Chapter 29:

"Okay, now it's your turn. I have told you everything I can tell you, including how you need to tell me about yourself." I said, grinning at her amusement.

"Alright, my mother killed herself," Selena stated surprisingly, with not much emotion behind it.

"Yes, I heard." I agreed, nodding my head.

"Do you know why?" Selena asked, looking back at me for a second.

"Concentrate on what is going on in front of you. They were kidnapped or something, right?" I said, narrowing my eyes at her before getting relaxed again.

"Yes, and because they knew my father quite well, they knew those people could control him with their lives at stake," Selena said, not with much emotion in her voice.

"So, they killed themselves, so he doesn't have to meet their demands," I said casually, understanding Uwe's character more.

"Yes, and he would also find out their location because of it," Selena explained a bit more forcefully, pushing herself.

"Ah, let me guess, he went on a rampage and killed them all," I said, chuckling at that.

"It was a noble clan of halflings," Selena said with hatred laced in her voice.

"You guys had a noble clan of halflings?" I was quite surprised.

"Yes, they were always a Noble house with mixed blood, even before the Sazanami came. Or that's what I have been told." Selena said, shrugging, not caring about the details.

"I see, but how did they become a halfling noble household after so little time?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Didn't you know? When we got to your world, we didn't kill everyone on the continent we are on now but relocated them," Selena said, making me quite confused.

"Hmm, I see. Are they still alive, the humans?" I asked for it in case I wanted to meet them.

"Most of them have already died. I mean, it was like 48 years ago, after all." Selena said, making me raise an eyebrow.

"Still, it's only been 48 years. Humans at least live longer than that." I said, shrugging.

Humans do age faster when a lot happens to them, and if they lose their comfortable lives, it will even go faster—not literally, but you understand. Then again, kids adapt faster.

"Not in a society that likes to see who is stronger," Selena said, giving me a slide glance.

"You do have a point, but that still doesn't answer my original question," I said, pointing back at my original questions.

"Well, you see, one of the noble ladies fell in love with a human. She was the third daughter of a duke family, so she got the title of baroness when she left the family. Even though she betrayed the demon society, Selena gritted, clenching her fist.

"Ah, I see, and she had the human guy as a husband and so on. Do relax more. You're going to break my computer if you clench your fist that hard." I was amused.

"Yes, they had their first child three years after the Sazanami. 26 years later, the oldest son, Gerran, would marry a cat tribe girl and have four kids with her afterwards." Selena explained.

"Like your mother?" I said, looking at her cat ears and tail.

"Yes, the funny thing is she was my mother's cousin," Selena said, clicking her tongue.

"Ah, I see. I can guess where this is going," I muttered, ensuring she didn't hear me.

"So, a few years ago, her cousin messaged my mother to come and visit. My mother was very social, so she didn't think twice, and when with Hendrian's mother, they didn't even take a proper guard with them because they are cousins, so what would she do?" Selena said, getting angrier the more she talked about how it happened.

"…"

"They drugged them and kidnapped them. Of course, this wasn't actually her idea but her husband's idea, and she loved him, so she helped him."

"…"

"I don't know what happened between the time of the kidnapping and her death, but she wasn't tortured or hurt in any way. When Father went out to kill the traitors, he did so with one swing, and heads went flying, but for some reason, he didn't kill their kids or take away their nobility. He just killed the main culprits."

"Hmm, they were just kids anyway. Why waste time on them?" I said, understanding why Uwe wouldn't care.

"Because they are the offspring of criminals?" Selena said, baffled, looking at me.

"But they are not the criminals themselves. They are innocent." I said sternly, narrowing my eyes at her.

"I met the oldest son a week ago. He was part of a criminal group that kidnaps and sells demons as slaves. Something that is highly illegal." Selena said, looking back at me.

"You killed him?" I said I was not very surprised.

"Yes, I didn't actually know I had killed him. Only when I was doing the aftermath of everything—checking who and how many got killed—did the filing work. Also going through the buy and sell of demons." Selena said, shrugging with a slight grin.

"Hmm, let me guess, he wasn't actually part of the group but was using the group for sexual pleasure. You are just saying he is part of it to make it easier on your mind to think that the entire family is bad. I am not trying to defend him or his fucked-up family." I explained, looking back at her in the eyes.

"How did you know? How did you know he wasn't part of it?" Selena stuttered, baffled at my analyst.

"Well, he had human genes in him, so sexual pleasure is like the first thing a guy thinks about when he hits puberty or gets a bit of power and money," I said, shrugging at her disbelief.

"So, what you are saying is that the other two sons might be the same?" Selena said, narrowing her eyes.

"You never know. Also, the daughter can go down that path as well. But every person is different. So, they might care about pleasure a lot, but seeing what happened with their brother will deter them from doing the same. Hopefully, it would."

"You aren't sure?" Selena said, only listening halfway.

"No, I am not. I am not very good when it comes to reading people's minds into the future. I can read people, but that is also just the surface thought that shows on your face. The rest are just guesses from all the other people I have seen over the years. Shit, that makes me sound old." I said, shuddering at the thought.

"Haha, it does sound like you are an old lady," Selena chuckled, grinning at me.

"Hey, I am only a year older than you."

"That still doesn't make you big sister material," Selena said, looking at me thoughtfully.

"Well, I don't know what a sister must be like, so I agree with you," I said, shrugging.

"Hmph." 

"So, is the reason why you hate halflings so much because of this one family?" I asked, getting back to the main topic.

"…Nooo." Selena hummed, looking away.

"So, it is."

"So what? What are you going to tell me? It's not right to discriminate like that."

"Well, yeah, you are creating a false view of an entire race because of our family. I mean, I did the same thing when I was fighting for my life in the human world. I thought all demons were crazy as fuckers that just wanted to kill you. Until I met Uwe, the demon king at that. He didn't even care that I had killed thousands of demons before. He just moved on. However, there is a proper line that should not be crossed."

"You did what?"

"Did what?"

"How many demons have you killed?"

"I actually don't know how many, but I think it is over a thousand. Not so sure, but a lot."

"Why?"

"To survive, of course. Kill or be killed, Selena; that has been most of my life." I said, looking at her calmly, which turned into a smile, seeing her shudder.

'Though it wasn't actually that bad. It was only the last 6 years that were like that.' I thought, not intending to tell her that.

"That sounds ruff, really, and stop looking at me like that. Your eyes are creepy." Selena said, shuddering again, looking away.

"Haha, the first time someone said they were creepy, Well, anyways, have you realized what you might have been doing too harshly?" I said, looking at her thoughtfully.

"I will rethink my judgement for the next few weeks."

"Don't change completely because of what I said. Make your own judgement and take your time," I said, standing up and nodding at her.

"What now, then?"

"We built my house," I said, smiling. 

"Sigh,"