The next morning, deia got out of the tent with a broad smile. Her last conversation with Lucian last night made her feel like she was one step closer to marrying him.
Maybe not for long, they wouldn’t have to sleep in separate tents and she could hug his muscles all night long!
After washing her face, deia went to the base to find Matilda and the won while Lucian went to the garage to check on the vehicles.
"Matilda," she called to her, "how did you sleep?"
deia had already guessed the answer when she saw dark circles under her eyes. It seed that Matilda hadn’t slept all night because she and all the won had to make important decisions about their future.
"Bad." Matilda handed her a sheet of paper. "This is the list of people who want to stay and leave the base."
deia skimd through the paper. She creased her forehead and read the list over and over to make sure she hadn’t misread it. "Fifteen people still want to leave the base? Including Sharon?"
She must be a fool to want to leave with an infant.
Matilda sighed. "After being locked in the underground for so many years, it’s hard for them to believe in anyone’s words again, especially ... a man’s words."
So of them, like Sharon and Jeanne, had decided to find their hotown, while others wanted to try their luck at finding safe places.
"Do you want to convince them to stay?" asked Matilda.
"No. As I said, they are the ones who will choose their fate." deia looked back at the paper. "But I’m surprised that Tilly wants to stay."
Since the first ti deia t her, Tilly had always had a bad temper and said she’d rather die than trust a man. So deia thought she would choose to leave the base.
"Her hotown was destroyed a long ti ago, along with her family. That’s why she doesn’t know where to go now."
Maybe that wasn’t the case.
Even though Tilly was a hot-headed person, deia felt that she wasn’t a fool.
She didn’t like n, but she seed to see value in Lucian and deia as well, so she decided to take a chance and stay on the base.
"Well, she can stay as long as she can. We need more people to run the base anyway," deia said.
Besides, the fewer people who wanted to leave, the fewer cars and food supplies would disappear.
"Tell the won who want to leave to et Lucian at the garage." deia paused for a mont. "And you ... help them gather food supplies for two weeks, no more, no less."
Matilda raised her eyebrows. "I thought you were giving them a day’s supply."
deia rolled her eyes. "What do you think I am? A monster or what?"
Her silence had already answered deia’s question. She snapped, "I was just trying to scare them before! I’m not really going to let them go with so little food!"
No, deia didn’t even care about them.
She had two reasons for letting them bring those supplies.
First, deia wanted them to feel desperate and helpless once they realized they had made the wrong decision.
Two weeks of food supplies might seem like a lot, but it wouldn’t be enough if they couldn’t find a safe place in two weeks, or worse if they couldn’t find more food and couldn’t hunt a monster.
When hunger struck their stomachs, their minds would constantly bla themselves for their mistakes, and deia’s holy image would appear in their minds.
deia was the one who gave them hope, but they refused to believe her words. Once they realized that, they would return to the base and beco her devoted followers.
And the second reason was that the canned food was suck and deia didn’t want to eat that garbage again.
"They will be very grateful for your kindness, deia." Matilda said hesitantly, "When we first t, I thought---"
"Let’s not talk about that." deia reminded her, "You rember not to tell others my secret, right?"
deia might not be able to kill her, but she would find a way to make her suffer if Matilda couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
[Warning! Warning! Malicious intent detected!]
[Host, you will be punished if you harm an innocent person].
’I have no malicious intent! I’m just thinking ... maybe I’ll send her sowhere else if she can’t keep my secret.’
’Just think about it. Do you think Lucian will accept as his wife if he knows that I’m a demon?’
What was the difference between a demon and a monster?
The word ’demon’ itself represents evil in people’s minds. That’s why deia didn’t want Lucian to find out who she was, at least for a while.
For once, she just wanted to be a normal woman and have a normal love life.
"I would not dare to betray you." Matilda said, "Your secret is safe with ."
"Good. Now go and distribute the supplies to them. I and Lucian must also leave before sunset."
Matilda nodded, then went into the base.
[Host’s explanation makes sense.]
[The system decided not to see it as malicious intent].
○ ○
Before the sun reached their heads, Lucian had already prepared four jeeps for the won who wanted to leave the base, and Matilda had distributed the food supplies for them.
"Are you sure you want to leave, Sharon?" Penelope held Sharon’s sleeve as if to stop her from leaving. "You haven’t even nad your baby yet. Please think about this, Sharon."
"I’m sorry, Penny." Sharon smiled at her, but her eyes were filled with sadness. "But I really can’t stay here any longer. This base ... this base always reminds of them."
Of all the won, Sharon and Jeanne had stayed underground the longest. Their bodies had tasted every ntal and physical torture inflicted by Stormclad.
Those filthy n had stained their bodies and tried to break their minds to the point that Sharon had trouble rembering what kind of life she had before coming to this base.
The Stormclad had left a big scar in her heart, and that scar wouldn’t heal if she stayed there.
"But ... the outside world is more dangerous," Penelope said.
Sharon sighed in despair. Her voice sounded so sweet, yet filled with sorrow. "Every part of this world is dangerous, my dear. That’s why at least I want to go ho before the danger catches ."
Penelope let go of Sharon’s hand because she couldn’t convince her anymore. She hadn’t experienced the true nightmare that the other won had, but she had seen and heard the nightmare for three years.
So she could understand Sharon’s decision.
"Miss Sharon," Lucian called to her suddenly, "I will not try to persuade you to stay, but if you want to co back, the door will always be open to you."
He continued, "And I promise you, this base will be nothing like Stormclad when you co back."
Because of his mother’s death, Lucian had vowed not to let any woman he knew experience what his mother had experienced.
He would do anything to erase the legacy of Stormclad, including razing the base to the ground and rebuilding it from scratch.
Others would doubt his words, but deia knew better than to say he wasn’t a liar.
"I will rember your words, Mr. Lucian," Sharon said.
After saying goodbye to the others, their cars left the base one by one. Sharon waved to the remaining won, her smile as bright as the stars. "Take care!"
deia couldn’t predict their future, but deep in her heart, she hoped no one would die.
It was strange, wasn’t it?
She had never experienced so much human emotion before.
[It’s called sympathy, and there’s nothing wrong with it, Host].
’It seems wrong to .’
Because she was a demon, and a human emotion like sympathy was an anomaly for her.
[Right now you’re a human, Host.]
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