The sky stretched high above, and light flooded in from all directions. Oddly enough, it was beautiful weather—completely at odds with the sight of the capital, now half in ruins with its crumbling, scorched buildings. Ressas stared up at the blindingly brilliant sun without blinking. That searing light, still so unyielding in its radiance, made the situation feel like a cruel joke—Devils running rampant on the ground, while such a magnificent sun shone undisturbed overhead.
Useless, pathetic excuse for a god.
Ever since the sun had come to his side, Ressas had always loathed it. It wasn’t so much hatred toward the divine, but more a hatred toward himself. He believed that the being aiding him must be as pathetic as he was, simply because it chose to help someone like Ressas.
“Such insolence.”
The ever-present light circling around him reproached him gently. But Ressas didn’t care. He shifted his gaze toward the towering royal castle. The once-beautiful palace—adorned in gleaming gold, white stone, and blue tiles—had long since vanished. In its place was an abomination. The entire structure was now wrapped in a pitch-black, writhing darkness, coiled like a serpent around the walls.
This moment, pulled directly from his first life, filled Ressas with unrelenting anxiety. Aside from the season arriving slightly earlier this time, the situation mirrored the past too closely. The Devil cornered and now occupying the capital. Tither arriving to kill it. Knights and citizens, indoctrinated and slaughtering each other…
Of course, it wasn’t quite as catastrophic this time. After all, they had paid a horrible price—twice—to reach this point. Unlike the first time, when everyone died trying to obtain the holy relic, the sword was already in their possession now. And Ressas, unlike then, was no longer incompetent. Still, Devils were cunning like snakes, always deceiving and seducing people, and the smallest lapse could trigger a catastrophe.
After completing his patrol of the area, Ressas headed back inside the mansion. The once-abandoned estate of the Brosius family, nestled within the capital, had become the current base for Tither and the knights. In his first life, this place hadn’t even existed by the time they fought the Devil—it had already been reduced to rubble. But in this life, it remained intact.
The timeline repeated itself, yet the lives within it changed each time. The sun had told him: even a tiny shift in past events could alter everything. And with both the Devil and the sun meddling in human affairs, many things had indeed changed.
The Devil had exploited the trauma of the former Duke of Shildras and planted its seed within the previous queen. Meanwhile, the sun had used its royal blood—King Cyfrid himself—to ensure Ressas’s survival mattered. From that point on, the ripples of change had multiplied until they brought them to this very moment.
Whenever Ressas reflected on how much the world had changed, he would try to measure whether things were better now. And without fail, he would find some filthy selfishness festering in his own heart. Rationally, he knew it had been better when everyone had adored and cherished Seiyad. But emotionally… his heart kept whispering that now was better.
Because the one he loved was loving him so overwhelmingly in return.
The moments they held hands, whispered sweet nothings, and shared breathlessly tender kisses made Ressas deliriously happy. But with every wave of happiness came a surge of guilt that choked him like poison.
Hiss, hiss—he could almost hear the serpent slithering by his ear, whispering:
‘If Seiyad ever finds out what kind of monster you really are, do you think he’d still call you his lover? You’ve let the one you love die not once, but twice. You stole the man who was once your brother’s Tither. You really think he’d stay by the side of a vile bastard like you? Hypocrite. Filthy son of a bitch. Disgusting, revolting freak!’
He had accepted Seiyad—because he couldn’t bring himself to push away someone who looked him straight in the eye and confessed with all his heart. But the guilt never left him.
Seiyad was so noble, so achingly beautiful, that Ressas felt he needed to become something worthy just to stand beside him. That belief tormented him constantly.
Even in moments of unrestrained passion, when he devoured his lover with a hunger born of instinct, the second they were apart, he’d feel sick at his own reflection.
He had made Seiyad suffer, made him cry, made him unbearably lonely—and yet, the moment Seiyad offered even a sliver of affection, Ressas rushed to him like none of that ever happened.
It was revolting.
And what made it worse was that, even knowing all this, he still desperately wanted to stay by Seiyad’s side.
‘Look at you. Even now…’
By the time he came to his senses, Ressas was already standing in front of Seiyad’s door, as if drawn there by some invisible force. He flinched, snapping his head up, and instinctively took a step back.
A memory hit him—Seiyad shouting at him right here in this mansion.
That had been half a year ago.
Seiyad had discovered the horrific truth about what the former Duke of Shildras had done to his mother. He had screamed in agony, and Ressas hadn’t been able to comfort him—not at all.
He had failed to give Seiyad anything he truly needed that day.
Even as Seiyad asked for the fall of House Shildras, even as he demanded Zion’s head—Ressas had only stood there, too stunned to answer.
He couldn’t bring himself to say, “Zion was once someone you cherished deeply.”
He couldn’t say, “The Devil was behind everything the Duke did.”
In the end, Ressas had been no help at all.
It was Seiyad’s strength alone that had unearthed all the truths. Ressas couldn’t speak them, couldn’t kill the Devil. He was useless—just like the sun.
And that truth—that he had done nothing meaningful to help Seiyad—drained him of everything. Since arriving in the capital, the guilt had only grown heavier, eating away at him like a disease.
“Your Highness?”
At that moment, the door in front of him opened, and Seiyad appeared.
The sight of him—tall, sharp-eyed, striking—stole Ressas’s breath.
The world that had felt numb just seconds ago came alive again with the warmth of presence.
“Why are you standing out here instead of coming in? I couldn’t find you anywhere and was starting to worry.”
…Ah, Eid.
Just seeing that furrow of concern on his brow made Ressas want to cry.
To think that someone like him—still felt like a miracle. That this person worried about him was a blessing so immense it hurt.
It was too much kindness, too much grace—it made his chest ache.
“…Did I make Eid worry? I’m sorry. I just finished a patrol around the area.”
“You can do things like that with me. I’ve already told you—it’s best not to overexert yourself. What if you were attacked while out there alone?”
Seiyad’s voice was firm as he reached out and gently ran his fingers through Ressas’s hair. His tender hand carefully swept the dark strands from Ressas’s forehead and then softly caressed his cheek.
‘Of course. I know. I listen to everything Eid says. If it’s your command, I’ll do anything to follow it. That’s why I try my best not to go against you.’
Ressas murmured inwardly.
To him, Seiyad was the very meaning of life. No matter what, Ressas wanted to submit to him.
Even when he had been a young Ressas, unaware of his past life, that longing had lingered deep within his subconscious. When he looked back, he remembered following the voice that had whispered in his mind.
Don’t do anything that would make Seiyad sad, it would say.
You must protect Tither and the others, including Zion. Treasure life.
All of those messages had come from the memories that had lain dormant inside him.
“Yes, I was wrong…”
Normally, he would have obeyed Seiyad without hesitation. But ever since arriving in the capital, Ressas had felt like his mind and heart were misaligned.
His instincts—desperately trying to keep Seiyad out of danger—kept clashing with his desire to obey Seiyad’s every word. That internal dissonance left him increasingly confused.
“There’s nothing for Your Highness to apologize for. I only said it because I was worried, so please don’t look at me like that.”
As Ressas’s face paled in fear that Seiyad might be disappointed in him, Seiyad cupped his cheeks in his hands.
Drawing closer, he pressed their foreheads together and whispered:
“I only meant that I don’t want you to leave my side. Not even for a second. I get anxious when you’re not with me.”
“…I’ll stay with you.”
With a soft smile curving his lips like he was praising a well-behaved child, Seiyad kissed Ressas’s forehead and cheek.
The moment his lips touched him, Ressas had to suppress the urge to devour him whole. He braced himself, holding back that consuming desire.
Just then, footsteps echoed in the corridor. A group of people approached—Nova, Bridehit, and the rest of the Desertus party returning from their patrol around the castle.
“Ah! Seiyad-nim! Greet Nova with kindness too!”
Nova, who had once been so overwhelmed with guilt in the south that she couldn’t even face Seiyad properly, had returned to her old self after they reunited in the capital. She had apologized profusely, again and again. Now, she bounced over to Seiyad’s side without hesitation.
Ressas pressed his lips tightly together.
His expression might have seemed calm at a glance, with traces of a soft smile lingering on his face. But in truth, he was overcome by a storm of anxiety and possessiveness every time someone came near Seiyad.
Still, he swallowed it all down. He knew full well he had no right to monopolize him.
Suppressing emotions—that was the one thing Ressas was truly good at.
“Nova, don’t go interrupting their time together. You’re still doing the same things you did back at home!”
Duke Bridehit scolded his daughter.
With a huff, Nova crossed her arms and launched into a breathless string of chatter at Seiyad once more.
“You two are always together! At least spare a little time for Nova, who worked so hard! We just finished patrolling the castle and found a secret passage! We might be able to use it to rescue the hostages!”
At those words, Seiyad’s hand slipped away from Ressas.
The warmth that had kept his soul at ease vanished, and Ressas felt his mind swirl.
Seiyad turned toward Nova and Duke Bridehit with a brightened expression.
“Is that true?”
“Yes! I observed it all day long. The Devil’s body hasn’t spread far enough to cover that area. And there aren’t any patrols there either. Makes sense—it connects through the stables!”
“She’s right,” Duke Bridehit added. “Tiaki snuck in himself to check. It reeks of manure, but it looks passable.”
Tiaki, standing just behind the duke, nodded.
“It’s suffocating with the smell of horse shit, but otherwise fine. If we distract the Devil at the front like we planned, we should be able to evacuate a good number of people. Then we can move into a full assault.”
“The lad’s every bit as capable as a Grand Duke. Much more competent than my daughter, and she’s supposed to be a Tither!”
“Well, no matter what you say, Nova’s much cuter than Tiaki.”
Duke Bridehit laughed heartily, praising Tiaki while still teasing Nova.
She didn’t seem to mind at all and clung even closer to Seiyad.
Perhaps they could still smile like this despite the looming battle because they finally had a clear path forward—a real way to kill the Devil.
Ressas and Seiyad had only just arrived back in the capital and rejoined the other Tithers who had gotten there first.
After sharing the truth of what the Devil was and how to defeat it, their next priority had become rescuing the hostages inside the castle.
The number of people trapped inside easily reached the hundreds. Servants, handmaids, squires, knights, even King Cyfrid and Queen Leana, along with many government officials—the sheer number of captives made freeing them the obvious first step.
They’d been searching for a way in ever since.
And now, on the third day, they finally had a breakthrough.
I wish the king and queen would just disappear
So bittersweet, this chapter
Also I’ve been rotating ALNST songs while reading this and wow do the feels hit
In their 1st life Seiyad’s loved by everyone, but Ressas neglected by his own parents and family in all his 3 lives.