Professor lifted a paw and pointed at me.
You’re an obtuse god! This body is Kreis’s. What I mean is Kreis’s soul—
“No, that’s what I’m telling you. You are Kreis’s soul.”
“What?”
“Those memories you just saw were your true path. You were born as Kreis von Louboutin, and when you died, you were reincarnated into another world. You died there, and then you came back to this one.”
“Wait. Wait, that’s crazy! The order is all wrong!”
I was supposed to have finished my real life in Japan first, then lived Kreis’s life, and only then did I begin this cycle of coming back to life after death.
“No, what was wrong was your recollection. I’ve switched it back to the true version.”
“Switched it back? But that means...”
That would mean I really was Kreis von Louboutin.
“Exactly.”
“What do you mean, exactly?! Why didn’t you tell me any of this until now?!”
“Because you needed to become stronger.”
“Stronger...?”
“Think about it. Since you returned to this world, you’ve done countless things you never would’ve done if you thought you were truly Kreis from the start. If you’d known the whole time, your heart would’ve broken over and over. You would’ve kept reliving that agony forever. But that wouldn’t be enough.” Professor gazed at me with tender eyes. “Kreis von Louboutin, my beloved child. You were too kind. You needed to learn how to be stronger, so I sent you to another world.”
It was only then that I realized this was the first time Professor had called me by that name.
Kreis.
It felt like he was proclaiming to the universe that this was my true name.
“But this world... I wrote the story of it.”
“No, it’s the other way around. Because you still had fragmented memories of this world inside you, you ended up writing that story. And the proof of it is that the details were all wrong, weren’t they?”
He was right. I’d been frustrated so many times by how different the reality of this world was. I’d cursed my lack of talent.
“Your suffering here was so great that you unconsciously sealed those memories away. You decided that if you were the villain, there was a kind of salvation in that. If you deserved to be killed, at least you could accept it. So you wrote that story without realizing it.”
“No...”
All this time, I’d believed that I didn’t belong in this body and that I was only borrowing it. That the person Siegfried really loved wasn’t me.
But it was. The person Siegfried had cared about all this time...had always been me. My tangled memories began to settle into place in my mind.
Oh, that’s right.
I was Kreis von Louboutin. All that pain, that grief, that despair... It had all always belonged to me.
“Ha ha ha... How stupid could I be?”
Had I been jealous of myself this entire time?
“Kreis!”
I didn’t know if he’d broken through the invisible wall or if Professor had dissolved it, but Siegfried suddenly grabbed me and pulled me into his arms.
“You are Kreis! Kreis von Louboutin! I’ve told you that many times!”
“I know... I know, you’re right. But the honest, gentle Kreis who was your friend is gone. I’m twisted and unpleasant now. Can you still love me as I am?”
“Of course I can! I’ve always loved you, then and now! Whether you were trying your hardest for me, or changing for me...”
“Siegfried...” Tears streamed down my cheeks. It was finally okay to be loved by him. I didn’t have to hold back anymore. “Siegfried, there’s something I want to tell you.” I cradled his face in my hands, lifted his gaze to mine, and spoke in a breaking voice. “I love you, and I always have.”
“Kreis!” He held me tight.
It should’ve hurt, but the joy flooding through me drowned out any pain. I was back in Siegfried’s arms. At last, I could stay with him. But was this really all right? I couldn’t help but wonder. Could I really call this a happy ending? Sure, we’d defeated the fallen angel, but we’d lost so much.
Maybe if I went back in time again, I could find a path where everyone survived.
“See? This is your problem.”
“Huh?”
“I have something to tell you.”
Professor trotted over, plopped down in front of me, and looked up.
“Do you know what I meant when I called you my beloved child?”
“Um, that I’m dear to you?”
“Hang on. Professor, are you saying that Kreis has received a divine blessing?” Siegfried asked.
“That’s right. At least one of you catches on quickly.”
“Divine blessing?”
“Kreis. You’ve become a saint.”
“Wait. A saint, as in...the ones who deliver the word of gods, heal wounds with holy power...” A figure even higher than an oracle who can receive revelations, a near legendary existence I’d only heard of in fairy tales.
“That’s right. Congratulations, Kreis. You’re the fifth saint ever to grace this world.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Hang on, fifth? That’s more than I thought there’d be...”
“Well, you’re the fifth in the world’s entire history, so I wouldn’t say that’s a lot, would you?”
“Well, I guess when you put it that way...”
“Besides, that’s not the important part. Now that you’re a saint, you can use divine power to heal people’s wounds.”
“Heal people’s wounds?”
“Yes, You could probably heal everyone here. I may not look it, but I feel a deep sense of responsibility, so everyone here is still just barely alive.”
“Really?! Are you serious?!”
“Think of it as a reward for everything you’ve done.”
I closed my eyes and prayed just as Professor had instructed. I felt the power radiate outward, spreading through the air around me. It touched every person within its reach, closing their wounds. People slowly began to rise to their feet around me, looking totally stunned.
“You could’ve told me I could do this a little sooner.”
“I did say it was a reward, didn’t I? Divine power isn’t something you can just toss around. It comes at a cost.”
“What was the price I paid you?”
“You showed me selfless love.”
Selfless love... Just hearing those words made my skin flush with embarrassment.
“You were willing to disappear if it meant restoring the one Siegfried loved. And if that isn’t selfless, then what is?”
“I still have a lot I want to say to you about that,” Siegfried muttered.
He sounded so angry I shrank back a little. “Uhhh... Sorry.”
Just then, I heard a voice shout, “Father!”
“Cirelle!”
The children came running toward us, fully healed. I was overcome with emotion and dropped to my knees, spreading out my arms wide as I cried.
They all burst into tears as they ran into my embrace.
“Father! You’re alive!”
“You too, papa! You’re really alive!”
I caught them in my arms and wept openly. “Fools, you fools! Why don’t you ever listen to a word I say?”
The children sobbed and apologized as they clung to me. They clung to Siegfried and Professor too.
“Thank you for protecting what matters most to me,” Siegfried said to them.
“Papa, did we do a good job?”
“Yes, you did wonderfully. But promise me you’ll never do anything this dangerous again. You’re precious to me and Kreis. You’re our family.”
The children sobbed even louder. I started crying again too, unable to hold back. Professor was caught in the middle, being jostled around until he let out a weary sigh.
“At this rate, who knows how long it’ll be until snack time!”
“Oh, snack time!” I pulled away from the children and raised my voice. “Let’s all have a snack together!”
“Kreis?”
“There’s still so much we have to do. So we need to start by filling our bellies!”
After all, you couldn’t fight on an empty stomach. Eating meant you were alive.
“Whew, that was incredible!”
I flopped onto the bed, and the mattress swallowed my weight without complaint. The king’s bed was probably the finest in all the land.
“I didn’t think we’d end up partying so late.”
The courtyard where Siegfried and the fallen angel had fought, along with a good chunk of the palace itself, had been reduced to rubble. And there’d been temporary upheavals in weather and land all across the world.
In the end, we blamed it all on the fallen angel, and Siegfried was hailed as the hero who’d defeated it.
And of course there’d be a celebration when a hero vanquishes evil. So today, the kingdom had thrown a huge party, and there was a massive feast in the palace.
“I thought there’d be more trouble after I was revealed as the demon king, so I didn’t expect everyone to welcome me so openly,” Siegfried said.
“Who’d dare stand up and declare they were going to take you down after seeing all your power?” I replied with a laugh.
“If we’re talking about recognition, I’d say your public image has skyrocketed after they found out you were a saint.”
He was right. Healing everyone who’d been there made it impossible to hide that I was now a saint. The news that I’d received a divine blessing had spread like wildfire.
“And thanks to that, no one can ever complain about us being together.”
The bed shifted under me, and I felt Siegfried straddle me as I lay face down. His lips brushed against the back of my neck, and my whole body flinched.
That was right. I’d come along with him without thinking too much about it. But I’d already confessed my feelings, so maybe this was going exactly where it seemed.
“H-Hey, you must be tired, right? Maybe I should head back to the guest room?”
“You really think I’m going to let you leave?”
I knew it.