Chapter 5
***
“Miss Bella? Miss Bella!”
A familiar voice was calling out desperately. It took me a moment to realize that the name being shouted – Bellatrix, was the affectionate nickname Lucifer had given me back in the bath.
The red-haired man was calling me with great urgency. I wanted to blink, to open my eyes, but my eyelids only trembled slightly before shutting again.
Strangely, I had no strength. My entire body felt heavy and feverish. My throat stung, and I was so nauseated I thought I might throw up. To top it all off, I was starving. Though honestly, I couldn’t even tell if it was hunger, nausea, or just stomach pain. My body was that much of a wreck.
‘I thought I just barely escaped death… What now?’
My eyes grew moist, and a wave of sorrow washed over me. Being sick is miserable no matter your age. But in this life, I wasn’t even thirty anymore. I was a newborn. A literal infant.
My emotions were in chaos, more primal than rational and I couldn’t help but cry. Tears streamed down, driven by raw instinct. My barely open eyes were blurry. They are not from tears, I suspected, but from sheer exhaustion. Just breathing felt dizzying and difficult.
Why was it so hot? It felt like I was submerged in boiling water.
I wanted to cry out for help, but I couldn’t even muster the energy. No powerful wail burst forth like before.
Only a weak, whimpering moan escaped my lips.
‘Ughhh…’
That was all I could manage. I couldn’t even summon the will to feel sorry for myself. All I could think was: Somebody please, just fix this. Make the pain stop.
It hurt—really, really badly.
I didn’t want to die.
I remembered my former body crumbling into white dust. That body was gone, vanished for good. For reasons I still didn’t understand, I’d clearly died back then.
‘Wait… Could it be…?’
Even in the middle of all this pain, a realization struck me: maybe this wasn’t just possession.
Maybe I’d actually reincarnated.
“Why is this happening?” someone said above me.
“Could it be the demon realm’s air doesn’t agree with her?”
“Now, all of a sudden?”
“She’s been asleep for a hundred days under Lord Lucifer’s power.”
That was new. The redhead who had once treated me like a thing was now speaking to me almost respectfully and dropping surprising information. So that’s why my newborn body had seemed unusually large. I’d been asleep for a hundred days.
And the reason I was slightly more robust than expected? It must’ve been Lucifer’s energy keeping me alive.
A faint memory from a dream flickered in my mind. Still, if the air here truly didn’t suit me, I should’ve been sick the moment I woke.
‘I have a high fever. My throat is sore. My body feels limp, and I am completely drained…’
I must’ve caught a cold from falling asleep in the bath. Combine that with the fact I hadn’t eaten anything in a hundred days, and, well…
I was suffering from a bad cold. Plus malnutrition.
‘God, please, save me!’
“I’ve heard humans get sick over the smallest things. Wouldn’t human infants be even more fragile?”
“Hmph. How troublesome.”
Despite sounding clearly irritated, Lucifer’s expression—seen faintly through my blurry vision—looked slightly… alarmed?
‘Am I hallucinating from the fever?’
“Did the power I gave her overnight not help?” he asked.
“Overnight?” the redhead echoed, sounding stunned.
“Yes.”
He let out a groan, his face a mix of panic and confusion. After several failed attempts to speak, he shut his mouth, then sighed quietly where Luciphel couldn’t see.
Then, with forced calm, he said, “She may be struggling to handle such immense power.”
“Then should I take it back?”
“No, wait. If she’s only alive because of your energy, removing it might kill her instantly.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“… I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
So that was the great conclusion reached above my head: “Humans are weird. We don’t know what to do.”
Frustration burned inside me. It’s just a cold! Just a cold, you idiotic demons! But all that came out of my mouth was another weak, babyish whimper.
Then—tap. A cool, firm hand touched my forehead. The cold sensation was a blessing—so soothing that my fingers twitch involuntarily.
I couldn’t even move my fingers before. Where did this sudden strength come from? A miracle born of raw survival instinct? I reached out, barely able to hold onto that hand. But I held it with all the strength I had.
Silence settled heavily around us.
I didn’t know what expressions they were making. I only clung to the coolness that eased my fever-ridden body.
The hand didn’t move. I kept pulling, even calling on every ounce of strength from my toes.
‘Please, just let me have this. It’s cool. It helps. Just for a little longer…’
My brows furrowed from the effort, but I didn’t even notice.
Just when my strength began to fail—
The hand gently returned to my forehead.
‘Ahhh… so cool…’
I never knew someone’s touch could be this cold. But then again… he’s not human, is he? The relief was minor, but it let my burning body calm just enough to breathe again. I couldn’t ask him to keep his hand there. All I could do was cling to it, using my entire body to communicate.
The moment I grasped his hand, my body relaxed like a puppet with cut strings. I really didn’t have the stamina to waste on this…
The communication barrier was maddening.
‘This is so exhausting… utterly exhausting.’
My body still throbbed with pain, but for the first time, I thought: At least they won’t just let me die. That thought gave me some comfort, and I sighed in relief. Just as I was about to drift off again, Lucifer’s voice dropped like a cold stone above me.
“Was that… irritation I just felt from her?”
… What? Why would you think that, Your Majesty?
I could feel his deadly aura hovering ominously above. Where did that even come from?! My body was on the brink of sleep, but I had to snap out of it. I fought the creeping drowsiness, trying to stay alert.
Wait – was it because I frowned earlier while pulling his hand?
As if to confirm my suspicion, the redhead said seriously,
“To me, it looked like she was angrily trying to take your hand, my Lord.”
His tone was full of confidence, as if he had no doubt he was right.
‘That bastard. I swear I’ll punch him someday.’
A small misunderstanding quickly morphed into absolute truth, and Lucifer let out a hollow laugh.
“I should’ve known since then when she was kicking me from the womb that she has quite the temper, doesn’t she?”
Completely misunderstood again. Still, Lucifer didn’t seem intent on killing me. That didn’t mean he was happy, though. He removed his hand from my forehead, clearly annoyed. The searing heat returned instantly. The brief relief I had vanished in an instant.
At this rate, I was doomed.
No, forget suffering. I might actually die. Human infants were fragile, after all.
‘Please save me!’
Of course, screaming that inside changed nothing. They couldn’t read my thoughts or even interpret my desperate gaze. And they clearly knew nothing about babies.
They didn’t even seem to understand humans.
So if I wanted to survive, I had no choice but to try harder myself.
‘I can do this. I can!’
My throat burned, my body was weak but humanity was a race favored by the gods, known for making the impossible possible.
Babble. Try babbling. Make the impossible happen.
I was a hero’s child, wasn’t I? And apparently infused with the Demon King’s power, too. I’d only been alive a hundred days, but still!
My vision swam with heat, but I could feel their crimson eyes hovering above, watching me. I hadn’t even had my mother’s milk—but I summoned the strength I didn’t know I had.
You’ve got this. Just say it. Babble!
“U… uuah-pfa…”
‘It hurts! I’m in pain! Help me!’
It was the best I could do, a desperate babble, wrung from my very soul.
Compared to my earlier weak moans, it was a heroic effort.
“…Was that an attempt to speak?” Lucifer murmured.
His blood-red gaze tilted. I could practically see his brow furrowing in confusion.
The redhead wasted no time chiming in.
“I believe… she just said ‘Daddy,’ my Lord.”
… You red-haired bastard.
I said I’m in pain, not Daddy. But there was no way I could correct him.
