51. The Struggling Devil Miss
“Not here… Whew…”
Evelyn, dejected, walked into the house. She turned on the light and returned to her room alone, laying down on the bed in frustration. She grabbed a cloth doll from the bedside and held it close to her.
“Ugh… don’t think too much, maybe she just lost track of time playing outside… That angel isn’t weak; how could she easily get herself in trouble? Hmm, maybe I’m just overthinking it. That feather might just be something she accidentally left behind, and that magic circle is simply a coincidence…”
Evelyn tried her best to convince herself that all her worries were just imaginary, but deep down, she knew that Emilia was probably in real danger. For a moment, her heart was in turmoil because of the conflict within her.
“Ahhhhh! What am I even thinking!? She’s just an angel! I’m a demon! I’m a demon! We should be sworn enemies to the bitter end! Why should I care about her life and safety ahhhh—”
Evelyn angrily covered her head with the blanket. This was the biggest challenge she had faced since becoming a demon; her heart had never been this tangled and pained.
“Demon and angel are simply incompatible… This is the fundamental racial hatred… Others, Dad and the others could never accept this…”
As the highest noble girl among demons and the princess of Hell, Evelyn was very clear about the demons’ hatred toward angels. Whether it was the disgust shown by other demon nobles when they mentioned angels or the silence of Uncle Lucifer when she asked him about angels, it all confirmed the irreconcilable conflict between the two races.
Moreover, her father Satan’s anger when he had inadvertently mentioned the Angel Lord Mikayla showed the strong hostility of Hell toward angels.
And on Heaven’s side… The angels probably held the same view towards demons, right?
Still, even in the legends about demons and angels that circulated among humans, the two races remained irreconcilable, enemies to the bitter end.
Demon and angel are… impossible…
It was already a miracle that she could live peacefully under the same roof as Emilia, and even this most ordinary friendship would surely cause an uproar whether it reached Heaven or Hell.
“So why… why her! Ahhhh!? Evelyn, you jerk! Why did you have to stir up such huge trouble…”
Evelyn crawled out from under the blanket, sobbing as she picked up the doll beside her and threw it at the wall. She looked just like a little girl venting her grievances by crying and throwing her doll.
“Eh? This blanket is…”
Only then did Evelyn realize in surprise that the blanket she had unconsciously used to cover her head was the one she had given to Emilia… So just now, she had been crying her heart out in Emilia’s blanket?
Evelyn’s face flushed instantly. She hurriedly dove back into her own blanket, and her already conflicted heart became even more troubled.
“Why? Why did I have to develop feelings for someone? Anyone else would have been fine, be it an elf, human, or blood clan; I could have convinced Dad! But why, why did I have to feel this way about her, about that angel…?”
“She’s the one who has been bullying me… Am I really a victim of Stockholm syndrome? (Stockholm syndrome: a psychological condition in which hostages develop positive feelings towards their captors.)”
“…Let’s sleep. Once I wake up, everything will be fine… As long as I wake up, all worries will disappear…”
Evelyn trembled as she turned off the light, wrapping herself tightly in the blanket, trying as hard as she could to empty her mind and stop thinking so much.
“If she hasn’t had an accident, I’ll see her as usual in the morning; but if I don’t see her by my pillow in the morning, it means something really did happen, and by then, even if I really like her, I won’t get another chance. It would also mean… correcting a mistake…”
In fact, Evelyn knew very well that the first scenario was unlikely to happen; she was just weakly escaping.
But at that moment, what else could she do other than escape? If she went to save Emilia, even Evelyn herself could not guarantee that the mistaken seed in her heart wouldn’t grow into a twisted tree, spiraling out of control.
Thus, at that moment, Evelyn chose to leave the future to fate.
If Emilia could return alive, then she would accept it; even if she really did something wrong or was made to do something wrong, she would accept that too. But if she couldn’t come back… then Evelyn would have to leave everything to time.
“Time will heal all wounds.”
“…”
Evelyn closed her eyes, but she tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep no matter what.
Instead, her heart became even more entangled…
The one who attacked Emilia must be that black-robed man. His goal is Emilia’s corpse and soul. If he succeeds, not only would Emilia’s soul fail to find peace and suffer unspeakable torment in this world, but her body would also be desecrated…
“No… whether she lives or dies… what does it have to do with me? The one who should feel heartbroken and troubled should be Heaven, not me, this… demon…”
Evelyn’s mind conjured up the image of Emilia’s tragic death. She saw Emilia’s beautiful face decaying in the dust and envisioned her soul suffering endless torment after death, becoming a sacrificial offering in the heretical rituals of twisted deities. At the same time, Evelyn’s heart felt like it was being painfully stabbed.
A few days ago, Evelyn had mocked her good friend Nolan for being bullied by Lina all the time, believing that so-called love was merely an emotional impulsiveness, and firmly adhering to the principles of being single; but just shortly after that, she was slapped in the face, tortured by feelings that should never have arisen.
“God… why must you torment me this way? Why did you let me meet her? Why did you make me develop these wrong feelings?”
Evelyn desperately poked her head out from the blanket and, teary-eyed, gazed at the bright moon outside the window.
“If that night… I hadn’t taken that route home, hadn’t encountered her, hadn’t forged such a fateful bond, how wonderful would that be?”
