Chapter 88

"Luciel"

"My Lord"

Hearing such honorific come out of their king's mouth, the servants present can't help but feel even more inferior to the point they seem to be like ants.

"Just refer to me as El, since you're the one who is in charge here now. Since you did prepare lavishly for this meeting, let's not be so tense and let the unrelated people here leave"

Luciel ordered for the other people in the room to leave and that only left the four of them. Talking about El was one thing but having him in front of you is something else. Should he ask why El suddenly disappeared? Why did he appear just now? There were so many questions in Luciel's mind right now.

"I can already tell you have a lot of questions. Unless you want me to sit down for a couple of hours explaining something you cannot understand, then I best suggest we don't discuss my disappearance"

Just as they remembered and said, El is all-knowing. It's impossible to have a secret around this guy. But it's still something to be able to talk to someone as if you don't know everything about them.

"My Apologies"

"Don't worry, I didn't read your thoughts. Your expression just said it all" El laughed a little.

Luciel didn't even have that sort of expression. He held a poker face the entire time. It was quite hard for the others who heard his statement to believe his words.

"As for why I returned just now... I got a friend" El smiled and sat down on a stool from who knows where he got it. Luciel decided to sit down as well so the only ones who remained standing were Damien and Arda.

"A friend?"

"Yes. That friend of mine will definitely change the flow of things"

For Luciel and the others, they could not understand what El meant by this. El always told them that things are predestined for everyone. What they don't know is that it was outside of his control and only assumed that he was letting this "destiny" take its course even if it meant death for several people.

A friend of El that will change the flow of things was the equivalent of a being on the same plane as El. If there was another person like that, what would be the concept of right and wrong? the concept of good and evil? What good would their "free will" be if, in the end, they are subjected to this person's idea of a "perfect" future? In the end, they're truly just pieces in El's game.

"But you shouldn't be concerned about it too much. It's actually in favor for many of you and because that person cares about many people from this faction... I decided to help you guys a little bit by tipping some information. This isn't my declaration of my siding with you, I'm on my friend's side" El continued to explain and Luciel frowned a little bit.

"Can we know who this person is?"

"No. In the event you find out who that person is and do something to them, I won't hesitate to retaliate"

The three of them felt chills from this warning. Even if they had some curiosity about who this person was, El wasn't a force to be reckoned with. Everything they worked hard for can disappear within seconds with a snap of his fingers.

"Does Matthew know of your return?"

"He was the first one who dared to summon me after so long"

This irked the people in the room. For years they've been looking for that man as well as acting each other indirectly. All of that was for what? But then again El was someone who can just appear anywhere at any time.

"Does that mean you also gave him information regarding us?"

"The most I would do is tell him the chances of his plans failing but otherwise, the people I actually helped were yours. Don't press on the matter anymore Luciel. You know that my hands are tied, I can't answer everything. If I did, everything would be for naught"

Luciel pursed his lips as he clenched his fists. El knew where Matthew is and some of his plans. Everything they wanted to know was with this person and yet they're not allowed to know.

"How's your son by the way?" 

The abrupt bring-up of the topic made Luciel pause for a moment.

"He's fine, I think he's with his "friend" right now" Luciel awkwardly said the word "friend" because he knew Kaiden had feelings for that kid.

"Friend...? haha" El whispered this and laughed a little bit at how things were flowing. Indeed this will be a good show to watch.

"If you need something from him, I can have him return here at once"

"Oh no! I wouldn't dare ruin their moment right now. I just wanted to hear about him from your perspective"

Luciel was still stuck on the whole "ruin their moment right now" part. What did El mean by that? But still, El asked about Kaiden from his perspective. He needs to answer first before asking him what he means.

"Kaiden... He actually reminds me of Gabriella from time to time because of his attitude"

"Gabriella, that child..." El smiled sadly.

If he had any regrets, it was letting that girl die when she wasn't supposed to.

"He's stubborn like her but that's also a good quality of his because he firmly believes in what he's capable of. Just like his mother. But sometimes he's really stupid about it."

"But I do think that he got some of that stubbornness from you instead, Luciel" El jokes implying that Luciel was also stupid and Damien had to keep himself quiet despite the urge of wanting to laugh. Arda shot a look at Damien and sighed when the guy looked away.

"I believe he's a good kid. He just... needs affection I suppose? as well as proper guidance. Both of which, I failed to give to him early on that's why he's like that" Luciel admits his faults as a father and as a lover because this could have all been avoided if he properly expressed his feelings back when Gabriella was still alive.

El explained that it's alright to make mistakes as long as he was aware of them. And that what he should do now is strive to be better. And from the way that he was seeing things, Luciel was actually on his way to becoming a good father.

"Just talk to your son more, not about the kingdom but just about the two of you"

Luciel was surprised to hear another praise from El. Well, he was their father figure when they were born and they held no grudges against him even after his actions. So the advice that he was just given is definitely something he should take note of.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, El"

"No problem. Do a favor for me and take care of each other ok? You guys only have each other now and I don't want to see one of you get hurt" El held a look of concern as he took his time to glance at the three.

"We will" Luciel hesitantly answers because he wasn't exactly sure which one of them should speak up at that moment.

"Before I go, here" El stood up and held out his hand for Luciel to take. The moment he did, Luciel felt something within his palm.

He flipped it over and it was a small dagger of some sort of metal that had some sort of magic on it. But this kind of magic was all too familiar to Luciel because it was what caused Gabriella to die. Damien and Arda got distracted by the dagger in Luciel's hand because, by the time they looked up, El was no longer in sight.

"That's..."

"Something that I regret" Luciel's grip on the dagger tightened.

"Find out what kind of spell it has. It's the reason why our powers weakened"

Well, to be frank, you could sense it had holy powers on it just from a glance but it had something else. Knowing the core of this magic will let them level the playing field. This might be the last thing that they'll get from El since he did say that he wasn't on their side. But what was the reason why he suddenly gave this to them? That's something Luciel and the others won't figure out any time soon.

They were about to leave and call for clean-up when Luciel remembered something and halted Arda.

"And also... Schedule a meeting for me with that Gideon kid and my son"

Arda blinked for a moment. What happened to the whole "talk to your son more" advice from El?

"I... shouldn't you be the one who brings that up with the prince and not me?"

"Figure something out" Luciel walked away and Arda grimaced because of displeasure due to the fact that she had to carry out this order.

"You could always just pass it on to someone-" Damien was behind Arda and she suddenly turned to him.

"That's a great idea! You do it!"

"What no-"

"Good luck talking to the prince!" Arda waved her hand as she walked away.

"I was going to suggest passing it over to Azazel...." Damien mumbled as he watched her walk away as well.