Chapter 29 - I Just Want To Be Friends

"Abel..."

Abel snapped his eyes open, acting on instinct at the hand that was approaching him. In a dazed state, Abel grabbed Aries wrist, pouncing on her until he was pinning her down. His other hand wrapped around her neck, while the other pinning her wrist to her side.

All he could see was red; just like the blazing fire that didn't kill me, resulting in continuous tortures just to kill a monster like him.

"Ah... bel..." Aries winced, breathless at the tightening grip around her neck. He would kill her. She stared into his eyes, seeing how blank they were, as if he couldn't see her.

Using her remaining strength, she called. "It's me..." raising her free hand to cup his cheek. "... Abel."

His dim eyes slowly grew clearer, dilating as soon as he saw her writhing underneath him. On instinct, Abel withdrew his hand as if he was scalded. As soon as he let her go, Aries coughed loudly while groping her neck, catching up to her breathing.

While she gasped for air, Abel stood on his knees in a daze. The memories that kept haunting him felt vivid. He nearly killed her unconsciously.

"Darling," he called with blank eyes, his hand reaching to her, but stopped midway. His gaze veered to the red marks his grip left around her wrist and neck.

Aries huffed, gazing at his hesitant countenance. What he did during his unconscious state surprised her — not because he tried to kill her again. It was because he looked like he was in even more pain than her. She didn't sympathize, she couldn't. But her survival instinct told her it was rather an opening.

"You're back?" she queried, holding his hand that nearly killed her just now. "It's a terrible nightmare, but it's fine now."

He didn't answer, gazing at her soft eyes full of worry. If he hadn't seen it all, Abel would believe she was genuinely concerned. But... he could see right through her. That faint contempt in her eyes and the ulterior motive hiding behind the worry that she was showing... he caught it all.

And yet, he shunned it.

Abel let out a deep exhale, crawling on top of her until his face was buried in her neck. His arms squeezed their way under her back, pushing down the mattress for his arms to have some space.

"It's fine now," she whispered, wrapping her limbs around him while stroking his hair. "You're back."

This felt familiar, he thought. The only difference was that the situation was reversed. This time, she woke him up just so he would wake up to a reckoning, her. Still, he felt her delicate body inhaling through her skin while she casually stroke his hair.

In a position where they held each other as if there was no tomorrow, their eyes were rather empty. She cast him a side-eye coldly, while he kept his eyes open to show the glint flickering across his eyes. A look of two different species to their... prey.

******

After he woke up from a terrible nightmare from the past, Abel didn't stay idle with her on the bed. He proceeded to his usual routine, while she did as well.

"Your Majesty, did you have a bad sleep?" Isaiah, the emperor's sword, gazed at the emperor sitting behind his desk. Abel was leaning leisurely, looking up at the ceiling in silence. He had been oddly silent ever since he came to work this morning, very unlike Abel.

Usually, whenever Abel wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, he wouldn't just stay silent. Abel would take it out. Otherwise, there would be unnecessary killings.

"Isaiah, how long have you been serving me?" Abel inquired after another minute of silence.

"Longer than those footsteps have long vanished."

"That long, huh?" he jeered, eyelashes fluttering ever so tenderly as he tried to reach something in the air. "That means you know me... and how I was purged."

Isaiah warily studied Abel's demeanor. He had long forgotten since the last time Abel mentioned something in his past. For him to mention it again after so long... Isaiah was vigilant. There was never a good outcome whenever Abel revisited the past.

"How pathetic," came out a ridiculing whisper, eyes narrowing. "I just want to be friends... that is what I kept telling them, Isaiah. When they burned me alive, stoned me to death, stabbed me to bleed, hanged me... I only want an answer to this very simple question: what did I do so wrong?"

"Do you know what answer they gave me?" he continued in the same lazy tone. "Nothing. The only thing that gets clearer with every attempt to kill me is that they... looked more terrified than the last time they killed me. A thousand deaths and a thousand resurrection and each time... the desperation and determination to end me grew stronger."

"Humans are foolish. They are blind."

"And yet... I desperately want them to see. I am the one who was foolish, Isaiah." Abel took a deep breath as he slowly closed his eyes to rest. "Perhaps, the one who was blind as well. Ah... that's not right. I am a genius and see everything clearer than anyone now. Though, if only I wasn't, I would fall for that woman, Aries's tricks. Like a moth to a flame."

"Shall I end her for you?"

"She is not easy, my dearest Isaiah." His eyes slowly opened, revealing no human emotions in them. "Not being easy means more fun, though. I'll dance to her tune for now."

"You never dance to anyone else's tune."

"For a change." Abel slowly peeled his eyes from the ceiling, setting it on Isaiah's distant visage. This time, his expression was nonchalantly playful with his lips curled up in amusement. "You can assume this is for my research purpose. I wanted to know the difference between a good potato from a bad one. Can I swallow a good potato? Or spit it out just like the bad one? I'm curious."

Isaiah let out a shallow breath as he tilted his head down. "What shall I do to the person carrying poisoned tea to you?"

"I'm not in the mood to go around with their filthy blood on me. Be the judge. Just do it to a place where I can't smell their blood." Abel waved before they heard a knock from outside the office, stating her objective to bring him tea. "Ahh... I think I'm slowly getting fond of the poison they were feeding me.. Do it after she served it."