Chapter 193 - Side Story: Nataya. Her Protector.

He watched her growing up. The thumping in his chest didn't stop whenever he saw her, still he didn't stop watching her. He had once accidentally heard some people talked about how they watched over a kid grew up and developed a parental sense, treating the kid as their own.

The Devil tried to associate what they felt with how he was feeling towards the girl. But, other than the strange thumping in his chest, he didn't feel anything. Well, he didn't have a thought to plant bad things into her again. He just silently watched her. The feeling of wanting to protect her and spoil her didn't appear in him. They didn't mention anything about the uncomfortable thumping in their chest either.

Therefore, he concluded that was not the answer he was looking for.

When the girl was fifteen years old, he overheard her parents talking about something called marriage. He had seen plenty marriages so he knew what it looked like. However, deep inside he didn't understand the concept of marriage. Why did human have to get married? In his dimension, there was no concept of marriage. A male devil could have as many as females as he wanted. The higher the position of the devil, the more females he would have in his harem.

Therefore, the concept of marriage in human world was a bit strange for him.

"My good daughter, you're at the age of how you should get married soon. We won't force you to do it, of course. But, if you have already found a good man to be your husband, just say it to us. If a single man wants you to be his wife, it's good for you. But, if you could only be the second, the third, or even the fourth wife, it is good, as well. We could only wish you for the best." Her mother said softly, but there was sadness in her voice.

"Mother, you are the only wife that father has. If I were to get married, I wanted a man who would only love me, who would only have me as his one and only wife, just like father." She answered calmly.

"Dear, it's hard to find a man like your father. He is special." With that, her mother shot a long amorous glance towards her father who was still silent all the time. "I'm lucky to have caught his eyes and to get married to him. But, you should know, a woman's destiny is to serve her husband. As long as you can serve him well, he would guarantee your life. We can't hold you back with us for long, dear. People will condemn us, including you."

The Devil who was hiding in the dark was frowning. This was a serious matter. The concept was pretty much the same with how it was in his dimension. Females were used only for breeding and to build powers. Somehow, he didn't agree with it, which was why he had not taken any females until now and relied solely on his power and his underlings to be powerful.

"Mother, is there a man asks for me already?" She was still calm, as if it wasn't related to her.

Both her mother and father were silent for a while. "Truthfully, yes. It's Mr. Jatmiko. He wants you to be his fourth wife." Her mother answered helplessly.

The Devil who was eavesdropping arched his beautiful eyebrows. Jatmiko? If he wasn't mistaken, the man who's called as Jatmiko was a forty-something years old man who owned the biggest shop in the village. In short, he was the richest in the village.

The images of the supple body of the girl standing side by side with the big belly old man who was even older than her own father made him frowned in disgust. He couldn't accept it! No matter what the reason was, he couldn't let her be with that disgusting old man who had sick perverted mind.

He wouldn't be called a Devil if he couldn't see the dirty mind and secrets of people.

That Jatmiko guy was clever but a pervert. He enjoyed breaking a v.i.r.g.i.n girl slowly until they begged for him. Since all of his wives claimed that they didn't love him when they were sent to marry him, of course there would be some kind of resistance when the wedding night happened. He would not force himself upon them, instead he used a clever way; he would arouse their l.u.s.t, teased their body, to the point they would lose control of themselves. Then, when they couldn't think straight, he would claim them.

Smooth, right?

If he did that and loved his wives properly, then the Devil wouldn't call him a pervert. However, he would make sure he broke their minds properly, attached to him s.e.x.u.a.lly, then he would abandon them. Next thing they knew, he would take another wife.

Of course, it wouldn't be just that if a Devil like himself would notice this man. The thing was… this man used a love charm in the process. Yes, a love charm that borrowed the power of devil's underlings specialized in enhancing l.u.s.t and pleasure.

If this girl was to fall into his hand, there was one hundred percent rate that she would be ruined just like that man's other wives.

The Devil didn't like the idea, which was why he sent one of his powerful underlings to put something on him. Didn't he like to use Love Charm? Let's see who's going to be seduced by him after he was seduced by a succubus? The Devil smirked. Jatmiko wouldn't want to wake up after he tasted the power of the succubus the Devil himself had raised.

Because of his meddling, and the girl's insistence to refuse the marriage offer, the marriage was cancelled. However, after that another man came to propose to her. Again, the Devil interfered. He did it for several times until the girl decided to leave the village.

She stated her reasons to her parents. First, she wanted to gain experience outside. As it was more convenience to travel as a man, she disguised herself as a man to ensure her parents. Second, after several failed attempts to propose her, she feared it would bring bad luck to her parents, that's why she needed to leave as soon as possible. Third, she didn't want to be someone's second, third, or fourth wife.

With those reasons, she left the village successfully at dawn before anyone in the village woke up.

Of course, the Devil followed her silently.

"Mister, I know you're there." She said as soon as they reached the inner side of the forest.

The Devil wasn't surprised that the girl knew about his presence. After all, even though their last interaction was when she was twelve years old at that time under the tree and he had not approached her after that, but he knew that she always noticed his presence. She would glance at him every now and then but she would not approach him nor acknowledge him.

Coming out from the shadows of trees, he approached the smiling girl. The thumping in his chest was still there, but after years of experiencing it he had got used to it.

"Are you following me, Mister?" She asked sweetly.

He didn't reply, but he kept following the girl. Her sweet talk and bubbly personality made the usually bored and quiet travel for him seemed livelier. They didn't talk much, but both were feeling comfortable with the presence of each other. It was strange, but he didn't mind the company. He was used to the cruel, bloodthirsty, and wicked way of speaking from his underlings, but he couldn't imagine that he would prefer this girl's sweet and lovely personality.

Who would have thought that the bubbly personality of this girl would change later? Not that he the resented her change. He enjoyed her every change, big or small.

At the age of twenty years old, the girl had travelled through some places, moving around while gaining experiences. Sometimes she would disguise as a man, sometimes she would return to her own self. Most of the time she was in disguise, though, since she had proven that being a girl attracted lots of trouble.

However, the Devil thought that she attracted equally lots of trouble when she was in her disguise as well.

When she was in her disguise, she would attract some younger girls because of her gentle personality. Even when she changed herself to be more mischievous, those girls would still blush around her. The Devil even had an urge to throw those shameless girls towards his underlings and let them ravaged those girls.

He would suppress his evil aura whenever he thought about it since he would earn a glare from her. She was so sensitive with the change of aura around her. Maybe that was why she could adapt quickly to every situation.

However, he preferred her in her disguise rather than in her own self. Since she had developed into a fine young woman, even though she was considered old and had not got married, many dirty minded old men would occasionally pursue her.

For example, there was a forty-something old man intended to take her as his sixth wife. The Devil overheard the way he was talking about her to his friend.

"She should be thankful that I want to marry her. As an old v.i.r.g.i.n, it's hard to find someone like me." He sounded so righteous, but the Devil knew deep inside this man's heart, he didn't care about the girl's age at all. Instead, he nearly drooled every time he looked at her.

A frown appeared in his forehead. However, the man was right about one thing and the Devil could sense it. "Her smile is so charming. I feel refreshed whenever I see her smiling. The way her hair falls down her back, the way she is speaking, even the way she refused to talk more are so adorable that I can't help my heart to want to keep her beside me."

He really adored the girl, but his pride didn't allow him to say it out sincerely.

Human. The Devil snorted.

However, what the man said was being processed in his mind and heart. He found out that whatever the man said about her, he was feeling it, too. What surprised him that when he manipulated the man's dream to let him dream about the person he had wanted to see the most, he saw the girl in the man's dream. And what the man had done to her made him boiling in rage that he instantly turned that 'wet' dream into a nightmare that man would never forget for his whole life.

He returned to where she was living and watched her the whole night. The images of how the girl reacted under that man's touch in that man's dream invaded his mind again, and he could feel the same boiling rage being ignited in him again.

The urge to torture that man again filled his mind, but before he could get up and do it, the girl woke up.

"Mister, you're back." She said with her sleepy voice. Was she waiting for him? "Where did you go just now? I couldn't feel your presence. I thought you would leave me now." She struggled to open her eyes and that sight was so cute in his eyes.

Cute? That word had never been associated with his kind before. He had never called anything or anyone cute before. So, why did he feel this tiny human was cute?

"I'm not leaving you." He didn't know what came to him, but those words that came out from his mouth sounded like a vow instead of a mere sentence.

He watched her blinked her cute sleepy eyes. She was really adorable. A certain image of something that he saw when he was still travelling around the world came into his mind and he was eager to try it out on her.

"Mister, what's your name?" She finally asked it.

"Give me a name." He said as he approached her.

"You don't have a name, Mister?" She tilted her head.

"Yes." He sat on the bed, in front of her.

"Hm, then…" Her eyes were fixed on him, probably trying to think of a good name. After a while, a smile bloomed on her face as her eyes were twinkling with the brightest stars he had even seen. "Nataya. A protector. My protector."

Good enough, he thought. Even though he was actually far from the meaning of the word itself, but he could see himself being her protector in the future.

"Nataya." He repeated. "Thank you for the name."

"Are you really thanking me? You don't like the name?"

"I like it, of course."

"Then, you should smile if you really like it." Again, she extended her arms and pulled the corners of his lips to form an awkward smile.

It wasn't as if he didn't know how to smile, but most of his smiles were superficial, sinister, or bloodthirsty. To make him smile like she did, hm… he could give it a try.

"See? It's not so hard, right?" She was smiling. Even in the dim light of moonlight that came through the ventilation above the tightly closed window, she looked bright and lovely.

"Yes." Nataya, the Devil, wasn't really sure if he did that right, but at least seeing her smile, he knew that somehow he had done his best. What he was about to do came back to him that he leaned to her and put his lips on hers.

Wasn't this how those people from the West did it?