There were two main tasks that Belled mainly handled. Territory works as the Duke of Vine and works as the Grand Duke of the Devil Beled.
The latter, in particular, was inevitably a lot of work, as it included managing not only the devils beyond the gates of Hell but also those in this human world.
However, Belled was thinking of something else as he looked at the documents piled up in front of him.
'...!'
Beryl's figure flinching as she followed his movements was vivid.
In short, he was thinking of last night.
There are many kinds of desire. They are called the seven desires.
He was not very interested in lust among the desires.
To be exact, he did not treat lust as a desire. He simply thought that those who gave up all other valuable things to obtain it were crazy.
He had no intention of doing such a crazy thing in the first place.
Since he could achieve everything else with what he had, Belled, who had his desires denied and became a devil, thought that he had few desires.
He has achieved everything they wanted, and he has it.
Unlike humans who live for too short a time, demons cursed with immortality have unique abilities through magic. They also have physical abilities that are superior to humans.
Thanks to this, there was a time when he could leisurely have everything and be lazy, and he had the power to be arrogant.
He also had powerful abilities that did not need jealousy. So he wondered what would happen if the demons cursed to pursue their desires and strongly achieved all their desires. So God cursed them to be 'desiring beasts' and to live off of only the negative emotions of humans, and to not be able to properly mix with humans, but Belled did not think that was simply a curse. If they had everything, that would be the end of it. Rather, wasn't it like allowing them to have everything?
"That's right."
He washed his face with one hand.
Last night, for the first time, he felt how scary desire was. He also seemed to understand what lust was.
Do you know the story of the fool who wanted to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs?
The story of a fool who wanted to have more than a little every day, but split open the goose’s belly.
He laughed at him at first, but now he thought he could understand.
‘Ah...!’
The sound that suppressed him. Every time he heard her shallow moans, unable to acknowledge her desires, he felt greedy.
He wanted to acknowledge her desires and make her greedy.
At first, he thought maybe this was a fight between God and the devil, who insisted that desires were wrong.
The holy ones don’t have desires?
That can’t be. Look at how the priests who lived as if their desires had been castrated by God fell.
But the Saintess, who was at the top of the line, was a noble person who seemed to have never had such desires.
No, he thought so, but she was someone who suppressed her desires and lived. That’s why he felt like this marriage itself was a battlefield with God.
Is desire right or wrong for a creature to live?
If desire is wrong according to God’s way, then why did the Saintess chosen by God have desires? He wondered if she had not let go of her desire despite the whispers of God telling her to let go, or if there was another reason. That’s why he kept digging into her. Little by little, he wanted to peel off the veil that covered her desire and let her reveal her raw desire.
‘...!’
So he snatched her lips that were trying to cover her mouth and whispered,
‘You don’t have to suppress it.’
But she still tried to suppress herself. Thanks to that, it was Belled who was going crazy. It was the same even if he stimulated and delved further. Finally, when her vision became blurred, he had to stop himself. She was still too clean to accept his desire. That’s why he had to hold on tightly to the bedsheets and endure. Not yet. He had to teach her how to desire, as he said. However.
‘...’
After letting out a short breath, he watched her fall asleep as if she had fainted, and for the first time, he had to try to restrain himself. He wanted to dig deeper. He wanted to get drunk to his heart’s content. If he did, her body wouldn’t have been able to endure it. So, for the first time as a devil, he tried to suppress and endure it. Uncharacteristically. He is not a fool who would cut open a goose's belly. But. Maybe even that fool could not endure it.
What could be more painful than a meeting between someone who had only learned to endure and someone who had not learned to endure?
In addition, the scent and refreshing energy seemed to bewitch him every time he dug into her at night.
“...Today’s work will be difficult.”
Belled finally slowly closed his eyes and opened them. He couldn’t concentrate at all.
The refreshing scent that was almost magical kept coming to his mind. He kept looking back at where she was.
Instead of thinking about handling the work, he only tried to think of ways to postpone it.
And when he thought about what he was going to do, all he wanted to do was go back to the room where Beryl was. He couldn’t believe it.
Was I this lazy?
There were times when I was lazy, but I thought it was a long time ago. Was I really being possessed?
“...”
His mouth felt like it was burning. She gave off a pure negative energy that he couldn’t even sense in the middle of a battlefield where humans were despairing and falling into fear.
Of course, it was a very tempting scent for him, a demon. But on the other hand, he couldn’t understand it.
Why would something come from the negative emotions of humans...
“...Ah.”
Before he knew it, he was thinking about Beryl again. He repeatedly wiped his face.
And yet, he couldn’t stop. Thinking back to her past that he had read in her eyes.
The past that he could read in her clouded eyes was only the most intense of the last that he had seen countless times.
Even with his ability to sense the emotions of that time, it was rare, but he could tell because they were so strong.
She want to live.
She, who thought that way, was despairing because she couldn’t live, and she felt helpless and sad because she couldn’t escape.
She had already died twice, so she couldn’t help but strongly express the emotions that a person on the verge of death shows most strongly.
That must be why she was even more drawn to him. The magic that flowed from emotions that were purer than the battlefield where thousands of emotions were mixed seemed to paralyze his reason.
Maybe that’s why the magic that had been consumed in the battle before the wedding...
“...Ha, Your Highness?”
“?”
Belled raised his head. A devil with a troubled face stood before him.
Next to the man with glossy brown hair, a brown feather, the same color as his hair, was fluttering.
Belled’s gaze touched the feather and then dropped it.
“...What’s going on, Helbas?”
“The Saintess tried to send a pigeon.”
Helbas looked at him with worried eyes and added.
“But are you okay? Could it be that the Saintess did something?”
“Beryl.”
Belled opened his mouth without realizing it. Helbas blinked.
“Yes?”
Belled narrowed his eyes. He realized that the name that came out naturally without his knowledge might sound strange to other demons.
No matter how powerful her magic was, he had to realize that she was a Saintess in the end. She was going to do something stupid.
He slowly closed his eyes. The problem was that according to Vine’s custom, there were still two nights left. He felt like he was completely occupied by that night.
Would the Saintess want to stay here any longer? There was already enough evidence that he was a demon.
Even in their conversation last night, he had not bothered to hide himself. So she could report him whenever she wanted.
Then there would be only war after that. But. Belled closed his eyes.
Could he do that? Could he let that happen?
If the second night were to disappear, would I not be able to go crazy then?
“I wonder what the Grand Duke did to the Saintess...”
Helbas had already opened the door and was about to give a hurried order to the outside.
Woof!
Bam!
Belled pulled Helbas back with his magic and slammed the door shut.
If he had done something, he would have done it himself, but Beryl was still.
He had no choice but to admit it, even though he was possessed. The fact that he had been possessed by someone who had been still.
“...What happened?”
“Are you really okay?”
Belled nodded and only then realized that he had asked what was going on earlier. He closed his eyes and opened them.
“It’s okay. So...”
What had he heard earlier? He could only remember that it was related to Beryl, and nothing else.
“Here, is the messenger the Saintess was going to send.”
“A messenger.”
Sending a messenger from Vine required the permission of the head of the household. It was a procedure created long ago when there were many demon Grand Dukes to prevent information from leaking out.
In short, you can’t send a message just because you want.
What did she send it to? What evidence did she say she found? It was obvious where the Saintess would send it.
Wow!
As his mind turned to the messenger, a strange light flowed from his dark green eyes.
An eye that sees the end.
If he destroyed the sacred body of the temple, the priests would know that he had stolen the letter, so he had seen the end of the letter.
As was often the case with many letters, the letter burst into flames after showing all its contents.
Of course, before that, Belled’s eyes had caught all the contents.
[To the High Priest.
I arrived in Vine safely. We spent time together, but I couldn’t find any evidence that the Duke of Vine is a demon.]
However, Belled raised his eyebrows after seeing the contents.
Really?
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