In that pitch-black room, Javien completely froze.

The moment Olivia’s hands tightly wrapped around his neck, the warmth radiating from her body seeped right into him, slowly melting away the deathly chill left behind by his demonic aura.

Javien fell silent, weeping without a sound. Every single ounce of his ego as a Knight simply crumbled away.

His hands were still trembling, hesitant to even touch her small, fragile frame as the faint remnants of his dark energy still lingered in the air.

"...Why... why didn’t you run away like before?"

Javien’s voice broke. His eyes wavered subtly. It was no longer the raspy, terrifying voice of the demon... but his own deep, gravelly tone.

Olivia said nothing, but she could deeply sense the immense suffering the man in her embrace had endured.

"Not Javien... not this time," Olivia murmured softly, gently patting his back.

Did she mean that... one day, she eventually would?...

The thought crossed Javien’s mind as he stared down at the floor. Dropping his shoulders, he stopped pulling away. Instead, he drew her body closer against his chest, returning the embrace with an aching tightness in the dead of night.

His voice sounded incredibly fragile and broken as he whispered into the crook of her shoulder.

"I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, Olivia..." Javien breathed out. His tears of regret finally spilled over, dampening her clothes.

Inside his heart, the sheer weight of his emotions grew so heavy that his chest felt completely suffocated.

After so long... after everything that had happened in that cruel, unforgiving timeline, he could finally feel the warmth of Olivia’s embrace again a warmth he had yearned for for far too long.

Javien himself had almost forgotten what it felt like to be held this tightly.

Because in his ruined past life, a desperate embrace just like this was the last thing they shared right before she died in the blink of an eye, swallowed by a dark conspiracy. Their very last embrace in his memories.

But now, Olivia was still breathing in his arms.

Javien clenched his jaw in silence.

His grip tightened against the fabric of her clothes in the dark, as if he were begging destiny in his heart never to tear the girl he loved most away from him for a second time

After a long moment in that tight embrace, the chamber that had just been chaotic with demonic aura turned deathly quiet.

Only the sound of their breathing echoed in the dark.

Right at that exact second, Olivia’s brain finally started working again.

She suddenly realized that her body was pressed flush against Javien’s solid chest, complete with her own hands wrapped snugly around his neck.

damn!

Why on earth did I just hug him?!

Olivia screamed internally in pure panic.

Instantly, her face flushed completely hot, turning a bright crimson in the darkness! She was so deeply embarrassed that her ears burned, never expecting her protective instincts to be reckless enough to make her throw herself into a man’s arms without a second thought.

Flustered and completely caught in a panic, Olivia quickly broke the embrace and took a small step back. Her hands, trembling with embarrassment, frantically fumbled to smooth down her long robe.

She did not even dare to look straight at Javien’s face because her heart was beating frantically now completely out of sheer embarrassment, not fear of the demon!

Javien, who was still caught in his fragile, sorrowful mood, was left momentarily dazed when Olivia suddenly pulled away so quickly.

Through the shadows, he could faintly make out Olivia looking down, holding her burning cheeks.

"O-Olivia...?" Javien called out, his voice still deep and low.

"Y-yes! Ah... Javien, you’re... you’re okay now, right?" Olivia stammered, trying her best to mask her voice, which had turned entirely small from holding back her embarrassment

"I’m sorry! Just now... that was just my instinct! I panicked like crazy seeing you in so much pain earlier..."

Seeing Olivia’s incredibly endearing and earnest reaction to fix the situation, the heavy guilt in Javien’s heart suddenly shifted into a completely different kind of warmth.

Javien fell silent in the dim shadows of the night, but deep down, a profound sense of happiness washed over him just from seeing this side of her again cute, flustered, and rambling away.

He offered a faint smile in the dark, his faded purple eyes locked onto her with a gaze that was incredibly gentle and full of devotion.

Slowly, Javien wiped away the remaining tears from his cheeks in the dim, faint light. He stood tall before her, watching Olivia as she stayed occupied, pressing her hands against her warm, glowing cheeks.

"Thank you, Olivia..." he whispered with a profound softness, a stark contrast to his earlier demonic voice.

"For... not running away from me.

Olivia, who had been completely frantic a moment ago, instantly froze upon hearing the raw sincerity in his voice. Her embarrassment quickly dissolved back into deep pity.

She lowered her hands from her face and forced herself to meet his faded purple eyes in the dark.

"I already told you, I won’t run," she replied, her voice dropping to a quiet, calm tone. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

She stole a quick glance toward his wrist.

"Besides... I couldn’t just watch you suffer all alone in a massive room like this, Javien.

The... the worry was driving me crazy."

Javien smiled faintly once more in the darkness.

Her words felt as though they were sealing an unspoken vow between them, even though neither of them had ever confessed any feelings of love.

"My apologies for making you worry, Lady Olivia," Javien teased softly, deliberately using her official title in the estate to break the lingering awkwardness between them.

"Hish, you!" Olivia huffed cutely, her face threatening to turn bright red all over again from being teased while they stood so close to each other.

"Alright, you should rest now. I... I should head back to my room."

Even though Olivia said she wanted to go back, deep down, a heavy reluctance weighed on her to leave the man who still looked so vulnerable in the dark.

Javien, too, silently wished she wouldn’t leave his sight...

But before Olivia could even turn around, her footsteps froze. The atmosphere in the room, which had just settled into a calm, suddenly grew deathly cold. It wasn’t the chill of a draft, but a freezing sensation that pierced straight to her bones.

Olivia’s eyes scanned the dim room. Suddenly, her gaze locked onto an empty corner nearby.

She stared at the empty space without blinking... but her instincts screamed that ’something’ was standing there, watching them the entire time. Something that was definitely not human. She narrowed her eyes.

Oh! Those creatures!!

she whispered internally, keeping her eyes glued to the shadow.

Javien, noticing the sudden, drastic change in Olivia’s expression, followed her gaze toward the same spot, but he saw absolutely nothing.

"Olivia...?" Javien called out, his brow furrowing.

Olivia didn’t answer. Her face remained completely transfixed, staring into the empty air.

Her heart, which had been racing from embarrassment, instantly shifted into a rapid, terrifying rhythm of absolute dread.

"Javien..." Olivia spoke in a low, hushed whisper.

"Do you... do you keep creatures... or ghosts in this room?"

Javien completely froze. His body, which had just begun to relax, instantly tensed up again. His faded purple eyes snapped directly toward hers, piercing through the dark with absolute intensity.

"You... you can see them, Olivia?"

Javien asked, his voice hesitant, as if he were utterly terrified of the answer that might come out of her mouth.

Olivia gave a slow nod. Her brows knitted tighter as she strained her vision in the dark, trying to trace the silhouettes that seemed to flicker in and out of existence in that empty space.

Javien fell completely silent. His jaw clenched tightly, a wave of profound anxiety and regret washing over his face.

He looked down at his own hands, where faint traces of the black smoke from his demon aura still lingered.

"There’s one wearing a scarf, ehh..."

Are they humans or creatures?

Olivia whispered softly to herself, observing their antics as they hovered there, acting incredibly shy and sheepish under her gaze.

"They look... worried about you."

Olivia noted, her mind still loading as she processed the bizarre sight.

Hearing those exact descriptions drop from Olivia’s lips, Javien’s heart seemingly skipped a beat.

It’s them...

The tears that had barely dried in his eyes began to well up all over again.

It was them! The guardian creatures his father had entrusted to watch over him after his parents passed away.

The very companions who had always stayed by his side whenever he was lonely and crying during his childhood.

Slowly, Javien turned his head, staring directly toward the empty corner Olivia was pointing at.

His gaze was entirely blank, cutting straight through the forms of the creatures without him even realizing it. He saw absolutely nothing.

Just a silent, empty stretch of shadows.

"Did... did my power summon them back...?" Javien whispered, his voice incredibly broken.

Deep inside his heart, a mountain of guilt crushed him.

He suddenly remembered something he had buried long ago the reality of the pact.

That very pact was the reason his senses as a bearer of demon blood could no longer perceive them. And now, Olivia was the one bound to them.

Javien could only offer a faint, bittersweet smile as he stared into the empty space, swallowing the heavy secret of the black contract that had turned back the wheels of time.

He swore to protect this second chance with his very life, even if the price meant remaining blind to the old friends who guarded him from the shadows.