The original host had only seen her once in this state; the barely noticeable horns on the woman's forehead had tripled in volume, the sclera of her eyes had darkened and her skin had turned purple, while an oppressive aura revolved around her, before the man in front of her eyes dies as result of the laceration on his whole body.

Probably no one had seen her in such a state except her husband and her son, Krein, but everyone knew that she was a half-demon and even only half-demon, she was still very dangerous even for a squadron captain.

This is what hurt her. Erwin, Lise, and the other soldiers had preferred to keep her from leaving for helping her son, so they wouldn't have to take any risks. But it was her son's life that was at stake, and among demons, the family is important. She wanted to try to save her son with her strength, but she had been put to sleep with an Erodon thorn, a mixture of plants causing a monstrous melatonin peak that instantly put the person to sleep. It was a product she had created herself, that we used on her was boiling her blood.

She understood that they wanted to protect her, but she didn't understand why they couldn't just go with her to help Krein while protecting her; because of cowardice? And now, Hector had let out that word: "No".

She had understood that she had finally lost a loved one, just after she had a slight joy and hope when she saw her son's face again.

From this point of view, even Hector, who had only had some poor information from Balam, did not dare to open his mouth. He was just waiting for someone to talk, but Helena did it first.

"Gregory, thank you for bringing him back, I'll take care of him now." she said in a very calm voice that gave Hector chills. "I sincerely hope you will find this spy you're investigating."

"Thank you, Helena." Gregory replied with an embarra.s.sed smile. "To tell you the truth, when I saw him… When I saw... Krein, I noticed that he didn't have the same energy signature… but I thought it was because he had grown up. I hadn't seen him for years, after all."

"It's all right, Gregory, you can go." she continued. The man blew and realized he shouldn't even have answered to her.

"Of course. I say goodbye to you all." concludes the Lieutenant by putting on his shoes, then going outside, while Selena smiled at Hector as if to wish him good luck.

A silence took place after the two soldiers left the house. The two maids sat at the table, took the opportunity to clear the table and ran as quickly as possible to the kitchens. The Footman, on the other hand, had stayed seated and watch what was going to happen.

Hector decided to step up to Helena and put one hand on her shoulder in the hope that it would soothe her.

"I'm sorry." he sincerely said, looking her in the eye. "Would you like us to go up to your workshop to talk about this?"

"Yes." she replied before moving towards the kitchens. "Amy, Ca.s.sandre, could you come up to my workshop and bring two mango teas, please?"

After that, Helena and Hector climbed the steps of the three floors of the house before arriving at a metal door that was locked. The woman took a bunch of keys that were placed on a piece of furniture and grumbled at herself, calling herself to stop being head in the cloud.

When she opened the door of the room, a workshop similar to that of an alchemist appeared before Hector. There was an inconsiderable number of plants of all kinds, both in pots and jars, either dried or alive. Stills and other utilities were lying around the room as an exotic smell tickled Hector's nostrils as he sneezed only seconds after entering the room. A group of plants seemed to boil in a mixture of water and another oil-like liquid; a little further away, flower pistils and petals were crushed to extract the few precious drops of sap.

"A strange place, huh?" Helena asked, opening a drawer. "Krein didn't particularly like this room, he hated the smell. More than five years he hadn't been here." she walked towards a chair with a dry bag of flowers and sat down pouring the contents of the bag onto the table. "Your name."

"Hector Balam." Hector replied strongly.

She didn't answer right away and started sorting the dried flowers in front of her. Hector had to wait for someone to knock on the door for Helena to decide to talk again.

"It's Ca.s.sandre, I've come to bring you the teas." said the maid who was waiting for Helena's approval before she could return.

"Come, don't worry." replied the woman in a calm tone. The maid put the cups down and left immediately; Helena looked at her reflection in the cup and blew, tears in her eyes. "It was his choice, he wanted to help a girl he had recently fallen in love with… and I couldn't stop him at the moment... and now…"

"So… it was for a woman that he died…"

"Didn't you know that?" she asked, fighting her emotions.

"I didn't inherit all of his memories, I only have a tiny part of his memories that came to me… People, where I come from, sent me here, but I don't know how it works." he explained, without any tact. "My mind was ejected from my original body and searched for a very long time for a body in which it could dwell again."

"Where you come from… a reincarnation, huh..." she began, whispering. "Anyway… And that's when you found my son… So it was you who gave him the final blow."

"No, I wasn't in control of my spirit, I was under the influence of some kind of 'marine current', I couldn't do anything." he said, looking down. "I still feel guilty about that, but without wanting to lie to you, your son would have died no matter what happened, he was in shock. The pain he felt knocked him out and he was bleeding out. Sorry to be so honest, but I think I have to do it."

Helena got up and looked out of the small round window of her workshop. After a brief moment of reflection, she detached her bun, leaving her long, wavy black hair in the aromatic air of the room; she stored the flowers she had sorted in gla.s.s jars before sitting down again holding her head between her two hands.

"Did he suffer? Answer me honestly."

"Yes. A lot."

Helena took her time to a.s.similate the information she had just received. A son who died in pain for a love that would never have come true. And today the two lovers were dead.

She took a deep breath as her body was shaken before little droplets rolled down her cheeks; Hector easily guessed that she had cried a lot thinking that her son had died. But he would have thought that if she found out a second time, it wouldn't hurt her that much.

However, no one gets used to the pain of losing a loved one. Except maybe him.

Hector had trouble realizing it, but his past had a huge influence on the way he was with others. He sometimes had no tact, no problem saying things crudely, even if it meant hurting people, but above all and unfortunately, he had almost become completely insensitive to the pain of any kind, to cruelty and even to death. He himself could not remember when the last time he cried was. When his parents died? No. When Chloe died? No, either. The few times his tears came to his eyes, they never fell. He had already seen time after the time of the morbid event from birth. And now, the spectacle of cruelty had created for him an armor against the worst hazards of life.

When he was at camp, the pain, the stress, was not something that a man like him had to show, because too much was expected of him. And he was the one who accepted that the people of the camp expected too much from him. As a result, he accepted his pain and suffering, accelerating his insensitivity and emotional trauma.

And now, today, in another world, he was envying the tears of a woman crying over the death of her son.

Guilt. Honesty or lies. These are the three terms that have been in Hector's head since he reincarnated into this world.

He had chosen the path of honesty and among all the existing paths, it is the one that hurts the most, because this is the path who goes straight to our hearts.

And on the other side of the table, in front of him, were the consequences of his honesty.