"We are sorry for the trouble we caused!" William and Anna’s voices rang out from behind the moment Damian stepped out of the elevator.

Sigh!

Damian lowered his phone and turned, giving the two a proper look for the first time since they appeared.

Their bodies stiffened instantly under his gaze. He could see it clearly. They were on edge. They needed him to like them, needed his approval more than they were willing to admit.

It reminded him of himself back when these small things mattered.

Sigh!

Damian exhaled again and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back slowly. It was not that he had become arrogant or dismissive. Something deeper had shifted. A man who had fought battles capable of leveling cities could not return to smiling at every small interaction like it still mattered the same way.

His world had grown and naturally, the smaller things began to fade.

’If you are going to be a good ruler, you need to be a good boss.’ The thought surfaced quietly in his mind before he let out another breath.

Sigh!

By now, William and Anna’s thoughts were spiraling. Three heavy sighs from a superior rarely meant anything good.

"Don’t worry about little things like that. They don’t bother me," Damian said at last, breaking the silence.

He brushed their concern aside with ease and turned to leave, but paused midway through his step.

"You two have been working on Chancellor Delaney’s case while I’ve been away, correct?"

They nodded quickly, almost in unison.

"We have been working hard to make things easier for you upon your return," Anna added quickly.

Damian gave a small nod, satisfied. "Good. Bring everything you have on the case to my office in thirty minutes."

"Yes, sir!" they echoed.

With that, Damian continued down the hallway. A few colleagues greeted him along the way, offering congratulations on his recovery. He acknowledged them with brief nods, never slowing his pace.

Bam!

The office door shut behind him with a firm sound.

Damian walked to his desk, pulled his chair back, and sat down. He dropped his bag onto the table, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone, opening Clara’s message that he had been about to read before the twins interrupted him.

[Hey, I caught a fever, so I don’t think I’ll be able to make it today. Can you come and see me later this evening?]

His brow furrowed slightly as he read the text. His first thought was simple. He could ask Lith to pick her up and bring her to his place. But even that idea did not sit right.

He had already kept her close for too long.

His wives had accommodated her through everything, even during the vacation. They had not complained, but he was not blind. They would want him to themselves.

The next option came just as easily.

He could go to her and heal her instantly. But he did not move.

"Why can’t I? Twenty knows about my powers, and even if I can’t marry Clara, I can still make her my concubine..." he muttered under his breath.

Puff!

A burst of purple smoke formed on his desk, and Rin appeared, standing in its small fox form, three tails swaying lazily behind it.

"You know she’s human, right?" Rin asked.

Damian raised a brow. "So? I’m human too."

Rin rolled its eyes, unimpressed. He had long suspected this man operated on extremes. A genius one moment, a complete fool the next.

"You’re a mortal who can fly, fight demons, spit fire, possess other mortals, and shapeshift. Do I need to keep going, Mr. Human?"

Damian’s face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Alright... you got me. So she can’t go to the underworld with me?" he asked.

"She can," Rin replied with a careless shrug, "but only when she’s dead."

Buzz!

Damian’s body jolted at the words, but Rin remained completely unmoved.

"When you reach the demigod realm, your primal soul and human body will become powerful enough to traverse both the realm of the living and the dead. But Clara is not like you. She will have to die to follow you. And that is not even the worst part."

Damian’s eyes narrowed slowly.

This was not where he expected his thoughts to lead.

What began as a simple concern had turned into something far heavier than he was prepared to face.

"What is the worst part?" Damian asked.

"If you were to take Clara to the underworld, she would be surrounded by demons who despise and look down on humans. While you are alive, no one would dare lay a finger on her, except your brothers of course. But if something happens to you, how do you think a helpless human soul surrounded by demons will fare in the underworld?"

Damian’s hands tightened slowly, his fingers curling into his palms until his nails broke skin and blood began to seep through. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

His eyes burned with a violent purple glow, power threatening to surge out at any moment.

Rin watched him in silence as he wrestled with the weight of that reality. Seconds passed, heavy and unmoving, before the glow in Damian’s eyes dimmed and his fists gradually loosened.

"Then I cannot lose," Damian said, his voice carrying a strange, unsettling calm.

Rin nodded. If Damian had asked for a way to protect her in the event of his death, then there would have been no hope for him. That kind of thinking led to failure. But this... this was different.

He believed in himself and that belief mattered.

"Yeah. But you need to tell her everything eventually. Let her know what she is walking into before she goes too far," Rin added, nodding once more.

Huff!

Damian exhaled deeply, dragging a hand across his forehead as the weight of the situation settled over him. How exactly was he supposed to tell Clara something like this?

Hey, I am the sin of lust, and I want you to become my concubine and follow me into hell.

The thought alone felt absurd.

"Somehow, fighting Duke Haborym feels easier than breaking the news to her," he said, letting out a bitter laugh.

For once, Rin allowed a faint smile to surface and gave a small nod. Explaining this reality to Clara would be difficult no matter how much she cared for him. No one heard the words eternity in hell and thought of love first.

It was a cruel kind of curiosity.

Would she walk away or would she follow him into the abyss?