Chapter 111: Demon's Bride

Nero was sleeping on the bed with a blanket covering his lower half. With a slight movement, he opened his eyes and looked at the chandelier at the ceiling of the room.

"I woke up under yet another unknown ceiling," he muttered.

"Hmm?" Leto peeked from the side and asked, "Did you say something?" 

"I just wanted to say that line once."

Leto rested her head on Nero's chest and looked up at him as her bare breasts rubbed against him. "Thank you for showing me what true love is and what it feels like to make love."

Nero gently smiled and patted on Leto's head, asking, "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes, it felt good, and you purified me from my trauma," she replied.

"Did that shitty king assault you often?"

Leto shook her head and said, "Once I gave birth to Asteria and my son, he lost interest in me."

"Then he locked me in the tower and asked me to raise Asteria so he could do the same thing to her as he did to me. But I raised Asteria and always told her to hate that man. So she grew up hating him," Leto answered.

"And? He never tried to do anything to Asteria?"

"He did try to, but I taught Asteria everything I could. All the magic, spells, arts. So she never let that man come near to her." 

Leto turned her face to the other side and continued, "He brought girls from all over the capital and assaulted them. He killed the girls who got pregnant or gave them to his soldiers, and they died eventually.."

"He gave him the end he deserved," Nero asserted.

"He was always like this. As he was the youngest son, Ma and Pa always spoiled him. My other two older brothers would get angry and ask Ma and Pa not to spoil him. I was the only daughter and youngest of all of my siblings. But as I was a girl, I wasn't allowed to do certain things, which I didn't mind," Leto recalled.

"Then, one day, a well-known wizard visited the palace and said he could prophesize the future. Pa wanted to know about the kingdom, but the wizard prophesied something else."

Nero rubbed his thumb on Leto's cheek and uttered, "You know, prophecies aren't always true. It's just one of the possibilities, and they can be easily avoided."

"That's what Pa and Ma said when they first heard their prophecy."

"What were the prophecies?" Nero asked with a calm look on his face.

"For Pa, it was 'You will be killed by your own blood'. For Ma, it was 'You will kill yourself'. For my oldest brother, it was 'You will be killed by your brother'. For my second brother, it was also 'You will be killed by your brother. And for that… for him, it was—"

"You will be killed by a demon after 20 years," Nero completed.

Leto nodded and continued, "Since I had three brothers, my two older brothers were wary of each other after that prophecy."

"What was your prophecy," Nero asked.

Leto's face flushed as she looked at Nero and stammered, "Do you truly want to know?"

"I seriously want to know now that you are reacting like this," Nero grinned.

"My prophecy was 'You will be the demon's bride after 20 years, and your daughter will be that demon's Salvator."

"So it turned out to be true, eh?"

"Yes, but the other prophecies also turned true," she remarked.

"Pa and Ma didn't believe in the prophecy, neither did my two older brothers. I, on the other hand, was just ten years old. And that… he was 12 years old, but he took the prophecy seriously," Leto recalled with a sad look on her face.

"Forget about what happened in the past, and focus on what you have now, focus on me."

"It's all that wizard's fault," Leto proclaimed.

Nero raised his brows and asked with a confused look on his face, "Why are you blaming the wizard? He just prophesied, nothing else."

"No… rox," Leto made a disgusted face when she said Norox's name.

"He became friends with the wizard. And they talked in secret all the time. And the day the wizard left the palace, he…" Leto took a deep breath before continuing, "He poisoned Pa and my older brothers."

"But since they were part demons, the poison's effect was slow, so they all were paralyzed."

"Then he tied them up and raped me and my mother in front of them. After raping us for all night, he killed them and locked Ma and me in the room."

"Leto…" Nero tried to stop Leto.

"Ma was traumatized, and after some weeks, when I was sleeping, she killed herself by repeatedly banging her head on the wall."

"Leto… that's enough." Nero hugged Leto and said, "I am here now."

"I wanted to kill myself too, but I found out I was pregnant. And according to the prophecy, my daughter would be the demon's Salvator, your Salvator. So I couldn't kill myself."

'So she did all this for me? She suffered everything for me?' Nero felt a sting in his heart.

"And I am glad I didn't kill myself. I got to see that man's death, and I got to meet you."

"Thank you for saving my daughter and me." Leto moved her face and kissed Nero, saying, "my demon hero."

Nero kissed her back and said with a smile on his face, "You are a good mother."

"I wonder about that. I raised ASteria in a tower. She never got to see or meet anyone. She spent her life in the tower, hating that man and submitting to you."

"That explains why she doesn't have any shame or common sense," Nero commented.

"What do you mean?" Leto asked with a puzzled look on her face, knowing nothing of what Asteria did in the bathhouse.

"When I was bathing, she came into the bathhouse and got undressed without any hesitation or hint of embarrassment. She even offered to—"

Leto interrupted Nero and uttered, "I don't think she had any improper thoughts." 

"I know. She is innocent, but she needs to learn now."

Leto kissed Nero and said with a grin on her face, "She is yours now, so it's your responsibility to make her know what it feels like to be a girl."

"I will try my best," Nero replied with a grin.