It took a long time for Mariane to open her eyes again. The ceiling above her head was beautifully crafted, with a painting of angels and demons fighting each other in a bloody war. She didn’t immediately register where she was, but she recognized the white haired man who was holding her hand. His hair looked dull, as if he didn’t take care of it properly for a while, and he had his head buried in the bed sheets, nodding off.

  “Vinea ?”

  Her voice came out somewhat raspy, and her mouth felt dry. But as soon as he heard her, the prince opened his eyes wide and rose from the bed.

  “Mariane ! Wait, I need to call Bael ! No, I probably should give you water first…”

  He was fiddling with his uniform sleeves, panicking and confused, but a big hand nded on his shoulder to calm him down.

  “I’m here, rex.”

  The king approached and leaned towards Mariane, who looked as white as a sheet.

  “You look better than before. I was quite worried since we don’t have a lot of experience with healing humans, but I guess Baam did a good job. I should give him a raise.”

  Finishing his examination, he helped the girl sit down and gave her a gss of water. She flinched under his touch, but it wasn’t surprising considering what had happened. Making sure she didn’t choke, Bael continued.

  “First, I should apologize for what happened. The fact that such a thing took pce in my kingdom is entirely my responsibility. It shows that the mentality I want to spread isn’t reaching everyone’s mind. It’s a fact I overlooked, and I should take measures to make sure it never happens again. Don’t worry about all of that, the demon was punished and I will make sure nobody nds a finger on you anymore.”

  Beliar, with his delinquent look, entered the room at that moment.

  “Yeah, don’t worry, we literally destroyed that guy, not even his soul remains. It should serve as a good warning for the other assholes out there who had their eyes on you.”

  The words of the blonde prince and the king seemed to somewhat reassure Mariane, and she rexed, leaning against the pillow behind her back.

  “Thanks for saving me. Thomas was right.”

  The princes, who were now entering one after the others, looked confused.

  “Thomas ?”

  Only the king didn’t seem surprised.

  “Is it the name of the guy who is trapped in your body ?”

  Marine looked anxious, avoiding the men’s gazes. She fiddled with the gss before finally confessing.

  “I have Dissociative Identity Disorder. It means there are several people in my head. You already met Thomas, he’s the one who likes to study. He always pretended to be me, because I wasn’t ready to tell you and he wanted to respect my choice…”

  Paimon adjusted his round gsses on his nose.

  “So, you are the dumb one and he is intelligent. I see, that expins your contradictions.”

  But Asmodey wasn’t as calm. Two curly horns were growing under his wavy auburn hair, showing off his anger.

  “Wait, there is a man inside of you and it’s not me ? Who is this pervert ?”

  Even the small Pursan had a wicked smile.

  “How did he enter you ? Should I get him out ?”

  Mariane waved her hands in panic, making the gss fall and break on the floor. She looked terrified by the men’s angry gres.

  “No, you don’t understand ! He has more or less always been here ! He is my guardian, he helps me a lot ! Even when I’m mean to him, he says nothing. He’s a good guy !”

  The princes were agitated, but the king and Paimon stayed calm.

  “I know what you are talking about. It happens when a child’s mind is too weak to process trauma, so it splits, am I right ?”

  The strict-looking prince was nodding, agreeing with Bael’s words.

  “There is more to this, according to the human psychology book I read, but to sum up, you are right.”

  Mariane was nodding enthusiastically.

  “I can only be who I am because Thomas is a guardian, and takes most of my trauma. He also usually comes out when I am in danger, and saves me. But I don’t know if it was because of the demon’s spell, but he couldn’t take the front…”

  She stopped, suddenly realizing something.

  “Wait, he was with me. Why can’t I feel him anymore ?”

  Even after mentally exploring the inner world, she was unable to sense Thomas’ presence anywhere. A terrifying realisation slowly dawned on her, maybe even more scary than what happened with the kidnapper.

  “Thomas is gone…”

  She wasn’t the only one who had suffered in that basement. At least, Mariane had seven demons to rush to her rescue, punish the bad guy, and take care of her afterwards. But Thomas was alone, especially since Mariane had always spoken harsh words to him, and never took his feelings into account. Could she handle the numbness in her lower body and the terror of the men’s gaze if she didn’t have any support ? Probably not.

  Ignoring her trembling hands, she grabbed Bael’s arm.

  “Help me, I need Thomas !”

  Asmoday scoffed.

  “Oh, you need that pervert more than us ?”

  Mariane was shaking like a leaf, looking at the prince with teary eyes.

  “Please…”

  The man flinched, not knowing how to answer. Baam, the king’s aide who had only been watching until now, took a step forward.

  “Do you truly think you need that ‘Thomas’ to exist ?”

  The girl nodded.

  “If he disappears, another personality will repce him anyway. But I don’t want him to vanish, so please help me…”

  The kind nodded at Baam, and the aide extended his hand towards Mariane’s head. Long horns sprouted from his green hair, and webbed wings ripped his suit, while a violet light was escaping his fingers. Mariane could feel him explore the depths of her mind, trying to piece together the fragments of Thomas.

  “Do you need me to also repair the other ones ?”

  Baam could vaguely feel other presences, like Fotgely or Peacock. But Mariane was clear.

  “They are not that important. I only need Thomas.”

  The delinquent Beliar scoffed.

  “Because there are other people squatting your mind ? What a generous person you are ! I would have eradicated them long ago.”

  Paimon hit him on the head.

  “Shut up, if you are not going to say anything useful.”

  After some time, the aide succeeded in assembling a small ball of light in the inner world. He finally stepped back, recovering his normal appearance.

  “According to my studies, you will need a trigger to bring him to life. But I must inform you : That magic did create a soul for him, so he is not only a personality anymore, he is a real person.”

  Mariane nodded energetically.

  “Does that mean he will not disappear anymore ?”

  “Yes.”

  The girl was screeching in joy, taking her phone on the bedside table to search for a trigger music for Thomas. The king was looking at her with his usual smile, but his eyes were cold.

  ‘I did allow it because I was curious and this whole incident was my fault, but that woman is way too selfish. Treating one of her personalities like a real person but dismissing the others ? Deciding who lives or dies using personal preferences ? I thought she was interesting at first, but the more time passes, the more disappointed I am. I understand how childish the princes are, but falling for a girl like her ? I’m afraid I should lower my expectations for them.’

  Mariane finally found what she was searching for, and pressed the ‘py’ button, uttering one st warning to the princes.

  “Be nice to him, okay ? He is a part of me and he is also my friend, so don’t say bad words.”

  Vinea and Paimon nodded, but the others were either skeptical or downright aggressive.

  “We’ll see if he is as good a guy as you say.”

  The small Pursan smirked, decided to not give Thomas a chance, but Mariane was too dense to notice. She closed her eyes and let the music infiltrate her brain. Her face slowly changed, losing its lively air, and she seemed to grow, even though the back simply became straighter. The aura around her became colder, and finally Thomas was here. The eyelids lifted themselves, but underneath, the eyes had no life. It was a bnk, eerie gre. His lips didn’t part, he didn’t utter a single word. He was simply staring into space.

  The king waved his hand amicably.

  “Hello ! You are Thomas, right ? We brought you back because you disappeared after everything that happened. I wanted to meet you for a long time, you are exactly like I had guessed.”

  The man in Mariane’s body slowly turned his head towards Bael. His movements were tense, almost robotic, and it sent chills down the prince’s spine. Even his words were icy.

  “Why didn’t you let me die ?”

  The men hiccuped in surprise. That surely wasn’t what they had expected. But the king, staring into the lifeless eyes, only felt compassion.

  “Guys, please leave the room. I want to talk to him.”

  The princes obeyed, clearly creeped out by this strange appearance of Mariane that they saw for the first time. Even the stoic Paimon looked uncomfortable. When they had all exited the bedroom, Baam closed the door and stayed outside to stand guard. The king calmly stepped back, creating some distance between him and Thomas, and, seeing that he looked a bit more rexed, sat on a chair a few meter’s away.

  “I already apologized to Mariane, but it seems fair to do it to you too, since you also suffered. I’m sorry, it’s my fault that it happened to you.”

  Thomas stared at Bael for a while, then finally answered.

  “Will your apology erase what I felt ? Will it make what happened disappear ?”

  The king smiled sadly. It was a reaction completely opposed to Mariane’s. Thomas seemed to have lost all will to live.

  “No, it won’t. I know that. But I just want you to know that I understand my faults. Your kidnapper has been punished and was destroyed down to his soul. It’s a good warning for others, so you can consider yourself safe.”

  Thomas shifted his gaze back into the void.

  “If it helps you sleep at night…”

  He had muttered under his breath, but Bael had heard everything. He sighed. Comforting Thomas was much harder than reassuring Mariane, as the girl was quite simple. He tried another approach.

  “We used a specific spell to piece you back together. It’s usually used to repair broken souls, so as an after effect, you have a soul now. You are not a fragment of Mariane anymore, you are a real person.”

  Thomas shifted his gaze back to the king.

  “What am I supposed to make of that ? I will forever be someone without a life or a face. I will never have my own body or my own experiences, so what is the difference ? You only pushed the burden of life on me, depriving me of the only choice I ever had : To continue existing or disappear. Should I thank you ?”

  The king felt a piercing pain in his chest. Thomas was right. He had thought that Mariane was selfish, but he himself never considered Thomas’ opinion even once.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll let you rest now, take your time.”

  Bael stood up and left with a dejected look on his face.