“Let’s go talk somewhere else!” Bella said in one quick sentence before flapping her wings and lifting Aengus into the sky.
Bella’s heart was far from calm. If she hadn’t been there at the right time, she wouldn’t have believed that Aengus had reached Elder Demon rank in such a short period of time. It was unbelievable. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she would have never believed it.
It had taken her years of hard work to achieve what he had done so quickly. She had a growing sense of foreboding that Aengus was slipping out of her control, and she wanted to test him.
Her subordinates didn’t follow after receiving her instructions to leave them alone.
Aengus could feel Bella’s inner turmoil as she held him tightly against her chest, but he remained silent.
He realized this might be the moment to clarify everything between them once and for all.
When they landed, Bella’s gaze locked onto his, and a flicker of anxiety crossed her face. She noticed the absence of the respect and flattery he used to show her, a stark contrast to their previous interactions.
“I never imagined you could become this powerful in just a week, Aengus,” she said, her voice steady, calling him by his name. The familiarity signaled that she was being serious this time.
Her piercing purple eyes bore into his as she continued, “Why don’t you call me Mistress anymore? Why can’t I see the obedience you once had? Or was it all just a facade—some fake persona you used to wear?” She searched his gaze, as though hoping to uncover the secrets he had been hiding.
The tension between them thickened, the weight of unspoken truths hanging in the air.
Aengus’s silence confirmed her suspicions, and her heart panicked for a moment.
She quickly calmed herself and used one of her abilities to activate the Hex poison she had secretly placed in his body. The poison, made from her own blood, was meant to enslave him under her control.
“Why isn’t it working?” Her beautiful brows furrowed in frustration.
“No. I can’t accept this, Aengus. After so many years, I finally found hope, and I’m not going to let you go just like that,” she said, almost in desperation, her eyes slightly teary.
Aengus was confused by the sudden emotional outburst of the Succubus woman.
In hurried motion, Bella took out a leather collar made of unknown components.
“Here… wear it!” Bella extended her jade-like hand, offering the collar to Aengus.
Aengus glanced at the collar and immediately recognized it as a Slave Collar, causing his brows to furrow.
He knew he was no match for her in his current state, but enslavement was something he could not accept.
Without hesitation, Aengus took the collar and burned it to ashes with Hellfire.
“Y-You…!” Bella’s anger surged through her chest.
“Paah!” She moved with incredible speed and slapped Aengus hard, sending his body crashing into the ground with a loud bang.
Even though he had activated all of his demonic abilities beforehand, he still couldn’t react in time to defend himself.
Aengus, lying on the ground after being struck with such force, felt the sting of Bella’s power. He had known she was strong, but the speed and ferocity she displayed left him momentarily stunned. His demonic abilities, though formidable, paled in comparison to hers. Yet, the fire inside him, the dark power he’d cultivated, refused to allow him to feel submission.
Bella, standing over him with fury in her eyes, couldn’t believe the defiance he’d shown. The collar—her last hope of binding him—had been reduced to ashes in an instant. Her hands trembled, not out of fear, but frustration. She had never felt so powerless to control someone in her long life.
“You… dared…” she whispered through gritted teeth, her voice quivering with a mix of anger and something more vulnerable beneath the surface. Tears welled in her eyes, though she tried to suppress them, unwilling to let her emotions break through her hard exterior.
Aengus slowly stood up, his expression calm but his eyes filled with a dark resolve. “Bella, I am not the man you once knew,” he said, his voice cold. “Whatever bond we had, it shattered the moment you tried to enslave me. I am no one’s servant—not yours, not anyone’s.”
Bella’s heart clenched as she listened to him. She had hoped to control him, to keep him close, but now she realized that something fundamental had changed between them. “I saved you from death, gave you everything… and this is how you repay me?” she asked, her voice now filled with sorrow more than anger.
Aengus shook his head. “No, I’m grateful for you saving me. But you gave me control disguised as power. You tried to control me in every way you could. But I have my own goals. I’m going to take over the world—not just you. I’ll kill that Demon Lord who took everything from me. And no one can stop me. Not even you, Bella. Unless you kill me.”
Bella trembled at his bold declaration.
“K-Kill you? What would I gain by killing you? Would I get the power you have?” she asked, her voice shaking. “And what about the love we shared?” Her eyes searched his, wondering if the kiss they shared had been a lie too.
“Love?” Aengus paused for a moment, then spoke coldly. “That wasn’t love. You were just trying to enchant me.”
“Paah!” Bella slapped him hard again, sending him stumbling sideways.
“B-Bastard! You’re not just ungrateful—you’re an emotionless creature as well! Do you think I would kiss someone just to enchant them? Do I seem like a whore to you?
I’m not like my other sisters, Aengus!” Bella shouted in frustration, her chest rising and falling with her breath.
Aengus, holding his cheek, asked, “Why would you fall in love just after meeting me? And if you did, why would you try to enslave me? It doesn’t make sense.” He seemed genuinely confused, momentarily forgetting that he had just been slapped twice..
Bella’s face flushed with both anger and frustration. Her emotions, which she usually kept tightly controlled, were unraveling in front of Aengus, the one person she thought she could easily manipulate.
“You think everything is so simple, Aengus?” Bella shot back, her purple eyes flashing dangerously. “You don’t understand anything about me or why I did what I did. Yes, I tried to control you. Yes, I used my power to bind you, but it wasn’t just for my own gain!” She paused, her voice breaking slightly, as if the weight of her feelings was too much to bear. “I was… afraid. Afraid of losing you to the world, just like my mother..”
He wasn’t expecting such raw emotion from someone like Bella, who had always appeared calculating and powerful. “Afraid? You’re one of the most powerful beings I’ve ever met. What could you possibly be afraid of?”
Bella’s fists clenched as she turned her back to him, trying to regain her composure. “Just like how I lost my mother, I was afraid of losing you too.”
“She left me alone here when I was just a child, going to the human lands, and I never heard from her again.”
“I can’t really blame her. If I were in her shoes, I might have done the same. She was forced by her illustrious family—and, more importantly, by the demon lords who opposed my parents’ relationship for their own selfish reasons. My father and mother had no choice but to end their relationship to protect a half-breed child like me.” She spoke as though she were letting out years of pent-up frustration.
“From that moment on, I vowed to overthrow their rules. But no matter what I did, it always fell short because of their power and influence.”
“I’m still helpless against them. But when I saw you, Aengus, I saw hope. You’re also a half-breed like me, and our goals are the same.”
She turned to face him, looking into his dark eyes. “Now, tell me, what did I do wrong?” she asked, her voice firm, still standing by her principles to the very end.
