You, My Devil

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Chapter 5

Heina was momentarily choked up and she swallowed a gulp. She can’t be weak.

“I want my body to be buried in the land of Constance, my homeland.”

Yuri didn’t answer for a moment. Heina continued.

“It is said that the wishes of the dead will be granted, you can do that. I don’t think I’m asking for too much luxury.”

As he watched Heina locked in his arms, trembling and trying not to make a frightened voice, Yuri finally exposed his teeth and started to laugh out loud. The dry laugh continued for a long time, and her body in contact with him shook with him.

Heina was so scared that she felt like she was about to cry, so she opened her eyes wide. A desert wind filled with sand and dust pierced her eyes sharply.

“I’m sorry, but that would be a bit difficult.”

Yuri, who suddenly stopped his laughter, whispered in her ear with a cruel voice.

Goosebumps sprouted all over Heina’s body. The wind was cold, and his slightly cracked voice sounded like that of the devil.

“I changed my plans, Princess Heina.”
“… what do you mean?”
“I’m thinking of putting off killing you until the next rain festival.”
“… What?”

Yuri chuckled.

“I’ve been thinking about it, and looking back over the past year, the old Princess of Constance seems to be useful in many ways.”

As his low, husky voice rang in her ears, something hot rumbled from the depths of her chest.
Heina’s body trembled thinly.

“Wh…. what?”
“I said that I will save you. Are you pretending to be deaf because you are so happy that I saved your life?”

Heina bit the flesh in her mouth tightly. Yuri swallowed a sigh and continued his words.

“So, I will think about how to dispose of your corpse in a year or so, after the next rain festival.”
A ridicule came out of Yuri’s lips. As long as the Emperor made the decision to do so, this rain festival would be supervised by Pesis. Even if he had any plans, he had to put it off until next year.

“Huhuh….”
“I didn’t know you would be so moved that you cried.”

Yuri blew a whistle at Heina’s tears that she had been holding back burst out of her eyes.

“After all, wouldn’t it be better to be alive even in this life like hell?”

Even with Yuri’s sneering tone, she couldn’t hold back her tears.

She started crying out loud, and she couldn’t figure out why she was crying so sadly. Heina’s white face lit up.

Yuri locked Heina who was crying in his arms. She was a mess around her eyes, blushed nose and trembling slender shoulders, Yuri chuckled like a devil.

The moon was gradually rising.

“Prince Yuri has come.”

The maid in charge of the temple posted a report to Camille in a low voice.

Camille, who was preparing to serve the God by burning incense in the center of the temple, turned around. As Yuri entered the temple with the stone pillar, Camille welcomed Yuri.

“How can you go out hunting right after returning from the battlefield and before even getting rid of your fatigue? I can’t even remember when I last saw you, Yuri.”

Camille’s beautiful blue eyes followed Yuri. It wasn’t that there was no blue-eyed man in Nike, but Yuri had never yet seen a clear blue-eyed man like Camille.

His two pupils were always pointed exactly at Yuri’s face, so Yuri would sometimes forget that Camille couldn’t see.

“I have to be able to bear the fever because of Pesis.”
“Hahaha, it’s nice to see that your personality is still there. I feel sorry for Brother Pesis, though.”

Taking Yuri’s hand, who revealed his emotions without hiding it, Camille let out a small laugh. The small left cheek was dented with a dimple.

“I heard the story of the rain festival. To not care is to win, my brother.”

Following Camille’s guidance, Yuri, who had entered the garden behind the temple, seemed to have calmed down at that time.

In a small garden with an open ceiling, various flowers came out of the barren ground and raised their heads nobly toward the sun. It was a beautiful sight to see how much effort Camille worked in this water-scarce country.

In the middle of the garden, on a round stone table, the tea the maid had prepared was emitting a fragrant smell.

Camille lifted the teacup familiarly. Yuri glanced at Camille, his own half-brother, Nike’s priest, who was in his usual relaxed appearance.

Camille, 3rd Prince of Nike.

He nearly died from a drug someone gave to him when he was young, and lost his sight in return for surviving. Naturally, his future was decided to worship god.

He was the most docile of Nike’s four sons, and Camille was the least like his father. His mother was the daughter of the Leshahin, who were the most minority tribe when unifying the nomadic peoples.

While she was playing the lute, she caught the eye of Nike and had Camille. After giving birth to Camille, she came into the concubinage, suffered from an illness and died of it. Her disease was called madness, and she later refused to eat, nor even recognized her own son’s face, before she eventually died.

Those in the court agreed that it was clear that she, who had a free spirit, had not adapted to imperial life.

In Camille, the cruel and tyrannical character of the Emperor, who all three sons had, could not be found. From his appearance to his docile personality, Camille was an outcast. He also had the most beautiful appearance of the four sons of Nike, and because of this, most of the people of Nike firmly believed that Camille was a heavenly being who was called by the God to come down to earth.

“Yes, did you feel any better after receiving the desert energy?”
“I think it would make me feel better if I cut off all the heads of the ministers who talk about the prophecies that don’t even exist now.”

As Yuri muttered in a voice that didn’t hide his anger, Camille reached out and gently stroked his hair. Camille was the only person in the Imperial Palace who could touch Yuri’s body first.

Yuri’s shiny red hair ruffled between his fingers and changed direction.

Yuri tilted his head slightly so that Camille could reach him better. His eyelashes fell down, casting a shadow over his white face.

Camille opened his mouth in a soft voice.

“Oh, I guess you’re still thinking about the rain festival?”
“I didn’t even know that even Nike would take the side of the ministers who were crying out for hostility.”

When Yuri answered bluntly, Camille continued with a cautious tone.

“Yuri, the more you act like that, the more others will see that you still care about the prophecy.”

Yuri raised his head and looked at his half-brother, Camille, who was genuinely worried about him. When Yuri started to understand, no one in the Imperial Palace spoke to him.

Even the nanny who nursed him and raised him was changed once a year. There were also maids who, when he was still a child, would gossip about him as a devil when he passed by.

His father, Nike, was away every day for the war, and the people who were at least in the palace by the title of his older brothers were anxious to harm him.

The 3rd Prince, Camille, was the first to open his heart to such a person.

─ “Who is there?”

Thump, thump-

— “Don’t run away, come here. Won’t you read a book to me? I can’t see.”

Camille, whom he met for the first time, had an angelic personality as well as a beautiful appearance.

He didn’t seem interested in rumors about Yuri. No, the young Yuri thought maybe he didn’t know.

Rumors spread in the Imperial Palace that a red-haired devil had cursed Camille and blinded him. When someone’s plan to kill Camille failed, they tried to put it on Yuri instead. Rumors spread from mouth to mouth. In order not to be cursed by the devil, they must not go against Yuri’s heart, and people murmured in their mouth, and that made him even more lonely.

Whether Camille knows the rumors about Yuri or not, Camille has never let him go. Next to him, who could not see through his eyes, Yuri read a book. He didn’t say he didn’t know the letters. At his side, who concocted the story of the desert god coming to Nike with the sandstorm to save the people, Camille listened quietly with a smile.

─ “Next time, read a book to Older Brother again, Yuri.”
─ “Camille… Aren’t you scared of me?”

Camille put a gentle smile on his face and looked directly into Yuri’s eyes and asked.

─ “Is there any reason for me to be scared of you?”

It was only when Yuri began to grow older that he knew that Camille was sincere.

─ “Please don’t say that in front of me, who worships God. Everything is just the will of Nike and the God who protects him. That is how you were born.”

From the day he watched Camille’s blue eyes quietly rage and turn at those who cursed Yuri, Camille became the only person in the palace he could trust.

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