Lucian's True Form

Weight of his words and the burning intensity of his gaze burning hole in her retinas was enough of a warning. She exhaled, trembling, her knees give away, swooping down as her strength wasn't enough to keep her from falling against the cold stone of the balcony railing.

'Has he seen through me already?' She wondered if it was out of habit that he called him the 'Demon Lord' or that is what he was known after he betrayed her that everything comes out here naturally.

'Phew! That was way too close,' she taught to herself, with a pressed shaking palm against her chest to calm her racing heart.She is reeled with questions, doubts, and an ever-growing fear. 

Had she already made a mistake? Had he seen through her facade? 

No, she stood firm in her belief. If he truly knew, she wouldn't still be alive. He was putting her into a test, poking at the seams of her defences to see if she would crumble into a hot mess.

She couldn't afford to falter—not now, not ever.

...

BACK AT THE ELVEN KINGDOM

'No, it can't be.' She taught that it haunted her more and that everything will restart before it ever began to change it. The horror.

'I couldn't let this happen. Not on my watch' Determined, she paces back and forth. Thinking of ways, solutions that are actual fool-proof, not that time-consuming (not that time was the issue here but, saving time will have a higher succession rate than most) and most importantly perfectly executed at the right time.

'Hmm…' As she was thinking,

Knock! Knock! Knock!

A knocking was heard that distracted her. It was none other than…Kael Thalorin; he is her childhood friend ever since they were toddlers. He is now an official guard personal warrior for Princess Aeliana by royal degree.

"What are you moping for, your Highness?" he sarcastically implied while leaning on the stone entrance with his arms-crossed.

"How long have you been there, stalking me?" She jested, and it made Kael intrigued and baffled.

"Well, your highness. As per instruction of my title as your personal warrior. I am to keep you within arms-length at all costs." As Kael recited the royal degree with such passion.

She mocks and babbles out his mannerisms. "Hey! Why I 'oughta?!" Kael proceeds to tickle her in play-fullness of their bond.

"I have to go!" she interrupts him. "Where are you off, too?" Kael.

"To an old friend."

"Mind if I tag along?" Kael intervenes, and she shook her head in denial. "I'm sorry, Kael. I promise to be back before supper," as she left without a minute's notice. 

…

BACK IN HIS CASTLE

Once, she found him alone in the grand library, his fingers trailing over the spine of a ancient spell book. As he dusted it with his hands and blew away the soot. His expression was far away, almost wistful. 

"A book?" She questioned. As she caught him off guard, but he turned with such ease that maybe he had a third eye of some sort now that nothing surprises him.

"Surprised?" He answered with such poise and finesse that it made him look more attractive than his usual self.

"I didn't think a Demon Overlord had time for hobbies."

"Even monsters need distractions," he replied, his tone light but his eyes heavy with something unspoken.

Her heart ached at the sight, but she quickly pushed the feeling aside. He was still her enemy. No amount of shared moments could change that.

Lucian was everything she had been taught to loathe, the embodiment of destruction and darkness.

Her breath caught, but she forced herself to meet his gaze.

"You, on the other hand..."

He laughed softly, the sound dark and dangerous. "You're better at this small talk than I expected."

"So is the 'Demon Overlord' himself," she countered, her voice steady despite the tremor in her heart.

His lips curved into a slow, predatory smile.

 And how—" he took a deliberate step closer, the air between them charged, "—how is it that you know I'm a Demon Overlord? I've never told you that."

Lucian's eyes narrowed dangerously, his suspicion cutting through her like a blade. "Ways that seem... unnervingly specific," he muttered.

"Videri occultum, aperire verum, ostende animam daemonis!"

The spell lit up a large neon red sigil circle with splurges of power revolving around him and beneath him,.Thus, his true form was revealed as to say, his whole get-up from the obsidian hard glossy horns in each side of the temples of his head to the hard black armour that had sliver accents and gold trimmings and not to forget his large immaculate bat wings that made him more intimidating than ever before.

She finds herself salivating over how devilishly handsome he is. A pure intention that stems from their past together as a couple before she jumped in The Do-Over System.

Lucian took an involuntary step back, his expression unreadable, but his voice low and dangerous.

"S-so..," He paused

"You see me," he said, more to himself than to her. Then his gaze snapped to hers, a mix of anger and astonishment. "You've been hiding this all along."

She stood there silent as she wanted him to continue the result of my action, the good and the bad. It didn't matter. His response is everything to her, now that he knows that she revealed his true form. But then again, it was only the two of them alone, and he knew that much to make a big deal out of it is nonsense. 

Then again, 'I can't keep my hopes up, can I?' she taught as to crossing her fingers in hope that she means well.

'I wanted to know if you are really him.' she thought it was a gnawing curiosity in which she didn't care about the repercussions that come with it.

"You're not just any mage, are you?" His voice dropped, dark and accusatory. "Wait... aren't you a—"

His next words caught her off guard that whatever drink she was consuming, she immediately spat it out.