Three hundred years ago, I rejected the Demon King's conferment to become one of the Seven Collapse Sages—with only a shred of humanity left.
After what should have been a perfectly ordinary nap...
I forgot everything about once being human.
There were no signs, no reactions.
I simply emerged from a dream like I always had, slowly opening my eyes beneath the shade of a tree.
And from then on, I never again had dreams that belonged solely to humans.
It was so calm, so simple, that I didn't notice at first.
By the time I realized I had lost my humanity—
I no longer had any reaction to it.
I had become a pure demon.
The first time the thought of "recovering emotion" crossed my mind—
Was not because of a human, but an elf named Minuth.
I met her in a village of elves slaughtered by the Demon King's army.
I made no effort to conceal what I was, yet she showed no fear.
More than that, she was oddly familiar with me, like we had known each other before.
But I had no recollection of her face or name.
Out of curiosity, I allowed her to follow me, to be under my protection.
This lasted two years.
During that time, as payment for my protection, she shared nearly all her knowledge with me.
Even on the day we parted ways, she still seemed to be waiting for me to remember something.
But unfortunately, not even watching her silhouette fade into the distance stirred any memories.
Still, she sparked a question—
Had I really known her?
Was there a piece of memory lost with my emotions, vanished so completely it left no trace?
That became my motivation to seek emotion—
To retrieve memories I had completely forgotten.
But over time, I left that goal behind.
Because as years passed, memories became irrelevant.
What truly consumed me was the pursuit of emotion itself.
Even though two hundred years passed without progress,
My interest never waned.
Eighty more years later—
I met an interesting human on the Northern Plateau.
And from her, I saw the possibility of reclaiming emotion.
That human was named Flamme.
Flamme—she was strange.
Strange wasn't enough. I'd say insane was more accurate.
Her family had been slaughtered by demons, and she should've feared us more than anyone.
Yet just because I spared her after she attacked me—
She started talking to me, over and over, as if she'd forgotten I was a great demon.
Once she heard—who knows from where—that I once had human emotion, she started pestering me to confirm it.
When I finally answered "yes" out of annoyance—
She clung to me relentlessly.
Volunteered to help me recover emotion.
Dragged me from place to place without permission.
At first, I thought her actions meaningless—but eventually, I came to believe they might actually work.
One day, sitting in a field of blooming flowers, she asked me:
"Are you interested in the mythical Aureole?"
Of course, I said no.
But when she said she wanted to seek Aureole and asked if I'd go with her—
Because at the time, I truly thought I could find emotion with her.
Thus began a ten-year journey.
Over those ten years—
We braved inverted pyramids and sky gardens left from the Mythical Era.
We explored the sealed underground crypt of the Mirror Demon—the Fallen Royal Tomb.
We crossed the snow-covered Chino Mountains in midwinter,
And watched from afar the ruins of a goddess cathedral under a starlit sky.
One by one, legends from fairytales were proven and documented by us.
In these countless adventures, I grew used to her presence.
At the end of the journey, in the far northern Ende, we found the legendary Aureole.
After speaking with one of Flamme's departed friends, we made our way back.
Though we had the misfortune of encountering the Demon King, we escaped with our lives.
The ten-year journey ended, and I still hadn't recovered my emotion.
I should have parted with Flamme as I had with countless others.
But she asked me to stay, with the poorest excuse imaginable.
I wanted to see if this person could help me find the emotion I had pursued for centuries.
Following Flamme's suggestion,
I began acting out a contract relationship humans call marriage.
I'm confused. Because after seeing Livaire, the day I returned home—
To be exact, that night—
It was short. No more than five seconds.
But I know—without doubt—it was a dream.
The first dream in three hundred years.
But it lasted only that night.
After that, the dreams disappeared again.
This is the root of my confusion, my trouble—
What exactly does Flamme mean to me?
Flamme walked leisurely down a forest path, like strolling through a garden.
The quiet forest had none of the pompous decor of the castle or the grand sculptures of the capital.
And perhaps because of that, it brought a peace and calmness.
Her mood slowly settled as she walked.
Until she reached the end of the trail—
Beneath the towering ancient tree.
Agusheed stood there silently.
No movement. No words.
Just standing beneath the vast canopy, lost in thought.
Flamme stepped forward.
She crossed the soft earth like a breeze through fallen leaves, coming to his side.
She knew Agusheed noticed her.
But she said nothing, and neither did he.
Evening painted the scales of the Heaven Vein Dragon in gold.
Still, neither of them spoke.
They stood side by side, breathing together in silence under the tree.
Agusheed suddenly realized he'd seen this scene before—
Right… in that dream.
In the dream, Flamme stood beside him just .
No words between them.
He turned his head and saw Flamme had done the same.
Flamme asked gently, her eyes soft.
Agusheed didn't answer.
Instead, for once, he smiled—
And even chuckled softly.
"It's time to go home."