Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Power was once considered the only thing he could...
The call was short and hoarse, unlike his usual arrogant and confident tone. Instead, it was tainted with panic and urgency, like an obsession breaking out from the depths of his soul.
Lin Miao almost thought she was hallucinating. She was stunned for a few seconds before realizing that he actually called out her name.
...It turned out that he remembered her first and only self-introduction.
Lin Miao gently shook the hand he was holding, without showing any guilt for being caught red-handed touching someone else's face.
"I'm here. You pinched me."
Upon hearing this, Reiss immediately loosened his grip and changed to a loose embrace.
"Are you... okay?"
The demon carefully guided a wisp of demonic energy, gently exploring her internal organs, searching for any possible injuries, even the slightest ones.
"If something happened to me, would I still be able to sit here peacefully?" Lin Miao replied with a smile, "But you, you are so badly injured, are you sure you want to waste your magic power on me?"
"It's just a little spell. I'm not as weak as you think."
His tone seemed a little unhappy. He paused for a few seconds and then emphasized, "The injury is only temporary. I will soon..."
...will recover.
As if cut by a sharp blade, the second half of the words suddenly disappeared.
Reiss slowly raised his eyes and scanned the simple yet tidy room.
"...This isn't Mount Mujia. Where is this?"
"I'm glad that you finally had your own opinion on this point in the third minute after waking up." Lin Miao said with a teasing tone, and then began to tell him about her experience after her "artistic processing" in a eloquent manner.
The processing is specifically manifested in being vague and omitting all details about how they left Mujia Mountain, summing it up with "after the angel left, I helped him and accidentally stepped on a gap in space to come to this city"; the story of how I took advantage of the opportunity and finally brought him to stay in this inn was exaggerated, and my own intelligence and deep affection for him were emphasized.
After finishing speaking, Lin Miao found that the eyes of the demon in front of him were wandering, and his face was full of absent-mindedness.
"…Are you listening?"
She couldn't help it.
She's been doing this one-man show all this time?!
"...I'm listening." Reese spoke slowly, with a very strange smile at the corner of his lips.
"You mean, after I passed out, you didn't...you brought me here?"
"Yes!" the girl responded without hesitation, with pride in her eyes and eyebrows.
"I will never leave you!"
"Why?" he asked very quickly.
"Ah?" The girl was a little confused.
"I asked, why." He met her dark eyes and repeated it patiently.
"Why, take me with you."
Seeing that she just looked at him in astonishment and hesitated to say anything, he simply made his point clear.
"I couldn't help you then."
"If you leave on your own without me, your chances of safety will be higher."
He was completely unconscious at that time, wasn't he? He was also seriously injured.
He was no longer a powerful demon to her, capable of protecting her. Besides... he had not been able to escape from Gabriel and reach her in time.
In that castle, she fed him and he provided for her—
Theirs is an exchange relationship based on food and security.
When the weights that kept the balance of the scale lost their effectiveness and he was no longer useful, a burden, why was he taken away by her?
He desperately wanted to know, but he was also secretly afraid that her answer would be too much for him to bear.
"That's because, of course, you are the best Lord Reis in the world!"
In the unbearable silence, the only thing he could hear was the girl's straightforward and passionate words.
"At first, I just wanted a place to stay. You gave me plenty of food, beautiful clothes, and absolute security. You let me wander around the castle and read as I pleased. You allowed me to touch your hair and prepare food for me. You allowed me to stay overnight in your room and even prepared a hearty breakfast for me..."
"You always say no, but you hardly ever really refuse me."
"You even went so far as to fight against that angel in white just to save me..."
"Lord Reis, I don't know why you think so. However, 'usefulness' and 'whether it can help me' are not the only criteria for measuring 'worthiness', and I will never abandon you because of this."
"You are you."
Her tone suddenly softened, and admiration and respect blended in her eyes.
"No matter what you are like, you are my best, Lord Reis, and I will never give up on you."
So that's how it is.
The demon was stunned.
It turns out that no matter how strong he is, no matter how useful he is, he will not be abandoned...?
This idea took root in his heart like a seed, and sprouted green leaves under the watering of her confession.
Being needed by her, being affirmed by her, being accepted by her, even if I am not strong enough.
A secret joy was growing in a corner, and his brain seemed to have stopped working due to lack of oxygen. The devil was surprised to find that he could not find any words to describe his mood at the moment.
——He once regarded power as the only eternal thing, but the girl could promise him eternity so easily.
"I've given my answer. Now, it's my turn to ask you."
Lin Miao didn't seem to care about his stunned expression, and smiled slightly with her eyes curved.
"Why didn't you just leave when that angel came?"
"And why would you rather get hurt than come to me?"
"...Once you enter the devil's castle, everything belongs to the devil."
After a moment, Reese raised his chin, his expression as if it was a matter of course.
"Of course I have to protect my humans. How can I let other bastards bully them?"
...If she ignored the blush on his earlobes and neck, Lin Miao would have thought that this was really an unwritten rule of the demon world.
"By the way," the three-headed dog hurriedly changed the subject, finally remembering what he had originally wanted to ask. "What happened to you in the palace?"
"When I was making a wish in the Red Lotus Pond, I suddenly felt sleepy and lost consciousness." Lin Miao lied calmly, "When I woke up, I happened to see you fighting with the angel."
The demon nodded, showing no suspicion.
Thinking of Gabriel's words "all will turn to dust" and his three attempts to stop him, his handsome face was covered with dark clouds, and a long-lost murderous intent flashed in his pupils.
"I dared to hurt you... I will seek revenge from Gabriel sooner or later."
"I said, I'm really fine."
Lin Miao was helpless. She turned her wrist and covered the five fingers exposed outside the gloves with her palm, trying to divert his attention.
If he really died together with Gabriel, who would she capture?
A numbing electric current penetrated his flesh, causing Reese's knuckles to spasm slightly. The cold anger instantly faded from the golden pool, revealing a sense of helplessness and bewilderment.
The demon tried hard to suppress the strange impulse in his heart, pursed his lips, and his eyes wandered.
"Rather than seeking revenge on that archangel, I hope you can recover quickly."
Lin Miao stood up, bent one knee and knelt on the edge of the bed, leaning forward slightly.
"I would be very sad if you got hurt because of me."
The girl whispered softly, and a thin layer of clouds covered her usually bright and cunning eyes, which were about to condense into raindrops in the next moment.
Feeling sad for him...?
Reese's memory couldn't tell him the emotion behind the word, but that didn't stop him from disliking the look in her eyes at that moment.
What kind of look should she have?
The devil Carton's brain couldn't come up with a satisfactory result for a while.
never mind.
Anyway, it can't be like now, like the cat with drooping ears and listless look that he had seen by chance in the human world.
Reiss put his other hand on Lin Miao's lower back, and with just a slight pull, she fell into his arms as her center of gravity had already shifted forward.
The girl's entire weight pressed on the seemingly healed wound on his chest, like a blunt knife, silently stirring his flesh and blood.
Lin Miao didn't know that the most terrifying thing about the Archangel's lightsaber was not the sword itself, but the purification curse it carried - that was the most powerful nemesis for the creatures of Hell.
Gabriel's divine power raged in his body, like countless tiny silver needles, piercing into his meridians and bone marrow, preventing the magic power from regenerating from his inner elixir.
Every breath was like inhaling fire, burning his chest and internal organs.
"A hug...for a bit."
Cold sweat continued to ooze from his forehead, and the intense pain almost overwhelmed him. However, the demon suppressed all groans deep in his throat and only uttered three words slowly.
"Is that your way of saying 'comfort', Lord Race?"
"...If you say so, then so be it."
One, comfort from the three-headed dog of hell.
*
The three-headed dog's embrace had a built-in warming effect. Since he didn't let go, Lin Miao naturally felt relaxed and fell asleep comfortably.
She was awakened by a knock on the door.
Evelin’s clear voice came from outside the door. “Sister Miaomiao, I’m here to bring you food!”
Lin Miao wanted to climb up from Reese's arms, but the man held her tighter, looking at her with disapproval in his dark golden eyes.
Lin Miao miraculously got his idea and was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. "She is the girl I told you about, the one who was kind enough to take us in."
"How do you know she doesn't have other intentions?" He frowned.
This demon is always unexpectedly persistent in certain aspects. Lin Miao shook his head in amusement.
She raised her hand, pressed the corner of his lip and lifted it up. "Don't be so serious. I still have you—do you think you can't beat a human girl without magic power?"
"How is it possible..."
"That's right." Lin Miao took advantage of Reese's distraction, slipped out of bed swiftly and opened the door.
Evelin, who had changed into her daily clothes after work, held a tray and smiled at her brightly.
"I know you must be hungry, so I brought some homemade bread, dried meat, and freshly squeezed goat's milk. They're just some simple things, so please don't mind, Sister Miaomiao."
"How could that be? I can't even thank you enough!" Lin Miao hurriedly thanked her. He knew in his heart that Eve said that on purpose because she was afraid that he would feel embarrassed to accept it, and he liked her even more.
She took the tray and her eyes fell on a plate of small red round fruits.
"These are cherry tomatoes," Evelyn explained with a smile, noticing her gaze. "Tomorrow is our town's annual Autumn Harvest Festival. As is customary, every household prepares a large selection of fruits and various meats to celebrate. You came at the perfect time; the cherry tomatoes are just ripe. You're in for a treat."
Lin Miao, who had forced a small tomato into the young Reese’s mouth in her dream, said: “!”
Eve, I love you so much! She screamed in her mind, wanting to give her a big hug.
Lin Miao's expression remained calm and steady, "Okay, then I have to go and have a look tomorrow."
Evelin had originally been eager to pull her over to chat more about the celebration, but her eyes accidentally swept across the room, as if she had seen something extremely horrifying. She shuddered suddenly, and the smile on her face became extremely awkward.
"Brother-in-law is awake... I won't bother you any more, let's eat quickly."
Having said that, the girl didn't wait for Lin Miao to speak again and ran down the stairs with a bang.
Lin Miao was stunned by the word "brother-in-law", but the devil behind her reacted much more strongly than her.
“…Brother-in-law?”
A mellow voice sounded faintly, and the subtle stuttering between syllables revealed his inner unrest.
"What else?" Lin Miao turned around and raised an eyebrow. "We're a single man and a single woman here. Besides siblings, the only other possible couples would be husband and wife, right?"
"Or do you prefer to be my... 'brother'?"
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