Chapter 51 : Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Miss Demon Deep in Struggle
"Not here...Wuu..."
Iphilia walked into the house, utterly dejected.
She turned on the light and returned to her room alone, flopping onto the bed in frustration.
She grabbed a cloth doll from the bedside and hugged it tightly.
『Hoo... Don't think too much. Maybe she just stayed out late and forgot the time... That angel isn't weak. How could she easily capsize in the gutter? Yeah, I'm just overthinking. That feather might just be something she left behind unintentionally, and that magic array was probably just a coincidence...』
Iphilia tried her hardest to convince herself that all her worries were just her imagination, but deep down, she knew that Aimiya had likely truly run into trouble.
For a moment, her heart ached unbearably due to the conflict within.
"Aaaah! What am I even thinking?! She's just an angel! I'm a demon, a demon! We should be mortal enemies, fighting to the death! Why am I worrying about her life and safety—"
In frustration, Iphilia pulled the blanket over her head.
This was the greatest challenge she had faced since becoming a demon.
Her heart had never been so tangled and pained.
『Demons and angels are impossible... It's the most basic racial hatred... The others, Old Dad and them, would never accept it...』
As the noblest girl among demons and the princess of Hell, Iphilia was acutely aware of the demons' hatred for angels.
Whether it was the disgust other demon nobles expressed when mentioning angels or the silence of Uncle Lucifer when she asked him about angel-related matters, it all confirmed the irreconcilable enmity between the demon and angel races.
Not to mention, her stinky old dad, Satan, had spoken with such indignation when he inadvertently mentioned Archangel Mikaili, revealing the intense hostility of all of Hell toward angels.
And Heaven... presumably, the angels felt the same way about demons, didn't they?
But of course, even in the legends about demons and angels circulated among humans in the mortal world, the two races were always depicted as opposing each other, fighting to the death.
Demons and angels were... impos... sible...
The fact that she and Aimiya could live peacefully under the same roof was already a miracle.
Even this most ordinary friendship would surely cause an uproar if it reached Heaven or Hell.
"So why... why her, of all people!? Iphilia, you idiot! Why, why did you have to stir up such a huge mess..."
Iphilia broke down, emerging from the blanket.
Sobbing, she grabbed the doll beside her and threw it at the wall, looking every bit like a little girl crying and venting her grievances on a toy.
"Eh? This blanket is..."
Only then did Iphilia realize, with surprise, that the blanket she had unconsciously used to cover her head was the one she had given to Aimiya... In other words, she had just been wailing in Aimiya's blanket?
Iphilia's face flushed red in an instant.
She dove back into her own blanket as if fleeing, her already conflicted heart becoming even more tormented.
『Why? Why couldn't I fall for anyone else? Elves, humans, or Bloodkin—I could have convinced Old Dad about any of them! But why, why did I have to feel this strange emotion for her, for that angel...』
『She's the one who's been bullying me all along... Am I actually suffering from Stockholm syndrome? (Stockholm syndrome: a peculiar psychological condition where the abused develops sympathy or even attachment to the abuser)』
"...Just sleep. It'll be fine after a nap... Once I wake up, all my troubles will be gone..."
Iphilia shakily turned off the light, wrapping herself tightly in the blanket.
She tried her best to empty her mind, to stop thinking so much.
『If she’s fine, I’ll see her as usual tomorrow morning. But if I don’t see her by my pillow tomorrow morning, it means she’s really in trouble. By then, even if I truly like her, there’ll be no more chances. It’d be... correcting a mistake...』
In truth, Iphilia knew deep down that the first scenario was unlikely.
What she was doing was merely a cowardly escape.
But at that moment, besides escaping, what else could she do? If she really went to save Aimiya, even Iphilia herself couldn’t guarantee whether that erroneous seedling in her heart would take root and grow into a twisted, uncontrollable tree.
Thus, at this moment, Iphilia chose to leave the future to fate.
If Aimiya could come back alive, then fine, Iphilia would accept her fate.
Even if she did or was made to do something wrong, she would take responsibility.
But if Aimiya didn’t come back... then Iphilia could only leave everything to time.
『Time will heal all wounds.』
"..."
Iphilia closed her eyes, but she tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
Instead, her heart grew even more tormented...
The one who attacked Aimiya must be that black-robed man.
His goal was Aimiya’s corpse and soul.
If he succeeded, not only would Aimiya’s soul be unable to find release, trapped in the mortal world to endure who-knows-what kind of torment, but even her body would be desecrated...
"No... whether she lives or dies... what does it have to do with me... The ones who should feel heartbroken and troubled are Heaven, not me, a... demon..."
An image of Aimiya’s gruesome death flashed before Iphilia’s eyes.
She saw Aimiya’s beautiful face decaying into dust, her soul suffering endless torment even after death, becoming a sacrifice for some heretical god’s cult ritual.
At the same time, Iphilia’s heart felt as if it were being sliced by a thousand knives, wracked with excruciating pain.
Just a few days ago, Iphilia had mocked her best friend Nolen for constantly being bullied by Lina, thinking that so-called love was nothing but an emotional impulse, firmly adhering to the principles of singlehood.
But not long after, she was slapped in the face, tormented to death by this abnormal emotion that shouldn’t have existed.
『God... why do You torment me so? Why did You let me meet her? Why did You let me develop this erroneous emotion?』
Iphilia despairingly poked her head out from the blanket, her tearful eyes gazing at the bright moon outside the window.
"If that night... I hadn’t taken that road home, hadn’t met her, hadn’t formed this cursed bond with her, how much better would it have been?"