After he had satisfied little Enju, she lay happily tucked in the quilt, already fast asleep.
Now, Nanashi finally turned his attention to Tallulah.
With only a towel wrapped around his waist, he sat down beside her and looked at her dull, lifeless eyes.
"It's true—you are a sinner," he began. "And maybe you do deserve to die."
"But you belong to me now. If I don't allow it, you won't die."
Tallulah didn't turn to look at him. Her gaze remained fixed on a point in the air, hollow and unseeing.
Nanashi had expected as much.
But then he said something that sparked a reaction.
"…Alina."
The moment that name left his lips, Tallulah's head snapped around. Her eyes locked onto him.
Nanashi grinned. "Looks like there's still someone you care about."
"Alina… that woman is dead."
Tallulah's eyes dimmed again. The flicker of life in them snuffed out.
Yes.
Alina was dead.
That gentle Elafia girl now slept eternally beneath the pale snowfields—an endless, frozen silence.
Nanashi's tone shifted, half-teasing. "Or maybe… she isn't dead after all."
Tallulah didn't respond. Her silence wasn't from ignorance—it was self-imposed. She wasn't stupid.
She simply hated herself.
Hated her sins so much she'd locked herself in a prison of guilt and self-condemnation.
Yet even in this state, she could still sense the world around her—the way Nanashi and Enju moved. The way they spoke to each other with fierce intimacy.
But none of that mattered to her.
Only one thing pierced her numbness.
Alina.
And hearing that name from Nanashi's mouth had stirred something.
Still, his joking tone made it hard to believe.
"I'm not joking," Nanashi said softly.
He reached out and took Tallulah's hand—cold, delicate, unresisting.
Lifting her black lace cuff, he exposed the pale skin beneath. Black Originium crystals jutted from her flesh, grotesque yet almost beautiful.
"Have you heard the saying… that Originium has memory?"
He looked up, his icy blue eyes gleaming with unnatural light.
"Is it possible… that Originium can also carry souls?"
Without warning, Nanashi pressed his hand to the crystal and tore it from her arm—flesh, blood, and all.
Blood poured from the wound, thick and red.
It looked brutal, and it was.
But Tallulah didn't flinch. Her body remained perfectly still.
Nanashi held the black Originium crystal in front of him, several centimeters long.
In the depths of his death-sight, black death lines crisscrossed the crystal. Any one of them, severed, would shatter it completely.
But amid the dark lines was a faint thread of green—so dim it was nearly invisible.
That was a life's death line.
Nanashi channeled his energy into the crystal, feeding it life.
And then, something changed.
A vision bloomed in his mind.
A vast snowfield.
A military unit moving in formation.
Tallulah, dressed in her uniform.
He felt her emotions—vivid and intense.
After the battle, she had overheard some of the Shield Guards joking about an infected settlement teacher who'd gone to deliver supplies to a nearby village and hadn't returned.
In that moment, fear had gripped Tallulah's heart.
She had rushed out on her own, following the trail.
And at the end of that trail…
She found the Elafia girl lying in the snow.
Dying.
Someone had attacked Alina while she was delivering food, leaving her to die alone on the frozen tundra.
Her hand—gone.
Her feet—gone.
Her life—fading fast.
Alina was dying.
With her last breath, she said goodbye to Tallulah.
Tallulah cursed fate, cursed the world.
She lifted Alina onto her back and began walking, tears streaming down her face, each step fueled by a desperate cry for vengeance.
But the Elafia girl on her back whispered gently in her ear, still clinging to life:
"It's not the villagers who are to blame. It's Ursus. They're the ones who made this happen. Punishing those at the bottom won't change anything. Go after the ones who created this nightmare…"
Her voice grew weaker and weaker, until it vanished into the snow-laced wind.
Tallulah promised she'd take her back.
And for the first time... she realized there was no way home anymore.
The white-haired Draco trudged across the vast, endless snowfields.
On her back, the trembling Elafia girl took shallow breaths, her life slipping through Tallulah's fingers like grains of sand.
Snowflakes landed softly on Alina's antlers.
Blood dripped steadily from her broken body.
As they passed, snow-covered trees caught fire—burning in eerie silence.
Tallulah didn't notice.
She had started to burn the land she walked on, unconsciously.
Only the pale snow stretched endlessly before her.
Only Alina's body on her back gave her warmth.
And through that warmth, the sound of Alina's heartbeat faintly echoed in Tallulah's own chest—slower… and slower…
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to cry.
She wanted to rip the agony out of her lungs with a roar that would tear the sky open.
As if by doing so, she could erase the horror from her body.
But in the end… she didn't make a sound.
She walked in silence, leaving behind a trail of fire that scorched the snow-covered plain.
Everything burned—everything except Alina.
Alina was dead.
And with her, the warrior known as Tallulah died too.
All that remained… was the immortal black snake.
This was Tallulah's death.
And the birth… of something else.
The black snake, eternal and merciless.
Who was Alina?
An ordinary, infected teacher.
But to Tallulah, she had been the final light—the last fragile pillar holding up her soul.
To the black snake… she was the key.
The body of the mutilated Elafia girl was the final blow—the moment Tallulah's spirit snapped.
"Is this what you wanted me to see?" Nanashi murmured to the empty air. "So I'd forgive her sins?"
He smiled faintly.
"You can rest easy. She's mine now. Guilty or not—I won't let her die."
No sooner had he spoken, a soft green light gathered in the Originium crystal he held.
The glow began to pulse and twist, taking form—until a human figure emerged.
Tallulah's lifeless eyes sparked with recognition. Her pupils widened.
She saw someone she should never have seen again.
That figure… was Alina.
Naked, gentle, radiant—Alina descended softly from the sky and fell into Nanashi's waiting arms.
He felt her warmth and knew—this was no illusion.
Just like with Abe no Seimei... it was real.
This truly was the Elafia girl—Alina.
But now, she was different.
The moment she appeared, faith itself wrapped around her, transforming her into an Angel of Redemption.
Nanashi hadn't touched the Originium inside Tallulah before—because he'd sensed something off about it.
A hidden thread of life, buried within the crystal.
Now, he knew he'd been right.
Originium didn't just carry memories.
It could carry souls.
"Thank you, Lord Nanashi," Alina whispered, her eyes shining with gratitude.
Though her body had perished, her soul had been preserved within the Originium in Tallulah's body.
She had seen everything.
She had watched Tallulah's descent into despair.
Watched the black snake consume her from within.
Alina had been powerless—unable to help the one she loved most.
But then… the light broke through the darkness.
She saw the black snake slain.
She saw Nanashi save both Tallulah—and her.
"Alina… is it really you?" Tallulah's voice trembled, thick with disbelief and tears.
She was terrified that this vision would vanish.
That it was just a cruel dream, and she would awaken to emptiness once more.
Reaching out with a trembling hand, she dared not touch.
"Tallulah," Alina said softly. "It's me. I'm really here."
Her voice, her eyes, her smile—they were unmistakable.
That gentleness cracked open Tallulah's aching heart.
"Alina! My Alina!"
She couldn't hold back anymore.
Tallulah surged forward, arms outstretched.
But before she could reach her, Nanashi calmly rose to his feet, scooped Alina into his arms, and turned away.
"Alina!"
Tallulah grasped at empty air.
Panic rushed in like a storm. She whipped her head around, searching frantically.
Was it all fake? Was she hallucinating?
Her heart only settled when she saw Alina again—in Nanashi's arms.
But then…
Nanashi lowered his head and began sniffing along Alina's neck, up to her cheek.
"!!!"
Alina turned bright red, quickly covering her chest with her arms. She looked like a frightened little deer, lost and confused.
Nanashi grinned mischievously, casting a challenging glance at Tallulah.
"Tallulah, you're mistaken. This is my Alina."
He chuckled darkly.
"She gave me her first kiss, you know."
And with that, he kissed her lips.
Softly. Firmly.
Alina trembled but didn't resist.
She knew what she was now—a soul given shape by Nanashi's power.
She belonged to him now.
Or perhaps… she belonged to one at all.
Even her place beside Tallulah was uncertain.
"!!!"
Tallulah's face fell, her expression crumbling.
Something inside her—shattered.
Whether Nanashi intended to break her or not… It worked.
Love? Lily?
None of that mattered anymore.
Nanashi would erase any lingering threat—no matter how faint.
This was a very special kind of NTR.
This was his Nanashi, unyielding conquest over Tallulah.
Even if Tallulah and Alina had never shared that kind of bond...
Nanashi wasn't going to take any chances.
Wings? They had to be his.
Ties? Not in this lifetime.
Still…
The delicate scent of Alina's body.
Her warm, vulnerable form against his.
The soft, yielding lips pressed to his own.
Nanashi felt a stir deep within him.
And Tallulah saw it.
So did the trembling deer in his arms.
"Hng!"
Alina the deer had never experienced anything like this before…
And with Talulah watching them she didn't know what her feelings were like.
Excitement?
Maybe.
Nervousness?
She is.