DKFTI 85

A single candle burned in the middle of a dim room. The residents of the Demon King’s castle sat around it with grave looks.

“Thus, the hunchback Allen went down to the basement.”

They listened to the frightening story Ramiel told. Sibel’s body shrank under the blanket, and Ruru wrapped his arms around him. Shanti shook his legs again and again.

Aizen sat to the side, and he acted like he had no interest in the tale, yet his backside stayed on the chair too long for someone bored.

“There was still a mirror there. He felt that he should not look at it any longer, but he could not endure it. For inside it was his ideal self. So he took one step… and another….”

Ramiel continued in a gentle voice. Everyone focused so much on his words that no sound of breathing passed in the room.

“The moment he stood before the mirror….”

Gulp. Human curiosity always brought trouble. They knew a predictable ending waited, but Ramiel’s captivating voice made every sense tense.

“Aaahh!”

“Ahhh!”

“Ahh! Damn, that startled me!”

Ramiel, who had been speaking in a gentle voice, suddenly raised it, and everyone nearby jumped.

“The mirror swallowed him, and in the end he was trapped in it. Not with the beautiful image he wished for, but with the ugly one he truly had.”

“Whew. I knew it. I expected it. Seriously, why keep staring at a haunted mirror!”

In Ramiel’s story, hunchback Allen, unlike his real self twisted by burns, was fascinated by the beautiful version of himself in the mirror, and in the end he became imprisoned inside it.

“I understand.”

Sibel nodded.

“Lack works that way. If it stays empty, it festers.”

“That’s stupidity! It was obvious the image in the mirror was fake!”

Shanti countered Sibel’s words.

“I also think desire must lose its eyes and ears before it can be complete.”

Ramiel joined in and spoke about the main figure of the story.

“You all pour too much heart into a silly ghost tale.”

Aizen’s mocking from a little distance reached them, but they ignored him.

“But no way… there isn’t something like that in our Demon King’s castle, right?”

“Shanti, watch the mirrors. Never forget, the ugly face is your real face!”

Ruru shouted at Shanti in a serious tone. Shanti’s mouth twitched.

“Think about your own mug first!”

These brats… why do they fight after every story ends?

“Do you have any more stories ?”

Sibel stamped the legs he was hugging and his eyes sparkled.

“Let’s stop for today. It is late at night.”

Ramiel rubbed his neck like he was tired. Sibel’s shoulders dropped in disappointment.

“You are so scared, why do you keep asking to hear more?”

“For the next few days, you won’t be able to look at a mirror.”

Shanti and Ruru spoke truth.

“But compared to Raccoon, who ran away before the story even began, the Demon King is braver.”

Raccoon hurried out as soon as the scary story began. He also took Pudding, saying Pudding should not hear cruel tales.

“He always pretends to be tough, but isn’t he a coward?”

“He seems weak against things that cannot be solved physically.”

Ghosts surely could not be handled physically.

“Then, shall we part ways?”

Ramiel unfolded his crossed legs and got up from the floor.

“If I had known, we should have gathered in my room.”

This place was Ramiel’s room. Sibel was worried about going back to his own room. He had to pass through the dark corridor.

“Can’t I just sleep here tonight?”

The moment Sibel looked up at Ramiel and spoke, he was yanked by the collar.

“You must have lost your mind after hearing all those ghost stories.”

Aizen’s voice came from above Sibel’s head. He dragged Sibel’s body, still wrapped in the blanket, across the floor wherever he moved.

“Come on, what’s with the formality between housemates?”

The trip back did feel bothersome.

“Let’s go.”

Aizen ignored Sibel’s words and opened the door.

“Demon Kiiiing! Shall I go with you at least?”

Ruru wagged his tail and tried to follow, but for some reason he whimpered and lowered his eyes.

Sibel waved his hand as he was pulled along.

“Sweet dreams.”

Ramiel gave a gentle farewell to Sibel and Aizen.

Just as expected, once they stepped out, a dark and long corridor greeted the two of them.

“Why am I being dragged?”

“Would you rather sleep with that weasel-like guy?”

Ramiel was not a weasel.

“Your personality is really twisted.”

“You’re stranger for trying to sleep in anyone’s room.”

After solving Ruru’s case, Sibel felt he had grown closer to Aizen. He could no longer just call him a ‘guest.’

“Anyway, every room is part of my castle, so what does it matter?”

“What does it matter? You don’t care who you lie next to?”

Saying that felt a bit shameless considering he himself had slept in Sibel’s bed.

Was this where the saying came in, adultery when others do it, romance when you do it?

“Ramiel and I don’t have that kind of relationship.”

Sibel chuckled and answered, and Aizen’s pace gradually slowed. Sibel’s body, which had been dragged easily, stopped, and Sibel tilted his head to look up at him.

They were almost at the room now, so why suddenly stop and make a fuss?

“Then what about me?”

Huh?

“You always recoiled even if I came near. Then what am I to you?”

Aizen’s sudden question left Sibel speechless. Aizen still held his collar, and in that position he turned back and looked down at him. Their gazes met.

“How should I take your reaction?”

“…Uh, um.”

“Can I interpret it however I want?”

Aizen’s voice stayed was calm as usual, but it sounded a little different than before.

Could it be excitement?

“Can I chew, tear, and bite as I please and make my own delusions?”

“Delusion is a bit….”

If it was Aizen’s delusion, it would surely be filled with vicious things. Whip cracks, leather stench, things like that.

While Sibel muttered, Aizen’s grip on his collar tightened. He suddenly drew Sibel’s body suddenly drew close to him.

This made their faces too close.

Aizen stared intently at Sibel for a long time. The two fixed their eyes on each other without a word.

“Why didn’t you come looking for me?”

Sibel realized through Aizen’s gaze that he was flustered. It was always so. Aizen’s black pupils reflected Sibel’s white figure clearly.

“You searched for that fox at the risk of your life.”

Was this resentment?

Sibel could not immediately answer. Thousands of words crowded inside his head, yet they tangled on his tongue and circled in his mouth without coming out.

“Not once in three years did you miss me?”

Aizen’s stare was too direct. With not a single blink, he fixed only on him, so even a small breath or his lashes trembling seemed enough to give away the answer, and that made him careful.

It felt like he was bound on thin ice, unable to move.

“I never had a day when I didn’t miss this place.”

“……”

He didn’t expect an answer from the start. Maybe Aizen just wanted to spill the feelings that overflowed from time to time.

“So give me even a fraction of the attention you give to that weasel, the fox, or the reptile. Just share it fairly with me too.”

Had he really ignored Aizen that much?

Sibel suddenly recalled his own steps since Aizen returned. Indeed there had been countless matters. Life here was chaotic by nature, so he could not deny he never had a chance to focus only on Aizen.

“Shouldn’t we now, at least once, talk about back then again.”

“Back then?”

Aizen’s hand slipped away. At that moment, Sibel remembered a past scene where he faced Aizen’s gaze from this close.

“Three years ago, when you pushed me away even with lies.”

Who knew such an event would await right after telling ghost stories so merrily? He started sweating.

“I didn’t lie.”

Sibel finally turned his head. He avoided Aizen’s eyes as he answered, and Aizen’s hand caught his cheek. His palms pressed against both sides, squashing his face, and Sibel’s lips puckered like a carp’s mouth.

“You always avert your eyes whenever you lie.”

Sibel’s blue eyes rolled around.

Did he really have such a habit?