Bound to the Demon Lord ✔️

Chapter Nine

Phoebe tried to avoid Krios like the plague. Though that hadn't been too difficult since she spent most of her time in the library researching and he was busy doing whatever Demon Lord's did in the Underworld. They didn't have meals together either. The maids tried to get her to join him for dinner, but she declined every time and chose to have meals in the library or her room.

She kept waiting for him to drag her away, but he never did. A part of her hoped that maybe he was considering her suggestion about breaking their bond. It was unlikely, but she could dream. She had also hoped that perhaps more of Lady Seraphine's memories would come to her, but they were all fairly insignificant compared to what she wanted to know. Just more of the same cute, romantic and happy memories she had seen before.

Lady Seraphine was probably showing them to her on purpose. Maybe she hoped that the memories would make her fall in love with Krios. If that was the point, it wasn't working. Though it did make her wonder how demons came to be so vilified when, in those memories, there had been other humans and demons interacting peacefully with each other.

That was where the reading was filling in the blanks. Back in the Temple, demons were always painted as cancers that hated humanity and wanted to enslave them. But the books she had been reading the past three days told a much different story.

Demons and humans had always had an overall contentious relationship, but never violent. Demons didn't ravage the lands or enslave anyone, and humans generally just avoided and feared them. However, that had changed when the Temple named Lady Seraphine a saintess, who had only been sixteen at the time. She was an advocate for peace between demons and humans. She had believed everyone to be a child of the Creator and deserved to be treated fairly.

Years later, she had learned that she could pull devils from the Void. She had traveled to the Underworld to discuss this new found ability with the newly appointed Demon Lord Krios. The books only said that they had a close relationship, which had helped foster peace between the two realms.

Then everything had fallen to chaos when Emperor Edward Kirkland III died. There were many conflicting reports on how. He had not been well liked by demons, and even human commoners weren't happy with him either. Some books claimed he had been poisoned by demons. Some say he had been killed by assassins sent by his own countrymen. Others outright claimed Krios had killed him due to the emperor's antagonistic stance towards his people.

Regardless, the books all told the same story: the two realms fell to war upon his death. It had devastated their lands, and many people had died. Then, in a last ditch to keep everyone safe, Lady Seraphine had put up the Veil. The realms had been completely separated since.

Phoebe sighed at the thought of it. She was in the library again with several books scattered around her. With all the reading she had done, it was truly beginning to dawn on her how wrong the Temple had been about everything. She didn't know if it was due to malicious lies or ignorant fear. Either way, the damage had been done within her realm. Demons were reviled as monsters, and it was something that could not be easily changed even if the truth came out. If anyone even believed the truth.

"My lady?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Phoebe lifted her head. A servant on the other side of the table with what looked to be tea and lunch. Now that she thought about it, she was a little hungry. With a smile, she pushed the books out of the way to make room for the food.

Once she did, the young halfling quickly got to work. As she set down the food, Phoebe watched her closely. She looked very familiar, though a name didn't come to mind. But she kept looking at her, looking a bit antsy. It reminded her of some of the village girls who would get nervous to talk with some of the young handsome paladins.