The Past

"Ydem."

The long red hair was soft and silky in the hands of the Fire. As Ydem moved away from him, her red hair flowed free from the fiery red fingers of the Fire.

"Ydem, where do you want to go?" asked the figure of Fire softly.

"Go away."

"Ydem."

"I said, go away," the figure rejected the playful hand of the Fire who tried to reach her waist.

The Fire looked at the figure warmly. As the figure tucked her red hair and wore a thin, opaque veil, the Flame chuckled. "Can I not greet my son this morning?"

"You won't be able to leave after greeting him. He will force you to stay. And, I told you, he is not your son," the figure grabbed a lantern and lit it with a snap of her fingers.

"Of course he is my son. We both created him together," The Fire returned to lie down on the bed.

"Go away," The red flame heard the melodious voice driving him away again. But he could see a gentle smile on such a beautiful face of her.

"I'll go, but call my name, Ydem."

The figure stopped moving, turned to face him, and sighed. "Go before Yfer wakes up, Lucifer."

The red flame was satisfied to hear Ydem calling his name. He rose from the bed and changed his figure from red embers to a human-like figure. He brushed his long hair that had been black to red, like Ydem's.

"Why did you change your hair colour?" asked Ydem coldly, sounding annoyed.

"Because I like your hair colour, Ydem," said Lucifer honestly.

Ydem chuckled. A charming chuckle.

—

Lucifer's memory rolled back. Ydem's cold gaze at him was etched clearly into the memory—when Ydem beheaded their son, Yfer.

"I will take everything from you, Lucifer."

Lucifer can't move. His body is already dead.

"I will take everything," Ydem felt the big fleshy hole in the middle of her chest.

Behind Ydem, Rudrak, the King of Gods who also couldn't move tried hard to rebel. At the King of Gods' side, Lilith knelt and stared in fear at everything that was happening while holding the black blood-stained holy sword in her hand.

"I will exchange all my current karma. Isn't that enough?" asked Ydem. "Use all my karma, O Heavenly Order. Use everything I have so I can take everything Lucifer has!"

—

Lucifer opened his eyes.

He fell asleep.

Ever since he became a human, he had to sleep every few days. It reminded him of what it was like when he was still an ancient human—Demigod.

Lucifer stared coldly ahead, towards the sky, for he was lying in the middle of the forest. "Wherever you hide, Ydem, I'll find you."

"I will find you and reclaim everything you took from me."

.

"...fer..."

Ernacht sat on the side of Roxus's bed. His brows creased deeply.

The Roxus family was gathered in the room, where their parents were standing on the other side of the bed, staring worriedly at their daughter.

"What happened...?" asked Amaranth who looked not only worried but also confused. She has a talent for analyzing Mana around her, but she didn't understand what was wrong with Roxus's condition.

"Sir Lucius advised to keep Ayunda away from a woman," Ernacht looked up at his mother. "I've confirmed that that woman is far from the gates of the capital, but it seems like her actions are too unpredictable. Ayunda suddenly fainted while vomiting blood, and after I checked, it turned out that the woman was nearby," explained Ernacht.

"Woman? Who is she?" Eoin asked with an angry expression.

"I don't know, Father," replied Ernacht. "But seeing Ayunda's condition like this, I think she's a dangerous woman," he explained.

"Have you caught her?" asked Eoin.

Ernacht shook his head. "A knight identified as Sir Mischel Argos suddenly appeared and took the woman away, out of the capital," explained Ernacht.

Eoin furrowed his brows.

"The woman's name is Daisy," said Ernacht then.

Eoin was surprised. "Daisy?" he asked.

Ernacht raised his eyebrows. "Do you know something?"

"Daisy is the name of the woman Ariaster cheated on."

Hearing Eoin's words, Ernacht and Amaranth were shocked.

"So you mean, all this time Ariaster's mistress was targeting Roxus?" asked Amaranth angrily.

"Why didn't anyone tell me this fact?" asked Ernacht.

"Calm down. I also didn't know that this woman named Daisy was so dangerous, so I never considered this possibility," said Eoin.

"Ayunda always asks Sir Lucius to handle Daisy matters, does that mean Ayunda doesn't want us to know about Daisy?" asked Ernacht. "But now that Sir Lucius is not here, Ayunda let me handle this, but I have failed to prevent Ayunda from getting hurt," muttered Ernacht.

"But shouldn't this woman named Daisy not be in the capital anymore? Ariaster has promised to make her go far…" muttered Eoin.

Ernacht shook his head. "From what I heard through Sir Lucius, he used Mischel Argos to keep an eye on Daisy. At the same time, Mischel Argos is trying to keep the woman in the capital," replied Ernacht.

Makes sense, Eoin thought. Precisely because she was in the capital, she would be easier to monitor. But this backfired. Roxus may have succeeded in driving Ariaster and Daisy out of her life, but because she knew Daisy was dangerous, Roxus let Daisy remain in the capital to watch over her. Moreover, the capital is a large place. They wouldn't have met their whole life if they weren't looking for one another.

Because of that, why did Daisy only appear now? Does she have something to do with the ongoing rebellion, and that's why she was trying to harm Roxus?

"Do everything you can to catch that bitch, Ernacht. I will speak directly with Crown Princess Cecilia and Imperial Prince Samael to make this woman named Daisy a national fugitive," said Eoin coldly.

"...fer..."

Roxus continued to whisper someone's name, but they couldn't understand what the woman was saying.

"Luci..."

It was only when the woman spoke more clearly that they realized that Roxus was calling out Lucius's name. Everyone in the room furrowed their brows deeply.