A LITTLE TRUTH

Inside he saw a woman sitting.

Her hair was almost white, she was staring out of the window as her head was turned to the left side, so he couldn't have a clear look at her face. For some reason, his heart was beating very fast. He gradually walked towards her and paused in front of the table, looking down at her sitting on the buffer. His tall shadow easily covered her body.

The woman slowly looked up at him, his pupils shrinking when he finally had a glimpse of her. She...she looked so much like his mother. Although her hair was white her face wasn't wrinkled enough to be called old. He stared at her aghast.

The woman eyed him from head to toe before ushering him to sit on the buffer beneath him with a small smile on her face. Her eyes watched his every movement. He settled down on the buffer and looked at the woman before he swiftly had a look at his surroundings.

It wasn't a room. Maybe, this is the place where she meets people. There was nothing in the room other than a cupboard and a sword holder beside it, at least two swords and one katana were placed inside the sword holder.

"Ha...you came, finally came." The woman said and Evandros finally looked at her. "You should have come to meet me, let me know that you exist," Evandros said and the woman faintly smiled at him, a smile filled with sadness.

"I wanted to but how can I when your father is always lurking around you?" She asked and Evandros went silent, lowering his gaze. He raised his hand and took off his cloak, letting his long dark hair come into her sight, he also took off his disguise.

"I never liked my father, and I never will. The way he treated my dear mother...I will never forgive him." He said, his jaw twitching in anger as he looked up at her and found her gaping at him.

"You look so much like him." She said and Evandros lowered his gaze, looking at his pale hands resting on his thighs. "You are my mother's sister...my mother never mentioned her family. I want to know what happened. Who was that man who guided me to you? How did you survive? Why did you people have the black stone?" He bombarded her with so many questions, she had to shake her head.

The door slid open and the same young boy entered inside with a tray in his hand. He ambled over to them and put the tray on the table. There were two tea cups placed on the tray along with some cookies and sweets.

The woman grabbed one of the tea cups with one of her hands and gently placed it in front of him.

"You sure seem desperate for answers." She said and grabbed her cup of tea as well. "You should have come a long time ago for answers." She said and Evan shook his head. "I did...I did want to look for you guys but at that time I was just a boy being controlled by my father and then I got blinded by revenge." He muttered slowly.

"Revenge? But your father is alive. Isn't he in seclusion for seven years now?" She asked, and Evandros felt his head getting heavier. He didn't want to explain because his situation was complicated. He needed an explanation for his questions.

"Just for that revenge, you chose your father's path and slaughtered so many for the stones." She said, he kept his gaze on the teacup before him. "I don't know what was your revenge but you ruined yourself for it and in the end, all of it benefited that father of yours." Without knowing much, she was still so brutally honest.

"I won't say anything to you since you have stopped killing and have finally come to me." She said and moved her hand forward, putting her hand on his hand which was resting on the table beside his teacup.

Evandros stared at their hands before looking up at her, he swallowed thickly. His throat was on fire and he felt like someone was stabbing his guts and he couldn't even cry about it because he is himself responsible for those stabs.

"Your mother was my older sister and that man you saw there...that man was her soulmate." She said and his pupils shrank. His ears suddenly started ringing as he stared at the woman's face almost blankly.

"W-What?" He stammered.

"Yes, that man was her true soulmate. Your father didn't possess any mate and forcefully married my sister. He gave her so much pain, he gave her soulmate so much pain. May God burn him in the deepest parts of his hell." She growled, her voice filled with so much animosity, he felt it in his bones even though he wasn't Ezekiel.

He wondered if his father would even feel such animosity.

"But he always cursed his fate, saying he got a soulmate from a shitty clan," Evandros said and the lady chuckled, drew her hand back as she rubbed her temples, still chuckling.

"Even his son doesn't know anything. How do you expect others to know? I ask you...do you believe your father?" She asked, looking him dead in the eyes. He felt like if he said yes, she would cut off his neck. He shook his head.

"Your magic...you possess a demon right?" She asked and Evandros nodded. "Do you want to know why your father married in such a small clan and why we possessed the black stone?" She asked him and he bobbed his head.

"Because your mother's magic was also demonic magic." She said and he just stared at her with a deadpan expression. So many new things were falling on his head, and he could barely keep himself sane.

"Our emerald family may be small but we all possess demonic magic. No one knew about this but somehow your father discovered it. You're smart enough to predict further." She said and he gulped, grabbing the cup of tea he chugged the hot liquid down, scalding his mouth but he could barely care.

He was anxious.

"He knew this family possessed a demonic magic so he married her f-forcefully to have an offspring with a d-demonic aura." He said and the woman slowly nodded. Her eyes became misty.

"The chances were low of having a child with demonic magic but since Linya was of a strong lineage as well, you were born. You are not our direct offspring but you are one of the strongest demons in our lineage ever. He got what he wanted. He made what he wanted. He showed himself great and used you against the world." She rasped.

Evandros felt sweat rolling down from his back. His gaze was hazy and his mind was in chaos. He has just seen the tip of the real matter and everything is already somehow making sense.

He was so blinded by revenge that he went dumb.

"We already possessed the black stone when he forcefully married your mother and took her to Linya but years later he came back and destroyed us all for the stone. Maybe, he forced her to spill the truth." She said and raised her right hand. His pupils shrank when she touched her left hand, there was nothing as she shook the sleeve of the robe. She didn't have her left arm. She lost it while escaping the disaster.

"Your father cut it off with his ice magic because I scarred his arm with my katana." She said and he stared at her face, not moving his eyes away even for an inch. Just for a stupid stone, so many people have suffered so much.

He, himself, has butchered so many. Separated so many soul mates.

He wanted to say I'm sorry but words wouldn't come out. He had no face to apologize. His apology cannot bring the dead back.

"My mother was very happy when she received the stone, saying it was a gift from him." Evan let out and she stared at his face before she slowly shrank down, hiding her face.

She rubbed a hand down her face and shook her head.

"Your mother liked the black stone very much. I don't know why but she was fascinated by it and always wanted it. Your mother had no contact with us so he must have lied to her, saying he brought it for her. She must have been happy. I've heard that she tried to give the black stone to someone else later but then...she was killed by a disciple from a certain famous sect. I'm sure she came to know about the reality of her family's death and in anger, she decided to give the stone away. Ezekiel thought she wouldn't give it to anyone but she did after knowing the reality...that disciple might be sent by Ezekiel." She said,

Evandros parted his lips and took a deep breath, trying to calm his uneven breathing. He rubbed his face and shook his head. Everything was making so much sense...that disciple was Megara.

Fuck!

Evandros slowly looked up at her, none of them shared a single word afterward. Sitting there for a while he abruptly stood up. She looked up at him before standing up as well.

"What's wrong?" She asked and he gulped. He got to know about so many things. How did her mother survive? Having a soulmate but being forced to carry someone else's child. That burning sensation in her chest, along with his shitty attitude and torture. How did she still manage to smile at Evan? How was she still so gentle?

He wanted to scream, he wanted to vent his anger.

Before he could say he was leaving, she immediately spoke up.

"Don't...Don't leave. Please, stay here with us for a while. Please, let me spend some time with my sister's only legacy." She said, walking toward him as she raised her right hand, caressing his cheek ever so gently. She looked frantic. She must take him as his family, after all, he was a demon like her and above all her nephew.

But these people, his mother, weren't demons within like him.

Evandros stayed quiet.

He needed some time as well

This place was filled with nature and humbleness...maybe it can help him refresh a little because he was too depressed at the moment. He felt his head getting heavier as he badly wanted to lie down. He slowly nodded his head and she smiled, caressing his long black hair in her hand.

"Great, I've already made them set your room." She said and looked down at his hand, he was holding a package that looked very familiar to her.

"What's this?" She asked and he looked down at his hand, suddenly realizing he brought her a gift. He paused while eyeing the gift in his hand. Is this thing appropriate to give her?

But he thought it was too late because he had already unconsciously handed it to her. He was not in his right mind.

"Ahhh...this. I bought it for you." He said and awkwardly gazed away. She looked inside the package and a smile made its way onto her face. "It's a perfume. Did you buy it from that stall?" She asked and he nodded.

"Ahh, I love those stalls' odors very much. Thank you." She thanked him for the gift and he finally took a breath of relief. After that, she guided him to his room and asked him to eat something before resting but he denied saying he was too tired.

He took a long bath in the bathtub which was made of nice wood. His long wet hair rested on his pale muscular chest, and some of the wet locks were falling outside the tub since he was leaning his head back, facing the ceiling.

"Ahhh Evandros...your lack of foresight destroyed everything."