"Easy, easy," I said. "Public image. Noble dignity. Gargoyle witness."
She clicked her tongue sharply and turned away, folding her arms.
"…Idiot."
"Pfft."
The sound slipped out before Joe could stop it.
We both turned to him.
For the first time since we'd met, the rigid tension in his expression cracked—just slightly. The corner of his mouth twitched upward, caught between restraint and amusement.
And then...
Joe laughed—really laughed—throwing his head back as if he'd been holding it in for years.
After a moment, he looked at us and said.
"So," he said lightly, "are you two opposed to Dreck?"
He coughed into his fist a few times afterward, as if suddenly aware of how casually he'd dropped that name.
Well… opposed was putting it mildly.
A disaster that had to be erased before it swallowed everything.
For Alice to ever reach her happy ending, Demon King Dreck was an unavoidable wall—one that had to be broken, no matter the cost.
