"This body is beyond saving."
Jeremiah pieced together the words spoken by a voice intermittently reaching her through her fading consciousness. He was judging how much time remained until Jeremiah reached death. The cold voice delivered the diagnosis that Jeremiah had no hope.
'I'm dying?'
Her breath caught in her throat. Jeremiah gasped, denying the fact that she was dying.
"I, I don't want to die...."
Since being educated to never forget her dignity as a princess, today was the first time she had ever clung so desperately and begged to be saved. Her attachment to life had made Jeremiah this abject.
Overwhelmed by the vivid pressure of her misery and her end pressing against her like sharp air, Jeremiah struggled. However, her body, facing death, did not obey her, and all she could do was flail her hands through the void.
Then someone took Jeremiah's hand.
'Who is it?'
Who would not let go of the hand of Jeremiah, who had been abandoned even by her sister, even by the gods, and had lost anyone to hold her hand? Jeremiah struggled to open her eyes.
What she saw through her barely opened eyelids was an entirely white angel.
Silver threads bathed in moonlight pouring through the night sparkled. Beneath them rested a pale white face.
Jeremiah realized the angel's name was Evangelin. They had only met once at a banquet, yet it would have been strange not to remember Evangelin Rohanson's appearance. How could she forget the moment when all her accumulated notions of beauty were put to use again?
The momentary mistake of thinking her an angel was due to her appearance being too beautifully sculpted. What god creates has deficiencies. Evangelin, having been created to embody the ideal that humans desire rather than gods, was flawless.
Evangelin smiled faintly as she looked at Jeremiah. Beautiful yet ominous. Since one who had not received life from god moved and lived as she pleased, merely looking at Evangelin felt blasphemous.
"Do you wish to survive?"
"...Even if it means holding a devil's hand?"
Yet it was Jeremiah herself who had summoned the devil. The devil's skin was cold as glass, but from the fingertips caressing Jeremiah, a faint warmth reached her.
'Lady Rohanson....'
Does the devil act so tenderly to lure in a human?
Jeremiah closed her eyes. Since this might be the end, what Jeremiah captured last before closing her eyes was the Milky Way embroidering the night sky. Through her fading consciousness, an especially clear voice lodged itself in her ears.
"If you don't want to die, then hold on until I find a way to save you."
Evangelin, noticing that Jeremiah had given up, scolded her. She was right. Having gone so far as to summon a devil, it would be a shame to fade away like this.
"Let's go to the Rohanson mansion."
Jeremiah knew that if she opened her eyes again, that place would be the Rohanson mansion.
When Jeremiah regained consciousness, as expected, she was in an unfamiliar room. The firmly drawn curtains did not allow even the moonlight to peek inside. The room was very dark, relying only on a single small candle, because they had deliberately not lit more candles lest any light leak outside.
Jeremiah was lying on a bed. Since they said they were going to the Rohanson mansion, this was probably Evangelin's bed. She marveled briefly that they had managed to escape the castle, when all the knights of the imperial palace must have been mobilized to search for Jeremiah.
Her forehead felt cool, and she saw a maid wiping Jeremiah's sweat with a wet towel. Her features were so striking that if not for her attire, she might have been mistaken for someone of noble birth. Instead of being neatly tied, her red curly hair hung loose, and across her neck was a long horizontal line. Jeremiah met eyes with the maid, who resembled her master in being strangely peculiar.
"Miss. The Princess has opened her eyes."
The maid immediately informed her master that Jeremiah had awakened.
"I'm glad you regained consciousness quickly."
Evangelin approached holding a candlestick and sat on the edge of the bed. Evangelin stroked Jeremiah's face.
"Lady Jeremiah. I found a way."
The devil spoke sweet words.
The cat in Evangelin's arms acted charming and stole Evangelin's touch away again. Evangelin stroked the cat as if resigned, then spoke calmly.
"However, it may not be the method Lady Jeremiah was hoping for."
"What... what method is it...?"
Her throat was hoarse from all the crying and screaming, so Jeremiah's voice sounded just like the wind.
"Lady Jeremiah's body has no hope left."
"...What?"
But upon hearing the words that followed, Jeremiah's expectations were shattered to pieces. Evangelin smiled brightly with her eyes and continued.
"It's a miracle you haven't died yet. So there's no choice but to move to another body."
Jeremiah bit her lip hard as she listened to Evangelin's explanation. And just as she said, what Evangelin told her was a method Jeremiah had certainly never thought of.
Since Jeremiah's body could not be saved, she would transfer her soul to another body.... If anyone else had heard this, they would have run straight to the temple to confess and be burned at the stake together—it was that dangerous a statement.
"...If I transfer, whose body would I go to?"
"To a body that the Princess would feel no guilt over taking."
Evangelin said, pointing to a body collapsed on the floor.
"Azazel...!"
Jeremiah chewed on the knight's name filled with rage. He was the knight who had stabbed her stomach. Jeremiah's heart wildly shook. The moment Tenebrei calmly introduced Azazel as her escort, and the moment Azazel pushed a sword into Jeremiah's stomach vividly resurfaced.
Evangelin had captured him for Jeremiah's sake. If Evangelin had brought Azazel to provoke Jeremiah's wicked heart, it was a very effective strategy. Heat rose and her reason blurred.
"Have you made your decision?"
It didn't take long for Jeremiah to reach a conclusion. Hadn't she already decided in the first place?
To oppose Tenebrei who killed her blood relative, and Bishop Marik who was the mastermind behind everything, she really had no choice but to borrow the devil's hand.
"...Yes. I will make my wish."
Jeremiah glanced at Gabriel for a moment. Gabriel did not even blink upon hearing the wicked methods. She once thought that unwavering gaze was directed at the god Rahel. The candle flame flickered. Gabriel's gaze was directed at Evangelin. Having already found a light to illuminate the darkness in her stead, he was fine even without sunlight shining down.
"...I heard the story from Sir Gabriel and had already made up my mind. To a devil... no, even if I sell my soul to you, please...."
Jeremiah quietly gazed at Evangelin. That light resembled a star in the night sky. There were countless stars in the heavens, and the brightest among them had fallen and was by Jeremiah's side.
Jeremiah closed her eyes like in prayer, clasped her hands together, and made her wish. The object of Jeremiah's wish was neither god nor devil, but Evangelin. Jeremiah strongly willed as Evangelin had taught her. To take back the name Tenebrei had stolen from her. To be able to take revenge for killing her father. To not die like this.... To be able to breathe again.
The strong attachment of one dying was powerful enough to devour even a devil filled with resentment, and the star resonated, creating a miracle that raised Jeremiah's life.
And so Jeremiah was able to awaken again in Azazel's body.