Chapter • 23

♱ •⋅ 1750 B.C. ⋅• ♱

A few hours were needed until finally Asmodeus had stopped his tantrum. He had really felt the idea of being let go, but what would everyone say if they knew that the much-feared prince of lust was just a whining baby who hates feeling left out or abandoned.

It was comical.

The more time I spent in the world of that novel, the more comical I felt each of the characters were.

Of course, there were exceptions - like Azrael, who now looked at me with such hatred that I even wondered if Asra had not stabbed him or done something worse before I could reincarnate.

Had she killed his mother? Had she caused his downfall? It still didn't make sense. Azrael's hatred seemed too much, it seemed destined for me. Not Asra, not the phoenix who lived "peacefully" as the king's concubine, but me. The version of Asra who decided to live.

Who decided to act differently.

"What are you thinking?" Asmodeus asked me bringing me back to reality.

"Humm..." I grumbled "I was trying to remember if I did something to make Azrael hate me so much. He seems... I don't know" I sighed "he seems to hate me for free, after all I've stopped causing trouble to the king and him."

Asmodeus nodded his head.

"The fallen one is really... different. It's almost as if he was frustrated" he said shrugging as he leaned over the carriage "did you frustrate any of his plans?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"How? How could I? I literally did nothing but try to get out of that castle and..." like a click in my mind, I saw Elaine "wait..."

"What is it?"

Elaine was something that I had spoiled. She had changed every single detail that surrounded her and prevented Callisto from approaching the young saint.

"It cannot be..." I muttered and Asmodeus stared at me with clear curiosity.

"What is it?"

If this were real, then not only Callisto but Elaine had been deceived by Azrael. If Azrael was angry like that about Elaine's plans for the book going wrong, then that meant he was responsible for everything.

By the encounter of Elaine and Loren, by the discovery in the lands of Lucifer and... this meant that Azrael was responsible not only for the death of Callisto, but also for the curse of Loren.

"He wouldn't do that, right?" I whispered, more to myself than to Asmodeus.

Because if it were real, Azrael was the real traitor.

An angel who fell in love with his father. Was there anything I'd forgotten? Something from the novel?

"Asra!" he shouted "I don't read minds, what a pain! Tell me!"

I stared.

"Asmodeus..." I swallowed in dry "Azrael... what... the probability of him being a traitor?"

The demon drew a smile, a big, broad smile.

"Traitor?"

I settled.

I did not want to admit, after all Azrael - even though nobody was kind to me since I became Asra -, was still a dear character, but if that was real, if he really was betraying Calisto and Loren, then things changed.

"Why do you say that, my dear little devil?" he questioned in his red eyes I could see the fun that stretched throughout the demon's body. For Asmodeus, it had become a fun game and whatever the truth, he would find out, whether I told him or not.

So the best thing to do was to count, count and spare me from being investigated, to spare myself from being part of your new obsession.

"I think it's... Azrael is trying to get the king to approach the saint" I spoke bluntly as my hand closed on the bench "I... maybe I have stopped some things and so he is... angry."

Asmodeus' smile has widened.

"Holy?"

He knew nothing and that was another sign. I still remembered that Callisto vaguely told him to send one of the princes in his place, but still he insisted that he be king.

How the hell would Asmodeus not know about the saint when he had theoretically been sent to deal with her? It was ridiculous. Did Azrael really plan all that right under our noses?

I bit my lip hard.

"Some time ago..." I said softly "there was an incident in front of the temple of Samael."

Asmodeus nodded his head.

"I heard, you were injured in that incident."

"Yes" said between sighs "this incident was the rise of a new saint" my words caught Asmodeus by surprise.

"How?

I settled.

"The saint ascended in front of the temple of Samael and then Azrael went to the king..." I said calmly as I told everything that happened to Asmodeus, without sparing him a single detail. I told him about my decision to fight Elaine, about the wound and about Lucifer.

Tell him about every single detail and when I finished, I told him about Azrael taking her to the palace, about Loren almost finding it thanks to the rumors that he threw around the place and Asmodeus' eyes at that moment shone like two beautiful rubies, like the eyes of a child in the middle of Christmas, after opening his gifts.

"You mean that..." he looked out the window, as if looking for something out there, in the landscape that was going on in front of his eyes "that little fucking hillbilly... ah... how I will love..."

I interrupted him.

"No! If Azrael really is a traitor... the king better deal with it," I said crossing my arms over my chest.

"The king? Are you serious? That idiot doesn't even know he's being betrayed!" he protested, but I had already made my decision.

After all it was Callisto who rescued Azrael, it was he who offered the fallen a deal, who brought him out of the disgrace of his fall and the pain and agony of his sin. It was cruel if Azrael had actually done all that for such a foolish purpose. Had he really betrayed a gentleman who cared for him and who welcomed him by one who asked him for something cruel like falling?

Asmodeus would never understand this and in the end, neither would Asra understand, but I had read about it. I had seen the conversation between Elaine and Azrael.

So where had he changed sides? Or was he always on the side of heaven?

Sometimes I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer.

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