The song ended, and dusk deepened.
Samael savored the lingering melody that still echoed in his ears for a moment before finally opening his eyes with lingering reluctance. He rose and, together with Hua Rin, supported Kijo Momiji back to the house.
The moment they entered, Tsuru Chitoshi approached them head-on, her gaze carrying a trace of gravity and a certain subtle complexity.
"That child is awake. She wants to see you."
As she spoke, the Saint took Samael's place and, together with Hua Rin, helped Momiji toward another bedroom.
Left alone, the Ancient Serpent paused at the door for a moment before entering.
The former demon-slaying girl was leaning against the headboard, flipping through an old children's book resting on her lap, its yellowed and damaged pages showing its age.
Samael's gaze swept across the cover. The title was The Little Prince, the famous children's novella written in 1942 by the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
True to its title, the protagonist was a little prince from another planet. Narrated by a pilot, the book recounted the various adventures the little prince experienced on his journey from his own planet to Earth. Through the childlike eyes of the little prince, the author exposed the emptiness, blindness, folly, and rigid dogmatism of adults, using simple and innocent language to portray humanity's loneliness, isolation, and rootless fate of drifting with the wind.
It was a unique novel that offered different insights at every age.
"You're here?!"
Noticing Samael enter, Eri Shiki hurriedly tossed aside her book. Her pale little face lifted sharply, brimming with intense surprise.
But that surprise lasted only an instant before being suppressed.
The demon-slaying girl resumed her usual mature demeanor and pointed at the chair beside the bed. "Sit here."
Feeling the vigorous life force flowing through