Chapter 73: Blame and Hate

"Who are you? I know you are not human, but… who are you exactly?" Elise asked in a calm voice.

"What do I look like?" Nero answered the question with a question.

"I don't know. Maybe… a vampire?" Elise guessed.

Surprised, Nero's eyes widened, "Do I look like a vampire?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen one, but I have heard stories about them and sen pictures of them."

"What stories?"

"They look handsome, and you will fall in love with them in one glance because of their charisma. And how they can seduce you and make you their puppet." Elise couldn't take her eyes off Nero's face, and she kept staring into his eyes.

"You are not wrong. Vampires do have that ability, but fortunately, I am not a full vampire. Not only am I mixed blood, but I am mixed race too," Nero asserted.

"So…? Who are you?" she asked curiously.

"I am a demon."

Elise was surprised but wasn't shocked. Instead, she reacted as if she had already thought of that possibility.

"You don't look surprised," Nero licked his lips.

Elise closed her distance with Nero and once again kissed him on the lips— but this time, she was aggressive.

Elise kept kissing him until Nero pushed her way. He looked into her eyes and said, "You haven't said 'I love you' to me yet."

Elise placed her hand on Nero's chest and felt his heartbeat, "Do you want me to say it?"

"In the past, many girls had confessed to me, and by many, I mean many. Even princesses and noble races wanted me to marry them. Some were even okay harem. But I rejected them all."

Elise quietly listened to what Nero was saying and twirled her finger on Nero's chest.

"But, whenever they confessed to me, I told them my real identity. Of course, many were disappointed, and I can't blame them. No one in their sane mind would love a demon," Nero said with a distant smile.

"But you were the one who rejected them, right? So why did you do that? Could it be that you had someone already?" Elise questioned.

Nero nodded and continued, "The reason I am telling you this is because… well… if there is someone who loves me, then they have the right to know who I truly am. So I don't want to deceive them or make it look like I was trying to hide my identity."

Elise stopped twirling her finger on Nero's chest and looked him into the eyes, "Are you rejecting me?"

"What do you think?"

Elise backed up some steps and leaned on the wall behind her before saying, "I grew up with Laira. We were friends… really great friends. But she was a little weird. She never dwelled on one thing."

Elise folded her arms beneath her bosom and continued, "She was used to moving on… you know— like if she lost something, she would look for it for one day, two days, three days, and then she would give up."

"It was like she accepted everything that happened in her life. Her bastard parents left her and never came back to see how she was doing, but Laira never cursed them."

Nero clenched his teeth and took a deep breath, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Why do you think?" Elise furrowed her brows.

"Do you blame me for her death?" Nero asked.

"No, quite the contrary. I blame myself for her death." Elise's eyes turned wet.

"You don't have to blame yourself. You weren't even around when that happened."

"It was me who asked her to come to the capital with me!" Elise growled as she started crying.

"We met the night before I met you at the guild, and she told me about you," Elise recalled.

"She said, 'There is an interesting guest at the inn', and I asked her for the details. She said, 'He looks so sad and lonely. Almost as if he doesn't care about anything, as if he has given up on living'." 

"I was interested in meeting you since Laira rarely talked about boys, but when I met you, I didn't feel anything special about you."

"Ouch. That hurts."

"She had so many dreams she wanted to achieve in her life; so many things she wanted to do. She wanted to move in here to the capital, and she was going to come here later, but I asked her to come with me that day. I killed her!" Elise sniffed but didn't care to wipe her tears.

"Elise, it wasn't your fault." Nero knew why Elise felt responsible for Laira's death, but if she had borne all the blame to herself— she would have lived the rest of her life in self-hatred and blaming herself.

"How is that not my fault?! If I hadn't asked her to come with me, she would still be in Astrared, sleeping or serving the customers, or strolling around the town!" Elise retorted.

"If you are going to blame someone, then blame me. If you are going to hate someone, then hate me. I don't care." Nero didn't blame himself for Laira's death. He was done with blaming himself for others' sake. But he wanted to save Elise from despair, and that's why he asked Elise to blame him.

Elise stopped crying and dashed at Nero to hug him. She wrapped her hands around him and buried her face in his chest.

"Don't get your snot on me," Nero commented.

"I can see why she fell in love with you. You are arrogant and rude, but you are kind too." She said in a muffled voice.

"Oh, please. Anything, but don't call me kind. I am far from kind."

Nero rubbed his hand on Elise's back to calm her down.

Elise looked up at Nero with her teary eyes and said, "I will live Laira's life. I will fulfill all her dreams and do all the things she wanted. I will complete her legacy." Elise declared with confidence.

"Does that legacy also include loving me? If yes, then I would rather not have you love me. So love me only if 'you' want to love me."

Nero wiped the tears from Elise's eyes and kissed her.