Parallel Memory

Chapter 731: Beneath an Unfamiliar Sky

Five days had passed since Lilith’s secret visit to the capital’s outer districts.

Five days of endless meetings.

Five days of arguments between nobles, merchants, and generals.

Five days of hearing the same question repeated over and over again.

”Can humans and devils truly coexist?”

No matter how many times she heard it, Lilith could never find a perfect answer.

Tonight, however, she had stopped looking for one.

Standing alone on the balcony outside her chambers, she gazed at the moon hanging above the royal palace. The cold night wind brushed against her black hair as she tightened the dark cloak wrapped around her shoulders.

The human capital lay hundreds of kilometers away.

Normally, a queen leaving her kingdom alone would have been unimaginable.

But Lilith had already made up her mind.

The deadlock in the Human Domain had dragged on for far too long. The Church and the Authority continued to argue while fear and hatred grew with every passing day.

At this rate, the peace treaty would collapse before it was even born.

And so, without informing the ministers or the royal guards, Lilith quietly left the palace.

She had only one destination.

The human capital.

And only one person she wished to meet.

Zero.

*******************************************************************

The moment she crossed the capital gates, the festive atmosphere behind her disappeared.

Outside the city walls, silence ruled the night.

The roads leading north still carried the scars of war. Abandoned wagons lay overturned in ditches, and the ruins of watchtowers stood like gravestones beneath the moonlight.

Lilith pulled the hood lower over her face.

She had changed her appearance before leaving.

Her horns were hidden beneath layers of cloth, while magic slightly altered her eyes and facial features. Anyone looking at her would simply see an ordinary traveler.

At least, that was the plan.

The journey itself was far from ordinary.

For the first three days, she traveled almost without rest, avoiding major roads whenever possible.

Traveling alone through the wilderness was dangerous enough for humans.

For the Queen of the Devil Kingdom, it was suicide.

By the fourth night, she had finally reached the borderlands between the Human Domain and the Devil Kingdom.

In the distance, torches illuminated the human outposts that had once served as the front line of the war.

Lilith crouched behind a rocky hill, observing the patrols below.

Groups of soldiers marched along the roads, checking every wagon and every traveler.

The war had ended, but distrust remained.

Lilith took a deep breath.

”Looks like sneaking in won’t be easy.”

She waited.

One patrol passed.

Then another.

Just as she prepared to move, voices echoed from nearby.

”Search the eastern road too!”

”The commander said no one crosses without inspection!”

Lilith’s eyes widened.

More soldiers.

Quickly, she retreated into the shadows, pressing herself against the rocks.

The sound of footsteps grew louder.

Two human soldiers appeared only a few meters away.

”If we’re still checking travelers after midnight, then peace clearly isn’t happening anytime soon.”

”Can you blame them? A month ago, we were fighting devils.”

The first soldier sighed.

”I just want to go home.”

Lilith lowered her head.

For a moment, she forgot that these were supposed to be her enemies.

They sounded no different from the devils in her kingdom.

Tired.

Homesick.

Exhausted.

The soldiers eventually disappeared into the darkness, allowing Lilith to breathe again.

”That was too close.”

She waited another hour before finally slipping across the border under the cover of night.

*****************************************

The Human Domain was different from what she had imagined.

And yet, strangely familiar.

During the day, Lilith avoided towns and major roads, choosing instead to travel through forests and hills.

From the top of a cliff, she caught sight of her first human village.

Smoke rose from chimneys.

Children ran through dirt roads.

Farmers worked in the fields.

For several minutes, Lilith simply watched.

She had spent years hearing stories about humans.

Cruel creatures.

Greedy invaders.

Enemies of devilkind.

Yet the village below looked no different from the villages in her own kingdom.

A little boy chased chickens through a field while his mother shouted at him.

An elderly man sat outside his house, repairing tools.

Two merchants argued loudly over prices.

Lilith couldn’t help but laugh.

”They’re exactly the same.”

The realization felt strangely absurd.

Generations had fought and died believing that humans and devils were fundamentally different.

Yet here they were—

Complaining about work.

Arguing over money.

Laughing with their families.

Living ordinary lives.

Just like devils.

As evening approached, the villagers began returning home.

Lights gradually appeared inside the houses.

Lilith sat beneath a tree on a nearby hill, watching from afar.

Then, through one of the windows, she saw something that made her freeze.

A family gathered around a dinner table.

A father sat at the center, laughing as his children argued over food.

The mother scolded them while secretly smiling.

For several moments, the world around Lilith faded away.

Memories she had buried long ago slowly resurfaced.

She remembered sitting beside her father in the royal palace.

She remembered him stealing food from her plate just to annoy her.

She remembered her mother laughing while pretending to scold him.

Back then, before Aamon’s rebellion, the palace had felt warm.

Like a home.

Lilith lowered her gaze.

How many years had it been since she last ate dinner with her family?

Five?

Ten?

She could barely remember.

The image of the family laughing together suddenly became blurry.

Only then did she realize tears had formed in her eyes.

She quickly wiped them away.

”How pathetic.”

She stood up and turned away from the village.

For the first time in years, she missed home.

Not the palace.

Not the throne.

Just home.

***************************************************

The next few days proved even more difficult.

The deeper she ventured into human territory, the more adventurers she encountered.

Most traveled in groups, discussing quests and dungeon expeditions around campfires.

One evening, while passing through a forest, Lilith heard voices ahead.

She immediately hid behind a tree.

A group of adventurers sat around a fire, laughing loudly.

”Did you hear? Apparently, they’re still debating the peace treaty.”

”Debating? They should wipe the devils out while they’re weak.”

A younger adventurer shook his head.

”My brother died in the war. But honestly... I’m tired of fighting.”

The group fell silent.

An older man poked at the fire.

”We’ve been fighting for centuries.”

”And what has changed?”

Nobody answered.

Lilith quietly listened from the shadows.

One woman suddenly spoke.

”Do you think devils are really different from us?”

The older adventurer shrugged.

”I don’t know.”

He stared into the flames.

”But if they’re anything like us, they’re probably tired too.”

Lilith felt her chest tighten.

Without realizing it, she stepped backward—

And snapped a branch beneath her foot.

The adventurers immediately stood up.

”Who’s there?!”

Lilith cursed inwardly.

Footsteps approached.

Without hesitation, she leaped deeper into the forest.

”Someone’s running!”

”After them!”

Branches whipped past her face as she sprinted through the darkness.

The adventurers chased her for several minutes before finally giving up.

When their voices disappeared, Lilith collapsed against a tree, breathing heavily.

”...That was close.”

For the first time since leaving the Devil Kingdom, fear truly set in.

If they had discovered her identity, everything would have fallen apart.

The peace treaty.

The kingdom.

The future she was trying to build.

Everything.

Looking up at the stars, she whispered softly,

”Zero... how do you live among humans so casually?”

The silver-haired boy had crossed the borders between humans, elves, and devils countless times.

Yet only now did Lilith understand how difficult that truly was.

********************************************

Seven days after leaving the Devil Kingdom, the human capital finally appeared on the horizon.

Lilith stopped atop a hill overlooking the city.

Massive walls stretched as far as the eye could see.

Countless buildings rose behind them.

People flowed in and out of the gates like rivers.

Compared to the Devil Kingdom’s capital, the city felt overwhelmingly alive.

And somewhere inside those walls—

Zero was waiting.

Or at least, she hoped he was.

As she stared at the city, doubts suddenly filled her mind.

What if he refused to help?

What if he was still angry?

What if she had made the journey for nothing?

For several minutes, she remained frozen.

Then she remembered the homeless children she had met.

The veterans missing limbs.

The widows who had lost everything.

She remembered her father’s dream.

And she remembered Zero standing against Aamon despite knowing he might die.

Slowly, Lilith clenched her fists.

”No.”

She shook her head.

”I didn’t come this far to turn back.”

Pulling her cloak tighter around her shoulders, the Queen of the Devil Kingdom descended the hill toward the human capital.

Toward uncertainty.

Toward hope.

And toward the one person she believed could save humans from themselves once again.

Under the same sky that covered both kingdoms, Lilith walked forward alone.

For the first time in her life, not as a princess.

Not as a queen.

But simply as a girl carrying the hopes of an entire kingdom on her shoulders.