Chapter 72

The room was completely rid of fire, but flames surged over the restraints, and I was instantly freed.

Trying to learn how to control fire? What a foolish endeavor.

Once I fully accepted myself as the spirit contractor and shed all fear of fire, this power, just like Gabbie said, followed my will as naturally as breathing.

“This is what freedom feels like.”

Seeing me rise like a ghost, Austin’s pupils trembled.

Of course he was surprised. The heated altar had melted down completely.

Now that it can no longer feed off my power, what will you do?

Feigning ignorance, I tilted my head and asked, “Surprised?”

Then, I slapped him with the burning hand I had.

Smack!

“……!”

Really, I must have the temperament of a villainess. I feel relieved after hitting someone.

“You think you can fully control fire? Don’t flatter yourself, you thief, you parasite.”

Austin slowly turned his head back toward me.

“Are you done talking?”

His face was blank, void of anger or mockery. That empty expression sent chills down my spine, but I didn’t stop.

“You want to become emperor for revenge? Then what? What will you do after that? You’re already ruining Preseria.”

Sitting on a burned-down throne alone doesn’t make you an emperor. The whole premise was absurd.

“You’re just being unreasonable.”

“Unreasonable, huh.”

He repeated the word a couple of times, rolling it in his mouth, then looked straight at me.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

Now his eyes gleamed coldly, like a snake’s.

“You’re not cute anymore. Not even a little.”

“I never asked you to find me cute!”

With those words, we clashed.

The floor began to melt from the intense heat, but even wrapped in flames, Austin didn’t sweat a single drop.

“You can’t burn me either.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you that.”

I hadn’t expected total success, so I gave up coolly. Instead, I would just steal the fire he emitted.

“Spit it all out!”

Just like I had become the altar itself, the flames he emitted couldn’t resist and were sucked into me.

As soon as I accepted them, the fire surged through my body, offering a refreshing sensation unlike the chilly divine power of Ramande. I was too absorbed in that rush.

Maybe too absorbed.

— Focus, you fool!

With a sharp shout, a flame I hadn’t created flared up in front of my chest and vanished.

Gasp.

There was Austin’s hand, holding a bladeless sword hilt.

“So the spirit was by your side after all. I wondered if I’d misjudged.”

Too shocked, all I could do was push him away with fire. He merely frowned and stepped closer again.

“Did you know? When a spirit’s contractor dies, the spirit suffers a huge blow and is sealed away.”

“Liar.”

I denied it almost reflexively, but Gabbie confirmed his words.

— It’s true.

Then it was also true that he genuinely cared about my well-being as his contractor.

‘How does this man know so much about spirits?’

Austin knew things I couldn’t find even after scouring every book.

As if reading my thoughts, he shrugged.

“There’s a lot left in Chitrum.”

That sentence said everything. Especially that the records about spirits had been erased from Preseria.

Even the great archmage Brassidas and Plendena’s apostle, who had lived over a century, knew nothing about spirits, so it must have been over a hundred years ago.

‘And Chitrum still has those records.’

Then it must’ve been that desert nation that targeted Gabbie ten years ago.

Maybe they planned to seize spirit power and use it as a foothold to devour Preseria.

I didn’t know their motives from a decade ago, but I was beginning to understand the current ones, just by looking at Austin.

A union between an ambitious nation and a prince cast out.

I pushed him back with flames again and asked, “Did they promise you a governor’s seat or something?”

“Who knows.”

His flames were all swallowed up, and now Austin wasn’t even cloaked in a single spark. As if he were on a leisurely stroll—or as if approaching me was his only goal—he continued walking.

“I see no reason to explain things to a flower whose neck is about to snap.”

“You…!”

That comment, treating me like a flower rather than a person, made me grit my teeth and press the knight’s emergency beacon.

Even if I couldn’t burn him, he was still flesh and bone. Surely a sword would pierce him.

But I wasn’t the only one who thought that.

“……!”

Austin, who had seemed to be slowly approaching under the resistance of flames, appeared right in front of me in the blink of an eye.

Shlunk!

“Uh……?”

With a sickening sound, a searing pain spread through my abdomen. Gabbie called my name, but his voice sounded far away.

“I…”

Fire didn’t feel hot anymore.

Confused, I tried to look down, but Austin grabbed my chin and sneered.

“You should’ve realized I might have more than one sword, just like you have two legs.”

“Kh…ugh.”

Something metallic and bloody trickled from my mouth.

It wasn’t just the wound in my abdomen tormenting me—it was also the pain Gabbie felt through our connection, weakening by the second.

‘I made a promise.’

To help it regain its strength.

I thought we could finish everything in three years. But now, not even three months in, our contract was breaking like this.

‘This is humiliating…’

I tried to endure it with the help of fire, but my vision just kept dimming.

Through the fading world, I caught sight of another dagger reflecting a crimson glint.

This time, it would pierce my neck.

“I’m sorry.”

With trembling lips, I whispered my last words to Gabbie.

Our first meeting had been bad, but now I knew. He and I—

We had both just wanted to be free.

But the one who answered wasn’t Gabbie. It was that damn Austin.

“Apologies won’t save you. I’ve already decided to kill you.”

I wasn’t talking to you, jackass.

Annoyance flared, and with it, another burst of blood.

It was a familiar reaction, and I could only laugh.

Now, I couldn’t see anything anymore.

No life flashing before my eyes.

Just one fleeting thought—

‘This time, I really might die. No reincarnation, no transmigration. Just death.’

And maybe, that too was a form of freedom.

— Minuelle!

‘Haah…….’

Why was it Esadien’s voice that came to me at the end?

I really was hopeless.

***

‘Where is she? Where the hell is she?’

Knowing Austin would do anything to achieve his goals, Esadien’s heart raced.

His blue eyes gleamed, and all his senses were on edge.

His ears and whiskers stiffened, twitching furiously to pick up any clue.

He quickly figured out where she was, but finding a way in was the problem.

The entrance was so old, the usual methods of finding hidden passages no longer worked.

Still, he finally found a way.

The closer he got, the more his paw pads burned, but such pain wasn’t enough to stop him.

When he finally reached the place where Minuelle was held, he peered through a missing brick in the wall—and saw it.

“You parasite.”

Minuelle, slapping Austin across the face with tremendous force.

Even engulfed in flames, her strike was so strong that his dark skin flushed red.

— My brother…

Minuelle was the first person ever to treat Austin that way.

Even after becoming a proper knight, Esadien couldn’t stand up to Austin. Childhood trauma still bound him.

“You’re just being unreasonable.”

Those were the exact words Esadien had once wanted to scream.

He had done nothing wrong. So why had Austin been angry with him?

Remembering those days, Esadien’s tail bristled and twitched violently.

He, too, wanted to take a swing at Austin, but barging in might distract Minuelle and create an opening.

— Hold it in.

— You came? Oh, for crying out loud, that man.

Gabbie, noticing his arrival, greeted him briefly and vanished.

Then it realized what Austin had done.

— That bastard stabbed Minuelle…

Esadien leapt to his feet.

— Spirit! Oh spirit!

— What now? Why the panic?

Gabbie, sounding just like Minuelle, would’ve normally made him smile. But now wasn’t the time.

— Minuelle’s flames don’t work on him. He has real weapons. Please, let me help!

— With that body?

— You’re a spirit. You have power I can’t even imagine.

If Minuelle had heard that, she’d have clucked her tongue: “So I have to come up with the plan, too?”

But Gabbie was a spirit who craved worship.

— You’re not wrong!

Gabbie’s amused tone gave Esadien hope. But it didn’t last.

She quickly turned serious.

— But no. Fire represents boundless life, but also extinction. Your body is unstable—you don’t know what might happen.

But when Minuelle was stabbed, Gabbie couldn’t refuse anymore.

— Spirit, whatever happens, I’ll bear the cost. My body is already a wreck. What more could go wrong?

— Humans and their recklessness never change, do they? Fine. As you wish.

Before Esadien could thank her, blue flames engulfed him.

‘It’s… so hot.’

He clenched his teeth.

It wasn’t his fur or skin—it felt like his insides were burning.

Crack, crack.

As Esadien endured the pain, his body transformed.

Bones broke and mended again.

When the flames faded, he was no longer a half-grown kitten—he was a beast the size of a warhorse.

But Esadien didn’t even glance at himself.

As soon as the pain subsided, he smashed through the wall.

Because Austin was about to drive another dagger into Minuelle’s neck.

— Minuelle!

To humans, it sounded like a deafening roar.

But Esadien was calling her name.

His claws, now as large and sharp as scythes, lashed out as he lunged.