Dimensional Descent

"I think I will return now." Mordred said softly, motioning toward Crakos.

From start to finish, the #1 Demon Lord hadn't said a word and had simply observed things. Though he received many looks and several auras were constantly locked onto him, the Demon Lord always remained calm, restraining his own.

Leonel nodded lightly. He knew that Mordred had gone through a lot today. The wounds she had suffered in her past couldn't be cured so quickly, but Leonel felt content that they were going in the right direction.

He and Mordred practically knew everything about one another. In many ways, Leonel felt that he was closer to her than he had ever been to James. Seeing her slowly coming back to her family left him feeling happy.

"What's with that smile?" Mordred teased. "Is big sis very beautiful?"

Leonel coughed, not knowing how to respond. But, his predictable reaction left the Demon Empress giggling.

Just as Mordred was about to turn to leave, Leonel suddenly spoke out.

"Demo – Em, I take you to be one of my close friends now. I just wanted you to know that."

Mordred's steps froze, looking back toward Leonel with surprise.

Seeing those clear, pale green eyes and that handsome, charismatic smile, she felt her heart shudder. For some reason, she felt her tears well up in her eyes.

She quickly dried them with a subtle use of Force, not letting them fall. Then, just as quickly as she had almost cried, she smiled a charming smile.

"Big sis has more to teach you about women. Rule number one is to not make them cry."

Mordred strolled away under the escort of several guards, clicking her tongue as though she was still reprimanding Leonel. But, in response, Leonel only chuckled.

"You must be happy having such a beautiful friend, hm?"

Aina's voice disrupted Leonel's mood, causing his coughing fit to return.

"... It's fine, I'm pretty sure Em only likes women anyway." Leonel quickly recovered.

"So you mean that if she liked men instead you'd be happier?"

"Ah..."

all his insane

begin to giggle to herself, the soft bells of

such a teasing side to her. The two

know was that Aina had no choice but to begin teasing Leonel like this. Before, it felt as though Leonel

Leonel like this, she had to play into the fact they were a couple. Who knows how

back to

think we'd ever grow apart like

felt for Leonel, she didn't even believe she had the time to think of

loaded question left her not knowing what

possible for you

asked a question back

She couldn't help but admit to herself

to always say that men were just like that.

never really took much of her rants seriously, she had to admit to herself that thinking of this might have subconsciously been one of the reason she also never tried to respond to

cycle where she never said yes

beautiful in their school, and now she was even further from that reality thanks to these scars. It was even possible that the reason she hadn't shut down Leonel's line of questioning like she would have usually done was precisely

left her completely

I could grow apart from

but she felt as though her whole world was

for a response to be able to flip her

feeling was so real and undeniable that even she

knife at her

tell if it was due to tears or

That's if and

breath, hitched and hiccupped like she couldn't hear Leonel at all. It felt as though she couldn't breathe enough air, as though there wasn't enough

"Aina."

gripping onto

such force that Leonel was almost thrown across the room. But, he held onto her tightly, gripping the sides of her face and forcing her to look at

Leonel had already put up a [Light Refraction] spell. He hadn't expected Aina to

struggled, but Leonel didn't let her slip