After finishing his ti with his beloved Aldria, Dante decided to return to the Demon Realm and spend more ti with one of his wives, sothing he had decided a while ago—spending more ti with his loves. Dividing his ti between each of them so he could fully enjoy the thousands of years of vacation he had received.
When he passed through the portal and returned, the demon world felt denser, as if the very atmosphere carried the pain and the cries of lost souls. Well, it was still Hell, right? Dante couldn't change the atmosphere of literal Hell; that's how things were ant to be. But at least the city was still being built. Now, it was ti to see his new ho...
When he left the hellish depths, the castle wasn't ready, but the short ti he spent between going with Aldria and returning had passed long enough due to the dinsional ti difference. And, in so ways, that was good—but also not so good...
"Well... this got pretty big," he said, looking at the castle. It looked more like a fortress made of obsidian with twisted towers, but what caught his attention was how much quieter it was than usual. Of course, compared to the castle in Albion, it was much larger, but it wouldn't usually be this silent...
As he reached the edge of the castle, he spotted Velryna. She was sitting there, her legs dangling off the edge, her gaze distant, lost in so undefined point, as if she were contemplating sothing beyond this world. The hot and harsh wind lifted her dark hair, but it seed even the wind couldn't bring her back to the present.
Dante paused, watching her for a mont before walking toward her. He felt the tension in the air, an invisible connection between them that always drew him to her, though their relationship was complex and full of nuances.
He knew she wasn't there just to be found, but sothing had led her there...
"Velryna?" he said, his deep voice breaking the eerie silence.
She didn't move imdiately. Her gaze still fixed sowhere on the horizon.
Dante took another step closer, now just a few ters away. He noticed the deep exhaustion on her face, as if the weight of battles and choices were etched into it.
He crouched beside her, noticing the emptiness in her eyes and the distance in her posture. Sothing was wrong, and he, deeply concerned, felt his heart tighten at the sight of Velryna in such a state—so absorbed in her own thoughts. Sothing wasn't right.
"Are you okay?" he asked, trying to hide the worry in his voice, though it was quite apparent.
Velryna slowly turned her head, the movent slow and heavy, as if the very air made her existence harder. Her eyes briefly shimred but closed again, as if she were trying to push away any lingering emotion. For a mont, Dante saw the weight of the pain and loneliness she carried. Sothing had changed in her, but what?
"Sotis, I feel like this is the only place where I can hear my own thoughts," she murmured, her voice quiet, as if she were in a trance.
Dante remained silent, watching her. He didn't know exactly what she was feeling, but her presence there seed as empty as the gaze she fixed on the horizon. He then sat down beside her, wishing his words would make a difference.
"So, what are you thinking?" he asked, his voice gentle yet firm, trying to break through the invisible wall she had built.
Velryna then looked at him, her eyes more alive but still filled with deep lancholy. She seed like a reflection of herself, searching for sothing she couldn't quite define.
"Who knows?" she said, her eyes lost in the wind, as if the re act of speaking eased so of the pressure. "After I lost my father... my brother... I feel an emptiness... more for my father, of course," she said, the pain still sharp in her words.
Dante shook his head, feeling her pain as if it were his own. "I didn't know Adam much, but he loved you very much," he said sincerely, wishing he had been more present in that part of her life. "As for your brother... well, I killed him. There's not much to be done about that."
Velryna stared at him with an intensity that almost burned. "I don't bla you for my brother's death," she said, the anger still fresh in her voice. "I would have killed him myself if I had the chance." She paused, and Dante realized that her words had touched on a wound too painful to simply ignore. "I just think that..." she began to speak, but then fell silent, her gaze shifting away. "Never mind."
Dante, understanding how much she was still struggling with the past, continued: "I'm here to listen," he said, his gaze shifting toward the city being built in the distance, as if the words he hadn't known how to say were sowhere out there.
Velryna sighed, a deep sigh, almost a release. "I'm tired," she finally spoke, her voice breaking with the accumulated pain.
"Recently... I've been feeling like trash being here," she said, and her words hit Dante like a punch to the stomach.
He looked at her, confused, trying to understand what she ant. "What do you...?"
But she didn't let him finish. "I'm tired of being useless," she cut him off, her voice a lant. "First with my father dying... my brother... and then, when I died... sure, there were many monts, but I couldn't do anything. I'm weak," she said, the pain going beyond re weakness. "And I wonder if I deserve to have a husband like you."
The words hung in the air, like a dark cloud on the verge of breaking. Velryna shrank a little, the pain in her chest evident, as if she were trying to make herself small so the world wouldn't see her vulnerability.
The cold wind blew around them as Velryna let her words float in the air, a reflection of the sadness she felt, of the loneliness that had consud her being. "Ti cos, ti goes," she murmured, almost to herself. "Sotis, I feel like I'm being left behind. Sotis, I feel like I'm your wife out of pity."
Dante remained silent for a few seconds, his eyes fixed on her. Sothing in her had touched a deep part of his soul, but before he could form a response, a laugh escaped his mouth. A loud laugh, full of contempt for the doubt she had thrown into the air. "HAHAHAHA!" He let out, and the laughter echoed through the entire castle, resonating with an energy that seed to disintegrate the tension that hung between them.
Velryna looked at him, confused, her brow slightly arched, while Dante, with an irreverent smile, seed truly lighthearted. "You will never be useless to ," he said, his tone now more serious, though the spark in his eyes wasn't one of contempt, but of sothing deeper—perhaps even an affection Velryna had not recognized until that mont.
"You..." Velryna started, unsure how to react to Dante's sudden change, but he interrupted her with a gesture.
"Let's have a eting," he said, his voice deep, but full of confidence. Before she could respond, Dante firmly took her hand, and in the blink of an eye, the environnt around them changed completely.
Velryna blinked several tis, stunned. When her eyes opened again, she found herself in a completely different place. The castle, the demon world—everything had disappeared. Now, they were in the heart of a vast park in the human world. The place was calm and peaceful, with tall trees and green grass stretching as far as the eye could see. People strolled peacefully, lost in their routines, and the sound of laughter and conversation blended with the soft chirping of birds.
Velryna looked around, surprised and sowhat confused. "What is this?" she murmured, still trying to understand what had happened.
Dante smiled, a smile of soone who knew exactly what they were doing. "Let's change this," he said, as if it were sothing simple, like changing the course of a river. He extended his hand to her, and with a quick motion, a magical glow surrounded Velryna's hair. In an instant, her long black locks transford into a vibrant orange, like a blazing fla. At the sa ti, his own platinum-colored hair turned into a deep black, like a night without stars.
"What is...?" Velryna couldn't finish the sentence. She touched her hair, feeling the new color, the new sensation. The transformation had been instant, but it felt surreal. She looked at Dante, who stood beside her, now with an amused smile on his lips, watching her reaction.
"Apparently, everyone knows us by now, so we won't have any privacy," Dante replied with almost ironic lightness. "Let's have a real conversation, my dear wife." He smiled and extended his hand.
"Let's go for a walk," Dante suggested with a gentle smile.
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