[You have died].

When my eyes opened I released a breath I didn't know I was holding, coughing repeatedly and resisting the urge to cry, finding myself in a white world.

I just died, he killed me!

It was so fast I couldn't even blink but at the same time, I was conscious of it all, my inability to move and then the feeling of my existence fading each second until there was nothing, his silhouette sank back into the ground, leaving me to my fate.

'H-He didn't even think...' My hands shivered continually.

[You have died Grayfia Lucifuge... but... you have admittedly reached farther than the last hundred contestants, I might give you a second chance].

'Farther than the last hundred?! If I reached far, then were they even allowed to breathe!?'

"What you're doing... it is... horrendous, how can you set people like me... to an impossible task like this?!" I yelled in outrage, it was so ridiculous that it might be a prank, but I couldn't laugh at a prank where I lost my life!

[Impossible task? I said you reached farther than the last hundred contestants; but I didn't say you were the one to reach the farthest out of them all, if anything... it was your mistake. 'I came to conquer your heart, tehe~' if those words were said to you by a human, wouldn't you freeze him until he scattered into frosty dust? what were you expecting?]

I grumbled internally, the system had a point there, maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to say. But that doesn't change the fact that he just killed me, I didn't know if I wanted to approach that dragon again.

[Since you have reached this far, I will leave you two choices... you can either surrender now and I'll send you back, or you can try again, but this time... if you die... I'm not bringing you back]

I gulped audibly in this white world, clenching my hands in the nothingness.

"Why can't you bring me back?"

[Using my powers around you would expose my existence to him... I can't allow that to happen, hence... I can't save you again].

I clenched my hands so tight that my nails pierced my skin, drawing out blood, 'What should I do?'

I saw no hope in this mission, no way to accomplish it... it was like being placed on a battlefield I knew nothing of, against an enemy that was as mysterious as a deep ocean, it couldn't be any more difficult.

I longed to retreat, to leave this treasury realm... perhaps I went back we could win that war on our own, without this entity's assistance if I died here, it might create a major impact on the rebellion, making them weaker.

But another side of me, my instincts were saying 'stay... try again!'

What if I returned to the underworld and we lost the civil war? I would regret it... regret not having given it my all here. Right here, right now there is an existence whose power I can't fathom, offering me a deal... an opportunity like this would never come again. By now I was convinced this wasn't a joke or a trap.

It is the truth, I was taken to a different multiverse, to conquer this Dragon God's heart... if I accomplished it, my devil race would be saved.

Biting my lips I released what resembled a laugh one filled with a mixture of desperation and hope if it even made sense. Rather than think, I allowed my lips to speak the answer that they desired to utter.

"I will try again".

[Very well, but... let me ask you, why?]

There were many reasons; If win... I have a lot more to win than what I have to lose if I fail. It was a simple equation for a devil. I'm not a coward, I will give it my all for my beliefs. But there was another reason.

I closed my eyes and recalled him, his crimson-red eyes with golden slits looking at me with raw purity without the slightest sign of lust or evil intent. It was as if I could see through him. I didn't see an unparalleled dragon that would exterminate the whole world on a whim.

I just saw... a curious person.

"Because... he's beautiful".

[Ah?]

"He's beautiful... and he's lonely..." Perhaps 'beautiful' wasn't the best word to describe a male, but his dragon form- just like this whole world, was beautiful to me.

I know his gaze contained no interest but instead curiosity, but I was also sure my gaze contained longing and desire. I wanted to get to know him better, to know what was concealed under that golden shell.

[I don't understand you, did you fall for him?]

"I-I haven't... but... when he looked at me, with his eyes devoided of emotions, I also noticed... that he is very lonely," I said with a mild blush, thinking that existences like him shouldn't be this... isolated.

[I see...]

"I need you to tell me something, system" I asked with seriousness.

[Go ahead].

"This mission... if I conquer his heart, will this cause him any harm?" there was concern in my voice, more than me feeling grief over the outcome of this mission, I merely wanted to know... what the consequences would be. There is no doubt this entity has a purpose and I just couldn't understand what it would gain out of me 'conquering his heart'.

[... by conquering his heart you can lower his greed and-]

"That is a lie. This is his world, his treasures, he slumbers here and doesn't cause any trouble for anyone, right? in fact... it is others that come here to bother him and plunder what belongs to him." I recalled the number of sculptures and even the gryphons, so many of them came here with greed foremost, discarding their own lives for the sake of profit, how was that his fault?

If anyone came into her Lucifuge household to plunder their treasures, the least she would do would be to answer them politely.

[...]

"What are your intent-" I insisted.

[That is not your concern, Grayfia Lucifuge... complete your mission and receive your reward, that is all]

[Reloading second life, completed]

The white world cracked and I found myself in the golden world again.

The system didn't answer to me, I have already accepted, 'Dammit, I should have asked before accepting...'

I stood up to find myself back in the same spot where I first appeared, when I looked to the right there it was; my petrified dress.

Sighing I covered myself in my wings again, walking aimlessly, 'He's going to be defensive against me the next time we see each other'.

I don't know how I will do it, but... I'll follow my desires for now. I don't desire to conquer his heart.

I want to become his friend.