A few minutes later…
While I was still turning things over in my head, a twinge of guilt flickered in my chest.
Using Alice's trust to deceive her—it wasn't something I enjoyed doing. But it was for her own good.
At least, that's what I kept telling myself.
Still… it was complicated.
My thoughts eventually drifted to Freedman.
That man.
Everything about him screamed suspicious.
Every time he was near Alice, her "destruction progress" increased—subtly, but unmistakably.
Was he… a demon in disguise?
A parasite, maybe?
'No, that's ridiculous,' I tried to dismiss the thought, rubbing my temple.
'It's probably just coincidence.'
But as soon as I tried to drop the theory… I stopped cold.
No—this wasn't entirely baseless.
If Freedman was a parasite-type demon, then it would explain everything.
Why Alice's destruction progress spiked.
The more I thought about it, the more it clicked together like pieces of a cruel puzzle.
And beyond that—
