Salavira, who hadn’t rested well, fainted halfway through being tormented. This time, he remained unconscious for two whole days and nights.
At first, Asmodeus would poke and prod him with his fingers, resting his chin in his hand, thinking about what fun they could have once Salavira woke up. But he waited and waited, and Salavira still didn’t wake.
Finally realizing something was wrong, Asmodeus’s heart began to race. He started meticulously checking Salavira for any injuries.
After flipping him over and examining him for a long time, Asmodeus found that the previous wounds on Salavira had already been treated. Some were indeed severe, but none were life-threatening.
Yet, Salavira still didn’t wake.
Asmodeus began to reflect on whether he had gone too far. Feeling a bit guilty, he brought the best elixirs and healed all of Salavira’s wounds, big and small.
Even so, after staying by the bedside for a long time, Salavira showed no signs of waking up.
Asmodeus’s anxiety finally reached its peak.
He summoned every intelligent demon with some medical knowledge into the bedchamber, surrounding the bed in layers. But these demons, not being human, couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the beautiful porcelain doll their lord was caring for.
In the end, one by one, these demons were thrown out of the palace and slaughtered by the furious and anxious Lord of Hell.
The bloody massacre did nothing to quell the demon’s anger.
However, when he returned to the bedchamber, covered in the scent of blood, and saw Salavira lying on the bed, his anxiety and anger were suddenly encased in a shell, leaving his heart feeling empty and even a bit… aggrieved.
Standing at the doorway, staring at the figure on the bed for a while, Asmodeus wanted to go over and hold Salavira, but then he remembered that this difficult person had a cleanliness obsession.
And he was covered in blood.
Very dirty.
So Asmodeus went to clean himself from head to toe, changed into fresh clothes, and even sprayed some perfume.
Only when the scent of blood was completely gone did he return to the bed, holding Salavira like a big stuffed doll, helplessly for a while, until he noticed the person in his arms suddenly moved.
Startled, he looked down to see the long-unconscious person slowly opening his eyes, staring dazedly at a button on his shirt for a long time before his gaze gradually cleared.
But the first thing Salavira did upon waking was to try to move away.
Asmodeus felt something hit his heart hard, but surprisingly, he didn’t pull Salavira back in anger. Instead, he just dimmed his gaze and watched quietly, unable to utter a harsh word.
Salavira only moved a little and didn’t distance himself as Asmodeus had feared.
He sighed softly, as if in compromise, reached out a hand, gently tugged on Asmodeus’s sleeve, and said in a small voice:
“I’m hungry.”
As he spoke, he still bore the suspicious marks Asmodeus had left on him two days ago, which hadn’t completely faded. It was like a couple who had just had a fight, with the atmosphere still tense, but one side softening first.
Asmodeus felt all the chaotic emotions in his heart suddenly soothed.
At the same time, he finally understood why the person he cared for had been unconscious for so long despite having no apparent injuries—
He was hungry.
Ever since losing his magic power for some unknown reason, Salavira had fallen to the level of humans, needing food to survive.
Asmodeus chuckled bitterly, brushed aside a lock of hair from Salavira’s forehead, and asked gently, “What would you like to eat?”
“Anything’s fine.”
With that, Asmodeus snapped his fingers, and skeletal servants immediately got busy. Soon, dish after dish was brought in.
These dishes were deliberately made according to human recipes and were very diverse. The line of servers stretched from the bedside to the door, seemingly endless. Salavira glanced over and thought Asmodeus was trying to feed a pig.
He was held in Asmodeus’s arms, fed bite by bite.
Unlike the previous days when he was deliberately difficult, Salavira was now surprisingly obedient. When food was brought to his mouth, he opened it obediently, and when soup dripped from his lips, he would extend his tongue to lick it back.
Such a compliant attitude was like a feather tickling Asmodeus’s heart.
He stared at the tip of Salavira’s tongue and asked, “Is it good?”
Salavira, busy chewing, didn’t speak but nodded. After swallowing, he opened his mouth again to bite into another piece of sausage offered to him.
Though there was nothing particularly outrageous about his actions, Asmodeus’s twisted sense of possession was greatly satisfied.
He couldn’t help but lower his head, pecking at the corner of Salavira’s mouth, tasting the food’s flavor, and then savoring it.
Human food… it did taste quite good.
After finishing a steak, two sausages, and a piece of mousse cake, Salavira refused any more food from Asmodeus, pointing to his stomach and saying that if he ate more, he’d burst.
Reluctantly, Asmodeus dismissed the long line of servers, leaving only a cup of hot milk for Salavira to sip slowly.
The milk was sweetened, and it tasted quite nice.
This was the first full meal Salavira had since arriving here, and he regained a lot of strength. Even without Asmodeus’s support, he could sit up on his own.
He also noticed that his injuries had been completely healed.
He was a bit surprised that the demon beside him could be so kind-hearted.
Despite his doubts, a full meal, a healing session, and his body’s growing familiarity with this place over the days inevitably made him relax a lot.
He finally had the energy to think about how to get out of here.
He should be in the palace he had seen before, located directly below the Gate of Hell. If he could deceive the demon and escape from here, it wasn’t impossible.
But the problem was that Asmodeus was constantly clinging to him, giving him no chance to escape.
Even if he managed to get out of the palace, outside were the demons that had hatched in droves in the darkness due to the demon’s awakening. In his current state, escaping from these creatures would be difficult.
Even if, by some miracle, he did escape, Asmodeus, whose true form had already awakened, could easily capture him again.
This problem… seemed unsolvable.
As he thought about this, he became lost in thought, his grip on the cup tightening, turning his knuckles white.
Naturally, all of this was noticed by Asmodeus, who had been watching him closely.
“What are you thinking about? So lost in thought?”
The voice came from behind his ear, and the slight vibration made Salavira’s body react before his mind, trembling twice and spilling milk onto Asmodeus’s sleeve.
Only then did Salavira snap back to reality, and as if trying to cover something up, he began to wipe Asmodeus’s sleeve.
But as soon as his hand reached out, it was suddenly grabbed by Asmodeus, who seemed to have seen through something, and he spoke softly beside him:
“You’re thinking about leaving here, going back to the human world… aren’t you?”
Asmodeus’s voice was low and certain, the anger beneath it chilling Salavira’s heart. His body immediately tensed, but he didn’t deny it right away.
“Of course… you’re still thinking about them.”
The rare, albeit false, warmth between them was easily shattered. Asmodeus’s grip on his wrist was surprisingly strong, and Salavira even thought the demon intended to break it.
“It hurts…” he said, but instead of letting go, Asmodeus pulled him onto the bed, pinning him down.
“Crash—!!”
The cup of milk rolled onto the carpet, not breaking, but spilling its contents everywhere.
“Salavira.” Asmodeus stared intently into his eyes, the anger in his gaze almost tangible, “Do you really think those humans will be grateful to you?! Look at what they’ve done! A thousand years ago, you saved them, but those ungrateful bastards locked you in a cage after you lost your power! What? Are you so eager to go back and be the church’s pet again?!”
Salavira felt his wrist was about to lose all feeling, and he struggled to free himself from the demon’s grip, only to be met with even more force.
His vision nearly blacked out, but he stubbornly glared at the demon before him.
The events of his nineteen years after reincarnation couldn’t be summed up in a few words, nor were they as simple as the demon made them out to be. But at the moment, he was in too much pain to bother explaining.
Besides, he had no obligation to explain anything to this person.
“Let go! What does any of that have to do with you?!”
“Ah… again, it’s none of my business.” Asmodeus almost laughed in anger, then his gaze shifted, roaming over Salavira’s body inch by inch, like a beast surveying its territory, “Salavira, look at your body. Is there any part of it I haven’t seen or tasted? Do you still dare say you have nothing to do with me?”
His other hand reached for Salavira’s neck, a seemingly gentle caress, but with just a bit more force, he could snap the neck bone!
“You’ve lived among humans for so long, you must know what they call the relationship between people who’ve done these things, right?”
As he spoke, Asmodeus licked his back teeth, pausing as if giving him time to think, then chuckled and said, “This kind of relationship can be called slavery, a bed partner, but the most common term among humans… is marriage.”
Marriage, a relationship that signifies the closest bond between people outside of blood ties, was the least likely to occur between them.
Yet, at this moment, Asmodeus spoke of it in a tone of mockery and provocation.
Salavira was momentarily stunned.