting with Asmodeus. Duke Dio was greeted by Roksolana who promised him that he could see Haemir as well.
With his heart filled with passion and love for his wife, Damien managed to convince the Demonic Judge to let him see the Demon of Lust as well, however, right before he was about to disappear, Altair stord inside Roksolana’s Palace, demanding to join the duke in his journey to the underworld.
Contrary to their anticipations, Amarath agreed, warning the n that only two people would be able to co back to the world of living.
"Why did you do that, Revered Altair?"
Damien finally asked as the two of them stood in the dark, empty room, waiting for the appearance of Asmodeus.
Altair offered the duke a rather mocking grin, his voice acquiring a colder tone while he tried to explain his actions,
"I was warned by phisto that Asmodeus is the sliest of all Demons and everything he says or promises should be taken with a grain of salt. You are not the only one who is worried about Lady Rosalie, Your Grace, and now that you are practically powerless, I think my being here with you was not such a bad idea after all. Your recklessness might have cost you your life. And the life of Lady Rosalie."
"So what do you think is going to happen?"
Damien furrowed his eyebrows, anticipating an obvious response and Altair did not fail to give it to him.
"phisto said that tonight is the night Asmodeus is holding his annual gathering. With the two of us here, he will probably make us fight for the sake of entertainnt."
"I guess I have broken the curse a little too early. Fighting against soone who has powers borrowed from a Demon might be a losing ga for at this rate."
"Not necessarily," Altair took a step closer to the duke and continued, "I can transfer most of my power to you. I will still need so of it in order to make him believe no exchange was made but you will be way stronger than regardless. Rember what Haemir told us? Only one of us can return. It should be you, Your Grace."
And Altair was not wrong.
Thanks to phisto’s warning, he was able to transfer his demonic power to Damien, making him the strongest warrior once more and letting himself die at his hands, sacrificing his once aningless life to protect sothing he finally found his faith in.
***
Upon returning to Rische, Rosalie also learned that Princess Angelica was the Hidden Saintess all along and it was she who helped Duke Damien break the curse of Ac Fever.
Despite her fears, Angelica was not turned into the doll of religious veneration. With the support of Izaar, she traveled across the Continent promoting religious peace and tolerance among people, and thanks both to her overpowering sincerity and convincing charisma, even the stern supporters of religious unity softened their grip on the rciless sword of faith, allowing people the right to have different religious views as long as they were not harmful to one another.
Eventually, Angelica was chosen as Rische’s next Empress while Loyd gave up his right to the throne in order to beco an Imperial Scholar and help his sister rule over their Empire with both a kind, understanding heart and knowledgeable head.
Rosalie gave birth to a healthy boy who received the na of a friend who was once lost but managed to find his way in the light of her shining eyes.
Her first son was nad Altair."
iling closed the book and gently slid her fingers over its ornanted cover.
When she opened her eyes this morning, she was pressing "Ac Fever", her favorite novel, tightly against her chest and discovered, that she only had three pages left to read before she could solemnly proclaim that she finished reading it.
"Strange... It has a good ending and I enjoyed reading it, but sohow I feel like the novel I started reading was not the novel I finished. Perhaps reading several novels at the sa ti was not such a good idea. I should give it another read after so ti."
She set the book aside and looked at her phone – it was already twenty minutes past eight which ant she was already late for work.
"Damn it! I promised myself I would stop reading in the morning, now I’m going to be scolded by my manager again!"
Frantically tossing her things into her favorite blue tote bag, iling rushed out of her apartnt, shutting the door with a loud bang that would definitely get her an earful from her elderly neighbors.
As she almost sprinted towards the bus stop, she noticed that her bus had already left, leaving her with no choice but to either get a taxi or simply run all the way to the next stop and hope that she would make it in ti.
’I don’t think ordering a taxi is an answer here, I will be stuck in traffic and will be late anyway. Alright, I guess running it is!’
Fixing her bag on her shoulder, iling took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the damp morning autumn air, and started running again, praying that her being a mber of the sprinting team in high school might finally pay off.
She ran and ran, skillfully avoiding other people who, just like her, were rushing to work.
Suddenly, she felt a strong, cold blow of the wind hit her back as if helping her to move faster, however, what followed next was a disappointing torrent of rain that fell upon the city so unexpectedly as if soone just turned it on by simply pressing a magic button.
"Wonderful! I was so preoccupied with reading that I didn’t even bother to check the weather forecast. Now what? Can I still run?"
Since she was still between the bus stops and had no place to seek shelter from the rain, iling decided that running was still her only option.
Covering her head with her tote bag, she charged forward again, closing her eyes as the cold raindrops began to hit her face like bullets.
"Agh!"
A sudden loud shriek escaped her lips as her back hit the cold, wet surface of the sidewalk.
"Ugh, damn it! I just had to fall right now... My clothes are ruined!"
"Are you alright?"
A sowhat familiar low masculine voice echoed inside her head, evoking mories that didn’t seem to belong to her.
There were no more raindrops falling onto her body and yet, it was still raining.
"Miss, are you alright? Can you stand up?"
As if scared to face sothing shocking, iling swallowed the dry lump that ford inside her throat and finally looked up.
Towering over her, with a large black umbrella in his big pale hand, was standing a tall, handso man with beautiful features, neatly styled black hair, and eyes that looked cold but sohow still familiar, their soft amber glow filled with a light sense of nostalgia and sadness.
iling froze in the place, her racing heart growing the rest of the street in its deafening drumbeat.
The ti seed to have stopped as she kept looking at the man before her. He was soone she had never seen before and yet, he was soone dear to her, soone she prayed she would see again.
At last, with a sudden pang that shot her heart like a bullet, iling parted her lips, and said in a trembling voice,
"Altair?"
The man stretched his lips into a kind smile and offered the woman his other hand.
"Long ti no see, Rosalie."
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