“W-what—?”

I stared at her, dumbfounded.

"I love you!"

Zoel repeated, as though the first time wasn't enough, her burning red eyes were staring into mine with admiration.

What the heck was going on?!

"...Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief.

Zoel's face redenned as she clasped her hands together. “You… you saved me, right… from Lilionel? I love you!”

“...”

I was taking a moment to absorb the situation. There wasn’t any sign on Zoel’s face that said she was joking.

As I was thinking about what the hell was going on, Zoel reached out to me, grabbing the side of my face with her hands, then her face moved closer, her eyes closing.

My eyes widened when I realised what was happening.

“Hang on—!” I quickly pushed myself away, scurrying up to my feet.

I managed to get to the other side of the room, stuck against another wall, but now standing and looking down at Zoel. She was crouching on the ground, her head facing me with a confused expression.

“Zoel…?” I called out to her cautiously. “Didn’t you just tried to kill me the other day…?”

“Ah, I’m so sorry about that!” Zoel stood up on her feet, then started heading towards me again. “A demon god told me to kill you. I personally have nothing against you!”

“A demon god… nothing against me…” I repeated her words, trying to make sense of it all. “A demon god told you to kill me… and you personally have nothing against me…?”

“That’s right!” Zoel smiled cheerfully, seeing that I was understanding, then reached her arms out, trying to grab the side of my face again.

“H-hey, stop!” I stuck both my hands out, holding onto Zoel’s shoulder, keeping her away.

She didn’t push against my arm. Instead, she gave me another confused stare, waiting.

“Zoel…” I breathed out, trying to catch my breath. “You need to tell me exactly what the hell is going on… right now.”

“I thought I already explained everything.” She tilted her head, that same confused expression still on her face. “I love you.”

“That doesn’t explain anything!” I exclaimed, flabbergasted. “You… why are you acting like this?”

“A-acting?” Zoel’s face flashed a flicker of hurt. “I-I’m not acting…”

I shook my head, then glanced over at the door.

Just where the hell was Lily when I needed her?

“I-I really love you!” Zoel said, holding her hand to her chest. “You saved my life!”

I glanced back over at Zoel, giving her a dubious look. “Uh…” I was at a loss of words. I had never been in a situation like this before.

Zoel started going off in a rant, her eyes gazing at me dreamily. “It was so romantic, the way that you spared my life at the forest, then tried to stop Lilionel, The Witch, from killing me, and then you took care of my body this whole time! And you never took advantage of my body, although I wish you had, and you even treated me so nice when you talked about me at the Royal Palace instead of treating me like some thing that everyone else always treats me! And you carried my body everywhere like a prince with his bride, it was soo romantic!”

I shook my head, bewildered. There were so many flags in her story, I couldn’t get all my questions out at once. “Hang on, you were awake that time?!”

“Oh, I was still unconscious, but I could hear the conversations around me when I was out!”

“...”

“Don’t you believe me?” Zoel stared deeply into my eyes, her voice straining. “I really do love you… I mean it…”

“…”

A silence fell over us.

“Y-you…” Zoel stared at the expression on my face, then her face turned into a dejected look. “You don’t believe me…”

She let out a defeated sigh, then walked away from me, slumping down onto the bed.

I watched her, not knowing what to do.

What exactly was I supposed to do in a situation like this?

I glanced over at the door of the bedroom.

Should I just quickly make my exit and look for Lily…?

I glanced back over at Zoel. She was sitting on the bed, staring down at the ground with a depressed look.

“Look, Zoel…” I started, trying to think about my words. She looked up at me, hearing my voice. “I can’t make sense of… this love… you have, but I need to get a few things clear first.”

She nodded shortly. “Yes…?”

“Just what exactly were you doing at the Rize Kingdom?” I asked, trying to give her a serious stare. It was hard to be serious after all that commotion. “And why were you told to kill me?”

“I was on a mission.” Zoel replied. “I was told to infiltrate the Rize Kingdom, and stay in the city indefinitely to look for a boy named Kei. If I find him, I was told to kill him at once.”

“…”

“O-of course, I would never kill you now.” Zoel said, seeing the expression on my face. “I mean, I love you now—”

“Go on. With the second question.” I said hastily.

“Ah, they didn’t tell me the reason why I had to kill you.” Zoel said, not flustered by the fact that she just told me that she loved me for the sixth time in a row. “Usually, I just get orders and follow them.”

“…”

I stopped to think about what Zoel was saying. I was trying to forget about all the love stuff, and just focus on the important points of her story, but it was hard to do so.

I glanced back up at her. “Who was the demon god that told you to kill me?”

“Paimon.” Zoel said.

“…”

So, it wasn’t Balzard that instructed Zoel to kill me. That was who I thought was the demon god that Zoel was talking about.

…

But, who the hell was Paimon? I had never even heard that name before. It didn’t ring any bells, and I don’t remember coming across it in any of the books I had read back at the village.

“Anyways, now that I have you, I can just forget all about my mission!” Zoel said cheerfully, then got up from the bed to come towards me again, her arms outstretched. “We can live happily together just us two! Please accept my love!”

“Zoel, hang on—!”

She pushed me against the wall, her arms grabbing onto my face, and I tried to push her back, holding onto her shoulders, but I was reminded of how freaking strong she was! I was using all of my strength to keep her off, but she was pushing towards me without showing any signs of struggle.

I was almost twice her size, being well built from all the labour work I had to do at the village, but she was still overpowering me. If someone that didn’t know she was a demon walked into the room, it would be an embarrassing sight to see.

Her face was edging closer and closer towards me, her strawberry lips pursed and her eyes closed.

“Zoel, stop—!!” I tried to pull my face out of the way, my cheeks getting hot.

At that moment, the door flung open and Lily walked into the room.

“Just what the hell is all the noi—”

Lily stopped at the door as she saw Zoel and me. There was a look on her face that fell halfway in between perplexed and annoyance, her eyebrows twitching.

Zoel opened her eyes, turning her head away from me and at the door instead to see Lily, then she suddenly released her hold of me, taking slow steps away from Lily.

“L-Lilionel…” Zoel said, her face getting pale.

“Lily, this isn’t what it looks like!” I said, quickly pacing over to Lily’s side. I was eager to escape from Zoel and I also didn’t want Lily to get the wrong idea. “She was—”

“Shut up. I don’t care about what you two were doing.” Lily said, glaring at me with that same look she had before. Her face told a different story to what she said. “Did she end up saying anything useful?”

“Uh... yeah.” I shook my head, trying to regain my composure from Zoel’s earlier antics. “Zoel said that she was sent to the Rize Kingdom by a demon god called Paimon to kill me.”

“Hm… Paimon…” The look on Lily’s face changed into one of musing. “That’s… interesting.”

“Lily…” I watched her expression. “Just who is Paimon?”

“You don’t know about demon lore?”

“No…”

“Well, that’s perfect. We have an actual demon right over here to explain it to you.” Lily pointed at Zoel. “Explain.”

Zoel shrunk away from Lily’s finger, as though scared of it. She was occupying the corner of the room.

“There were originally three demon gods that ruled the underworld… Zepar, Bael, and Paimon.” Zoel said, hesitating. “Balzard is the fourth, that appeared over five hundred years ago.”

“Balzard…” I grimaced, hearing the name.

He’s the one I needed to kill… to avenge my family…

“Zepar and Bael mostly stay within the underworld, while Paimon frequents the mortal realm on occasions. Zepar is known as the Lord of Torment, Bael the Lord of Evil, and Paimon the Lord of Dread. Each of their title represents their personalities and powers. As for Balzard… Not much is known about Balzard, even in the underworld... I haven’t actually seen him myself in person…” Zoel trailed off. “He is known as the Lord of Wrath, however...“

“So you’ve seen the other three?” I asked curiously.

“Yes.” Zoel nodded. She seemed so different when she was talking seriously. It was hard to believe that it was the same person that said she loved me repeatedly mere moments ago. “Paimon is usually the one that I report to most often. But sometimes, I do tasks for Zepar and Bael too.”

“Right...” I thought about what she was saying.

“Did she say anything else?” Lily asked me, indicating at Zoel. “About why Paimon sent her to kill you?”

“No…”

“Hmm…” Lily stared at Zoel as though judging her for a moment, then glanced at me. “Kei, you can leave the room for this part.”

“Uh…” I stared at Lily. “What are you going to do to her?”

“Find out whether she’s hiding anything else.”

“...”

I sighed, then headed out of the room. I had a faint idea about what Lily had to do, and although I didn’t like the idea, there wasn’t any way I was going to stop Lily. It was important to figure out if Zoel was telling us the truth.

I still had doubts about Zoel.

“K-Kei—!” Zoel called for me as I left the room. I closed the door behind me and her voice disappeared.

I went back to the carriage to get the rest of Lily’s stuff out of her carriage, taking them to her bedroom.

As I walked past Zoel’s room, I could hear screaming from Zoel.

I sighed, continuing to carry Lily’s stuff to her bedroom.

It was a reminiscent sight, stepping inside Lily’s bedroom to see the place that I had locked myself in for so long. I could still remember all those times that Lily had visited me, taking care of me, and making sure that I ate my food.

I owed so much to Lily.

I hoped I would be able to repay her back one day.

Once I was done taking Lily’s stuff to her room, I went outside the castle to practice my sword work at the front yard.

I had to get stronger.

I couldn’t just rely on Lily all the time.

“HAAH—!!”

I swung the sword at an invisible enemy, then ducked, then attacked again.

I trained for about two hours, before Lily came out from the grand door of the castle.

She gazed at me from the side, watching me practice.

“Sloppy.”

I turned to Lily, stopping my training. “Huh?”

“Your movements are slow, and your techniques are predictable. It’s like watching a child play with a branch.”

“H-hey! This is my first time practicing with a sword.” My face went red, defending myself. I didn’t like it when Lily looked down on me. I mean, after all, I was trying to train myself so that I wouldn’t have to rely on her.

“Anyways, I checked Zoel.” Lily sighed. “She doesn’t know anything else.”

“Oh, really.” I let my sword down, then paused, thinking, before looking back up at Lily. “Hey, Lily, can you help me train?”

“Sure.”

Lily stepped down from the stairs of the castle, walking down to the front yard to face me.

She stood there, her hands down at her side.

“Come kill me.”

“Kill you?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s what happens in a fight.” Lily said. “Or do you aim for people’s swords when you’re fighting?”

“Tch.”

She was making fun of me again.

I had to show her something here.

But, how was I going to hit her? Wouldn’t she just use her magic and send me flying?

I stared at her.

She was just standing there, with her arms down, not doing anything. But, I knew better than to just rush in, seeing her like that.

…

I had to create a distraction.

I glanced over at the grand door of the castle.

“H-hey, Zoel, why are you standing there naked?!” I pretended to act surprised, then quickly glanced at Lily to see if she fell for it.

She turned her head to look.

She fell for it!

Immediately, I bolted forward, the sword at my side.

If I could manage to get one cut on her.

Just one.

Then, maybe I could impress her.

I clenched my teeth, then hurled the sword as hard as I could across my side, slashing at her arm.

I woke up on the ground, my head aching. There was a horrible pain at the side of my head and I was lying down on my back on the grass. I could feel the edges of the grass lightly grazing against my body. The wind blowing a gentle breeze at my face.

I groaned, pulling myself up to my feet.

What the hell happened?

I glanced around me, and saw Lily sitting down by the steps of the castle’s front entry.

“Lily?” I called out to her.

She turned to me, giving me a blank stare.

“What happened?” I touched the side of my head and winced. There was a large bruise there. “I remember trying to hit you…”

Lily sighed, standing up from the steps. “This isn’t going to work. I can’t teach you anything about fighting with swords.”

“…”

I guess she must had just knocked me out with magic or something.

“I’ll teach you some basic magic.”

That got my attention. I raised my head, looking at Lily attentively.

She walked towards me, then whispered.

“Firage.”

Instantly, a ball of fire shot out from the air in front of her, flying towards me.

My eyes widened, and I quickly stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the ball of fire by a hair’s length.

The fire scorched the side of my arm, and I winced, grabbing onto it. Blood was now leaking from the spot.

“L-Lily?” I looked at her, and another ball of fire shot out in front of her. I rolled sideways, again dodging the ball.

The ball of fire smashed into the ground, lighting up the grass there, and reducing the space to ashes.

The heat of the fire was causing sweat to drip from my body. I got back on my feet swiftly.

“Lily, what are you doing?!”

“If you want to learn magic, you have to first unlock that part of your brain.”

Lily’s lapis lazuli eyes were glowing. “Usually, people unlock it through near death experiences.”

“I-I’ve had plenty of near death experiences—”

Another fire ball shot at me, and I swung my blade at the ball, sending the fire scattering.

“Not with a sword.” Lily said annoyed, then flicked her finger at me.

My sword flung out of my grip despite how tightly I was holding onto it, and hurled itself behind Lily, stabbing itself onto the ground.

“…!”

“Use your will to defend yourself.

“My will—?”

Another ball of fire came, and I dived to my side, crashing into the ground.

“F-Fuck!”

I pulled myself up from the ground, running as another ball of fire shot out at me.

I ran around the castle, hoping to use the castle to gain some distance and act as a blockade between Lily and me.

I had no idea what Lily was talking about. I needed some time to think!

I managed to lose her behind the castle, and I slid under a gap in the castle, hiding.

I looked down at the wound on my arm, the pain was stinging.

She was seriously going to kill me if I didn’t manage to use some form of magic. I just didn’t know if I had it in me.

“Damn it…”

I glanced out of the gap, looking for Lily at the side I had ran in from, but I only saw the empty plain fields. There was nothing else to help me use as defence except for the castle, so I had to stay here.

“There’s no use hiding, you know?”

Lily’s voice came from the other side, and I turned around to see her standing there, her eyes glowing intimidatingly.

“L-Lily—!”

A ball of fire shot out and I dived out of the gap, barely avoiding it. My back was now scorched, feeling burnt.

“Argh—!”

I was lying on the grass, the pain on my back was intense. I could feel it etching across the entirety of my mind. I glanced up at Lily to see her walking towards me.

“L-Lily—”

The blue glow in Lily’s eyes were glowing brighter, and the air in front of her was turning fiery red.

“—Stop!!”

I shouted as a ball of fire shot out in front of her, heading towards my face.

I lifted my hand up, my palm facing the ball, and something that I didn’t know I had surged from inside me, yearning to be released.

I let that energy out in front of me, in the space where the ball of fire was heading, my heart accelerating to an unnatural speed.

“HAAH—!!”

The ball of fire crashed into an invisible barrier surrounding me, but I heard the noise of something shattering, and the barrier broke, the ball of fire pushing forward. Seeing this, my eyes widened.

Lily waved her hand to her side, and the ball of fire immediately extinguished in front of my face, letting out a roaring noise, before disappearing completely.

I was breathing heavily, sweat falling from my face.

“Well done, Kei.” Lily walked up to me, her eyes returning back to its normal lapis lazuli. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“W-wasn’t so bad?” I repeated, staring up at her in awe. “You almost killed me!”

“That was the point.” Lily said.

“...”

Lily bent down towards me, then reached out to my face, placing a gentle hand on my cheek.

I felt my cheeks getting hot from her touch. I stared into her face that was furrowed in concentration. She was staring down at the wound on my arm. I didn’t know whether the heat on my cheeks was from me or her magic.

Suddenly, the same pleasant feeling I felt, when Lily healed me last time, stretched across my body, and I could feel the pain on my arm and back subsiding. A warm glow emitted from Lily’s hand that was at my face, her eyes also glowing too in its bright lapis lazuli colour.

When she was done, the glow disappeared from her hand and eyes, and she pulled away, standing up from me.

“Next time, I’ll teach you how to control your mana properly.”

…

I stared at her back as she walked away from me, and back inside the castle.

For some reason, I could tell that training with Lily wasn’t going to be fun.

But…

I clenched my teeth, picking myself up from the ground.

I had to do this… in order to get stronger… for my revenge...