Guardian Evil

CHAPTER 32.5: The Twins Who Chose Different Paths

ROMINA WAS STARING AT THE COLD BOWL OF PORRIDGE and the cold glass of milk in front of her. She took a good rest earlier since Luciel took good care of her but for some reason, she felt so tired.

What happened to the two of them centuries ago that they parted ways like this?

She felt tired not because of that angel of death, named Percival, who attacked her but because she just couldn’t absorb the information she got earlier.

That Luciel, a demon from the underworld, has a twin… from the Celestial Realm.

And what blown her mind was the realization that Luciel was a former angel.

“You should eat now, Romina. You haven’t taken your dinner last night. It’s already two in the morning. You need to eat up since, you know, you’re a fragile human and because your mother and Luciel prepared that for you,” L told her. Since the little demon got some injury with their encounter with Percival, he transformed into a tiny demon so he could recover quickly.

He’s like a cute stress ball that can be a keychain on your backpack.

“L, can I ask you a question?”

The tiny demon blinked at her and nodded. “Go on.”

“You’ve been with Luciel since the day he was born, right?”

“Is that how you humans call it?” L asked. When he saw Romina’s confused face, he shrugged. “Ah, yes. If you consider being created and born, then that’s it. But for my case with Luciel, I am not really with him from the day he was created. When he fell from grace, he was just a mere demon until he paved his way to becoming a higher one and I became his sidekick. So, I’ve been with him for centuries but not from the day he was created together with his twin.”

“Wait—what? Luciel is a higher demon?”

“Yeah. He’s actually a strong one, you know? I sometimes wonder why he chose to guard a mere human like you when he can just dominate one of the gates of the underworld, you know?” L told her and he looked like he was so proud of telling those things to her. “Bet he’s much stronger than his twin.”

“It’s a long story since it happened centuries ago. As you see, Luciel is such a wonderful angel back then… much wonderful, more amazing than me, his twin… before he fell from grace.”

Romina slowly nodded. “Yeah, Angel Sachiel told me about it.”

“Wow, he really admitted that, huh? Haah, angels are just too pure. They’re too boring.”

“But… do you know the reason why he fell from grace? Did he rebel or did he do something like that angel of death—what’s his name again? Percival—has done?” Romina asked.

L’s tiny fingers immediately went to his tiny chin. “I don’t really know the exact details since Luciel never tells me everything. He eventually gets mad when someone will open up about his past or even ask him about it. But when I am inside Luciel’s body, I did see some glimpses of his past and I also heard some rumors from the demons who encountered him.”

“What… what are those rumors?”

“I actually don’t want to talk about it. Luciel might get mad at us—especially at me.”

“I know, I am aware that he might get mad at us but I just want to know something about my guardian, even just a little bit. Please? I promise I won’t tell him that you told me about it,” Romina pleaded.

“Humans are really bothersome,” L sighed and he nodded. “Okay fine. I’ll tell you.”

Romina immediately grinned at him and clapped a little.

“I don’t really know the exact details of why he fell from grace but what I heard and what I saw from his past is he didn’t rebel nor being too ambitious to surpass the Father of Celestial Realm. More like, he was holding a grudge or hatred towards the Father.”

“Why… why did he hate the Father?”

“It’s somehow connected to the huge Celestial War that happened centuries ago. After that Celestial War, Luciel fell from grace that even his brother, his twin couldn’t even stop it,” L responded.

“Does Luciel hate Sachiel as well?” she asked, recalling how Luciel reacted violently when he saw Sachiel earlier.

“Hmm… in the glimpses that I saw from his past—don’t tell him that I have the ability to do so because he might kill me—as what I saw, he didn’t technically hate his twin. They’re actually pretty close in the past. After the Celestial War, they actually got into an argument and Luciel was somehow felt betrayed about what his twin did.”

“Do you know the reason why that happened? I mean… why the twins parted like that?”

L looked at her in silence for a second then he responded in a low voice.

“They failed to save this certain angel they cherished the most.”

“And Luciel was blaming everyone… including himself.”

Luciel was looking up at the silent sky. He let the cold breeze blow his jet-black hair. The dawn is slowly breaking and his thoughts are slowly drifting to the past.

“Do you blame yourself?”

Luciel’s left brow twitched at that.

“Do you feel guilty about what happened, Luciel?”

“Do you regret why didn’t you have that strength to change everything?”

“Do you blame yourself, Luciel?”

Luciel squeezed his eyes close as soon as he heard those words once again. He has the urge to punch the railing of Romina’s house’s rooftop but instead of doing so, he just let his sharp nails bore onto his palm, drawing blood.

“Luciel?”

His eyes slowly opened. He turned around and he saw Romina walking towards him at a slow pace.

“What are you doing here?” he immediately asked. “It’s cold outside. Go back inside. You need to sleep because you still have school tomorrow.”

But instead of doing what he told her, Romina didn’t listen to him. She stopped in front of him and without a word, she hugged him.

Caught off guard, Luciel’s hands were on mid-air, thinking twice if he’ll push her away or respond to the hug. “What-what are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Romina muttered and hugged him even tighter. “I just felt like hugging you and you're warm.”

Luciel scoffed a laugh as soon as he heard her response. “I’m a demon, Romina. I might get the wrong idea.”

“It’s okay,” Romina closed her eyes as she settled her head comfortably on Luciel’s chest.

“Damn, you’re one hell of a human, you know that?” Luciel chuckled like a mischievous demon he is and responded to Romina’s hug.

Romina’s eyes gently opened and saw how Luciel’s black wings covered the both of them to keep themselves warm.

“You’re not bad, Luciel. I believe that you’re not.”