Chapter 46
Chapter 46
It was none other than Sylvanas, the sole blood relative of the woman the Hero had loved.
‘If anyone shouldn’t be doubting Arthur… it’s you! After everything the temple did, how can you?!’
Lawrence had been a companion and friend who journeyed alongside the Hero to defeat the Demon King.
The Hero, Arthur, was timid and ineloquent, but he was just, generous, and possessed a heart purer than anyone else’s.
[“Lawrence, maybe the temple is right. Maybe I was never truly blessed. If I die like this… please take care of Cyril.”]
[“Haha… what’s the use of being angry? The temple just wants to soothe the fears of the helpless.”]
[“Cyril is pregnant… Lawrence, do you think I’ll get to see our child’s face?”]
[“Please. Take care of Cyril… and our child. Take care of them both.”]
That’s why Lawrence hates people who are too good for their own good. Because the righteous always die young.
‘I’m sorry… I couldn’t protect your wife… your child. I couldn’t even find them.’
Alzahar, anticipating that Arthur wouldn’t die quietly, had kept a close watch on his wife, Saint Cyril, tracking her location. All Lawrence could do was smuggle her out from under the temple’s surveillance.
“Why… why would the temple… lie like that…?”
“Damn it! You still don’t believe me? Even after all this?!”
Frustrated, Lawrence grabbed Sylvanas by the shoulders and turned him around. There, in the air, stood the Demon King, Lucifer, looking down at the ruined earth with apathetic boredom.
“The Demon King is a monster. No blessing from the gods could ever defeat him. They don’t call him a calamity for nothing.”
“…”
“The temple… they knew from the beginning that Arthur couldn’t defeat him!”
Sylvanas clenched his eyes shut. Lawrence’s words sent a storm of confusion through his mind. Did this mean the gods had allowed the temple’s lies?
He looked up with trembling eyes at the dark speck in the sky, and he saw the Demon King. Those blood-red eyes shimmered.
Just as he furrowed his brow from the sensation of their gazes locking, the man with skin pale as snow appeared right before his eyes.
The Demon King.
“You.”
It felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs. Lawrence, too, reacted instinctively, staggering back and gripping his sword, even though he knew it would be useless. A final, desperate attempt to cling to life.
“What is your name?”
The voice was impossibly low. The fear that rose from his feet to his chest made his heart thud painfully.
To Sylvanas, the Demon King’s voice sounded like the very melody of death.
“Answer me, human.”
“…”
“Why do you bear the same face as Cyril?”
“……!”
Paralyzed with terror, Sylvanas only managed to move his eyes at the familiar name. He tried to part his trembling lips, but the overwhelming pressure bearing down on his body robbed him of speech.
It felt like he would drop to his knees at any second, bowing in submission.
“Tch.”
Lucifer clicked his fingers with a sharp snap and drifted slightly backward into the air. He crossed his legs as if seated on an invisible chair, tilting his chin upward in supreme arrogance.
“Speak, weakling.”
“M-My sister’s name… h-how do you…”
He sucked in air, finally freed from the crushing pressure. With the weight on his shoulders lifted, Sylvanas could finally take in Lucifer’s face properly.
“Sister? Ah… so you are of Cyril’s blood.”
“…”
“Answer me.”
“Y-Yes.”
“Hesitate one more time and even if you are Cyril’s blood, I’ll splatter you.”
“Y-Yes, understood.”
Sylvanas swallowed hard and barely managed to respond. Even as a priest of the gods, he had no choice but to submit completely to the Demon King. Resistance was unthinkable.
Now he understood why Lawrence had raged, why his voice had been full of anguish. Sylvanas had not participated in the battle against the Demon King. At the time, he hadn’t yet come of age and the temple refused to risk losing a priest with healing powers.
For the same reason, the holy empire’s Saintess, Cyril, had also been barred from joining the Hero’s journey.
“You reek of Bella’s aura.”
“…”
“Did you harm the child with black hair?”
The mention of Bella shocked Sylvanas back to his senses, and he raised his head sharply.
“Bella… what have you done to her?! She’s just a child, she doesn’t know anything!”
She looked just like Arthur. Perhaps not biologically his, but Sylvanas couldn’t bear the thought of her dying.
“You idiot! Didn’t you hear me earlier?! The one who came for that girl was the Demon King himself!”
Unlike Sylvanas, Lawrence still writhed under the weight of Lucifer’s presence, gasping for breath. The Demon King’s gaze shifted to Lawrence.
“So someone survived that attack… and it turns out it’s one of the Hero’s strays?”
He sneered, and Lawrence’s jaw clenched tightly in wounded pride. But Lucifer didn’t linger on him for long.
“You were… the ones guarding Bella?”
“We failed. She’s not with me now! I may be a priest cast out by the temple, but I know how to tell a human from a demon!”
“And?”
“Bella is human. How can you… why would the Demon King take a human child? After all this carnage, is it still not enough?”
“Take her?”
The Demon King folded his arms and smirked, amused by the question. His cold smile made Sylvanas fall silent again.
“Don’t be mistaken, Cyril’s kin. I came to retrieve Bella.”
“…”
“Her body may be human, but Bella is a demon. She is my daughter, the Demon King’s daughter.”
“…!!”
Sylvanas and Lawrence’s eyes widened in unison. They stared at Lucifer, suspended mid-air, in stunned disbelief.
“That child is mine.”
His tone left no room for argument. No one would lay a hand on her. No one would make her cry. And as if confirming it, Sylvanas took in the destroyed scenery around him.
It was as if the devastation had occurred simply because the child had been hurt. Sylvanas bit his lower lip.
“A human child… how could she be yours? Are you saying you abducted her?!”
“I received her in a fair exchange.”
“That can’t be! What kind of parent gives away their child—!”
His words trailed off. He’d already seen it too many times, parents abandoning their children not for payment, but out of sheer desperation.
Sylvanas clenched his fists and glared at the Demon King.
“Humans are a foolish species who throw away what they should treasure most.”
“…”
“But Bella was not abandoned.”
“Then you mean… someone gave her to you willingly?! Who?!”
Lucifer’s expression changed subtly. Though he looked at Sylvanas, his crimson eyes seemed to be gazing at someone else entirely. It was the look of a man recalling another’s face upon seeing yours.
Just as Sylvanas was about to scowl in disbelief, a sudden, blinding realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.
“N-No way… it can’t be… it can’t…”
He tried to dismiss it as absurd. But the pieces clicked together far too perfectly. Each connection hammered at his heart.
“Are you… afraid to know the truth?”
“Is there even a truth to know?”
“If you wish, I can tell you.”
“…”
“That face… so like Cyril’s. I remember now. She once mentioned having a younger brother, an immature and wide-eyed.”
Sylvanas twisted his expression, biting down hard on his lip.
“Bella… that child, is she… my sister and Arthur’s child?”
He didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t even want to think about it. But everything pointed in that direction. Lucifer had said he received the child in exchange for something. That meant his sister had handed Bella over.
But why? For what reason?
Even with his face twisted in agony, Sylvanas forced himself to ask. Yet all Lucifer did was laugh softly.
“Wrong. Bella is my child.”
It was a scornful laugh, meant to provoke. But Sylvanas knew then that Bella was the very child he had been searching for.
‘My sister’s child…’
She was only about a year old, yet she looked and behaved like a clever three-year-old. She is articulate, thoughtful. It would be impossible for a normal human.
But with the Demon King by her side, that unnatural growth might well be explained.
‘Besides… Bella is the child of the Hero and the Saintess.’
Even by bloodline alone, she was extraordinary. Now Sylvanas understood why the gods had shown him the Demon King’s descent in answer to his prayer.
But there was no joy in the revelation, only a deep, aching dread.
“What do you intend to do with Bella?!”
“That is not your concern.”
“I am her uncle!”
“You dare claim rights over her for mere shared blood?”
“She is human! Do you truly believe a human child can grow safely in the demon realm?!”
“Insolent.”
Boom!
A deafening crash exploded behind Sylvanas. He knew something unthinkable had happened but couldn’t bring himself to turn around. It had all happened at just a glance from Lucifer.
He was terrified.
Was the being before him truly made of the same flesh as himself? Or was he a manifestation of the gods?
The fear was so overwhelming, his legs trembled uncontrollably. If he let down his guard even slightly, he would collapse. Was Lucifer truly a creature like him, a being created by the gods?
(TN: Talk about being strong-strong really. Lucifer has it all! 😳)
