“It’s all right, Lina. Say it. There’s no one else here.”
Seraphina could see the knot of anguish twisting inside the girl.
The question was brutally direct, cruel, even.
Yet for any future they might share, it had to be faced. They could both keep dodging it, sure.
But then what? Wait for the next, even more violent explosion?
Send Lina back to the human lands? That would be worse than keeping her here, at least until Seraphina found a way to fix everything.
Lina’s movements stilled. She didn’t look at Seraphina, but her shoulders tensed.
“Standing in front of you is one of the Demon Realm’s chief rulers… or rather, the tyrant you’ve hated with every fiber of your being!”
Since there was no answer, Seraphina had to pour salt straight into the wound. The pain would be excruciating, but it was also the fastest way to heal.
At last Lina turned. Her eyes were like a frozen lake, staring straight at Seraphina. There was nothing else in them, nothing but raw struggle and hatred that had not yet fully thawed.
Seraphina flinched. For a heartbeat she was back in the moment Lina had tried to kill her.
But the Lina of today… could no longer do it.
“How… pathetic.”
Lina took one step forward, gaze sharp enough to pierce the soul, yet her lips curved into a bitter smile.
“You’ve curbed their lust for war, pushed new policies for the lowest demons, you even hate demon food and love human cooking…”
“Seraphina, you’re nothing like the brutal, stupid demons I’ve known! Your wisdom rivals any human scholar, surpasses most!”
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became. Tears welled in her eyes as she closed the distance.
Seraphina simply stood there, defenseless, accepting every word, every gesture.
“Do you know? My village was burned to ash by demons. My family died beneath their claws! After that, the only thing keeping me alive was hatred! But you…”
She was almost within arm’s reach now. Her hand rose, reaching for Seraphina’s throat, just like the first time they had “met”…
Seraphina remained rooted, staring at the approaching hand, still completely unguarded.
Just like that first time.
Yet the outstretched palm clenched into a fist and landed, feather-light, on Seraphina’s shoulder.
“You… you’ve made it impossible for me to even hate properly! If I have to stop and decide whether a demon is a ‘good demon,’ what does that make me to my dead family, my dead people? A traitor?!”
The choked roar was the eruption of every doubt that had festered inside Lina for so long.
It wasn’t truly directed at Seraphina; it was directed at herself.
“If… if only you were human… how wonderful that would be. Then we could have been… really good friends.”
Having poured everything out, Lina seemed to run out of strength. She slumped against the wall beside the window, arms falling limply to her sides.
Seraphina said nothing. She accepted every accusation, right or wrong, until Lina wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes…
Then she stepped forward until they were close enough for her to see the near-despairing stubbornness in those green eyes.
The girl who stood half a head taller than her was grieving like a child.
“I cannot apologize for the sins of the entire Demon Realm, that would be hollow and false. Nor can I promise you a perfectly bright future, because even I… do not possess one.”
“But I can give you a choice.” Seraphina’s gaze was painfully sincere.
“Stay, Lina. Not as my maid, but as a friend, an advisor, a minister, whatever you wish, it doesn’t matter.”
“I would rather you remain the sword hanging over my head. With those still-kind, still-unclouded eyes of yours, watch me. Watch how far this ‘aberration’ of the Demon Realm can walk down this path!”
“You…”
“I’m sorry.”
In the end, Lina fled the study, leaving Seraphina standing frozen in place.
The heavy door slammed shut. The boom echoed through the empty room for a long time before silence finally returned.
Was that… a refusal?
“Lina! Come back!”
For the first time, the girl who had always appeared obedient on the surface had outright disobeyed her order.
“She… refused…?”
Seraphina stood rooted, her outstretched hand still hanging in the air, fingertips growing cold.
As expected, she had been too naive… thinking that baring her heart could dissolve hatred carved in blood and bone.
Thinking a little kindness was enough for someone who had lost everything to lower her weapon and even become her… friend.
Perhaps Lina was right. Asking her to distinguish a “good demon” was indeed a betrayal of the dead.
“Was this momentary agony… really necessary?”
Seraphina gave a bitter, self-mocking smile. She had overestimated herself and underestimated the chasm of blood and racial hatred that lay between them.
At lunch, Seraphina barely tasted the food spread before her, once dishes she would have killed for, now like wax in her mouth.
Lina did not appear.
Movira, however, arrived right on time. She carved her meal with elegant precision, glanced at Seraphina’s distracted state, and spoke leisurely.
“What’s wrong? Where’s Lina? Don’t tell me your little speech scared her off.”
Seraphina refused to answer, silently spearing a piece of meat with her fork.
Lina had definitely not left the Demon King’s Castle; she didn’t have the means. At most she was hiding somewhere Seraphina couldn’t find, sulking.
Movira chuckled lightly, disdain threading her tone. “I told you long ago, human emotions are complicated and fragile in humans, especially when hatred is involved. You wasted far too much thought on her.”
“If she refuses your invitation and insists on leaving, let her. A single human maid, if you want another hundred, I can fetch them in the blink of an eye.”
Seraphina’s grip on her utensils tightened, but she remained silent.
How could she not know there was some truth in Movira’s words?
She ate almost nothing and soon rose to leave. Movira watched her retreating back, something unreadable flickering deep in her eyes.
Just as Seraphina stepped out of the dining hall and started toward the study…
Her footsteps halted.
A detail she had overlooked struck her like lightning.
In the entire Demon King’s Castle, there was only one person who could cook authentic human cuisine like the dishes that had just been served.