The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 93: Interlude: Nona - Part 1

Chapter 93: Interlude: Nona - Part 1

Ever since she’d been given a second chance, there wasn’t a day that went by when Nona didn’t remember the angelkin who’d saved her.

When she’d first arrived, she’d been regarded as something of a curiosity. Maledict told his court that he "had plans for her," and that meant that everyone had, at first, asked her endless questions, even when she was taken away to be cleaned and stuff.

She couldn’t say much though. She knew her own story, but that was boring to them, and when it came to the fight and the angel and Maledict... she really couldn’t remember much. Just that the angelkin had made a bargain with Maledict for her life. That Maledict had used magic to fulfill that bargain.

Once it was clear the only interesting detail was that she’d met an angel, their interest in her waned after only a week or so... It was hard to tell time indoors when the sky was always dirty and black, and she was indoors all the time for the first month or so.

Despite what he’d said, after the first day of their arrival, Maledict didn’t have her doing anything, so Nona just wandered around the palace, occasionally going into the kitchen where churlish-looking demons would feed her before shooing her out.

After a few days, however, they started to warm up to her. She even made friends with the cooks, whose names were Yahzi, Laef, and Rzzk.

The food surprised her.

Most of it looked unappetizing on the surface, but there were these scaley, grey fruit things that were bright green inside and tasted yummy. And they had normal stuff from Ayther, though most of the time that was all dried out. And some tato-things always looked burned black when fried but the demons would salt them - there was always plenty of pinkish salt for some reason - and they’d go crunch when she bit them.

The meat was just meat, not people-meat as she’d feared. She found out when she’d asked on her second day and got shown a pen full of demon-pigs, which were just like Ayther pigs only big and mean and hairy with big tusks instead of pink. Laef told her they were "boars" but Nona didn’t think they were boring at all.

The other thing that surprised her about the food was that most demons didn’t actually eat.

The important demons only seemed to do it for fun.

Below them, the demons that did the work to keep the gardens green sometimes tried out bits to make sure they were alright.

The little demons never got fed unless they were the ones who wanted to be warriors.

The warrior demons got most of the food but just fought to eat as much of it as they could fast, which made her think they didn’t like it.

The only thing Nona was really equipped to conclude from her experiences so far was that "Demons are weird... but they’re not too bad." All the stories said they killed and did mean things to each other all the time, but barely any of that seemed to happen in the castle or the city, which she’d snuck into a few times.

But maybe that was because everyone was leaving?

For some reason, the city was getting emptier and emptier. Every now and then, the lights in the city would get fewer and fewer. It had been ages since she’d seen a demon baby.

Even most of the people who’d asked her a lot of things were now gone.

She’d only figured out why a bit ago, when everyone was running around because someone named "Levi Nathan" was coming, and she’d been awake to see the big circle light up and a whole bunch of demons feeling into the portal.

That was big magic.

Since then, she sometimes went up the towers to just stare at the Perdition Gate, as she learned it was called, wanting to see when it lit up again.

She was eating a bowl of red-spiced black chips when one of the lady demons fluttered down next to her.

"Human girl, Maledict wants to see you. Now."

"But the gate was sparkling... I wanted to watch." A bunch of demons had gathered, as usual, only now it seemed there were more big boxes and piles of stuff than there were people to move it all.

"You’ll see it again soon enough. Stand. Now," the succubus commanded.

Against her will, Nona found herself standing, her hand knocking her chips over the edge of the tower where they scattered into the air, the bowl hitting the ground with a sharp clonk. Nona wasn’t afraid of heights, but she was afraid of thinking her skull would make a sound like that as she saw the remains of the wooden bowl split and scatter.

With no more chips to eat, and because she was scared of the demon lady, Nona followed...

Into a room with a big table and a map, and a big hole in the air surrounded by light and an obviously magic chain, that showed a top-down view of a demon fighting an angel.

The Duke of Heresy, Maledict, reclined on one half of a cushioned iron sofa. Unlike her first memory of him, he now looked absolutely demonic, with his horns sweeping back along his head and his skin a deep, dark red.

His eyes glowed slightly, red and focused entirely on the vision before him. He didn’t turn his head, continuing to watch the fight as he ordered, "Bring her here, Janice."

Janice? What kind of name was that for a demon?

Nona was pushed forward, and she continued until she stopped next to the demon who had saved her life. It felt rude to step in front while he was watching.

"Janice, she’s terrified," he said after barely flicking his eyes to Nona. His ridged nose wrinkled slightly. Did she stink or something?

"You know I am not good with brats," the demoness replied. "At least not the ones I can’t punish. And she’s too young for that."

Nona was confused. Did she do something wrong?

His lips narrowed slightly. "You may go," he said flatly.

As soon as the door closed and they were alone, Maledict patted the seat on his right.

"Come Nona, sit," he said, and she risked passing in front of him to sit as far away as she could.

She may owe him her life... maybe her soul or something... but she was still scared of him. She remembered how he’d stepped through a man’s throat to give that life to her...

She shuddered, remembering the sense of pure, forceful will, taking her body and forcing her to live. Magic forcing her fatal wound to close... As if it had ripped the wound away and left the pain, before returning it to her. The scar she bore between her ribs because of it was her reminder that in exchange for this life, she had a debt to fulfill.

His first question came flatly, with little emotion.

"So. Enjoying your peaceful life amongst demons?" he asked, his eyes still on the fight. "Most would call that heresy."

"It’s... not bad..." she said. "What’s heresy?"

Maledict smirked. "Doing what others won’t dare." His next question came just as flatly as the first. "What do you know about angels, child?" he asked.

Nona was silent for a moment as she tried to think about it. "They’re supposed to be good... and strong... and they help people..."

Maledict’s lip twitched, just a little.

"What is good, to a child?" he asked.

Nona didn’t know how to answer that question. But the first thing that came to mind was-

"Black chips."

"Black... chips?" he raised an eyebrow, still not looking at her as the fight continued in the vision.

"They’re crunchy things that Yahzi and Rzzk like to make," Nona said.

"Ah. The chefs... food... Simple enough," he chuckled, before moving on. "And what is strength to you, child?"

"I don’t know..." The question made her feel weird. "I don’t know. People don’t hurt you when you’re strong. People can’t hurt you. People-"

Maledict raised a hand and she stopped what she was about to say. "As good an answer as any, for now," he said quietly.

Finally, he asked, "Child... what does it mean to be a person?"

Nona shifted uncomfortably. "I don’t know... People are people."

"And if I asked you, before we met, if demons were people?" he asked.

"Orphans aren’t people, not to... everyone... Not if they aren’t rich... or- or useful... or have friends..." Nona’s fists clenched, her voice rising. "No one liked me because I was... alone. Because I’m human... weak..." she felt her eyes itch.

"Do not avoid my question, child!" Maledict suddenly growled, his voice deepening. He looked at Nona, eyes flaring with fierce, red light. "This question, you will answer."

"I’m trying!" Nona found herself shouting back, unable to keep the fear out of her voice. "I don’t know! I don’t know!" She could feel his presence, prying into her mind, like a heat, promising pain- "Demons are orphans!"

Suddenly the heat stopped.

Maledict turned back.

"You are more right than you know," he said.