The unexpected suggestion flustered Elaine.
“What? But Bella’s husband is…”
The man who had entered this room with Bella a short while ago—the man called Espel—wasn’t fond of Elaine. She could very well recognize that judging from the conversation between the two earlier.
However, Bella’s expression turned a little strange after hearing Elaine’s words.
“Husband? Don’t tell me you mean Espel? Pft, ahahaha!”
“Ah, no? Then, is he your boyfriend?”
“No! He’s um…a friend. We’re close like family.”
“Friend?”
“Yes. And this might be a little surprising.”
“……?”
Bella, who leaned in close to Elaine’s face with a mysterious look, covered her mouth with one hand and whispered as if she were telling a story, “Actually, he’s also not human like me.”
“Not…human?”
“Espel is a demon.”
Bella leaned back and laughed mischievously.
Demons. A race from a world different from this one. People often called this other world the demonic realm. In rare cases, those from the demonic realm came over to this side of the world.
“Back then, I was really surprised when I found him lying passed out in the middle of the road, so I brought him in. It would have been extremely dangerous. Of course, I mean for the people, not Espel.”
Demons were inherently abhorrent of humans. As a result, they were responsible for many murder cases that happened throughout the land.
“If I had left him there, a bloodbath would have swept through the streets. During that time, Espel killed every human he met like they were insects.”
“Well, isn’t my life in danger then…?”
“Hm? Ahaha, don’t worry. There have been incidents that happened a long time ago, but after he and I had a big quarrel, he promised that he would no longer harm people.”
Bella seemed to be carefully choosing her words for a while, then continued speaking, “Still, Espel really doesn’t like humans. He’s gotten better since staying with me, but…it’s not that he dislikes you in particular, so please don’t mind him.”
“I don’t think it’s right…”
“Anyway, it’s all right! Espel can’t refuse if it’s my request, and in the end, he will accept it.”
“That’s not a proper agreement, is it?”
“No matter. What’s good is good!”
Elaine now understood why Espel had sighed deeply earlier. A sigh flowed out from Elaine’s lips as she stared at Bella, who was smiling brightly without a worry.
· · ─────── ·◈· ─────── · ·
Elaine’s eyes fluttered open early in the morning from the sunlight seeping through the window. She decided to get up at that moment and neatly arranged her bed. Bella was nowhere to be found in the early hours of the morning. Elaine slipped on her shoes and went outside to walk around the cottage until Bella came back.
As she walked around for a while, she came upon a small stream nearby. Seeing the crystal clear water, she felt thirsty. Elaine crouched down by the stream and lowered her neck. After washing her face, she wiped off the water and stood up, stretching lightly. Then, by chance, one of the trees caught her eye.
Someone was sitting on a thick branch of a tree, looking down at her. A man with blood-red eyes.
“Espel is a demon.”
Ah…?
Right at that moment, Elaine lost her balance and began to tip towards the water. The stream was shallow, but there were many bumpy rocks. As a result, if someone fell in, they would be seriously injured. Elaine curled up her body to the fullest extent.
With her vision rapidly tilting, Elaine thought she saw an illusion of the branch the man was sitting on shaking.
Oh, he’s gone…
Then, suddenly, she felt warmth wrapping around her waist the moment she realized the man had disappeared from the tree. Soft gray hair tickled her face. The man with a pair of red eyes held her for a while, then gently placed her down on the ground.
Elaine stood still in bewilderment, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The man sighed and swept aside his hair with one hand, then turned back, leaving her alone.
“Th-Thank you!”
Elaine hurriedly rushed after the man, shouting at his back. But the man continued to walk away without stopping.
“You’re Espel…right?”
Only then did Espel stop walking. Turning around, an even deeper sigh than before escaped from him.
“…Hah, it looks like Bella was talking about me.”
“Yes.”
“Are you aware that I’m opposed to you staying with us?”
“I know.”
“Then, I don’t have to make this long. I’ll get straight to the point. Please leave this place right now.”
Elaine, who was still staring into Espel’s red eyes, asked slowly, “Is it because I’m a human?”
“Did Bella tell you why I hate humans?”
“She said it’s because Espel is a demon.”
“I thought so—leaving out the important stuff. Yes, those words would have rung true in the past, but not anymore. I feel much less repelled by you humans after having spent a long time with Bella.”
Elaine recalled the moment when Espel had saved her from falling into the stream.
Certainly, I never thought that Espel, a demon, would save me.
She hadn’t expected anyone to save her, so she didn’t close her eyes to protect herself even when she was about to plummet into the water. She had been prepared to get hit by the rocks in the stream and gravely injure herself.
However, it wasn’t the cold water that hit her, but the sturdy, soft arms of Espel.
If it wasn’t because he hated humans due to being a demon, then what was it that Bella didn’t tell her?
“Was there anything Bella didn’t tell me?”
“Don’t you think she’s being too nice to you, a person whom she’s never met before?”
“I thought it was a little unusual.”
Bella’s suggestion to stay and live with her as soon as Elaine said she had nowhere to go was difficult to regard as normal.
“Bella has lived alone in solitude for a very long time, so she’s a very lonely person. I believe that’s why she shows a strange attachment to humans.”
“……”
“Many times have I taken in people I’ve met for the first time, just as Bella did with you. Some of them had been decent humans, but it was common to be betrayed by the humans you give your trust to.”
“Betray…?”
Espel’s face distorted as if he recalled something painful.
“Can you imagine being deceived by someone you wholeheartedly trusted into drinking poison, vomiting blood, and being strangled in your sleep?”
Elaine unconsciously held her breath. She was so shocked that she couldn’t even think of a reply. Unbelievable. How can someone do such a cruel thing to another person?
With a trembling voice, she asked, “Why…?”
Espel gritted his teeth. “Immortality. That’s what they were desperate to gain when they put a knife in Bella’s back. They say if you drink the blood of a witch, it can grant you eternal life. Believing in such superstitions, what a bunch of stupid people. Those bastards…!”
“Just…for that reason…” Elaine mumbled quietly. Espel breathed in deeply, closing his eyes, then opened them again. After reeling back his anger, he continued to speak in a voice that seemed to be suppressing something.
“I no longer want to see her suffer from humans. This is why I can’t accept you. So you too…”
“I’m sorry.”
She understood Espel’s words. For him, it would be impossible to place trust in any humans.
“But I want to be with Bella.”
“Hah…”
“I won’t hurt her like them.”
This was obvious greed. The desire to be by Bella’s side and the desire to make her smile. Elaine, for the first time in her life, was being greedy.
Espel quietly looked into the little girl’s eyes—her eyes were not suitable for her age. He bent down towards her, then reached out and grabbed a leaf that had landed on her shoulder.
“…All right. Let’s move on for now. I know Bella is stubborn anyway. I wouldn’t have been able to tell her what to do.”
Elaine’s face brightened at his words, but shortly after, Espel said as if warning her, “But in any case that you bring her any harm.”
The leaf in his hand broke apart.
“I will get rid of you without mercy.”
Elaine nodded vigorously as she looked at the scattered leaves on the ground.
“Good!”
Then she smiled and said, “Thank you for allowing me, Espel.”
Espel stared at Elaine and opened his mouth, “You are strange.”
“What?”
“Are you…not afraid of us?”
Elaine burst into laughter. Since she was born, she has never received anything similar to love from her parents. Her father was indifferent, her mother hated her, and only venom spat out from her stepmother’s mouth.
None of them ever gave her even the smallest inkling of affection. For Elaine—who had lived like that up until now—for the first time in her life, it was Bella who made her feel what warmth was like from another person.
How could she be afraid of Bella, who had saved her from death—someone who was so sincerely worried about her being in pain and had smiled at her so tenderly?
“Did Espel not say before? There are many humans in the world who are much worse than animals. I’ve come across my fair share, and I’ve learned that animals and humans can’t be distinguished by their appearance alone.”
“……”
“And Bella, who had told me she wasn’t human, is more human to me than anyone else.”
Still, Espel had an incomprehensible expression on his face, but Elaine only smiled brightly. It didn’t have to be right away. She believed that if they took slow steps forward, one day, they would eventually understand each other.
This was the start of their relationship to bond together and become a family.
The girl was saved by the witch, and the witch laughed more often because of the girl. They dreamt of a happy future without knowing what awaited them down the road.
But 11 years later, the most terrible tragedy in the kingdom’s history would take place.