Chapter 20 (2/2)

The original Link, at the sight of Celine’s cold and distant behavior, would have run off in fright.

But this Link knew that Celine behaved that way because his words had struck close to her heart. She had taken off that sweet, mischievous facade, and her indifference was just a way of protecting herself.

The half-blood demon was actually very lonely and sensitive. Thinking about it, it made sense. She had seen her mother killed by demons, and the mastermind behind it had been her own father. It was already a miracle that she hadn’t gone insane.

But Link didn’t back down. Earnestly, he said, “A real demon wouldn’t have saved me, nor would one have said so much to me. They would just have torn me apart and devoured my soul. Celine, what I see in your eyes is pain and loneliness. Can you tell me what you’ve been through?”

Celine’s petite figure shuddered. It was the first time anyone had told her something like that. Before this, they had either been after her for her looks, or shied away from her demon identity. No one had ever cared about what she actually felt.

But this human seemed to be able to read her soul. Each word had rung true.

Celine was a mess inside. There wasn’t a trace of the sensuality she had worn earlier. Taking a few steps back, she turned her face away and stared into the darkness under the clock tower in silence.

Link, too stayed silent, again waiting patiently.

At the top of the tower, gusts of the night wind caressed her thick black hair. Celine stood still as if she was a beautiful statue of a Goddess.

Her childhood memories flashed before her.

“Mother, why do I have these things on my head?” Celine had asked adorably while stroking the little nubs on her head. She was only five-years-old.

Her mother, that gentle, beautiful woman, hadn’t hidden her disgust. “That’s from your father,” she replied briskly.

“Mother, I don’t want to train anymore. I’m too tired.” Celine had collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion—she was seven-years-old. Her mother cared for her every need tenderly, but she had done so with a stern hand.

“You must get stronger quickly! Your father won’t let you go!” Her mother had been quite harsh about it, despite the sorrow hidden in her eyes,

“Ah! Mother, what happened to you? Who are you people?!” Her mother was sprawled in a puddle of her own blood, almost torn to pieces. Still somehow clinging to life, she rasped, “Celine, my daughter, don’t …fall…” Celine was fourteen-years-old.

Her mother hadn’t finished when the hideous creatures, shrouded in black miasma, had cut off her mother’s head.

“Princess, the Lord has asked us to bring you home!” the heinous beings had said.

“Die!!!!” Celine had learned martial arts for many years by then— she had already been very powerful. The demons were completely defenseless against her as she slayed them with ease.

Having found out about her background, she disguised herself and wandered around to evade her father’s clutches. Three months ago, she had come to The Lower Magic Academy of Flemmings.

She had never really considered becoming a Magician and had only developed a passing interest in magic.

Celine remembered the times she had spent with Link.

“Mr. Morani, I think that staring at a lady the way you are is poor manners.”

That had been two months ago. The first time the young man had laid his eyes on her, he had behaved rather oddly, as if he had lost his soul. Of course, Celine hadn’t thought much of it. She had seen so many others like that during her travels.

That fact that such an inconspicuous boy had brought her away from the academy at risk to his own life, had been completely beyond her expectations. Yet he had done it.

Celine had to admit that the human now held a special place in her heart.

She had bottled her secret for so long. When Link brought it up, she stayed silent for a while before opening her mouth in spite of herself. “My father is the Lord of the Deeps. He wants me to go back to the Deeps to become his vassal. For that, he sent his subordinates into the Firuman Continent to capture me. All I can live is a life of hiding, of drifting from place to place. My mother, a beautiful woman, was torn to pieces before my eyes. She had tried to protect me. For my mother’s sake, I cannot become a puppet of the dark.”

Towards the end, her spirits sunk. She lowered her head as her beautiful brows drooped. After her long speech, she sighed heavily, her face full of loneliness.

She was a demon, the symbol of darkness and terror, the public enemy of the world of the light. Demons were attacked by all other creatures around them. Yet, she had grown up in the world of the light—deep in her heart, it was the place that she had acknowledged as home.

That was why she was damned to live a life of pain and loneliness!

“This is indeed a lonely journey.” Link sighed.