[Chapter 1: First Meeting]
“Hmm…~ hmm…~♩”
A quiet humming voice filled the lonely bedroom. Moonlight escaped through the cracks of the wooden walls. It was a very quiet night as neither animals’ sound nor the cicadas’ buzzing was heard.
Two persons laid on their single mattress. One of them was a very large man with messy black hair. A few red streaks were visible on a closer look. Despite the intimidating body, his sleeping face was at peace. Only a very quiet breathing sound escaped his mouth. A soft hand caressed this man’s harden face. The woman beside him was using his muscular arm as her pillow. The slender fingers continued to stroke, especially the scar running a crossed his cheek as if it was something special.
“Haaah…,” a small sigh escaped, “you should go to sleep, honey. It’s late…”
“Ah, I’m sorry, dear… Did I wake you up?” Despite saying that she continued to touch his cheek in a very caring manner.
He didn’t reply to her question as he wasn’t really asleep anyway. Lying lazily in bed with her was everything.
“I- Is my face that interesting to you?”
No matter how long one life, there was something about being stared at with such loving eyes causing even the “Great Disastrous Evil Who Will End The Universe” to blush a bit.
“Yes,” she replied with the loveliest voice, “I will never get tired looking at my beloved face.”
“I see.”
Quietness once again filled the room.
“Dear…” She slowly moved it even closer to him than before.
“Hmm?” His rough finger tucked her long white hair behind her ears.
“I love you so much,” she whispered as a small kiss was planted on his lips. It didn’t take long however for her tongue to invade his.
Instead of resisting, he simply welcomed it as it is. It was very sweet.
“I love you, too.”
“Quick! We have to find her!!!”
A group of angels scattered throughout the green forest. They were spreading out to cover as much ground as possible. Nonetheless, this forest was like a maze.
“I… I just can’t believe, our Great General would do such a thing…” a young angel said in a sad tone.
“She was like an idol… No, a goddess to me… I look up to her so much,” another was crying.
“You better suck it up, and focus on finding her,” a stern man reaffirmed the squad, “I… am disappointed, too. Seeing such our icon betrays us like this-” His fist landed on a nearby tree, causing it to fall.
“Yeah… Let’s hurry before she somehow crossed the border. It’s for her own safety too. Who knows what those Demons would do to her once she’s on their land.”
“I don’t want to imagine that scenario. She’s heavily wounded so she couldn’t have gone too far.”
The group of angels once again flew through the thick forest to find their target.
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…
…
“I guess even I alone can’t win against groups of soldiers, huh… Ughh-!”
The pain in her abdomen pierced through the entire body. The ones searching for her are people she personally trained to become elite soldiers for Heaven. She alone had managed to subdue some of them but numbers always triumph…
“Ha… My wound is not closing on its own… What… *coughs* a shame…” The only she could do now was continuing forward with small yet heavy steps.
“The border should be nearby… Please… Someone…” Blood continued to fall down to the ground, leaving a red trail behind.
She was forcing herself to not pass out. Her eyelids were too heavy to will it from staying open.
“-nd her!” can be heard from the distance. They were coming. Was this the end? All the remaining strength left her body as it lifelessly fell down. The last thing her eyes perceived was a large shadow hovering over her.
It didn’t smell like sterilization or medicine. It smelled… more like burning wood. But why burning wood?
As she slowly regained her consciousness more and more information about her surrounding presented itself. The ceiling was made out of simple material. The entire building was a single room with a fireplace in the middle of it.
“Someone lives in the middle of the wood? How unusual…” she pondered.
The simple wooden door left a creaking sound as someone pulled it open. A friend…? Or maybe a foe…?
“You are awake…” a large imposing man entered the room. He was holding a basket which was filled with vegetables. Even if they were across the room, far from each other, she could feel those red eyes looking at her without any kind of emotion.
“Sleep some more,” he said as he put the basket down and walk over to the mattress. As he raised his hand, many thoughts came to her like a flash. She was in no position to fight back even if she wanted to. But the illogical side of her suggested he would do such a thing despite having no points made for such a suggestion. Simply by feel?
As multiple thoughts ran through her brain his palm was already covering her forehead.
“As I thought, it’s still rather warm,” his palm was rather rough to the touch but it wasn’t a bad feeling for some reason.
“I will cook you some porridge,” he slowly walked away, “it will be done in a moment.”
“Uhm…”
“?”
“T-thank you…”
Only after she saw the small nod from him she felt comfortable falling back asleep.
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…
…
“Be careful, they are hot.” The more she looked at him the more curious she got. Who was this man, living alone here? Based on his slight pointy ears, she could tell he was a Demon.
So I managed to cross the border, she thought.
But a Demon living so close to the border between Heaven, the Human City and the Demon World…? How curious… Also, didn’t Demon hate all Angel? How could he save his mortal enemy like this? Won’t he face any consequences from his Lord?
Will he even take care, no, even look at me if he knew who I was…?
“Is the spoon still too hot?” he moved the filled spoon away from her to blow on it again.
“Ah… I’m sorry. I- I was a bit lost in thoughts.”
Despite being injured she still eating the food in graceful manners.
“I’m not exactly the best cook so I hope this is at least edible for you…” he scooped another spoonful and cooled it.
“Please, don’t be so hard on yourself. If anything I should be more grateful that you made this for me.”
If one was to judge the food based on taste it wasn’t exactly the tastiest thing. The flavors of the vegetables clashed with one another yet there was a certain blandness despite all of that.
And yet, for some odd reason, it was the tastiest thing she had ever eaten for hundreds of years.
“I see…” his reply was always short and a bit distanced.
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…
“You…” those cold red eyes looked rather fearsome yet captivating.
“You should have some questions for me by now, no?” After finishing the porridge, he put the empty bowl back on the tray. He continued sitting by her bedside instead of going back to the kitchen.
“I thought you would like to avoid questions but it seems I was wrong. Yes, in fact, I might have too many questions right now…”
“Hmm… I will try to answer as many as I can. Go ahead.”
Her hand clenched itself as she braced for potential uncomfortable answers.
“Why did you save me? Shouldn’t you kill me instead?” It might be a boring ending but at least she wouldn’t be brought back to that room.
“Must I have a reason to do so?” -he scratched his chin for a moment- “then my reason is: I have no reason to not save you. That’s why I save you, Angel or not.”
She couldn’t help herself but giggled a bit. It was a rather warm answer.
“Is it funny?” he said with no emotion but he wasn’t mad.
“No, it was a bit unexpected,” her clenched hand relaxed a bit.
“I have a question for you then,” he unexpectedly told her.
“Are we doing the “10 dating questions” game then?”
“Huh?” he sounded rather flustered. She was a bit surprised to see an emotion on this emotionless man (so far).
“A-Anyhow, why are you being chased by your own soldiers? Aren’t you that “Great General of the Heaven Army” or something?”
“So… you know who I am and still saved me?” Maybe part of her had hoped this random Demon wouldn’t know who she really was. “I- I have killed countless Demons already. One of them might be your friends or loved one.”
Was it shame? Or maybe was it simply regrets? All she could do was clenched her fist even harder. This Demon only showed her kindness thus far but the thoughts of hurting him by killing someone he held dear in the past…
“Then let me asked you this,” his red eyes didn’t move away from her blue eyes, “would you despise me if I told you: I, too have killed countless Angels before. Of course, one of them might be someone you were close with.”
He used the same sentence as her but didn’t flinch.
She didn’t feel an ounce of animosity.
“Before… maybe. But now,” she broke their eye contact by looking down at her own hands which began to bleed as her nails dug into her palms, “I don’t really care anymore…”
“Then I feel the same,” a large hand was placed on her head. Gentle pats by this stranger calmed her down. She should move away but she couldn’t. This fuzzy feeling… It wasn’t bad… At all.
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…
“Have you calmed down?”
“Hmm,” she nodded but he didn’t stop petting her, “thank you…”
“Good,” he slowly removed his hands from her head. All she felt was emptiness as if something was missing.
“You should go back to sleep. I will go tend the garden to give you some space.”
She slowly laid herself down again. Her eyelids felt heavy once again.
“Actually…” he spoke up as he turned his back towards her already, “I have one last question for the day.”
“Please feel free to ask me anything.”
“Why didn’t you ask me who I am? Aren’t you at least… curious?” a small pain can be heard from the last word but only to those who paid very close attention.
“Well…” she gave it a quick thought, “my answer for you is: I have no reason to ask you such a thing. If you feel like talking about it, I believe you will one. If you don’t, I’m sure you have your reason and I’m in no position to pry such private matter.”
“…Thank you.”
“You know… I don’t really care who you were or are currently,” a small yawn escaped her, “all I know is that you are very kind… And I… Zzz”
“Hmm…”
Seeing him move closer to the mattress and pulled the blanket up to cover her body was the last thing she saw for the day.