Bael gently closed the door, making sure to not make a sound, and picked up the pace, almost running towards the dungeon with a serious face.

  ‘I left them so many chances, but they had to go ahead and do it. If I could, I would destroy them right now !’

  Unfortunately, he didn’t have the authority to do that. After hopping down a flight of stairs, he was faced with a familiar green haired man. Baam was staring at his face, his purple eyes shining with amusement.

  “I’m guessing it went well, you look angry but quite radiant, young master.”

  Bael furrowed his brows in a childish pouty face.

  “I’m the king, now. You should call me ‘your majesty’, not ‘young master’.”

  “I raised you, you will always be my young master.”

  Turning towards the dark corridor leading to the jails, Bael changed the subject.

  “I really want to punish them strongly for trying to kill Thomas, but it doesn’t count as a good reason, right ?”

  Baam shook his head.

  “If he was your official consort, maybe. But with the situation being what it is, at best you could apply a strong sentence for infiltrating the castle and trying to harm a guest. It won’t go very far, but it’s the best you can do.”

  The king gritted his teeth.

  “I hate that. What’s the point in leading a country if I can’t even do what I want ?”

  With a comforting smile, the aide patted his head.

  “Don’t say that, you are a very good king. Creating a school and leading reforms to make Hell a better pce isn’t something one can easily achieve.”

  “Well, you could have done it if you wanted to. You are the one who taught me everything.”

  Baam shrugged.

  “That’s why I’m not a king. At the time, I suggested you kill all the prisoners and create a militia to stop the uprising, you were the one who opposed it and preferred to take an educational approach.”

  Bael flinched, the memory of thousands of years ago still vivid in his mind.

  “I always forget how cruel you can be, since you’re always so nice to me.”

  His aide smirked.

  “Maybe I should have been more strict, that way you wouldn’t have taken a human lover.”

  The king reddened vividly and hid his face in his hands.

  “He isn’t my lover ! I just care about him. And by the way, he isn’t a human ! When his body was constructed, I noticed that he was a demon. Not an artificial one, like the princes, but a real demon born like me. He has several pairs of wings.”

  Baam tilted his head to the side.

  “That’s good news, in a sense. You won’t have any opposition from the nobles, if he is a demon born. But the way he got stuck in a human girl’s mind is beyond me. I know about the Dissociative Identity Disorder, but since the personalities are created based on the culture and references of the host, he shouldn’t be a demon born unless Mariane was somehow aware of Hell’s inhabitants, and we know that isn’t the case. It’s strange.”

  Thinking about it wouldn’t bring him any answer, so the aide shrugged again and turned to the corridor.

  “I understand that you want to punish them severely. However, they are artificial demons sent by God from the Heavens, in order to succeed you. We can’t be too severe, or you’ll have to report to the big man, and I know you hate that.”

  Bael made a disgusted face.

  “That old man is just so overbearing ! If he wanted to be a grandfather, maybe he shouldn’t have sent my father to Hell ! Always calling me ‘Lucifer’s son’, as if it would create a special bond between us ! Demons can’t even have children, I was created by sacrifices and he knows it, he made us this way. It’s so distasteful.”

  The aide ughed.

  “You are the only one who can talk about the Creator like that. Well, to sum up, you don’t want him involved. So I need to reduce the punishment. Do you want to do the ruling ?”

  Bael shook his head.

  “If I see them in front of me, I may try to kill them. Just make sure to seal their powers and prevent them from leaving the school’s grounds. No allowance either, and a seal of obedience. Oh, and do the same for Mariane. I don’t want to see that girl near Thomas, or I’ll rip her head out.”

  Baam bowed.

  “Understood. I will forbid all extracurricur activities, and adapt the sentence for each of them. Preventing Zagam from shopping will be quite the fun time !”

  “Yes, and Asmodey will go nuts if we don’t allow any visitors in the dormitory. If he could snap at Mariane, that would be ideal.”

  The king smiled. It wasn’t a satisfactory ruling, but little revenges were not that bad. Preventing the lustful one from having visitors, cutting the wifi of the chronically online, taking all the allowance of the one who likes to spend… It wasn’t much, but he had to be satisfied with it.

  With that done, he left the proceedings to Baam and climbed the stairs. He was almost running in the hallway, happy to come back to his room. Once arrived, he opened the door slightly, careful to not make any sound, but he stopped abruptly.

  Inside, a terrified Thomas had taken a nearby candebra and was pointing it towards the door, his eyes widened in terror.

  “Who is it ? Go away !”

  Immediately, Bael entered the room, staying at a safe distance.

  “It’s me ! I was gone for a minute to deal with the princes.”

  Recognizing him, Thomas let go of the object and let himself fall back on the bed.

  “You scared me ! Opening the door so sneakily…”

  Bael cautiously stepped forward, a drop of cold sweat still rolling down his forehead.

  “I’m sorry. You were sleeping so soundly when I left, I wouldn’t have guessed that you would already be awake.”

  He tried to force a warm smile, but his heart was still beating loudly.

  “You will be safe now, I put a seal of obedience on the princes, they will suffer a great deal if they don’t follow my words.”

  Thomas turned to him with a pout.

  “That’s what you said st time, and they still entered the castle.

  “You’re right, I’m not the most trustworthy person.”

  Bael sat next to him, studying Thomas’ face.

  “I thought you were quite cold at first, but you can be surprisingly expressive.”

  The bck haired man shook his head.

  “It’s only because it’s you. If anybody else was here, I would still be stoic and angry looking. You have that ability to make me express my feelings, it’s fascinating.”

  Then, he rose up with difficulty.

  “That being said, can you give me some clothes ? I’m still naked.”

  Bael sprung up, redding so widely that even his shoulders and ears were taking a rosy tint.

  “Yes, of course ! Wait…”

  He ran to his wardrobe and took out everything he could.

  “You are as tall as me, but very slim, so I don’t think anything will fit you… Here, try this !”

  He handed a shirt to Thomas, without looking at him, and waited for a bit.

  “I’m done, but… I look like a toddler who borrowed his mom’s clothes.”

  Bael turned to him, and lost his grip on the clothes, who fell at his feet. The bck shirt was way too big, and revealed Thomas’ thin shoulders, as well as his colrbones. It flowed on his body and covered half of his thighs, as if it was a dress. It was cute, endearing, and somehow very sexy.

  ‘Get a grip, Bael ! He suffered so much because of men who couldn’t hold themselves back, don’t be like them !’

  Clearing his throat a few times, he succeeded in keeping himself together and appearing almost normal.

  “It’s too big, that’s for sure, but it should be good enough for now. Did you correctly pass your wings through the back holes ?”

  “I think so. Is it like this ?”

  Thomas turned his back to Bael, and the king had to hold on to the wardrobe’s door to keep his sanity. All his clothes were magic, creating a slit to the back for his wings when needed, and closing themselves when he was in his casual form. However, he had six pairs of wings and the bck haired man only had two. So, behind the webbed appendages, the slit continued, revealing his bare back until just above his buttocks.

  ‘I’m going crazy… It’s all because of Baam, talking about us as lovers and whatnot !’

  He bit the inside of his cheeks very hard, and answered.

  “Yes, you did it right. But I’ll have to go buy clothes for you, you can’t go outside dressed like that.”

  Thomas nodded.

  “I figured as much. I can’t even walk, so I can’t go with you anyway.”

  Bael opened his eyes wide.

  “You can’t walk ?”

  “Yes. I think it’s because this body was made according to my soul, and since I never had my own body before, technically I never ate or moved. I don’t have muscles and fat, I’m just all bones. Standing up is all I can manage, and it’s already very hard. I think I’m alright because I’m a demon, otherwise I would have died long ago.”

  Dread filled the king’s eyes, as he realized he had failed in the most basic duty.

  ‘There’s a guy I like in front of me, and I didn’t even serve him food ? What kind of monster am I ?’

  The realization made him shake, and he suddenly took out his phone to call the domestics.

  “Hello, yes it’s me. No, thanks for cleaning my room, but you might need to repair the wall of the guest’s study. Wait, it’s not important ! I need a full course meal delivered to my room right now. Don’t enter, leave it at the door. Yes, thank you.”

  He put the phone back in his pocket, and turned to Thomas.

  “How could I not even feed you ? I’m so terrible.”

  The slim man who had heard everything was ughing.

  “I can’t believe you’re more worried about that than the wall you exploded back there ! How important am I, anyway ?”

  “Very important.”

  Bael took a step towards Thomas, looking at his slender body with serious eyes.

  “You are very important to me.”