TBR CH56

Chapter 56: Seawater and Flames

When kissed by a human, a god should feel offended.

Through the eyes of a low-level demon, the God’s deep red gaze fell silently upon the arrogant and audacious human before him.

The Bishop usually appeared steady and restrained. Tar had also seen him on the verge of shattering. But before this, the God had never seen the emotion Edwin was showing at this moment.

He was deeply mired in contradiction.

Both arrogant enough to believe he could hold everything in the palm of his hand, and yet trembling silently in the kiss he had forcibly initiated. A black and white fire burned in the Bishop’s gray eyes. The wildly growing desire made one fragile, and the irresistible temptation broke down all the defenses of an ascetic.

He needs me, Tar realized with surprise. And this was not a request for a kiss, but a question with a pleading tone.

The great archbishop of the Church of Light needing a powerless low-level demon—it sounded absurd enough.

The God did not resist, even though Edwin was only using slight force to guide his direction, and the human’s strength was gradually lost in the kiss, easy to break free from.

Despite this.

What is this, Edwin? Tarksius thought.

Some love story about to bear fruit?

There was no such story in this world. All bad endings began with the same positive and upward tone. The human before him had fallen hopelessly in love with the only demon who could accompany him.

Because he shared the same despicable thoughts as the Bishop, the God was well aware of this.

The gray in Edwin’s eyes had lightened a little, as if melting in the kiss.

He looked so special, so young, and when kissing another person, he was, as expected, clumsy and awkward. Tar was not qualified to dislike him for it, because he himself was just as lost.

Was it because of his position? A kiss initiated by someone of lower status required extra effort. Fortunately, the demon乖乖地 let him kiss.

Would this have a good ending?

This thought crossed Tarksius’s mind. The answer was not positive, but he did not push him away, nor did he withdraw.

In the Bishop’s eyes, the beautiful demon was like a rose that could be touched. The connection built by the soul contract grew brighter as they got closer. How foolish I was, Edwin thought, to once have considered the gift of fate a bad thing.

Like.

No other word could summarize it. The Bishop finally realized how to describe the emotion that had been igniting his blood since just now.

It was the uncontrollable heartbeat when finally holding something you liked in your hand, beating clearly, one by one, against the human’s chest.

At the end of all dreamless sleep, behind the occasional glance up while buried in books, even in the trivial details of daily life, they could be lit up by that pair of pomegranate-red pupils.

He was not obedient, but Edwin couldn’t help but feel that the demon was very well-behaved.

The most wretched pleas were properly met with a grasp on his trembling fingertips, the most hopeless desires were brought to reality by an unreserved embrace. The demon lived in a world he could not see, but just listening to those strange adventures, the brilliant colors spread out before Edwin.

I will keep him, Edwin said clearly to himself. Whatever the demon wants, I will give him.

The God did not mind the human’s affection.

The gray-eyed Bishop was special. He appreciated Edwin, helped Edwin, and thus naturally integrated into his life. Sometimes, as Tar, he could even empathize with the human. The dazzling light that humans displayed in extreme situations was enough to attract the god’s attention.

For this reason, he was also not stingy in responding to Edwin’s affection.

The soul being kissed belonged to the little demon from thousands of years ago. If it were Tar, the Tar who had not experienced anything, it would be understandable for him to fall in love with Edwin.

As a demon who had died alone, he could not resist the feeling of being alive again.

The Bishop was contradictory to a fascinating degree. He would absolutely keep his promises, was powerful yet willing to bow his head, and there was nothing to criticize about him, from his soul to his body.

If Edwin succeeded, then Tar would have whatever he wanted, whether it was protection or the most precious treasures. These things Edwin could easily obtain. Compared to the demon he liked very much, they were of course completely unimportant.

The cost of taming a demon sounded completely acceptable.

For this very reason, Tarksius knew that it was not a qualified transaction.

As a god, he should not be deceived by such tricks.

The kiss ended. Edwin was panting slightly. For the first time, his gray eyes looked at another being with such hope. Tar had gently reciprocated the Bishop’s kiss, indulging him to an incredible degree. When he greedily sought all emotional comfort, he became the only being in his gray life that would absolutely not leave, and he didn’t even charge a fee.

And, the term was forever.

This was so good, how could anyone not be moved.

In exchange for the demon, the Bishop said, I can give you anything you want, for you to stay forever.

Without any warning, the human’s wish was so vulgar that it made the Dark God feel bored and disappointed.

The god’s soul had finally trembled slightly during the kiss just now, seeming about to crack. But at this moment, it was colder than ashes after a fire. It was at the very moment that Tarksius realized he had been expecting something.

You are also that kind of human, he thought indifferently. Exchanging things you don’t care about with others is completely meaningless.

Edwin saying he could give him anything was nothing more than a part of the power, fame, and status he was bound to obtain in the future. It wasn’t losing anything at all. It was just sacrificing some trivial things as chips for amusement.

The god suddenly became curious as to what direction things would develop if he were to decisively withdraw at this very moment.

A malicious, twisted, purely Tarksius-style thought.

Don’t do this, a part of him screamed. He needs you, he likes you, it’s just a matter of accompanying him for a few decades. He promised to give you anything. He is so similar to you, and he found the contract book. This is not an excessive request.

Tarksius lowered his eyes.

He was also just exchanging things that were insignificant to himself with the other party.

For example, Edwin gave him an interesting feeling, which was very important to a god. And a few decades would pass in a flash, requiring no payment. So, this transaction was a sure win.

It was precisely because he was too familiar with such thoughts that he…

…could not restrain his feeling of disappointment.

For his own emotional turmoil during the kiss, and the unrealistic expectations that had arisen during their time together. This dream had gone on for too long, so long that for a moment, the God really thought he would be found.

This was not a beautiful fairy tale.

It was time for him to wake up.

They had just exchanged their first kiss. Everything was as beautiful as a dream.

Edwin reached out his finger, wanting to touch the demon’s hair again. He was a little confused as to why Tar had suddenly stopped talking. The demon’s dark hair fell on his chest, and this thought gave him a sense of satisfaction from the intimate contact.

Like. Edwin finally understood this emotion. The usually mature and steady Bishop thought rather childishly, Tar is just that good. There’s nothing about him I want to let go of.

And the demon before him suddenly smiled sweetly. The scent of roses on him grew stronger.

“Alright,” Tar said. “Is it just ‘like’? Edwin, in that case, I don’t mind. If you want, I’ll accompany you. But remember to pay me my remuneration.”

As he spoke, he moved closer again and gently gave him a hug.

This hug, it felt exactly the same as the previous one. The demon who reached out his arms intimately held the Bishop’s waist. His breath, barely there, beat against the Bishop’s neck. Edwin impatiently reached for his hand. He hadn’t had time to carefully consider the words just spoken, and was already covered by the demon’s intimate actions.

“I like you too, my dear Bishop.”

And this sentence was enough to make Edwin’s head spin. As expected, proposing a transaction was the right thing to do. The demon was willing to stay by his side, and Tar saying he liked him was an unexpected joy beyond what was requested.

I own him, Edwin thought.

He would have had a chance to notice the things that were wrong.

But in the end, he still didn’t see the coldness hidden in the demon’s eyes, nor his suddenly lusterless pupils, like congealed blood. It was the emotionless scrutiny of a high and mighty god.

A god would never be owned, would never be one end of a transaction. This was the mistake Edwin had made. He was moved by something that didn’t ask for remuneration, yet he was eager to pay the price. And the things he had wanted before all had a price tag, to the extent that he blindly began to estimate the value.

Edwin sighed with satisfaction, whispering this name joyfully, one by one: “Tar, Tar, Tar…”

A thousand years ago, Tar had heard such words before.

His momentary wavering was because Edwin had clearly told him, “What I want is Tar.” But the effect of this sentence was only enough to quench a thirst with poison. The God had been slightly dazed by such words, and so there was a kiss, and a verbal promise. Edwin could not have foreseen that this sentence also had its fatal side effect.

It concerned the things the demon had not told him.

The shadow that had always been suppressed behind his wandering journey: flight, capture, betrayal, the execution ground. The Holy See had rebuilt the white tower and the square. At all times in history, the square had been used to burn demons. Evil creatures were judged there, such as Tar, whose path of escape had come to an end.

The demon’s pomegranate-red pupils lost their luster, like glass beads that were no longer bright. He raised his somewhat cloudy eyes to look at the top of the white tower. There, almost all the great figures of the Holy See stood, holding their staves, whispering about him.

In the center of the crowd, the Saintess of the Holy See, wearing a silver crown, had not been absent from this scene.

As if a little earlier, it was not she who had sent someone to pass a message, “I want to see you secretly.”

Or even earlier. The demon could only think of things in a mess at this moment. His crow-black long hair fell on his shoulders, exactly the same as the noble and unparalleled Saintess. It could be said that this was a legacy from his bloodline. He had also inherited the red eyes of his father’s family.

Tar felt he was probably going to die. Thinking of this, he actually felt a lot more relaxed.

He raised his eyes to look at the top of the white tower. His mother was high above. Obviously, the plan to capture the demon and bring him back to the Holy See was thanks to the Saintess’s cooperation. This more or less compensated for the loss of reputation the Saintess had suffered in her youth. At this moment, she looked down at her own child, a mistaken seed, but the power in him was extraordinary.

On such an occasion, the demon inexplicably felt it was comical. He lowered his eyes, because the Holy Knight beside him did not allow him to look directly at those great figures, only to be a piece of cargo waiting to be dealt with.

He lowered his eyes, recalling a time before everything had fallen apart, when his mother had also been gentle and kind. At that time, her love had not yet turned into a mess. Tar was almost born with expectation and love. At that time, both his noble mother and his powerful father had said such words to the young demon: “We both love you, dear child. You will get everything you want. You are a most important treasure to us. We will protect you from harm.”

Tar found it comical, so in the end, he still curled his lips and laughed out loud in the pure white square of the Holy See.

These memories were so blurry they were almost from a past life. And his father and mother had undertaken the world’s most standard love story. Belonging to two opposing factions, they had ultimately come together because of free love. The Saintess of the Church was a pure white dove, and the Demon King, head of the Seven Pillar Demon Gods, was a crow from the abyss.

They fell in love, promising each other to “offer everything for the other.”

Then love completely collapsed. Both questioned each other, hysterical. The Demon King believed the Saintess should abandon her bright future in the Church to be his consort by his throne. The Saintess demanded the Demon King give up all his power and willingly come to the Holy See to be her reformed lover.

Everyone was selfish. No one was willing to give up what they held in their hands.

After the breakup, there were attempts by both sides to kill each other. But they had not forgotten that this不堪 romance had also given birth to a child who should not exist in the world.

By the time they returned to the love nest they had set up back then, intending to kill this evidence of their irrationality, Tar had already begun his escape.

Hunted by the power of the demon race, wanted and pursued by his mother’s Holy See.

That he could survive, that he could flee for decades, was simply a miracle. Until the Saintess wrote a gentle-toned letter, had someone show it to the demon, and arranged a private meeting to lure him into a trap.

Tar felt he was foolish to believe such a clumsy and hypocritical letter. It wouldn’t be an injustice if he died.

But he had indeed tried to chase the gentle illusion that had briefly existed in his life.

The Holy Knight tried to suppress the demon’s laughter, using the dull pain of a blade piercing his skin, but the demon still couldn’t stop mocking himself. He stumbled along, almost laughing to the point of tears. And on the high platform, his mother frowned as she looked at the demon, reached out to pick up the golden bottle that had been prepared long ago, and turned her head to command, “Do as we said before. Do it.”

Her child… of course, she had long since stopped thinking of him that way. This was just a pure mistake. And she was very happy to be able to make up for such a mistake for the Holy See. She certainly knew what an incredible thing the bottle in her hand was, much worse than death.

The raw material of the golden bottle was not gold, but the bones taken from the Time Dragon hunted by the Church. It had the effect of distorting time and trapping all life.

Thinking of this, the Saintess only felt a little pity for Tar. No more than for a strange demon, purely because she knew the other would suffer forever, unable to be freed, drowning at the endless end of time.

Tar’s escape was not accidental. He had an extremely special ability.

The demon’s red eyes were so vivid. Just like the person she deeply hated.

Tar understood the Saintess’s gaze. He felt pain all over his body, and finally curled his lips into a silent smile.

No one would come to save him.

His parents would not, the various people he met along the way would not, and even he himself would not.

The demon aimlessly let his gaze wander past everyone, towards the distance, to the places he had set foot in or had not. The name Tar had once been uttered with seemingly eternal love by his parents, just as his parents had once promised to do anything for each other when their love was at its peak. But they actually couldn’t.

Everyone is selfish.

The Bishop was even more selfish. One only needed to look at his wishes to know. The power and fame he pursued elevated him infinitely to the highest place. Even if he sincerely liked a demon at this moment, what did it count for?

The God was not Tar, not enough to be moved.

An incomplete rescue is no rescue at all. Love that cannot give everything is better off not existing from the start. Tarksius had said, he had no intention of establishing an intimate connection with any being in the world.

The demon let Edwin hold him, gently stroking his back, catching the subtle tremor of the skin under his knuckles. Even though he had thought so much to himself, the actions of the disguised God remained unchanged, almost to the point of being imperceptible.

The Dark God would not leave so soon. He still had reasons to stay in the Holy See.

Edwin believed the demon would never leave. He was soft and undefended because he was relieved. Humans are so easily deceived by beautiful expectations. The Bishop’s deep gray eyes fell, as gentle as freshly fallen winter snow, upon the demon.

He had never felt so hopeful about life.

And Tar curled his lips, sweet as if soaked in honey, thinking about things related to leaving.

It was effortless for a demon to realize that someone was trying to spy on him.

Being monitored was commonplace for Edwin. During the period when Prince Angelo was temporarily in power, many eyes tried to watch his every move every day. Therefore, it was quite reasonable that he did not react so quickly.

The person monitoring had their target, not the Bishop, but the demon behind the Bishop.

Tar was not easy to find. Edwin thought he could make the demon stay乖乖地 in his room, and even if someone broke in, he could easily deal with them. But in fact, the demon often wandered around the Church. The roses in the Holy See’s flowerbeds were always mysteriously stolen, but with so many flowers, no one cared if one bouquet was missing.

This was another lie Tar had casually told.

The demon’s magic and Edwin’s were completely different systems. As a low-level demon, Tar was clearly better at unorthodox methods, such as sleeping spells, disguise, and ways to hide himself… He actually changed the roses in the room frequently, but he had brazenly lied to Edwin that it was just a trick demons were good at, that the rose was always the original one, just that its freshness had been eternally preserved.

All in all, Tar realized someone was spying on him, or rather, spying on the being behind the Bishop.

A normal struggle against Edwin.

The demon originally thought so. His disguise skills allowed him to be completely unseen. But when he found that the followers could always find his direction, although they just stared blankly at the empty shadow before them, there was always something not right.

It didn’t take much thought for Tar to guess the mastermind behind this attempt.

The Holy Son, Noah.

This was the only human in the world who could determine his location.

Unfortunately, the helpers he found were somewhat lacking. The Holy Knights were completely volunteering to help His Highness the Holy Son. The young and powerful lads blushed, vowing to resolve Noah’s worries, but one by one returned dejectedly at dusk with long faces.

“I swear I did as you said,” they would shout. “But there really is nothing, nothing at all.”

Noah was about to grind his teeth to dust. Although he had the information about the Dark God given by the system, just looking at the information, he could not imagine how clever and cunning the low-level demon of that time was, to the extent that he could evade the eyes of the most elite group of Holy Knights in the current Church.

This was related to the implementation of his capture plan. The Child of Destiny knew he had to be extremely cautious.

And Tar once again walked lightly past the black shadow in front of the knight. His figure didn’t even leave any noteworthy trace in the other’s eyes. Now was not the right time.

The demon turned and closed Edwin’s room door, crushed the old rose in his hand, and put in the new one. He was now very clear on the time. Edwin would be back in about fifteen minutes.

When Edwin returned, he brought with him fatigue, love, and a gift. The Bishop stepped into the room from outside, and the demon he liked turned his chair and looked at him. The scent of roses in the room was almost warm. Without taking off the windbreaker with silver buttons he wore outside, Tar opened his arms without hesitation. Edwin held his breath and gave him a gentle and quick hug.

The hug ended quickly. Edwin was worried that the cold from outside would make Tar uncomfortable.

“I brought you something.”

From the moment he saw the gem, Edwin felt it was surprisingly suitable for Tar. The gem was a tribute from a certain merchant to the Holy See. In other words, it was entirely the Bishop’s personal property. The carnelian-red gem emitted a bright and moist light, exactly the same as the demon’s eyes. The Bishop had spent some time finding a suitable silk ribbon, so now it was a gift.

Tar curled his lips. “You remembered I like red.”

And roses, Edwin added in his heart. His demon let him do as he pleased, so he stood behind Tar. His right hand lifted his flowing, soft hair, so light, and gathered it to be tied with this expensive hair tie.

The gem was exquisitely carved into the shape of a rose, adorning the crow-black hair, a surprisingly perfect fit.

“Very… beautiful.”

With his hair tied up, the demon had a neat and tidy beauty, reminiscent of a nimble little animal. Edwin had already completely begun to fulfill his duty of taming a demon, wanting to keep any good thing he saw to give to him.

“Do you want to look in a mirror?”

“No need. I guess it looks very good.”

Tar knew from the Bishop’s eyes that this hair tie suited him very well. The Bishop enjoyed the process of giving him suitable things. Love grew without any shackles. Edwin’s gaze became more and more unreserved day by day. The poor priest was seduced by the demon, and this seduction made him fall deeper and deeper. He smiled as he walked forward, not wanting to turn back.

What a terrible thing love is.

Sometimes, the God would think, was he being too harsh on humans?

Few lovers in this world could do better than Edwin, and the God had indeed seen something in Edwin’s soul that was worth being moved by. To have a reckless love affair with a human, it would only be a few decades at most. He actually didn’t need to get纠结 about true love and never betraying, since it was just an interlude in his long life.

Sometimes, the God didn’t know how he could be so tolerant.

He had wanted to leave countless times. Tarksius knew he was not yet moved. Perhaps leaving at this time would be timely. But, the demon in the Church, after plucking that rose, inexplicably wanted to return to Edwin’s room, and thus delayed another day.

The God began to feel confused about himself.

This was all Edwin’s fault. It was Tar who couldn’t bear to part with his soul, Tar who resisted accepting everything. And the demon was revived from dusty memories by Edwin’s insistence. He had to take full responsibility for this.

Perhaps he would leave today—

Tar thought so, and then Edwin’s room door was inexplicably knocked. Few people visited Edwin during his rest time, because the Bishop would have arranged everything in an orderly manner in advance.

The demon hid in a corner of the room, and the Bishop opened the door. In front of the door stood a certain priest of the Church. His name was not important. He was just here to deliver a message, but he looked so anxious he was almost about to cry.

“L-Lord Bishop,” he said haltingly. “The situation is special… Prince Angelo is here, and others. His Holiness the Pope has not yet allowed them to enter the Holy See, but they are at the gate, starting to say… say some incurable rumors. Please hurry over. There’s still time, as long as you go quickly.”

Edwin’s gaze instantly turned cold. His pupils were completely like emotionless whirlpools. In an instant, he had polished himself to be sharp and dangerous. He asked softly in a low voice, “And others?”

The Bishop understood how to find the key point in the words.

The priest almost choked with terror, seeming to be terrified of what he was about to say, but he still complied with Edwin’s meaning. “That person…” he said, shivering. “He claims to be your father. This is of course impossible, but, but… he also said he could prove the absurd slander he was spouting…”

“I’m going now.”

Edwin said calmly. He didn’t look flustered at all. At least, he needed to be like this in front of others.

Tar sat behind, listening to everything very clearly.

Edwin needed him.

The God sighed helplessly, unconsciously finding another reason for himself to stay, pretending that his repeated choices to stay were not entirely out of inexplicable indulgence.

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