But I missed you...

The tension from the air started to rise at an alarming rate. I saw how he was analysing every single detail of my body. His expression was an amalgam of surprise and worries. I started to slowly move towards him, yet he remained still like a stone. The cold breeze made his long black hair slowly wave in the direction of the wind. When I was only at a few steps away of him, he murmured something:

"You… You… Alive?" he said while he had his eyes wide open.

"Alive and kicking, haha!" I replied in order to calm the atmosphere down.

In just a fraction of a second I felt how he suddenly grabbed my hand and forcefully pulled me into an embrace. The touch of his cold armour made my skin crawl. His reaction made me think that even after those years, our bond is still strong. The reaction from the demons that were there was expected. They all whispered in regards to the scene that they were witnessing. I tried to push him away so I won't allow him to damage his own reputation, but no success. His body was so heavy and cold.

"Asmodeus… The other demons are watching. There will be a lot of misunderstanding in the Kingdom," I telepathically transmitted the message.

"I don't give a damn about them, " he whispered in my ear, confirming that he received the message.

The truth is that I missed him too. He was the only demon that I missed and the last one that I would kill for. He was the one who protected me all those years from the bullying of the other succubuses. The one who saved me from death when I encountered the Cyclops in the Ivory forest and he is also the only one who believed in my power to succeed in this place. But after The Forbidden War… No one heard from him. Not even our Lord.

" Master! Excuse my callousness, but our Lord ordered me to inform you in regards of a meeting of the Private Council in exactly 4 days and 6 hours, " an envoy said.

When Asmodeus heard his voice, he slowly let me go from his embrace and answered: "Tell him I will be there."

After the messenger left, his attention was again fully directed to me. I slowly started to blush and moved my eyes in another direction.

"Master, I might get the wrong impression from your actions. Not only me, but also the entire nation." I said while trying to avoid his eyes.

"Lavaress, I have so many questions…"

"You are not the only one," I cut him short. I could read on his face that he was surprised by my answer. I have changed so much since we last talked. I could understand why he was so impressed by my actions. Then I added " I can see that everyone is looking to restart the training. I can understand that you are very busy. I just came to personally see you. But due to the circumstances that we are in right now, I don't think it is good to have any more interactions here."

He stayed a bit to think while analysing the entire scene. He finally understood what I was referring to. In Da'ath those types of interactions are not really ideal for big rank demons.

"I will finish with the training in the next couple of hours. Where can I reach you?"

"I will be in my temple. I am sure you will find your way to it. And thank you… for saving me again," I said while opening another portal in order to leave. Before entering it, I looked back and saw his expression changed. It was like my words hit him with thousands of memories. Guilt was the feeling that I had in that moment, a feeling that I didn't have in a long, long time, but I knew it was for the greater good.

The portal took me back to my temple where my maids were waiting for me. There was so much to be done. Since I left, this place has become a disaster. The six thin, round towers that guarded the weakest points of this temple and were connected by towering, were eroded by time and weather. Some of the refined windows that were scattered around the walls in seemingly perfect symmetry, were broken here and there. This temple had to be improved so demons won't say that I lost interest in maintaining myself and my rank. I went quickly inside the temple and went straight to the kitchen. The old smell of wood with damp caret me a lot of disgust. There were a couple of maids trying to clean what was left from the place. I had to do something quickly. Who would have thought that this place would end up so badly.

"May I know what happened to this place and why it looks like a pile of garbage?" I asked while I looked directly in one of the maid's eyes.

"My Lady, we are so sorry, but I am afraid that once you left, the power of the temple faded away, and everything started to mould or break down. We tried our best to maintain the place with our magic, but I am afraid that we were not as powerful," said the head of the maids while looking ashamed while she kept her eyes on the ground.

"That is … That is understandable. I might need to fix some things starting with the garden and the palace. Does anyone know why nature faded so much? Everything looks dead."

"I am afraid that we asked the same questions, but the only answer was that the Council will look into it. It has been more than 3 million years since the colour faded."

"Understandable. Please follow me outside and let's get to work," I said while I made a sign with my hand so the maids will follow me.

We started working on the garden and rearranging everything from the position of the trees to adding new fountains and a place to sit outside, covered with a round wooden structure so the rain won't bother anyone. Then we moved to rebuilding the exterior of the temple in order to get it to its original form. The insides were a bit tricky since I didn't really have an idea if I wanted something new or not. The throne room remained the same with black walls, a red carpet that was starting from the entrance till the throne and a lot of candles on the floor and some torches on the walls. I finally decided that the entire kitchen should be sculpted in red marble and heavy black stone. For the first time I let the maids decide how to decorate their rooms. Since I didn't really sleep much due to my power, I didn't really need a room, so I excluded that aspect from my temple. When the work was done, I felt exhausted for the first time in a while. It was clear that I lost the ability to fully control my mana and use just a pinch of it. That was not ideal by any means, but I just came back so I don't expect miracles, yet it was very annoying to feel somehow powerless.

The only way I could properly relax was to drink some wine while sitting on my throne contemplating how to get out of this place. Taking into consideration all alternatives, there was currently none. I close my eyes for a few seconds trying to emanate all the tension out of my body when I hear some steps coming from the hallway and I thought "Brilliant, what other demon found out of my return and wants to have a joke on me. I honestly can't put up with another crap for today. I just want to be left alone. For the Da'ath sake."