William gasped for air as he woke up. He immediately pulled up his shirt, now tattered with holes, but his body was fine now. He looked around his surroundings and found himself lying on the living room floor in the cabin. Outside the window, he could see that it was now night, which allowed him to conclude he was out for a couple of hours at least.

"Nice to see that you're finally awake." William looked to find the woman imprisoned in stone earlier to be fully animated and standing before him.

"Where's Sam?" William asked, staring directly at the horns protruding from her head.

"No thanks for saving your life? Humans are so not worth the trouble. Your other human friend is fine; I sent him home and told him I'd send you back later once you woke up." She made her way over to William and straddled him as he laid on the floor. "You and I have a pretty important conversation to have before I let you leave," She smiled while licking her lips before drawing a sigil over his forehead "Charm of Confessions." the sigil continued to glow bright blue in front of his forehead.

"What did you do to me?" William frowned.

"It's a charm that prevents you from being dishonest with me. Wish I could take you at your word, but the last time I did that, I became a garden ornament" She shrugged. "Now, the first question, are you in any way loyal to the Omnituens?"

"No." The sigils color did not change.

"Why did you help free me? You could have ignored the book, but instead, you started the ritual when you cut your hand." She poked his cheek while waiting for the answer.

"Cause you are the girl of my dreams." William smirked; the sigil's color did not change.

"W-w-w-what, you can't just say something like that!" She sat up on top of him instead of leaning into him as before, clearly flustered.

So demons can be cute.

"I'm sorry, I worded it that way to poke fun at you. In actuality, I had a dream with you in it, a little older, but I recognized you as soon as the cloak fell. I guess I wanted answers."

"Are any of your family members strong mages or divination practitioners? Could have been a vision." She pondered over the information that was being told to her.

"I wouldn't know; I never met my parents or anyone who knew them. Charlie at the orphanage has been the only person there for me since I was a baby." He replied.

"That's not helpful. I was hoping your origin would tell me how you were able to integrate with Divinity Eater." She sighed.

"Is that the sword that was down there? Where is it anyway?" William scanned the room for it.

"Don't worry, it's close by; in fact, I can't even move it more than 30 feet from you without it making its way back here." Her demeanor became more serious. "You've paid a hefty price by using that sword. The greatest of Maldrossi warriors could only wield it for around three to five years at a time before it drained away the rest of their life force. A human has never wielded it before, and more than likely, it will drain your life much faster."

"Can't I just stop using the blade, and I'll recover from it eventually?" Willaim asked.

"No, once Divinity Eater has bonded with its master, it refuses to separate from them before the master has died." She spoke solemnly.

"That's definitely not the best news I could get. So no matter what, my fate has been sealed." William sighed. "At least I don't have to worry about doing a boring vocation for the rest of my life."

"You are taking this pretty well for someone who just got told their death is a lot sooner than they originally thought." She smirked.

"Well, my luck has always been pretty poor. I can't change it, so I guess I might as well accept it," William shrugged. "But I also feel like your about to offer me a solution? Maybe? Hopefully?"

"Perceptive, I can appreciate that. It's only an idea at this time, but I may be able to extend your life, at least longer than it should be. The royal blood flowing through my veins heals almost all wounds, which is how I healed you. I think it may be possible that if I regularly give it to you that you might be able to sustain the blade longer." She said.

"What's the price. I know from the tales that when it comes to dealing with a demon, there's always a price," William asked. She curled her fist, and her smile before had become a scowl.

She shouted angrily, "First of all, I'm not a demon, I'm Princess Valerie of the Maldrossi! Your people, when they summon the Omnituen to this world, labeled us demons and pushed the Maldrossi out of our homes! Your ilk was the invaders! Your people with the Omnituen slew and murdered until you had claimed the majority of this continent. You even cut off our only transportation back to Maldrossan so that anyone stuck here would die!" Valerie hadn't realized, but tears had come down her face as she was yelling at the boy.

"I'm sorry," William said quietly, which caught Valerie off guard.

"What do you mean your sorry? Sorry isn't going to fix anything or bring back my family" She pounded on his chest with her fist, letting out the pain that had been frozen with her over the last two hundred years.

"I know, and I'm not making an excuse by saying I didn't know, or that's not how the story goes from what I heard. I can only focus on the present, and as far as I'm concerned, you saved my life and Sam's when you didn't have to. People who are descendants of the ones that hurt you. That shows your kind, and I shouldn't have called you a demon. So I am sorry," William felt guilt. Charlie had taught him that he should never look down on another person. As far as William was concerned, Valerie counted as one. "If you would give me a chance, Valerie, I would like to start over. It's not every day you meet a princess anyway." William smiled.

Valerie was shocked at how William had responded to her outburst. He was nothing like the humans she remembered before being imprisoned in stone. Despite his offer of reconciliation, she could not fully trust him, but she would do her best to not judge him because he was a human.

"I appreciate it, William. As for the price of my blood, it's your blood. I want you to make a pact with me and become my bodyguard, a knight whose goal is to help me get back home, even if it cost your life. Are you willing to pay this price and surrender to me your absolute loyalty?" Valerie nervously studied the boy's face. She was unsure if she would be able to get back home without him with her own might. She had seen his untapped potential and knew that with it, she could fight back against the Omnituens; as inexperienced as he was, he was also a blank canvas that could become a masterpiece with the right paint.

"Alright, I'll do it." William sighed.

"I know you might be scared to- "She was stunned again. "You're not even going to ask questions? Or talk about how dangerous this is going to be? Nothing? There's not even a guarantee that my blood can extend your life!" She was flustered at his quick answer.

William shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, you're the one who gave me a second chance of life as it is. It's yours to do with as you please. So how do we do this pact thing?"

"Oh um- well, I need to cut your lip, and then you swear your loyalty to me and perform the kiss of servitude while placing a hand on my spellbook. It bears my crest so it can fill in for royal staff we would normally use for instances like that." She tapped her fingers against each other nervously.

"Sounds good, ready when you are." Willam placed his left hand on her spellbook after she placed it in front of them.

"Okay, I'm going to cut your lip now; the blood I gave you should still be flowing in you, so it should heal back fairly quickly afterward." She had her index finger extend out into a claw and tried as gently as possible to cut open his top lip. "Now swear your loyalty and perform the kiss."

Making a pact with a- No, she's not a demon. If she says she isn't one, then I'm not going to call her one. Without her, Sam and I would have been monster food.

"I William of unknown origins, Hereby swear my loyalty to Valerie, Princess of the Maldrossi" The book had begun to glow as the pact was started.

"I, Valerie Morrigan, Princess of the Maldrossi, accept your loyalty and welcome you into my family as my knight." She finished speaking and began to raise her left hand for William to kiss; simultaneously, William leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She turned bright red as he lingered for a moment and then pulled away. The book glowed brightly as her symbol was burned into William's left shoulder. A serpent bearing its fangs that had the same horns as Valerie's protruding from its head.

"Wow, that's pretty neat!" William exclaimed, looking at his shoulder. Valerie held her left hand pressing against her lips with her face still flushed red.

"T-t-t-the kiss of servitude is usually performed on the rulers left h-h-hand. That was my first kiss.." Valerie was still processing what had just happened to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know, haha! If it makes you feel better, it was my first kiss too!" William laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "Oh, and are you going to get off me now? Or is this still part of the ritual?"

Valerie leaped to her feet and moved as far away as possible from William while still remaining in the room out of embarrassment of the pact mishap.

William got up to his feet, and then a thought donned on him.

"Valerie, did you tell Sam any of the information you told me about the Omnituens and what had happened to your people?" William asked.

"No, I didn't think it was important at the time as I was focused on you." She was back to her normal self.

"That's probably for the best for now." William brought his right hand up to his chin as he pondered what to do.

"Why is that?" Valerie asked, now interested in the situation.

"Sam's father is the leader of the Omnituen church in Lilac Village."