"Now do you believe me?" I asked, after putting away my short sword. Jane just looked at me with eyes as wide as saucers. Whether it was fear or amazement, I didn't know, but it was certain that she was beginning to grasp the situation.
"I'll tell you everything from the very beginning 'til the asshole's death, it's a long story, so listen carefully because I'm not repeating any of it. Understood?" I asked. She quickly nodded.
"Good. Believe it or not, our whole unfortunate bus, carrying two classes and a few teachers, plus a very unlucky driver, was summoned to a different world called Eden…" I explained to Jane everything from the summoning, through training, entering the labyrinth, betrayal, our growth, the fights we were in, the different tactics we implemented in order to fight different, far stronger than us monsters and finally - the incident with the dragon.
Jane listened to every word that came out of my mouth with great interest, her expressions changing with every plot twist and new discovery. Amazement flushed her face when she learned that magic - real magic was real, followed by rage and despair at the words about the betrayal. Then tension and anticipation when I told her about the unbearable feeling of my rebirth, followed by amusement at our messing around with the Devil Snakes and, finally, despair and something akin to closure at the words about her beloved brother's mangled remains.
It took hours for me to tell her everything, I didn't omit a single detail, nor did I embellish a single fact. Finally, when I was done, I asked her. "Do you believe me now?" She slowly nodded. "Then, is there anything you want to ask me?" She thought for a while and nodded. "Go for it." She just sat there, on the ground, not saying a word. "Oh, right, the black magic… DISPEL."
Jane drew in a sharp breath of air and placed her hand on her chest, relief etched on her face. "That… That was scary…" She said, "Please, never again."
"That depends on your actions from now on. If you displease me in any way, there are far worse things that I can do to you or the ones you care about." I warned.
"You really are a dick, aren't you?" She frowned. "Do you have any idea just how bad it feels to lose control of your body entirely? This fear… It's worse than anything that I have felt in my entire life and you wish to subject me to it in the future too?"
"Well, you don't really seem all that scared of me now, what gives?"
"I'm scared alright, but, more than that, I'm pissed as hell. So, if you ever do that to me again, well… Let's just say that pissing off a woman, especially one with Alex's brain, won't be good for your health…"
"...Fine. No more black magic in the house. Happy?" I asked.
"Happy." Jane answered.
"Just saying, I didn't back down because I was scared of you or something, it would simply be annoying to deal with a pest like you."
"Whatever you say." Jane smiled, stood up and approached me. "Peace?" She asked, extending a hand to shake.
"Peace." I shook it. After that, I spent a few more hours just answering questions. I know that I was the one that offered to answer, but I was hoping for questions about Alex and was given questions about magic, monsters, sword fighting and the world of Eden in general. After a few hours of this mind torture, I snapped, stood up, tossed Jane the ring containing the whole library of Babel and a ring with a spell that allows one to read and understand all languages. "I neither know, nor care to know about any of this." I said. "If you're interested, figure it out." After saying all this, I left the room, slamming the door.
Still fuming, I entered the kitchen. Food is one or the best thing to restore energy of any kind and at the moment, my mental energy was at a critical low. Instead of a nice, fulfilling meal, I found a nuisance, drinking tea. "How did it go?" The elf asked.
"I donno, do you think that my emotional intelligence is high enough to understand women?" I said, rummaging through the kitchen, looking for food.
"There's nothing here to quench your appetite, you already ate all that was prepared and Elizabeth is already in bed." Luna said, calmly sipping tea.
"I don't suppose you know how to cook?"
"I'm a princess after all, why would I be proficient in something servants are supposed to do?"
"Dead weight." I sighed.
"It's not like you can cook, so who are you to judge me?" The elf said. "Here's a thought, why don't you join me for a cup of tea? It's surprisingly calming. Calm your irritation and your hunger might subside."
I hesitated, then took a seat at the table and Luna poured me a cup. I took the cup to my nose and gave it a sniff. "Ya shi xiang." The elf explained with a smile. "Also known as duck shit oolong." I frowned and emptied the cup onto the floor.
"You elves are a strange bunch." I said, pouring the demonic stuff into the now empty cup. "I get eating shit if you're into it, but calling it tea is a bit much."
Luna looked at the puddle on the ground and asked. "Are you going to clean that up?"
"Why would I clean something? It's not like it's your problem, so why bring it up?"
"You're right, it's Elizabeth's." she said. "Poor, little Elizabeth, doing all the house work alone, just to have someone blatantly disrespect her hard work. How truly sad…"
"...Where's the mop?"
Luna gave an innocent smile. "Why would you need a mop? Don't tell me that the great and powerful demon king is actually going to lower himself to do housework."
"Stop messing around, where is it?"
"I don't know, I am a princess after all, why would I know something like that?"
"Are you angry that I spilled your precious duck shit?" I asked. "What's with the attitude?"
"Not at all. Oh, but it's not duck shit, but duck shit oolong. But you wouldn't know anything about it, like just how prized this tea is and just how hard it was for me to obtain a decent batch of it. You wouldn't know how much searching it took for me to find it and just how much I waited for its arrival just to have a perfectly good cup of this wonderful tea be thrown onto the ground and called duck shit by an uncivilized brute like you." Luna said with a smile. "So no, I am not angry at all."
"Whatever, just tell me where the mop is."
"Tea deserves respect, even if it's on the ground. I will not allow you to use a mop. Get down onto the ground on your hands and knees and use a paper towel instead." The elf said with righteous indignation.
"And what if I don't?"
"I'll tell Liz what you did just now. I wonder how she will react?"
"Fine, fine, fine, you win." I said with a sigh. "I'm sorry for disrespecting your tea, please don't tell her anything. I'll clean it up."
"Good." I cleaned up the tea and was about to get up, when the elf poured the demonic from my cup onto the ground. I raised my eyes and gave her a death glare. "Ups." She smiled. "Since you're already down there, why not clean that up as well? I am a princess, so I naturally don't clean and I would very dislike having to wake Elizabeth up in the middle of the night for something like this…"
"You're crossing the line." I growled. "I'll clean it up, but when we return to the other side, I'll clean up the elven kingdom from the map as well, what do you think of that?"
"I couldn't care less personally." The elf declared. "Still, I wonder, what will your dear, lovely Elizabeth think about you when she hears that you took millions of innocent lives over a petty squabble? Will she wake up in the middle of the night hearing the screams of innocent children whose lives were taken by the man sleeping next to her? Will she stay with you, or will she leave? Better yet, even if she stays with you, would that be because she loves you, or out of fear of retaliation?"
Luna smiled. "You may be all powerful - a being that surpasses all, but you are not invincible. Everyone has a weakness and yours is far too obvious. As long as I know of it and as long as I can manipulate her - I can manipulate you with relative ease." She stood up and approached, placing a hand on my head. A shiver ran down my spine.
"Don't worry, I have no intention of going against you." She said, her face showing an innocent smile, while her tone was as cold as ice. "I have no intention of going against you as long as you do what I want."
"And that is?"
"You know very well what I want." She raised my face so that our eyes would meet. "I want you and I've been patient all this time, waiting for you to make the right choice. I know that you like Liz and it irritates me to no end, but it is what it is. I'm fine with you keeping her on the side as long as you're with me. What do you think of this arrangement, dear? It's pretty favorable for you, if I do say so myself."
"Not happening. Forget it."
"So you won't even give me a chance? Is she really that good? Let's see how she compares to me." The elf gave me a strong push, I landed with my back on the ground, and she began taking off her clothes. "I'm certain that that goody two shoes is nothing compared to me and I will prove it to you tonight."
I tried to get up, but she placed her foot on my chest, stopping me. "And where do you think you're going?" She teased. I tried to move her foot, but realized that my strength was waning. "Oh? You finally noticed?" She smirked. "It's strange, isn't it? You - the all mighty demon king - the most powerful being is being pinned down by a frail woman like me."
"What did you do to me?!" I screamed.
She sat down on my waist and placed a finger on my lips. "Shh, you wouldn't want your precious Elizabeth to see this, would you? As for what I did…" She slowly slid her fingers over the shoulder that she pushed down on to get me onto the ground, then showed me her fingers that were stained by blood. "What's this, I wonder? Is it perhaps yours?" She smiled and wiped her hand on my shirt. "If you truly believe that you're immune to all poison, then you're sorely mistaken.
Then, she began pulling up my shirt, exposing a lean, well built physique. "Oh my, how wonderful! My destined one has such a body." She said while sliding her hands over my abs and chest. Then the unthinkable happened and she felt it too. "I see you're all ready to go, dear." She said with a smile, her hands going lower and lower.
"Listen, that's enough." I said. "Get off of me and we'll pretend like none of this ever happened."
"Don't be a kill joy, we're just getting started, how could we possibly end it now? Besides, after tonight, there won't be any chance of you ever forgetting it." She smiled. "That poor little girl, she could never satisfy someone like you, right? Don't worry, I can go all night long." She kissed me.
"What are you two doing?" A voice came from the doorway. I looked up. It was Elizabeth.
"Wait, Liz, it's not what you think, I promise, I'm innocent!" I pleaded.
"Oh, it's just you." Luna gave Liz a pitying look. "I wanted to tell you what was between us long ago, but never found the right moment, but now you know. As you can see, we're busy at the moment and will be busy for a while, so I'd appreciate it if you gave us some privacy."
"No, Liz, she's lying!" I shouted. "There's nothing betw…" Luna kissed me again. I could see that she wasn't looking at me. This kiss wasn't for me or her, it was for Elizabeth to see.
Finally, when Luna let go of me, I was about to start explaining myself, but it was already too late. Treats flowed down Elizabeth's cheeks and she simply said. "I hope that the two of you are happy together." Then she dashed to our room and locked the door.
It was over. I lost.
Luna smirked and got off of me, having achieved what she wanted, then put her clothes back on. "Now you have no choice but to be with me." She said. "After all, apart from me and Liz, what woman in her right mind would be with someone like you? Oh, and if you do find someone else, I don't mind repeating what happened today." She added.
I saw red, with shaking legs, got up and was about to end her, but she just pushed me back down, kissed again and left the room, turning off the lights and wishing me a nice night. I was left alone on the cold kitchen floor. Unable to move, torn inside by grief. Why is it that every time I am happy, that happiness is taken away?
Join me on patreon at patreon.com/BonsaiCat for early access to new chapters or buy my book 'How to rule a fantasy world' on Amazon. It's the same stuff that you read here, but I fucked up with the naming and the book is already out, so fuck it, let's go with this name for the book. I appreciate all of your support and your forgiveness for my utter incompetence. Best regards, BonsaiCat.