The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 104

Nigel’s expression as he looked at me was serious.

It wasn’t easy meeting someone who truly worried for me, a Demon Lord.

Even if I was among the weaker lords, across the entire Demon Realm, there were only a handful who could actually stand against me.

The same went for the Celestial Realm.

And yet Nigel—someone even weaker than me—was worrying over me like that.

This wasn’t the first time I’d experienced something like this… but it certainly wasn’t something I was used to.

So I chose my words more carefully than usual.

“…Don’t worry. Even Gabriel won’t be able to kill me so easily.”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t worry. No matter what, I’ll make sure you stay alive.”

Hearing him say that made one side of my chest feel ticklish.

Having someone worry about me… wasn’t such a bad feeling.

Still, I had to say what needed to be said.

“Nigel. Either way, when it comes to Gabriel—”

To borrow Gabby’s phrasing—

“You’re cannon fodder.”

Unrefined words, yes, but brutally accurate.

So I would accept his sentiment, but nothing more.

I never wanted to see someone sacrifice themselves for me ever again.

I blinked. For a brief moment, I thought I saw Ethan lying on the ground, bleeding.

“Bella. Run. Leave me.”

“How could I leave you behind and run alone?”

“Go. Zachary could catch up any second. At least you have to live.”

“I can’t forgive them. The one who did this to me, the one who did this to you—I’ll never forgive them.”

“Bella. I hope you won’t come to hate humans.”

Ethan, who lost his life trying to save me.

Foolish Ethan. After what happened, how could you tell me not to hate humans?

I hated humans for a very long time after that.

If not for Ethan’s final words, I might have gone to the Middle Realm and committed a massacre.

That’s why I couldn’t ignore the suspicion that Gabriel was behind Zachary’s betrayal.

If Gabriel was the one pulling the strings—if that led to Ethan’s death, and Zachary’s eventual suicide—

I stayed silent for too long, and Nigel began to shake my shoulder.

“Bella? Are you okay?”

“…I’m fine.”

I steadied myself internally.

“Anyway, don’t get involved in this. This is a matter of demonic pride.”

I deliberately snapped at Nigel.

“Seriously, you’re putting pride over your life?”

“Yes. That’s what demons are like.”

“Haah?”

Nigel looked dumbfounded, but I felt reassured by his reaction.

If I started spouting things like pride, he’d back off from trying to get involved.

Again, I never wanted to see someone sacrifice themselves for me.

***

Nigel asked for three days.

And during that time—

‘I’ve got nothing to do.’

I lay comfortably on the sofa, flipping through a book, thinking to myself.

To be this idle… even in the Demon Realm, I didn’t have this much free time—

“What exactly do you do? I manage the territory, the affairs of the castle… Are you saying idling around all day is your job?”

“You seem awfully dissatisfied. Should I conquer another territory and shut that mouth of yours?”

“I was mistaken. Please remain as you are. Please don’t give yourself more work.”

For a moment, I thought I heard my butler’s nagging voice in my head.

Come to think of it, I really was always this idle in the Demon Realm.

But that didn’t mean I neglected my duties.

My mere presence was enough to keep other lords from invading my territory.

And every year, I participated in the monster subjugation campaign hosted by Lilith to control their population.

Anyway, my butler always nagged me.

I turned a page in my book and thought to myself.

The book I was reading was one of the pulp novels Jessie had recommended.

Its content was quite scandalous by Middle Realm standards—gave me a good idea of Jessie’s tastes.

Still, how should I put it—

Compared to the romantic entanglements in the Demon Realm, it felt… rather tame?

I looked up from the book and glanced around the room.

Honestly, the scene unfolding in my room was more interesting than the book.

I spoke to the angels who were diligently cleaning my room, “You all seem quite used to being ordered around.”

I didn’t know what kind of training Jessie had given them, but in just a single day, the angels had transformed into perfect servants.

The way they adapted even faster than expected was surprising.

“You’re the one who made us adapt, Bella. By force.”

One of the angels muttered.

That was the female Jen. Honestly, I, a dignified lord of the Demon Realm, could hardly be unable to distinguish between the two.

Even if they were twins, if you looked closely, you could spot differences between them.

But really, what was the point? Since they looked so alike, using the same name was more efficient.

The angels still seemed to hold a grudge against me, but I ignored Jen’s comment without a second thought.

If they were so resentful, they should’ve been born strong like me—or at least not been born as angels.

The female Jen, who was scrubbing the floor, glanced at the book cover I was reading and asked, “Bella, are you really interested in love?”

Hm?

I checked the title on the cover.

I’d been reading without paying attention to the title, but now I noticed it was embarrassingly suggestive.

I scoffed at the female Jen’s question.

Asking a demon about love.

“Demons as a species are unfamiliar with love. So there’s no way I’d be interested in something like that.”

“Hmm, I don’t think that’s quite true.”

At that moment, the male Jen, who was cleaning the window frame, spoke up.

I frowned, and the male Jen continued his explanation, “Why wouldn’t demons know love? You can tell by the way they treat humans.”

As he said the word ‘humans,’ the male Jen’s face twisted slightly.

Disgusting.

I scoffed. That race claimed to be for humanity, but in truth, they saw humans as something to be ruled.

Whereas to demons, humans were more like playthings.

Which one was more of a disaster for humanity, I didn’t know—but one thing was certain:

Angels weren’t as benevolent as humans believed.

The male Jen went on, “There are more than a few demons who came to the Middle Realm for fun and ended up falling in love with humans.”

“That’s not love. That’s just amusement.”

“I doubt that. It’s just that you haven’t seen it, Bella. There were demons who stayed by their human partners’ side until they aged and died. If that’s not love, what is?”

“……”

“Putting that aside… Bella, are demons always this passionate as a species? If they had reproductive capabilities, the Middle Realm would be overrun with demon-human hybrids by now.”

Listening to the male Jen, I ground my teeth.

I’d always kept my distance from the Middle Realm, so all I knew was that other demons went there to seek amusement.

I had no idea they genuinely enjoyed it like that.

Truly a disgrace to our kind. Tch.

“Maybe regular demons are like that, but we lords are different. We don’t know feelings like love.”

“Hmm, that’s not really true either, is it?”

The male Jen glanced sideways at the female Jen, who then added, “Right. The romantic escapades of the Lord of Lust are famous.”

“Ah, that one’s stories are really something—”

“Hmm?”

I caught on to something strange and pointed it out.

“Hold on. Why am I ‘Bella,’ but Belial gets called ‘that one’?”

[T/N: In Korean, calling someone “그분” (that person/that one) is more polite than calling someone by name alone]

I’d overlooked their impudent tone, thinking it was due to the rift between angels and demons.

But if they only spoke that way to me—that was absolutely unacceptable.

As I pressed them, the angels exchanged glances.

The male Jen spoke first.

“Well… Lord Belial has lived for so long… it just feels a little disrespectful to address casually.”

“And me?”

“Bella, you’re such a young lord. You’re even younger than we are.”

I didn’t hold back at their insolent words.

“If your only excuse is age, then I can make sure you never grow older again.”

I drew my hand across my neck in a slicing motion as I spoke.