These last few days, right after Blood Demon went out, glancing at the door had become a habit, if it could be called that, for Iseon.

The existence of the thing beyond that door.

The only way to stop regression.

Just thinking that it was right in front of her made her heart pound at all hours.

She wanted to see it with her own eyes.

“I’ll be back.”

As always, Blood Demon placed a light kiss on Iseon’s brow and left the house.

After he went out and the door closed, Iseon stood there with a smile on her face, seeing him off until his footsteps faded into the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) distance.

And once his footsteps could no longer be heard, Iseon’s heart began to pound again, THUMP, THUMP.

Her head turned toward the inner room as if bewitched.

THUMP. THUMP.

Was that “incense burner” really beyond this door?

THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.

If she destroyed that incense burner, could she truly stop regression?

THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP-THUMP...!

Could she stop Blood Demon’s atrocities?

The more Iseon’s thoughts followed one upon another, the harder her heart began to pound.

It was as if the thing beyond the door were whispering to her.

Telling her to open the door and confirm the truth.

To destroy it.

To end this nightmare of a life.

Then, at some point, as her heart beat faster like a great drum being struck—

THOOM-!

In an instant, all sound vanished and a stillness fell, as if the world had stopped.

Iseon swallowed.

Her thoughts, which had gone on for days, snapped, SNIP, as if someone had cut a taut thread.

Let’s check.

Let’s check. Let’s check. Let’s check. Let’s check. Let’s check. Let’s check.

A single thought began to fill her head.

Let’s check.

She would go inside and only confirm it with her eyes.

It hadn’t been long since Blood Demon went out, so right now would be fine.

If she only looked with her own eyes and came back out, there would be no problem at all, would there?

And if, in doing so, she could truly destroy that thing that was the key to regression....

THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. THUMP....

While she thought so, before she knew it, she was standing before the door.

SLRRRK—

Making a mockery of all the time she had spent agonizing, the door opened far too easily.

Iseon’s gaze turned toward the room filled with darkness.

In the end, Iseon stepped into that darkness.

*****

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

“Khk... huuk....”

Blood Demon tilted his head and looked at his wife’s fine face.

The thick floral scent of the woman wafted faintly to the tip of his nose.

“I’ve said it to you so many times. Don’t look at me with those eyes.”

In that moment, Iseon recalled the dozens of deaths she had already gone through.

She recalled the last words he had spoken to her before twisting her neck, before driving a sword into her chest.

Why are you looking at me with that gaze?

Are you afraid of me?

Do you resent me?

I told you not to look at me with those eyes!!

Iseon flinched in fright.

Her body, which had been shaking, went rigid, FROZEN.

“Se, Seol... hwa....”

“I wished to give you time, my lady. I thought you needed time to understand me. But I am not some mere human either.”

An awkward, troubled smile spread over Blood Demon’s face.

“Just how many more lives am I supposed to wait for you? Tell me, my lady.”

“...!”

Iseon’s eyes, staring at him, filled with shock.

He knew.

That she was regressing together with him, that she feared him, and even the hatred she bore toward him.

“From, from the... beginning....”

“One cannot say from the very beginning. There were a few times I truly had no idea. But we are husband and wife. How long did you think you could deceive me?”

“...”

The corner of Blood Demon’s mouth twisted in a bitter curve.

“And do you really think you are the only one?”

“!”

The woman grabbed Blood Demon’s hand tight and poured out a desperate voice.

“Th-that child...! That child doesn’t know anything...! That child...!”

“I wonder. For someone who ‘doesn’t know,’ he follows his mother very closely.”

“...! Th-that’s...! That’s just because I...!”

Iseon’s body thrashed in the air.

Her eyes filled with a terror far greater than the deathly fear from moments before.

“Which is why you should have endured a little longer. If you had quietly followed my will, none of this would have happened.”

“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I-I was wrong...! Forgive, forgive me....”

“Humans really are such foolish beings, are they not? Only after losing something do they realize it was precious. They think the chances given to them are infinite and don’t know how to be grateful for what they have.”

“I-I was, I was wrong, my lord. Never again... I will never go against your will again...”

“This was the last chance permitted to you.”

Blood Demon’s brows drooped, as if in pity.

“I am tired of this as well.”

“...!”

“We are not some mere humans.”

SSSSSS....

From the hand gripping Iseon’s nape, a dark crimson energy began to seep out.

“Khk... kuhuk...!”

The crimson energy slowly tightened around her throat.

At the same time, her face, twisted in pain, slowly began to age.

As if the vitality were draining from her body, wrinkles dug into her face and liver spots bloomed.

Her hair turned white, her eyes sank deep, and wrinkles appeared on her neck and on the hands clinging to Blood Demon’s.

In an instant, she became the figure of an old woman.

“Remember this. Everything you have belongs to me.”

THUD—

“Khk... h-heuk... huk....”

Iseon’s body hit the ground.

Blood Demon gazed impassively at his aged wife for a moment, then moved his feet.

Leaving the Secret Storeroom, Blood Demon walked straight out of the room the two of them shared.

He had taken only a few steps.

Blood Demon came to a stop and looked straight ahead.

Eunwol, coming toward him from the opposite side, bowed his head.

A faint smile spread at the corner of Blood Demon’s lips. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“So. Have you come with something to report to me?”

Eunwol bowed a little deeper and answered in a flat voice.

“No. I came to see my mother.”

In that instant, Blood Demon’s expression went rigid.

At once, in a voice with not a trace of his earlier softness, he spoke.

“Go inside and see.”

Eunwol bowed his head to him once more, then walked past.

“Your mother has betrayed me.”

“...!”

Just as he was about to enter the room, Eunwol turned back to Blood Demon.

Blood Demon, too, was looking at him.

“Do you intend to betray me as well?”

“...”

For a brief moment, the pupils within the sharp eyes above the black mask wavered.

TAP—

Realizing Blood Demon’s intent, Eunwol, instead of answering, rushed into the room in haste.

Blood Demon’s gaze, watching him, deepened with an even colder chill.

“Yes. Come to think of it, not once have you truly followed me.”

Blood Demon tilted his head.

“What, I wonder, was the problem.”

Staring toward the room with an indifferent expression, he soon turned and walked out of the pavilion.

*****

“Mother...!!”

Iseon was lying in the inner room, the room Blood Demon had always forbidden anyone to enter.

The moment he stepped into that room, Eunwol felt the energy of a formation.

The space inside the room was the interior of a formation.

“Mother!”

As Eunwol lifted the fallen Iseon, he flinched in shock.

The mother he had thought would remain forever beautiful and young had grown old.

“M-Mother...? What... what happened....”

As Eunwol, confused, held her, Iseon’s hand suddenly grabbed his.

“E-Eunwol....”

“Mother, this son is here.”

She panted, drawing ragged breaths, and barely managed to open her eyes.

Between the wrinkled corners of her eyes, pupils that were losing their light groped to take in her son’s face.

With a trembling hand, she pulled down her son’s mask.

A young man whose features were at once like and unlike Blood Demon’s, he possessed his eyes as if they had been copied exactly.

She could not know how fortunate that was.

Had even his eyes resembled Blood Demon’s, she might have come to resent this child as well.

“Eunwol... ah....”

“Yes, Mother....”

Moisture gathered at the corners of Eunwol’s eyes.

He knew his mother did not have much life left.

The fading sound of her breath, the eyes losing their light.

Having lived his whole life as a killer, he could clearly see, with his eyes, the shadow of death cast over his mother.

“I-I... I ruined everything.... I....”

From Iseon’s lips came sobs of self-reproach.

“I ruined it all... all of it....”

“Mother. It’s all right. It’s all right, Mother.”

Eunwol did his best to soothe her.

Already, her remaining breaths were few; he wanted, if nothing else, for her not to waste them in torment.

“Nothing has been ruined, Mother.”

“Eunwol....”

With a trembling hand, Iseon took something from her bosom and held it out to Eunwol.

It was a strip of thin red cloth.

“Take this... take this and give it to that child....”

As Eunwol received the cloth, he looked at Iseon.

That child.

“Do you mean Namgoong Seolhwa...?”

Iseon slowly nodded.

“You must... you must deliver it to her....”

Eunwol clenched the cloth tight and nodded.

“I understand. I understand, Mother.”

“Tell her I’m sorry... tell her I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise....”

“Yes. Yes.... I understand. So....”

Please....

Eunwol squeezed his eyes shut.

He could not bear to watch his mother torment herself over her sins to the very end.

He felt like he would cry.

But he did not want to waste what little time remained on tears, so he squeezed his eyes shut even tighter.

A gentle touch brushed the corners of his eyes.

Eunwol opened his eyes again and met his dying mother’s gaze.

“That you... that you don’t know this nightmare... I cannot tell you... how fortunate that is....”