'It made such a beautiful and elegant curve in the air when his sword slashed through my dark room. The sun's light poured through that slash and illuminated my face.
His feet moved so gracefully. His back arched so breathtakingly. I heard the birds singing. I saw the flowers blooming. The sunlight felt warm on my skin. And just like that, he effortlessly pulled me out of that dark room I had lived in all my life.
He looked like…the embodiment of God.
My cheeks felt wet and I realized I was crying. Then he took my trembling hands in his and I looked at him closely.
He was a beautiful, beautiful demon. Though I could see only half of his face, I knew it in my heart - utterly otherworldly he was. If he chose to, he could bring the whole world to its knees.
His deep blue eye felt like a ripple of a beautiful wave - fierce, but filled with kindness. The obelisk crystal in his dangling earring glowed a mahogany hue. But it was his warm smile that made my breath stop. It was at that moment I finally realized…
This is salvation.'
The memoir pages slipped softly from Zerath's hands. His lips parted slightly as he stared at those dusty-inked words. His breaths lost their way as a strange lump formed in his throat.
Deep blue eye.
Mahogany obelisk crystal earrings.
Only half of his face could be seen…?
That's…that's impossible. I'm definitely losing my mind…!
He pinched the space between his brows as though the world before himbhad begun to spin.
"My lord?"
Zerath exhaled sharply, the fogginess consuming him gradually dissipating. As he looked up, his eyes went wide, stunned. A blurry figure stood before him, his face half-hidden behind locks of hair. That shadow made his breath catch, as if he had been yanked into the past without a warning.
"Mas…ter…?" he whispered to himself with a tremble and in a trance.
"My lord?"
A firm shake to his shoulder snapped his stupor clean for good this time. The haze evaporated as though it had never been, and he realized his mistake.
"It's you, Lucian…" he exhaled softly, a hint of fatigue beneath it.
Lucian blinked. "Yes, it's me, my lord. What happened? You didn't recognize me."
Zerath let out another breath. "No, it's nothing…You reminded me of someone."
He glanced at the way Lucian's hair fell across half his face, resembling a certain woman he knew. The illusion had certainly startled him.
"I reminded you of someone?" Lucian tilted his head. "Who might that be?"
Zerath smiled. "My master. The right side of her face was hidden just like yours."
"Oh. Had it been injured too?"
"I don't know," he said, his voice drifting distant. "But she always looked like that for as far as I could remember. I asked her about it once…"
'My other side? You're too young to handle the full scale of my beauty, brat. What you see is what you get.'
Those words faintly echoed from somewhere in the past. Zerath returned his attention to Lucian. "Your eye. It had gotten injured saving someone, didn't it?"
Lucian gave a silent nod. "Yes."
Then he smiled, just a small smile. "I looked ugly after losing my eye. The scar is terrifying. Hiding my face was better than giving people nightmares."
"It wouldn't matter to me. It won't matter to people who care about you."
Lucian's gaze stayed on him. "Indeed. Some people never judged me for my scar."
"Those are the ones you cherish and hold onto."
Lucian turned to the matter at hand. "Are you in good health, my lord? Shall I summon Sir Doloros?"
"No. It's nothing serious. I'm not ill. I was just…" his gaze fell onto the memoir pages, "lost in thought."
He cleared his throat. "You've returned from Mordokk. Did you find anything about Drak? Any leads?"
"I'm afraid I have some disturbing news."
Zerath closed his eyes.
Disturbing. Please don't tell me that…
"It's not what you're imagining, my lord. There's no evidence of his death or any of the others."
He sighed in relief. "Then what's the bad news?"
Lucian paused for a long moment. "My lord, it seems the people behind all these strange disappearances may be humans. It's why I came here at once rather than wait for you at the palace."
"...What's the basis for that?"
"Sir Malphas."
Zerath blinked twice.
"As everyone knows, Sir Malphas had always wanted the Ministry of Diplomacy. That was his first choice. But fewer people knew that his second target was the Ministry of Trade and Commerce - Sir Orobas's ministry."
"So?"
"Just like how he had a puppet in Lady Asmodea's ministry, Nephis, he apparently had someone in the Ministry of Trade as well."
Zerath stared. "Continue."
"The Ministry of Trade is responsible for building trade routes - both within our realm and with the Human Realm too. Those are official and recognized trade routes. It seems like Sir Malphas was involved in…managing some unofficial trade ones. Ways that would transport people from one place to another. Off the record."
Despite the dire news blasting in his face like a dormant volcano bubbling to explode, he remained steady and calm.
"What'd Sir Malphas gain from this?"
Lucian placed some ledgers before him, highlighting his well-to-do financial situation.
"A great deal of gold. Simply being an Order doesn't justify this money."
Zerath read through the numbers, clearly indicating bent methods.
"And what would the humans gain from this?"
Lucian's expression turned grimmer. He was quiet for a moment. "This is just my speculation, but some nobles on that side may have a taste for demon slaves. Humans look down on us just as we do on them. If they get their hands on demons who could entertain them and where they could fulfill their sadistic pleasures to torture a race they hate - then I believe I could see the prospect behind these disappearances."
Zerath pinched his brows again. "I know Sir Malphas was involved with the attack on Princess Clairette, but this? No matter what kind of deal he might've made with the other side, selling your own race to slavery isn't something even he'd resort to."
His fingers tapped with an urgency. "You haven't informed this to anyone else, have you?"
"No, my lord."
"Keep it that way. Her Majesty and Father are already unsettled with Sir Malphas's death. This revelation would make Father start an all-out war with Emberlain."
"This is a grim situation, my lord. We won't be able to hide it for long."
"I'm not saying we should hide it indefinitely, but we must be absolutely sure before we declare anything. Is it clearly established that Sir Malphas was involved in building those secret routes?"
"My hidden ears confirm it. They extracted the information out of that puppet without raising suspicion."
"So is it possible that Drak, Sira and others abducted could be in the Human Realm at the moment?"
"The puppet couldn't affirm that, my lord. He was involved in constructing the routes with hefty money to keep quiet, but he doesn't know where the missing demons are now."
"Did he say where the routes are?"
He shook his head. "Unfortunately, he was very tight-lipped about that."
"So a crackdown isn't possible."
"If we take him in for questioning then…"
"We cannot. It'll raise a whole lot of questions, especially from Sir Orobas."
Zerath pondered for a moment. "Is it only demons being sold? What if humans, too, are being sold into Rudaheim as well? If so much effort went into building the route in complete secrecy, I doubt it'd be used just unidirectionally."
"It's a fair possibility, my lord."
"Find out about it. Quietly. If it's a two way street, then both realms being equally involved could prevent a bigger fallout - though it won't stop the blame game."
"Yes, my lord."
He then asked, "What about Eurus's mother?"
"Her Majesty has…" his brows furrowed, conflicted.
"I know she has forbidden me to look into that cave's matter, but I've a promise to uphold to Eurus. I understand her concerns, but at present, that underground dwelling was used to imprison Eurus's mother. And she's still alive. We need to act before it's too late."
But why her? Was it a personal vendetta? Something doesn't sit right…
A tangled mess was all he had - like a fog closing in around him, obscuring the truth. It was then that a voice echoed in his mind.