There Is No Lie In This World-Chapter 31: The Promise

My feet felt light. My heart floated. If I had been alone, I might have even skipped on my way back to the office. But it was okay that I wasn’t alone. An angel led the way, and I was surrounded by her entourage. It wasn’t that I had suddenly come to embrace the position I was in, but I felt that if an angel - a real angel! - said I belonged here, then maybe I really did.

Cain and Abe left at the door after escorting us to my office, and Luc, Elune, and I entered the place I could perhaps start to call home. I sat on the couch while Luc took a seat across from me, and Elune stood just behind. It was late afternoon. I’d always loved the shade of sunlight at this time of day.

"Nabir."

Not so long after we settled down, Luc summoned the beast-man. Remembering the last time I saw him, I was still a little frightened, but I thought that if he was working for an angel like Luc, then he couldn’t be a bad man - although I still wasn’t quite sure what to make of the fact that he brought a living human heart to save Bada...

Nabir emerged naturally from the ground at Luc’s command, now that there was nothing left to hide from me. I liked that.

The massive man knelt in front of Luc and handed her an envelope. Luc acknowledged with an appreciative nod and opened it, taking out a photograph. She studied it carefully, put it back into the envelope, and handed it over to Elune, who returned to the table - almost tripping on the way - and put it in one of the many cabinets that lined the wall.

"Well done, Nabir. Wait for my command."

With that, Nabir slowly sank back into the ground and disappeared.

"Wow... so you really have... magical powers."

"I’m not too fond of showing them to others."

"But you let me see them."

"I suppose there is no reason to hide things from you anymore."

But just as Luc was beaming an uncharacteristically warm smile at me, Elune returned to the table and exclaimed with excitement.

"Does that mean Miss Roen will sign-"

Elune’s words were cut short as Luc glared at her. She fell to her knees, clutching her throat -as if she were choking herself.

"Elune!"

I jumped up from my seat and tried to support her, trying my best to force her hands off her throat, but I simply couldn’t pull them away. Her face was turning beet red; she couldn’t breathe.

"Luc! What is this? Are you doing this to Elune?!"

"Tsk."

As soon as Luc ’let go,’ Elune stopped choking herself and gasped for air.

"Don’t ever mention that again, Elune," Luc ordered.

"I... I’m sorry... Mistress..."

"Why did you do that to Elune?!"

Perhaps it wasn’t my place to question the actions of an angel, but this seemed overly cruel to me. Elune was an extremely nice girl, and I couldn’t understand how what she was about to say offended Luc so much as to earn such wrath.

Wait -aren’t angels supposed to be nice and forgiving?

"Please do not interfere in the affairs of myself and my... workers, Miss Roen."

Gone was the warm smile on her face. Now Luc was back to her usual icy cold composure.

"No. I can’t let this happen," I decided to stand my ground on this one.

"Excuse me?" My immediate rebuttal clearly caught Luc off guard.

"Please do not do this to Elune again."

It was the first time I had ever given Luc an ’order.’ I never thought I was capable of doing such things. Although technically I was her ’boss,’ I never felt that way about myself or in the short relationship since I came here. But if there ever was a time for me to exercise my ’authority,’ I felt now was it.

"Is that an order?" Luc seemed amused.

"Miss Roen, you don’t have to -" Elune tried to cut in.

"No, Elune. It doesn’t matter if Luc is your boss or Mistress or whatever. This isn’t right. You can’t just accept being treated like this."

I couldn’t believe what I was saying.

I never really got bullied or anything. I was too unnoticeable and insignificant to be bullied during my school days. I was simply not a fun or interesting target. But of course, I’d witnessed plenty of such horrible acts in classes - I never even thought about standing up for anyone though.

"Interesting." Luc tilted her head and blinked. There was no smile left on her face -only intrigue.

"I know you are... special, Luc. But you can’t be using your ’power’ like this."

But the angel’s only response was a look of "Go on."

"So from now on, please don’t do this to Elune again - or anyone, for that matter. Please don’t hurt people."

"What if I don’t comply?" she asked, without missing a beat.

"I... I don’t know..."

"Do you feel sad seeing people get hurt?"

"Of course! Anybody would feel that way!"

"Not everybody. At least not any Roen that I worked with before."

"Then maybe it’s time to change that."

Luc slowly got up from her seat. She seemed to grow taller. She took a few steps toward me and leaned forward a little. I was still kneeling on the ground with Elune in my arms, still gasping for air.

"Are you sure you don’t want me to hurt people?" she asked again.

"Yes, I am VERY sure. Please don’t do it again. You must promise."

Then a sly grin appeared on Luc’s face.

"A promise?"

"Yes. Promise."

Luc then let out a short laugh.

"Haha. Very well, then, Miss Roen. I shall not hurt anyone. I promise."

"Tha -thank you. I appreciate it."

"But be aware. I do not break promises. Someday, when needed, you’ll have to order me to hurt someone."

"I would never order such a thing."

Luc then placed her cold hand on my shoulder and said,

"I really hope you stay that way, Miss Roen."