The next day, Lea was sitting in the meeting room of the castle, waiting for the others to arrive. Since the demons were still investigating the curse, Lea had to return to Devildom with them. The news had come as a disappointment for her, but she did her best not to complain; Living at the demon lord's castle was certainly no hardship..!
Yesterday, when arriving back to Devildom, Lucifer had informed her that they would be having a meeting today, to discuss their findings. So here she was, waiting patiently as the clock ticked closer to the agreed time.
Lea glanced around the room, admiring the decor. It was a spacious and elegant room, decorated in gold and red tones, the furniture made from a dark and sturdy wood. The long table was situated in the center, and the wall on the other side of the room was lined with several large windows, the inky darkness of the Devildom landscape stretching endlessly outside.
As Lea was gazing at the scenery, her mind began to drift. She couldn't help but notice the irony of the situation; Only a few days ago, she had been terrified, feeling lost and confused as she tried to wrap her head around her situation. Now, however, she had grown accustomed to her new environment, and here she was, comfortably lounging in the castle. It seemed like fate had a sense of humor after all.
While waiting, she browsed her D.D.D. She was looking at the photos she had taken back in the human world, and she felt a pang of sadness tugging at her. She had been so excited and eager to return home, and now that the opportunity was robbed from her, she found herself yearning for the human world more than ever. The unfamiliarity of Devildom's customs and rules left her constantly feeling vulnerable and out of place, and despite the comfortable living conditions at the castle, she often longed for the familiarity of her own world, her own life.
Then, she came upon a photo of the demon prince and the kittens. She stopped, a slight smile appearing on her face. As she stared at the picture, a wave of warmth washed over her, her gaze lingering on the demon prince's soft and gentle smile. Diavolo's eyes had always held a hint of sadness, and seeing him surrounded by the kittens, Lea felt an odd sense of melancholy, like a longing for something that could've been, but never was. She couldn't help but feel sad about his loneliness and the difficulties of his upbringing, and the fact that she couldn't do anything to help him, made it all the worse.
As she sat there, she couldn't help but think about Diavolo and the situation she had found herself in. She knew it was far from ordinary, but there was something about him that drew her in— His company made her feel at ease, and being with him brought a sense of comfort that she hadn't felt in a very long time. She couldn't help but admire his charm, the way he exuded authority while maintaining a genuine kindness that was a rare find.
Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the room.
"Good afternoon, Lea."
She looked up from her D.D.D. and saw Diavolo and Barbatos enter the room. The rest of the group, Lucifer, Satan and Solomon, soon followed.
"Hi." She greeted the others with a smile, pocketing her phone.
"How are you doing, Lea?" Solomon inquired.
"I'm good, thanks." Lea nodded. "I'm eager to hear what you've learned this far."
"Alright, now that we're all here, let's get down to business." Lucifer took a seat next to Diavolo, who sat at the head of the table. "Let's start with the basics, shall we?"
"The occult group that captured you—" Satan began. "They most likely performed an ancient ritual known as 'the sacrificial bride'. The purpose of the ritual is to use a human sacrifice to summon the king of demons into the human world. But, it looks like something went wrong, since instead of the demon king they got the second best thing instead." He shrugged somewhat nonchalantly, nodding at Lord Diavolo. "It was rather impressive, though… For some puny humans to summon Lord Diavolo without his consent, that is. They even had the nerve to try and bind him..!"
"That is concerning, indeed." Lucifer nodded in agreement. "Thankfully, Lord Diavolo was able to disrupt their hexes before any real damage was done… Hm..? What?"
Barbatos, who had tried to get Lucifer's attention by clearing his throat more than once, subtly nodded at Lea, as if to tell Lucifer had forgotten something important.
"Oh. Before any real damage was done to Devildom or its future ruler."
"Yeah, thanks a lot." Lea shot an annoyed look at Lucifer.
Ignoring the glare she sent him, Lucifer continued. "We believe that they used this specific ritual for a very simple reason; Using a human sacrifice is the easiest way to summon a demon, and this ritual is specifically tailored for a demon king."
"The interesting part is, that the sacrificial bride is a demon worshiping ritual— They used the first part of the ritual to summon Lord Diavolo to the human world, then interrupted the ritual themselves by trying to bind him to the circle. They weren't planning on finishing the ritual in the first place." Solomon added.
"I'm not sure if I'm following…" Lea let out a tired sigh. She was really struggling trying to wrap her head around this whole mess. "Isn't that a good thing that the ritual wasn't finished?"
"Yes and no." It was Lucifer's turn to sigh. "Since you were used as a sacrifice, until the ritual is completed, you are bound to Lord Diavolo. As you already have learned, straying too far away from his presence can possibly be greatly hazardous to your health, deadly, even… Which also means you cannot return home."
Lea swallowed, a lump forming in her throat. The revelation hadn't come as a surprise, but hearing it from Lucifer's mouth still caused her chest to tighten with dread. Lea being bound to Lord Diavolo had forced the two of them to mind the distance between them, staying too far apart for extended periods of time causing Lea to feel fatigued and even ill, but she hadn't felt like her life was in real danger… not until now.
"There are many possible reasons why the effect of the curse is lesser here in Devildom." Solomon explained, leaning back in his chair as he pondered the situation. "Just alone the fact that the ritual took place in the human world might be enough... but one reason could also be that Lord Diavolo's power resides here in the Devildom— Staying in the human world could make the bond between the two of you to 'stretch thin', so to say."
"There are two options on how to finish the ritual, and both of them are… problematic." Lucifer mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive manner.
"Problematic? How so?" Lea felt a cold sweat run down her back when everyone in the room suddenly went eerily quiet. The way everyone averted their gaze made it obvious no-one wanted to be the one to spill the beans. The room itself seemed to be holding its breath, anticipating the difficult conversation that lay ahead. As the seconds passed in silence, the suffocating feeling in her chest only grew, her eyes darting between the people in the room. Something about this situation felt off, though: "Why the heck the mood turned so awkward out of a sudden?!" If they were about to give her some dire news, she'd expect them to look somber, glum or whatever… but the sheepish look on their faces wasn't what she had expected to see! "They all look embarrassed!"
"Tell her."
Everyone turned their attention to the figure at the end of the table— Lord Diavolo remained silent as he got up from his seat, making his way over to the window. For a short moment, he just stared into the darkness, taking his time to carefully weigh his words before speaking again.
"It's her life that is on the line here— She deserves to know the truth."
The others shared a reluctant look, the tense atmosphere lingering in the room.
"The sacrifice is either accepted or rejected." Barbatos stepped in when everyone else seemed reluctant to break the silence. "Accepting the sacrifice allows the ritual to be completed. The first steps of the ritual took place in the human world, during the night of a new moon. If my calculations are correct, the completion of the ritual can only be attempted after three full moon cycles, by the night of the new moon."
"What?! Do you mean that if we don't complete the ritual, we'll just be bound forever?!" Lea gasped horrified.
"No, of course not." Barbatos smiled again. For a split second, Lea thought she was about to finally receive some comforting news… But instead, the demon butler's next words were like a punch in the gut. "If the ritual isn't completed then, the sacrifice is considered rejected, and the rejected sacrifice will perish." He smiled cordially— When explaining such things, his calm demeanor was a bit unsettling..!
"So it's either complete the ritual or DIE?! You- You guys have got to be kidding me..!" Lea's jaw dropped. She didn't know what to say. There was nothing she could say. She stared at the people in the room, desperately hoping someone would tell her it was a bad joke.
"Those are the only options we can present to you at the time, yes." Lucifer finally opened his mouth again. "But, Lord Diavolo has tasked us all to study the matter, so maybe we'll be able to find a way to disrupt the ritual in such a way that no-one is harmed."
"Three moon cycles… So that means roughly three months." Satan calculated.
"So basically, we have 90 days to figure out a way to prevent this from happening." Lea mumbled, combing her hair with her fingers in a nervous manner. "And what about completing the ritual? I mean, it can't be worse than death, can it?" If there was no other way, they'd have to complete the ritual... whatever that meant.
Another awkward silence fell into the room.
"Well, if we are to speak hypothetically-" Solomon cleared his throat.
"Don't." Lea sighed. "Just... Just tell me."
"The sacrifice is called a bride, because… uhm…" The look on the human sorcerer's face was impossible to read as he spoke, but the way he avoided Lea's gaze was enough to tell her she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear. "For the ritual to be completed, some… eh… marital duties must be performed."
"Marital duties?" Lea frowned, unable to believe her ears. She must've either heard wrong or misunderstood something! "You… You're not saying that we-" She laughed nervously, instinctively glancing at Diavolo. He had kept his gaze down as others were speaking, quietly listening to every word, a solemn look on his face… But as he now raised his gaze, the look in his eyes was enough to convince Lea she had heard every word completely right.
The color drained from Lea's face as the realization dawned on her. "You- You mean- But we- We can't- No! Absolutely not!" She stuttered. Her thoughts were racing, her stomach churning. This couldn't be happening! "Are they saying that I'm supposed to… to… with him..?!"
"It is a possibility we can not ignore." Lucifer sighed. "We are going to do everything in our power to find a way around the situation, but the truth is, completing the ritual is the only certain solution we know of at the moment."
Lea sat there in silence, unable to speak. She didn't know what she had expected, but this wasn't it. She felt like the rug had been pulled from under her feet, and she was falling into an endless void. She felt helpless and overwhelmed, and for a short moment, the only thing she could do was to stare at the table in front of her, a numb, distant feeling settling in her mind.
"Wait a second…" Lea furrowed her brow as the news began to sink in. "Back in the human world… you already knew all this?! And NOW you decided to tell me?!"
"If you had known the truth, you might've been unwilling to return to Devildom. It was better that you returned with us without any resistance." Lucifer shrugged.
Lea let out an angry snarl, jumping up from her chair, slamming her palms against the table. "Do you have any idea how fucked up all of this is?!" Lea was almost shouting, her hands shaking.
"Please, try to calm down-" Lucifer sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"I will NOT calm down!" Lea yelled, her face flushed red. "This is- This is just insane!"
"How you feel about the situation doesn't make a difference. The reality is what it is." Avatar of pride stated nonchalantly.
Lea was about to snap back at him, but was interrupted before she could even open her mouth.
"Everyone, please... if I could have a word with Lea, alone?" Diavolo, who had been silent for a long time, turned his gaze towards the others, giving them a serious, stern look. "We can continue discussing this matter later."
Everyone stood up, and Lea watched as they quietly prepared to make their leave, a wave of panic surging inside her as the room emptied from the people— At this very moment, she'd rather not be left alone with Lord Diavolo! "I- I- I- N-no, we don't need to talk about it! Please don't leave, we can just-" Lea gasped, frantically searching for something to keep the rest of the group from leaving.
"What?" Lucifer gave her a jaded raise of a brow on his way out. "It's not like you two have to do it right here and now." A slight smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he spoke.
Lea's face reddened as she shot a glare at him. "Oh you little..!"
As the others made their way out of the door, Lea could hear a faint sigh from Solomon's direction. "She has a point, though... this is really fucked up."
The door closed behind them, and Lea and Diavolo were left alone. Diavolo returned to his seat, resting his head against his hands. Lea was sitting down again, staring at her hands, her shoulders tense. She had never felt this helpless. The room was quiet, save for the sound of Diavolo drumming his fingers against the table.
"Lea."
She didn't answer, nor did she look up.
"I understand that you're upset. I am, too."
Lea still didn't say a word.
"I'm sure we'll find a way to disrupt the ritual so no-one has to get hurt." Diavolo assured. "Nor that we have to-" His words trailed off. He didn't need to continue.
Lea could feel his gaze on her, but she still didn't look up. Her thoughts were racing. Everything was a mess. What was she supposed to say? She couldn't imagine doing such a thing. How could she agree to this? To... To sleep with a demon. The future king of Devildom. It was unthinkable, and yet…
"Lea, please... Look at me." Diavolo pleaded. His voice was soft, a hint of sadness in his tone.
Hesitantly, she glanced up. His eyes met hers, and the sorrowful look on his face caused her to avert her gaze once again.
"It's not your fault. Nothing about this whole mess is your fault." He sighed. "I wish I could fix this..."
"What are we supposed to do now?" Lea was finally able to force the words out.
"The truth is, I have no idea." Diavolo admitted. "We have a lot to think about. Just... please, trust me and believe me when I say I'll do anything in my power to sort out this mess. Okay?"
"Anything?" Lea whispered. Her stomach churned and she felt sick, but she had to ask him. "Even... if they won't be able to come up with an alternative..?"
"I…" Diavolo looked pained, the question visibly causing him anguish. His cheeks reddened and he averted his gaze, staring at the table in front of him, a conflicted expression on his face. "I won't let you die. I'll find a way to keep you safe, you have my word."
Lea nodded slowly, her gaze locked on the floor. All she could do now was to wait. Wait and hope they'd be able to find a way out of this.