Kaelthar, now living inside Aurelia’s body, faced the most humiliating experience of his life.
In his previous life as the Demon King, he had been the unstoppable ruler of darkness, a being who fed on negative emotions and dominated the demon world without ever experiencing the weakness of a mortal body. But now, his tiny body—a fragile human infant—presented a reality far different.
A reality that, to him, was nothing less than an insult.
Kaelthar had never felt this humiliated in all his existence—not even when his former body had been destroyed by Aurelia’s light during their final battle.
True humiliation, it turned out, was not death.
It was… being reborn as a human baby.
And today, he faced something even lower than that.
At first it was only a gentle pressure in his stomach.
As a demon, he had always ignored bodily sensations. Pain was nourishment, and wounds made him stronger. But this feeling… was different. It did not call forth power. It offered no growth.
It was simply… irritating.
“This human body must be broken,” he thought gloomily. “Or weak. Or both.”
Then the sensation moved downward.
Flowed.
And came out.
Warm.
Sticky.
Wet.
Kaelthar froze.
“What… what just happened?”
He tried to move his tiny body to look, but his small hands couldn’t reach anything. Then the smell followed—a smell so unpleasant it made him want to wail.
“Impossible… did I just produce that?”
As a demon, he had never needed to relieve himself. He had never produced anything so disgusting.
Even the feeling of disgust itself was new to him.
Demonic bodies absorbed all negative energy completely—nothing wasted, no residue.
This was a biological insult.
And the tiny human body began to feel… hot. Uncomfortable. Damp. Itchy.
He didn’t know how to deal with it.
He tried to endure it.
He tried to silence his body.
But the human body responded to this humiliation with a single instinctive reaction.
He cried.
The sound burst out of him—loud, shrill, broken.
Nothing like the earth-shaking voice of a Demon King.
“Owaa! Owaa!”
He tried to shout, not knowing what to do to escape this discomfort. His chest tightened as panic grew.
The crying became louder.
More desperate.
More pitiful.
Tears fell from his tiny eyes, staining the dignity of a creature of darkness.
Yet at his lowest moment, something unexpected happened.
The door opened.
Quick footsteps approached.
Seraphina—the woman this body called mother—hurried in and lifted him.
“Oh, my dear Aurelia, what’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?”
Her touch was gentle.
She lifted him carefully, rocking him, soothing him.
And…
For the first time, Kaelthar experienced something terrifying on a deeper level.
This human body calmed down immediately when touched.
His crying weakened without his permission.
The tightness in his chest loosened.
His head rested against her shoulder—without him realizing it.
“What… is this?” he thought, confused. “Why do I feel… better?”
Then his father arrived with warm cloth and water.
Kaelthar was placed gently on a soft table as Seraphina began cleaning his tiny body.
Patiently.
With care.
With full attention.
Each wipe of the warm cloth made the discomfort disappear.
And Kaelthar—though a fragment of his pride still remained—could not deny how comfortable the treatment felt.
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Once he was cleaned, dressed in fresh clothing, and returned to the warm embrace of his mother, something clicked inside Kaelthar’s mind.
A humiliating yet extremely important realization.
“When I cried… they came.”
“They took care of me.”
“They made sure I was clean, warm, and comfortable.”
The pattern was obvious.
A new law of this world.
In the demon world, power came from terror and domination.
In the human world…
Crying was a divine call.
Crying → attention
Crying → comfort
Crying → being held
Crying → warmth and food
This… was extraordinary.
A system of power he had never possessed before.
As the Demon King, he ruled through fear.
As a human baby…
He could rule through weakness.
A concept that turned his old world upside down.
First experiment
Not long after being cleaned, Kaelthar felt a slight chill in his fingertips.
A tiny cold sensation.
Not painful.
Not even particularly bothersome.
A demon would ignore it without thinking.
“But… is this enough reason to cry?” Kaelthar wondered.
He considered it.
Then decided: yes.
He scrunched his small face…
Filled his lungs…
And unleashed the most dramatic fake cry his tiny body could produce.
And like magic—
Seraphina immediately returned.
“My dear! Are you cold? Come here, Mother will hold you.”
Warm embrace.
Soft blanket.
Sweet scent.
Kaelthar felt his body melt into comfort completely inappropriate for a demon.
“Oh…” he thought, surprised by how pleasant it felt.
“Not bad at all…”
Second experiment
Some time later, he felt slightly thirsty.
Not severe. Just mild thirst.
He cried again.
Even faster than before, warm milk touched his lips.
His body surrendered instantly, drinking eagerly.
“This body… really likes this,” he thought, unsure whether to be angry or pleased.
Perhaps both.
Within a single hour, Kaelthar had already understood the laws of the human world.
Every minor discomfort—
A little cold,
A little boredom,
A little loneliness,
A little itch,
Even the simple desire to be touched—
He cried.
And every time, without fail, humans came.
They cleaned him.
Carried him.
Held him.
Caressed him.
Fed him milk.
Wrapped him in blankets.
Sang to him.
This was a far more efficient system of power than demonic rule.
“They really… rush to my side every time I make noise,” Kaelthar thought with fascination and delight.
Soon he began crying even without reason, simply to confirm the pattern.
And the pattern was always correct.
Seraphina never grew angry.
Alaric never seemed disappointed.
Every human response was the same:
Affection.
Kaelthar experienced something he had never imagined.
He enjoyed being spoiled.
Very much.
He—the Demon King, ruler of darkness—now used crying as his newest weapon.
And honestly?
He felt victorious.
Meanwhile, Aurelia—now living as Kaelthar—felt frustration consuming her.
Her body was thin and weak by demonic standards for her age. The pitch-black skin had begun to fade in places, the crimson lines across it dimmer than before. Every step felt heavy, as if the entire world were dragging her down.
For several days, Aurelia had refused to absorb negative emotions from Anna, the human chained in the corner of her room.
She couldn’t do it.
She didn’t want to.
Even inside this demon body, her heart remained the heart of a Holy Queen.
She had sworn to protect humanity.
She would not surrender to the dark instincts of her new body.
But that choice came with a cost.
This demon body weakened each day.
The energy that once flowed like molten lava was nearly gone.
Kaelthar’s parents—who once frequently visited to ensure their “heir” developed properly—had stopped coming.
They began ignoring her.
They saw her as a failure.
“Only the strong deserve attention,” her father had said during his last visit.
The words echoed in her mind like a sentence of judgment.
In the royal demon family, there was no place for weakness.
The king had many children.
Only the ruthless and powerful would survive long enough to inherit the throne.
Now only a few demon servants still came, bringing food for Anna.
They paid no attention to Kaelthar—or rather, Aurelia.
The food given to Anna was not meant to save her.
It was meant to keep her healthy enough to produce fear and hatred for Kaelthar.
But under Aurelia’s care, Anna had become healthier and calmer.
Her wounds had healed.
Her once-starved body had regained strength.
Days passed without Aurelia feeding.
Aurelia sat against the cold wall of the chamber, her body growing weaker.
She could no longer stand upright.
Her breathing was shallow, like a tiny flame flickering in a storm.
She knew this body needed nourishment—negative emotions from the human prepared for her.
But she still refused.
Anna sat in the dark corner of the cage that had been her prison for months.
Her body, once thin and frail, had regained some strength thanks to the food Kaelthar secretly purified for her.
Yet her mind remained filled with fear.
She was still in this dark world, where demons treated humans like livestock—sources of fear harvested like crops.
But Kaelthar…
He was different.
Anna watched the dark figure sitting across the room.
Kaelthar’s massive body looked thinner than before.
The red lines that once glowed across his skin now flickered weakly like dying embers.
His breathing was shallow and heavy.
Even though he was the son of the Demon King, he looked more fragile than a human.
“What is he thinking?” Anna wondered.
All her life she had known demons as cruel creatures who fed on human suffering.
But Kaelthar had never forced her to feel fear.
He had never terrorized her like other demons.
Instead, she had witnessed something unbelievable.
Kaelthar used his magic to cleanse the rotten food given to her.
He even cooked the meat with black flames so she could eat properly.
And when he looked at her…
She saw no hatred.
Only sadness.
Anna didn’t understand why he acted this way.
But she knew one thing.
Kaelthar was not like the others.
And somehow, that was enough to awaken sympathy in her heart.
Perhaps…
Kaelthar also hated this world.
That night, Anna made a decision.
Kaelthar lay on the floor, too weak to rise.
“I… will not force you…” he murmured hoarsely. “I will not… hurt you.”
Hearing that made Anna’s heart tighten.
“Idiot,” she thought bitterly. “Why do you care about me? You’re only hastening your own death.”
She slowly stood, her hands gripping the bars of the cage.
“I won’t let you die,” she said, her voice trembling.
Kaelthar tried to lift his head.
“Don’t… you must live. I don’t care if I… die.”
Anna shook her head, tears falling.
“You don’t understand. If you die, I’ll become livestock again. Your siblings won’t treat me like you do.”
She looked at the demon struggling to breathe.
For the first time she realized something.
She was more afraid of losing him than of the demons themselves.
Because he was the only being in this world who treated her like a human.
“I know what I have to do,” she whispered.
Kaelthar’s eyes flickered weakly.
“What… are you… saying?”
Anna smiled sadly.
“Just accept it. If you die… I die too.”
Before Kaelthar could stop her, Anna closed her eyes.
She summoned every fear, pain, and suffering she had endured.
Then she released it willingly.
All of it flowed toward the dying demon.
Kaelthar felt the surge of energy strike him.
“No… stop…” he murmured.
But his dying body greedily absorbed the emotions.
Strength returned.
Like a dying flame finding fuel.
When he woke, his body felt different.
Power surged through him like boiling lava.
His once-frail body was strong again.
The crimson lines on his skin glowed brightly.
“What… happened?” he whispered.
Then he saw Anna.
She was no longer trembling.
Her face was empty.
Her eyes were hollow.
In that instant, Aurelia realized the truth.
Demons could absorb negative emotions.
But they could also drain them entirely—leaving humans as empty shells.
Anna had sacrificed herself.
“Anna…” Aurelia whispered.
The woman didn’t respond.
She sat motionless, like a doll with its soul removed.
Anna had lost everything.
Fear.
Anger.
Sadness.
Hope.
Aurelia staggered backward, pressing against the wall.
“No… this can’t be…”
Her body trembled—not from weakness, but from overwhelming guilt.
“I didn’t want this…”
But the truth remained.
Anna had given everything.
And it saved Aurelia’s life.
Something changed inside her.
“I swear,” she said quietly.
“I will never let this happen again.”
Yet deep inside, she knew this world would not allow such a promise easily.
Outside her chamber door, heavy footsteps approached.
A new battle was about to begin.
