Led by the man's arm, Elena was dragged outside, but strangely, her eyes began to regain a spark of life.  
Because he had shown anger on her behalf,  
Because he seemed to see her as a person,  
She followed him obediently, despite being forced.  
Still, she kept her doubts.  

What if he was just spouting kind words, only to manipulate her when it suited him?  
Elena doubted the man, and it didn’t take long for him to realize it.  
At any moment, he might turn.  
Just like the others, his smile and kindness might be calculated, hiding his true motives.  
She couldn't fully suppress her wariness or her distrust.  

But even so, she followed him.  
He was the only place she had left to go.  
There was no place or home for her anymore,  
Only the memories of a forest and the twisted roots of contempt and hatred that she wished to erase from her mind.  

---

Elena had doubted him.  

“…Mmm.”  

Or rather, she *had* doubted him.  
But she stopped doubting the moment she tasted the warm soup, savoring its delicate fragrance as it spread through her mouth.  
The moment she felt his warm hand holding her trembling one, calming her in the chill.  
The moment she saw his gentle, motherly smile and sensed the small acts of kindness he extended to her.  
Her doubts shattered so easily.  
Like dust scattered into the air, they vanished.  

Elena no longer doubted him.  
Everything about him, who had shown her kindness without any expectation of return, felt warm and comforting.  
He released her shackles, gave her food, and offered her a warm place to sleep.  
Love she had never known from her parents, kindness she had never experienced from anyone else—  
For the pitiful elf who had lived a life bound in shackles, the man was salvation in the darkest moment.  

---

In truth, the kindness Keyal showed her was nothing grand. He had resources to spare and had freed her simply out of pity.  
He treated her like an ordinary person, even though she viewed herself as a slave.  
It wasn’t much—feeding her, helping her wash, giving her a place to sleep.  
Seeing her shivering in the cold, he held her hand a few times.  
That was it.  

But to Elena, that was everything.  

To the elf who had given up everything, it was a heavenly gift, a pillar to keep her grounded.  
To her, Keyal became her entire life.  
The broken elf found herself with only two desires.  

Keyal… Even if it meant being discarded one day, she wanted to be someone useful to him until the very end.  
She wanted to work to make herself valuable to him.  

---

The elf learned that he was the leader of a new guild.  
… She began to meticulously record everything about him—when he slept, ate, went to the restroom, bathed, when he used a pillow, how he laid under the blankets.  
She allowed for no gaps in her notes.  

What hour, minute, and second he fell asleep,  
How many grains of rice he ate,  
How many times he turned or curled up under the blankets as he slept,  
How many breaths he took in a day,  
How many times he exhaled in a day,  

Over and over, she recorded every detail.  

She vowed to do anything for him.  
She vowed to become anything he needed her to be.  
So she eventually realized that he, the guild leader, was recruiting heroes.  
As the daughter of an elven chief, she couldn’t erase her past, no matter how much she wished to tear off her own ears.  

Whenever they were in town, and people whispered and marveled at her master who kept a high elf like her at his side,  
Her heart thumped uncontrollably with pride.  

But whenever they returned, anxiety and impatience gnawed at her.  
As an elf, her ability to use spirit magic remained unchanged.  
As the daughter of a high elf chief, her spirit magic was in a league of its own.  

Knowing this, she finally confessed to him, telling him she wanted to be a hero.  
When he patted her head, that warm smile he’d shown her when they first met melted her completely.  

---

A full year passed.  
It was an incredibly short time in the lifespan of an elf, but to Elena, that year was more precious than the meaningless decades she’d lived before.  

Over that year, she had done something meaningful for the first time.  
She poured her heart into training her spirit magic, honing her combat skills,  
Determined to be of use to him, standing back up no matter how hard she fell.  

She had to prove her worth.  
If she wanted to stay by his side, she needed to grow, to become someone valuable enough to earn her place.  
As long as she could be useful to him, she didn’t care if he saw her as a tool, even if he discarded her as worthless.  

He had saved her from that pitch-black darkness; he was her god, the one she worshipped and revered.  
He was her salvation and her reason to keep going.  

This feeling was deeper than simple affection, more intense than love.  
If he wished, she could be his friend,  
If he wished, she could be his parent, his child,  
If he wished, she would become his lover, his wife—anything he desired.  
If he wanted, she would become a paradise for him, embracing his every need.  

Her devotion, thicker than love, elevated her worth as a high elf,  
So that he would never abandon her.  
Even if he did abandon her, it wouldn’t matter as long as he remembered her as someone who had been of use.  

But she couldn’t stop herself from wanting one more thing.  
She had done everything to stay by his side, accepted him wholly. Yet, because she loved him so deeply,  
She could no longer contain the emotion she had buried—the desire to be loved in return.  

She was terrified.  
She, who had strived for perfection, now longed for something beyond what she deserved.  
To remain by his side and to be loved by him.  

To others, it might seem a simple wish, but to her, it was impossibly excessive, beyond her place.  
It was selfish, an expression of her own greed and arrogance.  

She, a mere tool meant to support and care for her master, dared to dream this.  
Sitting down, she clasped her hands together in prayer, closing her eyes and looking up at the sky.  
But it wasn’t a prayer to any god.  
It was an apology to herself for crossing a forbidden line, for loving her god beyond what she should.  

It was a prayer to her master.  

“Oh… Master… Please, forgive this unworthy creature for harboring such wretched thoughts toward you… Please understand… Don’t hate me for being unable to stop myself from loving you… Even if you treat me harshly, slap me, or trample on me, I don’t care… Just let me stay by your side… Even if just a sliver of my overwhelming love for you is returned… Oh, Master, my kind, merciful Master… Even with the dark aura you wear, your gentle smile shines through. Please, forgive me… And slowly… love me…”  

Kneeling like a sinner, she kept her eyes closed, her face contorted in sorrow.  
Perhaps the heavens had heard her modest plea.  

---

And so, the elf, the devoted follower, was abandoned by the master she loved so dearly.  

In an instant, he disappeared, leaving no trace of his dark aura or presence behind.  
It was as if everything had been erased, utterly severed.  

“Oh… Oh… M-Master…?”  

Her eyes widened in horror.  
There was no trace of her master anywhere. Not a hint of Keyal Klein, the half-demon.  

The purpose that had kept her alive had vanished.