Chapter 4

But my body, having felt fun for the first time in its life, was already rejoicing at this whimsical game of sliding across water. To my laughter, Lucifer made a strange face, then once again flicked his fingers.

And just like that—shwoop—I was pushed back again, and another burst of laughter escaped my lips.

“Kyahaha!”

Slosh—

“Kyaaha!”

Shwoop—

“Kyahang!”

God, stop it already!

After repeating this slosh-shwoop routine about ten times, all joy from the body and whatever else completely drained out of me. An infant’s stamina was pitifully limited. Just then, perhaps Lucifer’s interest waned as well. After I was pulled once more toward him, the back-and-forth slipping finally stopped.

Never thought a day would come where I’d experience the thrill of sliding in water with half my body submerged in a tub via some invisible tube.

‘I… I might get used to this.’

Despite my soul’s age, I had thoroughly enjoyed myself.

A wave of belated embarrassment washed over me, but was I regressing from thirty back to infancy? My lips couldn’t help but twitch upward.

‘But… it really was fun.’

I had to admit it. I was no longer the me from my past life at thirty. I was now just a baby, following instinct to the letter.

“…You like this kind of thing?”

He lazily propped his chin on his hand and muttered. It seemed more like talking to himself than expecting an answer. Still, something told me I had to respond to the Demon King’s every word, so I offered a sunny smile.

“How interesting.”

The intrigued look on his face reminded me of the one he had when gazing at the round belly in my dream.

“You pitiful little thing.”

I glanced up with a flicker of hope that he wasn’t referring to me. Unfortunately, Luiifel was still watching me intently. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction when I shifted my gaze.

“Bellatrix.”

“……”

“That is your name.”

“……”

“With that name… that woman should be satisfied.”

He spoke in vague terms, then stood up. Splash—water cascaded down. My body floated back slightly with the current, but the fun feeling from earlier was gone. I had a hunch the woman he referred to was my mother, the wife of the Hero and the thought stirred a strange sadness.

At the same time, I accidentally saw Lucifer’s back as he turned away, and my mind blanked out.

I simply closed my eyes.

Maybe it was the buoyancy of floating on water, or perhaps from laughing so hard just now—sleepiness swept over me in an instant. I’d only meant to block out my view, but my eyes became too heavy to lift again.

The infant body moved beyond my will. It obeyed only instinct. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone said I was just an animal.

“…So you were all excited just now, and now you’re asleep?”

His dumbfounded voice reached me, but I couldn’t help it.

It wasn’t my decision to make.

With that, I dramatically sprawled out on the water’s surface and fell asleep.

***

Lucifer gazed at the creature he had now named Bellatrix. Floating peacefully on the water with arms spread wide, the sleeping baby made him wonder; what kind of creature even is this?  Watching her ever-changing expressions was intriguing, but he was still confused whether such an instinct-driven being could truly be called a human infant.

Giving her the name Bellatrix had been a moment of impulsive whim.

He recalled how the Hero’s wife used to chatter about having already picked out names if she ever had a child with the Hero.

But Lucifer had given the baby his own name.

The Hero was long dead. The woman too was gone. The child now belonged not to them but to him.

So, the name should be his to give. It had been sudden, sure, but he found it satisfactory.

He stared for a while at the peacefully sleeping baby, until he recalled that this creature couldn’t even crawl out of water on her own.

“She’s going to be a lot of work.”

With a flick of his finger, the baby lifted slightly into the air. Her tiny body twitched, but she didn’t wake.

Her limbs squirmed. Her fingers, all wrinkled, looked much like they had the moment she was born.

“So this was inside that belly…”

It was still hard to believe something so fragile, that could die from a single breath gone wrong, had once been inside that massively swollen belly. If he hadn’t felt that same life force from the womb, he’d have never believed it.

He was also a little disappointed.

He’d wanted to see just how this big thing had come out. He’d wanted to witness the moment of birth but those worm-like humans got in the way. Granted, he’d been sulking and hadn’t gone to see the Hero’s wife for a whole week, so part of it was his fault. But that didn’t matter now.

If not for the humans, she wouldn’t have died.

‘I wonder how she’d react if she saw this baby…’

Lucifer scowled as a thought he couldn’t name stirred within him. A surge of irritation churned from his gut. Even after slaughtering those who killed the woman, his rage wasn’t quenched. He’d diverted from his return to the Demon Realm and wiped out their entire nation in one blow as petty revenge.

He was angry. He had waited to see the birth and the failure had left a gaping fury in its place. That house had smelled of sunlight. And he’d never smell it again. That added a new layer to his displeasure.

Lucifer tilted his head, baffled by his own mood, and looked down at the softly snoring baby.

“How did you come out?”

“…”

“Did you rip the belly open yourself?”

No answer from the baby. Only her tiny lips smaller than a fingernail, moved slightly, as if dreaming, face wrinkling in a way too naughty for something just born.

‘Well, no. That’s not how humans work. They do love to breed, after all.’

If you tear open a belly, a human dies. Since they give birth to several, there must be another method. Besides, the Hero’s wife was dead. There was no way to find out now. He had no desire to ask any other humans.

‘What face did she make when she gave birth to you?’

Was she relieved, thinking her revenge was complete? Or did she despair, knowing she’d never again feel the baby inside her?

He swallowed the question that hovered on his lips. It wasn’t one that would ever be answered. No clueless human infant would know such things.

Lucifer knew the Hero’s wife had died. That sly woman had struck a deal with him using her child as a bargaining chip just before death.

“Hmph.”

Something unpleasant rose up again, and he forcibly shut down the thought. Narrowing his eyes, Lucifel looked down at the infant, then laid Bellatrix into a basket meant for wine. The size was perfect for carrying.

The velvet lining, meant for fine wines, was soft enough not to harm the delicate skin of a human infant. Back at the castle, Regnator was waiting by the door and squinted with a flat expression.

“Oh? Is the human infant dead?”

Lucifer sat on a plush velvet chair, colored black and red, and replied: “She’s Bellatrix.”

“You named a human infant?”

“I did.”

Regnator’s face turned unusually serious. “…You’re not seriously thinking of raising her, are you?”

“So what if I am?”

“In the Demon Realm? A human child?”

“Is that a problem?”

Lucifer brought the wine basket forward and looked down at the baby’s sleeping face. Sometimes, when he arrived late to the forest cabin, he’d find the Hero’s wife asleep under the sun in a rocking chair and this baby looked a little like her in those moments.

“The Demon Realm is no place for a human to live.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Well, it’s just…”

“Are you saying this place is too dangerous for one human to live in?”

“Of course not. That’s not the point. It’s just… awkward, isn’t it?”

Regnator fell silent, apparently unable to articulate it well. He let out a groan and gave up explaining, as though realizing Lucifer would never understand no matter how he phrased it. But he was a capable aide. After some thought, he came up with the most logical reason Lucifel might accept.

“Environment aside… wouldn’t there be issues with hierarchy?”

“What kind of issues?”

“Well, she’s your possession, is she not? But since she’s alive, no one knows how to treat her. It’s… confusing.”

Lucifer had never even considered that. But it wasn’t a trivial matter since demons were rough. A helpless human infant might be crushed with just a glare. That wasn’t an outcome Luchifel wanted.

“So, do you have a solution?”

He asked as if it were only natural to expect one. Regnator stared at him, momentarily dumbfounded, but quickly looked away under the Demon King’s fierce gaze. Not even a loyal aide dared hold the Demon King’s gaze for more than five seconds. He had no desire to be obliterated prematurely.

As the Demon Realm’s second-in-command, Regnator had no choice but to think. And think hard.

‘I knew he was fickle, but to bring back a human baby for fun… that’s a first in Demon Realm history.’

He wisely kept that thought to himself. After darting his red demon eyes about, Regnator suddenly lit up with an idea.

“How about calling her your daughter?”

“…Daughter?”

“There’s no way to hide the human blood. But she’s tied to you through a contract and as a price paid. Not to mention… ahem, you even shared some of your power with her to keep her alive.”

“That’s true.”

“So naturally, your power flows through her now. That can’t be hidden either.”

“Hm.”

“So, wouldn’t it be most fitting to say she’s your daughter from a recent fling with a human?”

Regnator wisely left out how scandalized people would be to learn the Demon King had lain with a human woman. He also didn’t mention that it might be more acceptable to frame the baby as a toy picked up on a whim.

He knew full well that to Lucifer, the baby in that wine basket was no toy. If the fragile human child were hurt or killed, Lucifer’s wrath would be… unpredictable.

‘Well, if it works, it works.’

Any backlash from calling her his daughter would fall on Lucifer, not him. Regnator knew better than anyone that if the child became truly special to Lucifer and something happened to her, his fury would be far more terrifying.

Though partly out of curiosity, Regnator maintained a perfectly blank face.

“Daughter, huh…”

Lucifer recalled how the Hero’s wife had said something similar. Humans had assumed the Hero’s child was his, so they’d killed her and stolen the baby. And back then, she hadn’t even carried his energy.

Though the Hero’s wife was dead now, he imagined she wouldn’t have liked Regnator’s suggestion.

But her wish had been for the child to be protected—not necessarily raised as a human or as the Hero’s daughter.

“I see. That way… both the human blood and my power flowing through her make sense.”

“Yes, more than anything, if I do that, I can temporarily give you the title of the Demon King’s Daughter, so no one will be able to treat you carelessly.”

It was a pretty good story. Lucifer snickered as he looked at the sleeping baby, oblivious to the world. A pitiful, worthless creature, how dare she have the title of the Demon King’s Daughter.

In any case, it was a strange fate for a human to have hair as black as ebony.

“Then let’s do that.”

There is no blood relationship among the Demons. This is because all Demons are born from the Demon God Tree. Of course, there was a separate Demon God Tree where only the Demon King was born, so there were no blood feasts for the Demon King’s position.

Surprisingly, the Demon World had a clear hierarchy, and other than the fact that it was mostly active at night, it was not much different from the human world.

The only difference was that the concentration of magical power was different from the human world, so ordinary humans had a hard time even breathing. So, the demons were stronger and more beautiful than humans.

They were a race that was created that way.

“Bellatrix Ecstasis…”

Lucifer lifted the corners of his mouth as he added his last name to the name he gave to the human baby. It sounded like a pretty good name.