Devilla
“I can’t believe you ca ho with a privacy spell,” Abigail muttered, glancing down at the hand that held her own, before turning to glare at… Sothing. Not , exactly. Nor Bailey, whose lupine head was laying upon my lap. The only target I could detect was the wall - or perhaps the tower? The world as a whole? “After everything I went through…”
“That’s what you’re focused on?” I questioned, arching a brow. “I’d have thought Lucy’s confession of affection to make a much better bid for your attention.”
“I an, sure,” she grumbled, shifting her gaze to . The anger had thankfully left her gaze, but I could sense her frustration all the sa. “The fact that the literal nightmare of our people has sohow developed a crush on you is big news. But it’s also so mind bogglingly insane that I can’t even process it right now. So yeah, I’m more focused on the fact that I apparently unleashed political chaos and had to deal with that bitchy lamia for no damn reason.”
“I still can’t believe you t Nivera,” I admitted, shaking my head in disbelief. A completely valid sentint on my part, that was only partially driven by pangs of guilt and a desire to avoid eye contact with my poor maid. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since her na passed through my head?”
“Since you made it illegal to say her na, maybe?” Abigail remarked, before narrowing her eyes at . “Speaking of which, it’d be great if you changed that. I usually prefer to insult people by na over species.”
“Right…” I nodded, my cheeks turning pink as I recalled the brash law I’d put in place. An abuse of power, if ever there was one. “Consider it legal.”
Abigail didn’t say anything, at first. She rely stared at . Only after several uncomfortable seconds of this did she press a hand against her forehead, let loose a pained groan, and mutter, “I can’t believe I’m friends with the fucking Demon Queen… You seriously just changed the law, didn’t you?”
“I’ll need to alert Sylvanna and have word of it spread… But effectively, yes.” I suppose it was weird from an outside perspective. Jacob certainly would have found the idea ‘mind boggling.’ In fact, the re thought of any Arican president changing the law with a word was enough to send shivers down my spine. And yet, at the sa ti, the knowledge that I could do so felt as natural to as the fact that I could talk at all.
Personally, I was more stuck on the fact that Abigail had actually begun to consider a friend. It felt to as if she’d been through nothing but suffering at my hands. She’d been forced to deal with Mifa, then Sylvanna, and now Nivera, all because of . And for what? A few french fries? Delicious as they might have been, I wasn’t sure even paradise on a plate could pay her back for what she’d been through.
She’d probably just glare at if I pointed it out though.
“Right…” Abigail muttered, blissfully unaware of my likely headache inducing doubts. “Because that makes it any less crazy. Also, speaking of Sylvanna, what’s the deal with you two, anyway? I an, obviously she hates your guts, and you feel terrible about what you did to her and all that, but… is it just , or are you sorta afraid of dealing with her?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself ‘afraid,’” I protested. “I simply… Dislike the way she makes feel.” Small. Insignificant. Stupid. Like a child, in over her head, desperately lashing out at the world while simultaneously begging for soone else to take her burdens away. The sa as when we’d first t. “We both know I deserve it, though.”
“I an, you did threaten to leave her entire population petrified,” Abigail confird. “But, like I keep telling you, you aren’t the sa person anymore. You just need to give her ti to learn the real you.”
“I don’t think it’s that simple, Abigail,” I said, shaking my head. “Fifteen years of forced labor is a bit much to forgive, no matter how much I change my behavior. Even if I was arrogant enough to think myself worthy of a second chance, I’d still say you’re asking too much from her. ”
“Fifteen years…?” Abigail whispered. The look of horror on her face was expected, painful as it may have been. Her next words, however, were not. “Devilla… How old were you, exactly, when you made that threat?”
“Around seven? It was a little bit after the debacle with Nivera - so more like fourteen years and change, I suppose. Though I hardly think it makes a difference.”
“And how old was Sylvanna?” Abigail pressed, again narrowing her eyes. Sohow, despite her glare being pointed in my direction this ti, it still didn’t feel as if it were ant for .
“Seventeen, I believe? Too young for the duties I pushed upon her, no matter how you slice it.”
“Too… Devilla! You were literally just a little kid! And she’s been talking to you like… like that? This whole ti!?”
“Of course not… She’s had ti to calm down since the start. But I hardly see what that-”
“Okay, first off?” Abigail said, holding up a hand to interrupt . “You and her aren’t talking anymore. I’ll handle the status reports, or whatever. Second? What the hell happened with Nivera? Because if it’s anywhere close to being as fucked as this, I’m going to need details.”
I shook my head, a wry smile upon my lips. “Your concern is as touching as it is misplaced, Abigail. I’m royalty, rember? I’m ant to-”
“Details. Now.”
Now it was my turn to glare at the interrupting Abigail - or it would have been, had Bailey not picked that mont to lift her head up from my lap and growl - at . As it was, with both of them against , all I could do was shake my head and sigh.
“You’re both being ridiculous. But if you both insist… Well, I can’t say I’m heartbroken about not getting to et with her. Though, as far as details with Nivera go, I think you’ll find yourself disappointed.”
“Uh-huh.”
Sohow, she didn’t look very convinced. Nor did Bailey, for that matter, who actually went so far as to roll her eyes. I didn’t even want to know where she’d picked that up.
“Seriously… It was a simple case of being selfish,” I explained. “I’d begun to ignore my duties as a princess, in order to pursue more ti with her. Her parents disapproved of my actions. They tried to interfere with our friendship - to keep her away from , so that I would spend more ti doing what I was supposed to. So, like an idiotic brat, I fired her dam, who was working as one of my Generals. A decision that obviously didn’t go over well. Nivera beca upset with , for good reason. I got upset, for what I thought was a good reason. Except while she contented herself with calling nas, I locked myself away and… well, made various terrible decisions…” Like studying my mother’s old speeches, so that I could try and talk like her at her most formal, in a vain attempt to earn the people’s respect, if not love. Then, when that didn’t work, I started firing various Generals. I refused to follow any advice, screaming and throwing things at anyone who dared to go against . I even went so far as to strip one of the bloodlines of political power - and maybe broke a few of their representative’s bones, when she objected to the decision… A move of such monuntal idiocy that it almost tore the tower apart.
“I do not believe I can stress enough just how horrifically I ssed up, Abigail. How close the tower ca to falling apart under my terrible excuse for leadership. It’s why I largely withdrew from the political sphere. I beca content to complain about everyone else failing to put in an effort, despite knowing full well that I could do no better…”
“Funny,” Abigail muttered. “I get the feeling Nivera would put it pretty differently. Also, you were seven.”
“I was also in charge!” I retorted. “If everyone had died, my age would have made for little solace. Especially when all I had to do was continue listening to those who knew better.” I frowned. “And besides, if the only issue was my behavior at seven, then people would hardly hate to this day, now would they? My behavior might be better now, but I still spent almost a decade and a half making every single person hate .”
“Yeah, well…” Abigail hesitated, as if searching for a counter that we both knew didn’t exist. “Maybe if people knew more about what happened in the past, they’d at least be quicker to accept that you’re trying to be better now…”
“Perhaps,” I agreed. “But I have no interest in garnering sympathies with tales of a poor childhood. It would co across as nothing but excuses. And rightfully so, so far as I’m concerned.”
“Well, you’ve got my sympathy, anyways. And I want to know more about what happened back then, too! Preferably from soone less biased than you. Like Nivera, may the Fallen One help …”
“Fine,” I conceded, throwing up my hands as Bailey released another growl of affirmation. “Talk to her, if you wish. But I’m not sure why you think she’d give a less biased opinion than . In fact, I struggle to believe she doesn’t hate , after everything I did. The idea that she might sohow want to help , after everything is hard to wrap my mind around… Keep your guard up, Abigail. And ask for her aunt to be present, if possible.”
“General Sallina?” she queried , tilting her head a little to the left. “Not Chloe?”
“I can hardly entrust your wellbeing to Nivera’s fiancee,” I pointed out, frowning at the re thought of it. “Especially when I know absolutely nothing about the girl, other than the fact that we’re theoretically related. If she intends to act as a tempering force then more power to her, but this and that are unrelated.”
“Fair enough, I guess. But a General? I didn’t think you got along with any of them.”
“I don’t,” I confessed. “But of them, there’s none I’d trust more than Sallina. There was a ti I considered her close to family - in fact, I might even go so far as to say that I saw her as a surrogate mother figure, in part. Before she chose to take in Nivera, at least.”
She’d been my tutor. The only teacher I’d ever had that actually made learning seem worthwhile. Perhaps it had sothing to do with the encouragent she’d given , whenever I struggled with a question, and the approval she’d grant whenever I ca to an answer. But in the end, all we were was teacher and student. She was actually related to Nivera - if only barely - and, more importantly, Nivera had actually needed her. It was obvious whose side she’d choose, when it ca down to it.
Of course, that wasn’t to say she’d given up on entirely. She’d at least tried to patch things up with and Nivera, back before I went so far as to make saying her na illegal. But I suppose I must have crossed a line at so point. Why else would she have betrayed to Lucy in the ga?
The worst part was, I didn’t even know why. Jacob skipped the associated dialogue! All I could rember were the sex scenes - sothing I was less than happy about, all considering. Though, considering how fast he’d been going at the end, I had blissfully little knowledge of even that! Mostly I just recalled flashes of bare skin and… blue… scales…
“Sallina has red scales, though…” I whispered
“Huh?”
“Sallina wasn’t in the ga,” I said, my voice rising in pitch and excitent alike. “She wasn’t the one who betrayed in it!”
“The ga?” Abigail questioned, her brow furrowing. “You an the one from your old world?”
I nodded. “A ga whose tiline we’ve apparently diverged from… Though I suppose that’s hardly a surprise, considering everything I’ve been up to.”
At least, I assud my actions were the cause of this discrepancy. Perhaps I’d fired her in the ga’s tiline? Though it was hard to imagine myself doing so. Even her choosing Nivera over hadn’t been enough to inspire such an action, after all… Perhaps she’d tried to reach through to , again, in that tiline? To stop from going further down the dark path that led to my defeat? If so, I could only hope that my response had ended with her losing her job, and nothing else.
“It doesn’t matter, in the end,” I declared, more to myself than Abigail. Whatever that version of had done to Sallina, whatever Sallina may have done to inspire it, it was all constrained to a world of fiction. None of it had co to pass in reality. “It’s just nice to know…”
“Okay?” Abigail replied, obviously confused, but thankfully willing to move past it. “So Nivera’s aunt is trustworthy, I guess?”
“That would be the main takeaway, yes,” I confird. “Though it might be best to take that assessnt with a grain of salt. As much as it pains to say, it has been quite a few years since our last serious discussion. A lot could have changed.”
“You’re giving a lot of conflicting signals over here,” Abigail complained. “Trust Sallina more than Nivera, but don’t trust Sallina too much? How about I just… Talk to them and see what happens? Maybe bring Bailey along? She’s actually pretty good at getting a read on people.”
I glanced down, towards the horned wolf in question. Her response was to stick her tongue out and wag her tail. The very picture of a household pet.
“...If you say so.”
“Just trust in us,” Abigail insisted. “You’ve got enough to worry about with the Heroine crushing on you. Which is still breaking my brain to imagine, by the way.”
“I know what you an…” I confessed, grimacing. “It’s hard for to imagine anyone developing feelings for . Let alone soone as pure as Lucy…”
“Could you maybe not turn my words against yourself like that?” Abigail demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “That’s not what I ant, and you know it.”
“I simply ant-”
“What? That you’re unworthy of love? Because news flash, Devilla! There’s other people in your life who like you. Maybe not in that way, but… I wasn’t kidding when I called you my friend, earlier. And I wasn’t taking pity on you, either, so don’t even go there! I care about you. Hell, I can even see how soone could fall for you!”
“I…” I hesitated. I wanted to argue with her. To remind her of all that I had done wrong. To tell her that it wasn’t a matter of whether soone could fall for , but whether I deserved it. But she’d heard it all before, hadn’t she? What point was there in bringing it up? I was only going to annoy her with it…
Besides, I could practically hear her insisting to that the affections of others weren’t for to dictate. Just as I could picture Lucy nodding in the background, barely holding back a speech about her love not being a thing I needed to earn…
“Thank you. For saying that.”
“Why do I sense an if in there?” Abigail grumbled, looking up and down. “Like ‘thanks for saying that, even if it isn’t true’ or ‘I don’t deserve it.’”
“Even I know better than to annoy you with that refrain,” I remarked, turning my head away from her - though I could do little to escape Bailey’s growl of annoyance.
“Uh-huh. One of these days I’m going to drill it into your brain that it’s okay for people to care about you. And that I can forgive you for whatever crap you think you’ve put through, even without your permission. Sothing tells it’ll take longer than we have, though… Didn’t you say the Heroine was waiting for you?”
“She prefers Lucy,” I pointed out. “As do I, actually. It helps to separate her in my mind from the genocidal maniacs who held the title before her.”
“Well, it feels weird calling her by na,” Abigail complained. “It sounds too much like the Fallen One’s.”
Bailey let out a short bark - one that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
“Right, well…” I hesitated a mont, looking between the happily panting Bailey and the now glaring Abigail. “Do I want to know what’s going on between you two?”
“It’s nothing. Go back to the Her… Lucy. We’ll hold down the fort here, alright?”
“...Right…” I muttered, reaching into my bag to pull out the teleportation circle. “Ti to experint with teleportation magic, then.”
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