Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Angel and Demon (11)
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A cemetery located on the outskirts of Count Asmos's castle.
In front of that cemetery, countless demons had gathered.
At their center lay a splendid coffin.
It was a coffin painted black with intricate gold decorations, one of the rarest even in the depths of hell.
"Ahh..."
Inside the coffin lay a beautiful woman.
Bella, her face still exquisitely lovely despite her pale corpse.
It had been revealed that she had taken her own life in grief over losing the one she loved.
Her heartbreaking death drew condolences from so many.
"Bella..."
Count Asmos knelt before the coffin.
His eyes were bloodshot red, and his face was gaunt to an alarming degree.
The count caressed the coffin with trembling hands.
"Father... I'm so sorry..."
He begged for forgiveness, but the one who could have granted it had already departed to a distant place.
Beside him, the countess—who had never once shed a tear—sobbed sorrowfully.
'My beloved daughter, I told you to leave hell and live happily... so why did you have to depart from us like this?'
It was the most heartbreaking funeral in the underworld.
"My lord, we must close the coffin now."
"..."
Count Asmos could not respond right away.
Closing this coffin meant an eternal farewell to his daughter.
The count grasped his daughter's cold hand one last time with trembling fingers.
"I will live the rest of my days in regret... I'm sorry, Bella... truly... I'm so sorry..."
He wiped away his tears and slowly released Bella's hand.
Soon, the lid of the coffin containing Bella's body began to close slowly.
Kiiiek...
Thud.
Underground.
Rael opened his eyes.
"Ugh..."
He pushed himself up and checked his condition.
The wound on his abdomen had mostly healed.
"The wound...?"
He looked around and saw he was still in that dark underground chamber from his final moments.
"Miss Bella...?"
Bella, who had been by his side in his last moments before collapsing, was nowhere to be seen.
Rael staggered to his feet and wandered endlessly down the passage in his battered state.
At one point in the passage, he spotted a path leading up to the surface, and as he emerged onto the ground above, volcanic ash was falling.
'I have to... find Miss Bella.'
The moment he turned his steps toward the distant castle.
A passing ordinary demon noticed Rael's disheveled clothes and asked worriedly,
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just heading to the castle..."
"Why to the count's castle?"
Quite some time had passed since Rael had collapsed.
'By now, they've probably already held the wedding...'
He thought he might hear news about Bella's wedding from this demon.
"Um, by any chance... the count's daughter...?"
"Ah, her?"
"Has the wedding already taken place...?"
If she had married the man she despised so much, Bella would be utterly miserable.
That worry gnawed at Rael, but...
"Pardon? You mean the funeral, not the wedding?"
The response was an unexpected shock.
"What did you just say...?"
Rael's face turned pale in an instant.
"The funeral. The count's daughter passed away. She was probably buried in the cemetery yesterday?"
"N-No way... Cemetery...?"
Rael staggered, reeling.
"She'd be buried in the cemetery on the outskirts of the count's castle... Well, I don't know the details."
The demon left those words behind and went on his way.
"Miss Bella... Miss Bella..."
A suffocating tightness gripped his chest.
What had happened while he lay unconscious?
He woke to find the woman he loved dead.
No one could stay sane upon hearing such news, and Rael was no exception.
"Bella!! Bella!!"
He ran toward the castle.
Even sprinting like a madman felt agonizingly slow, so without a thought to hiding his identity as an angel, Rael unfurled his pristine white wings.
'Please...'
She couldn't be dead.
They had promised to build an animal farm together in the human world.
He refused to believe she would leave him after making such a vow, but...
Suddenly, he recalled her shocked expression as she looked at him before he collapsed.
'What if... she thought I was dead and took her own life...?'
Something surged up from within Rael.
He had killed her.
If she had ended her life believing him dead, it was as good as if he had killed Bella himself.
Clinging to his fracturing sanity, Rael somehow reached the cemetery on the castle's outskirts.
He immediately knew which was her grave.
Not a simple plot in the earth, but an ornate mausoleum adorned with lavish decorations.
The mausoleum was sealed by sturdy doors, but Rael smashed them open without hesitation and entered.
Bang—
Inside lay a coffin surrounded by flowers.
"Bella...!"
Rael carefully opened the coffin.
He couldn't believe his beloved was dead and laid to rest until he saw it with his own eyes.
Yet he had no choice but to accept it.
Her face in the coffin was serene, but so very cold and pallid.
"Bella... Bella... I'm here..."
Rael took her hand.
Their last memory together had been holding hands like this.
But now, one hand was utterly ice-cold.
"...Why am I still alive, while you left me behind...?"
He could barely breathe.
Like thorns in his throat, his entire body rejected his survival.
It screamed that he should die with her too.
Since she died because of him, it was only right that he die as well.
Bella wasn't actually dead—just in a death-like state for exactly 48 hours—but Rael had no way of knowing that.
It hadn't even been 48 hours since she took the drug.
"I'll... I'll follow you, Bella..."
Bella was the one who had taught Rael emotions he had never known.
A world without her was unimaginable, so he drew a small dagger.
"To your side..."
As Rael aimed the dagger at his chest and prepared to plunge it deep—
"Rael...?"
A voice he desperately longed to hear came from right beside him.
The hand holding the dagger froze inches from his throat.
"...Is that really you, Rael...?"
A slender finger reached toward his face.
The woman who had clearly been dead was moving, alive like a miracle.
"Ahh..."
Bella's closed eyelids slowly parted, her lovely eyes reflecting his image.
"Bella...!!"
Rael embraced her.
"Just like that person said, you really are alive. Rael..."
Rael shed tears, tightening his embrace.
"What happened? You were suddenly lying in the coffin—I thought you were dead and panicked..."
"Ahem... Well, I did technically die."
"Pardon...?"
Rael couldn't help but be stunned by her words.
Was this an illusion?
Or had he died too and was seeing a ghost?
All sorts of thoughts raced through his mind, but...
Bella flashed a playful smile, as if she had anticipated his reaction.
"I missed you so much, I even took down the grim reaper to come back. Pretty impressive, right...?"
The warmth of Bella's body was real.
Completely different from the cold corpse moments ago—this was truly the living her.
He pulled her even closer into his arms.
"No more joking around."
"Why not?"
"...Because I'll punish you."
"How...?"
Rael whispered something softly into her ear, and Bella's face flushed crimson upon hearing it.
Not wanting to show her beet-red face, Bella buried her head in his chest.
"Let's get out of here together now..."
"First, about the child between an angel and a demon..."
"Ugh, seriously...!!"
They bickered playfully for a good while in the mausoleum.
And later, they fled together to the human world.
Several years later.
A small house stood on a vast plain.
A wide fence surrounded the house, and inside it, various animals enjoyed peaceful days.
"Mom! What's this one's name?"
A child holding a little lamb asked Bella.
"Hmm, was it Dolly... or Fluffy...?"
As Bella fumbled for the lamb's name upon hearing the question,
Rael stroked the child's head and answered for her.
"It's Tooltooli."
"Wow... Dad knows everything?"
"Of course. Dad loves animals."
The child gazed at Rael admiringly with sparkling eyes, a sight that made Bella pout jealously.
"I... love animals too..."
"Then why can't you remember the names?"
"W-Well... Mom remembers Rene's name instead, since I love her."
"Ugh... Of course you have to remember your daughter's name!!"
The flustered Bella shot her husband a pleading look.
Rael smiled and nudged Bella and Rene into a group hug.
"From now on, Rene can teach Mom every day. Then Mom won't forget anymore."
"Heehee, Dad's so smart!! I'll teach you every~ day until you memorize them, Mom!"
Rene struck a triumphant pose with hands on her hips.
Bella watched the father-daughter duo fondly, then playfully tackled them onto the green grass.
Warm sunlight, cool breeze.
And the happy daily life they had dreamed of.
Everything was perfect.
"Hey, Rene."
"Yeah, Mom?"
"Rene, you're truly blessed. Mom and Dad weren't supposed to meet at all."
"That story again? I'm sooo over it~"
Rene pretended to plug her ears and rolled around on the grass.
"That's how miraculous you are."
"Miraculous?"
"Yes, an incredible miracle."
An angel and a demon.
Two beings who could never meet, fell in love and had a child.
What could be more miraculous than that?
Rene took Dad Rael's hand in one of hers,
and Mom Bella's hand in the other.
"Hehe, I'm a miracle...!!"
Startled by Rene's loud declaration, the cows lowed in response.
"Even the cows agree with Rene."
"Good kids! I'll come give you all pets...!!"
Rene dashed toward the cows.
Now alone, Bella leaned her head on Rael's shoulder. He asked her,
"Are you happy, Bella?"
"Of course. My wished-for future is right here before me—nothing could make me happier. Well, there's just one thing nagging at me..."
The man who had helped her escape, the one she loved.
"Sometimes... I miss my mother."
They had faked Bella's death.
That was why she couldn't meet her mother, who remained in hell.
As Rael moved to comfort her somber expression—
"Bella...?"
A familiar voice called from behind her.
The two startled and turned around.
"M-Mom?!"
The countess stood smiling, and Bella rushed to embrace her mother.
"How... how are you here...?"
Indulging her daughter's whining, the countess gestured behind her.
"This person brought me here."
But the man who had clearly guided her there was already gone.
"There's no one there...?"
The countess furrowed her brow slightly in puzzlement but soon understood the man's intentions.
Soon, Rene came running back from playing with the cows, and upon seeing the woman hugging Bella, she hid behind Rael.
"Who's that, Dad...?"
Rael gave the lady a brief greeting and reassured Rene.
"That's your grandma. Say hi, Rene."
"H-Hi there..."
The countess's lips curved into a natural smile at her granddaughter's adorable greeting.
"You take after your father."
"N-No, Mom, Rene looks like me!"
Bella bristled indignantly, but the countess examined Rene closely.
To a long-lived demon, a half-demon, half-angel was naturally fascinating.
"Well, it's good to see you all doing well. Bella."
Those words carried many layers of meaning.
"I'm sorry, Mom... for leaving without any word back then..."
"The circumstances were what they were. I'll keep it a lifelong secret from your father."
The countess fixed Rael with a steady gaze as she spoke.
"Take good care of our daughter from now on."
"Yes, I'll keep the promise I made back then."
Satisfied with Rael's firm reply, the countess smiled warmly.
Overjoyed to see her mother after so long, Bella dashed into the house to prepare a delicious dinner.
The landscape at sunset.
Red light poured over the plain.
Demon and angel, and the half-blood child born between them, laughed and chatted boisterously in their little house.
A peaceful, warm home.
Luhan watched their house from afar.
The love between two beings who should never have been together had concluded in the form he most desired.
"In that novel, it was a tragic ending, but happily ever after here—I'm glad."
As the sun sank below the mountains, Luhan vanished from the scene as well.