*Hm…. This isn't good…* I sighed, then pulled out my umbrella.
" Do you wanna share? You're getting soaked?" I asked her with an eerily calm voice.
" You want to share your umbrella with…me?" Lilith replied, looking absolutely baffled.
"Are you accepting or not?" I pouted. *This girl… seriously, if I didn't want to, I wouldn't have asked. But again, no one ever does this to her, so understandable, I guess."
"Y-yes." She said, running over. " Why are you... Doing this?"
" Because I'm nice."
" That's all?"
" You got a problem?" I narrowed my eyes and smiled at her. * Why don't you just stfu…*
" Uh…No," She mumbled. "Th-Thank you." I noticed a slight blush came to her cheeks.
" Did you just thank me?" I questioned, from her reply, my eyes must have grown 5 times wider than usual. * Is this the same person from this morning??? Is this 180-degree change normal? No fucking way… huh???*
"Yeah, you helped me." She smiled at me.
*It's either somebody kidnapped her and pretended to be her, or she's extremely naive. You don't just forget your whole personality and become soft and fluffy when someone helps you once. This doesn't sound like her this morning or in the novel.*
" You're acting weird…" I narrowed my eyes. " Are you like this with everyone?"
" No, nobody ever talks to me like they don't hate me so…" She trailed off, averting her gaze. " I'm just a bit surprised."
"Oh, I see," I said, smiling. * To believe or not believe. What to do? The explanation sounds reasonable, however, it's not normal for someone who was treated so horribly and monsterized to be so trusting in such a short amount of time. Let's just assume she is telling the truth and keep my guard up just in case.*
The rain gradually worsened. Now, even with the umbrella, we still get wet.
" Ugh… this is bad," I mumbled. To be honest, I didn't want to get a cold tomorrow.
" Hey, let's go somewhere to hide from this…" Lilith elbowed me, clearly not wanting to stand in the rain anymore.
"Yeah sure," I replied. " But where?"
"I don't know," She sighs slowly.
*Well, this is awkward..* I thought, then I looked around.
" How about there? " I smiled as I spotted a storage room nearby.
" Sounds good enough to me," Lilith replied, and we moved to it.
The door creaks as we push it open—just enough to slip inside. The hinges groan, protesting years of stillness, and the faint echo of our entrance fades into the heavy silence. Immediately, the air shifts. It's cooler here, thicker. The kind of cold that sinks into your bones, smelling of stone, ink, and secrets left too long untouched.
A single enchanted lantern flickers near the ceiling, casting long, shifting shadows across rows of wooden shelves. We step carefully, our boots muffled against the worn flagstone floor. Dust hangs in the air, visible in the dim light like a constellation of forgotten things.
To our left, a long shelf groans beneath the weight of scrolls bound in faded silk cords. Some look brittle enough to crumble at a breath. One scroll is half-unraveled, its wax seal broken—the glyphs etched on it pulse faintly, as though still aware we're watching.
Further in, under a canvas drape, something large rests atop a stone pedestal. The fabric rises slightly with the draft as we pass, revealing the edge of a golden gauntlet—runed, regal, and unmistakably enchanted. We don't touch it.
A rusted placard nailed to the wall reads: Department of Arcane Rarities—Access by Royal Decree Only. No decree has been issued in decades. Not like I care anyway.
We sat near a window at the far corner for a good long time in silence. There was nothing to talk about, and the rain showed no sign of getting better.
"Uh… I'm Mirianna, you can call me Miri." I finally broke the silence. " What's your name?"
" Lilith… Astraeven." She murmured, not sure how I would react to the news. "It's okay if you… Hate me or something."
"Why would I hate you?" I tilted my head, asking as if I didn't know the answer. *In a situation like this, if we want to win someone over, we just need to pretend like we don't think like everyone else. But the outcomes vary between people depending on preferences and nurture. I can smell neglect from a mile away, so this might work considering they are insecure about their reputation."
" Huh?" She looked at me like I was crazy. Though at this point, that's not entirely wrong, I have to admit.
" What is there to me that is not to be hated?" She asked, baffled.
"You're a bit normal to me, just that u have a few problems that don't mean you're bad." I smiled, locking eyes with her.
"We're monsters like it's literally in our blood." She pressed her lips together, clearly not impressed by my attempt to reassure her. " You seriously lack the basic knowledge about us."
" Then enlightened me," I said blankly. *I won't know if you don't tell me you know…*
" All nobles up north are demons or partially demons." She stared at me coldly. "How did you not know about that?"
* Ah… Right, I didn't in fact know, I thought only people in her family were demons. That sucks.*
" Well, I grew up sheltered, so no one has told me about that so far." I lied, faking a worried expression. " Maybe we can set our differences aside and be friends?"
" No," she said blankly
" What?" I'm shocked. For a moment there, I really thought the fish was hooked.
" To be honest, no matter how good that might be," She stared. " This is way too good to be true. You probably want something."
*Oh… She's smart. That's gonna be a problem-ish.*
" I see," I replied, leaning my back against the wall. "I don't want anything, though. But the choice of what to believe is yours."
*This whole interaction has been nothing like I had expected at the beginning. If this is what I'm dealing with, all my previous research won't be too useful. Is there something I missed? Her backstory wasn't touched by the original author in the original, or at least the parts that I've read so far. There were two more chapters I hadn't read that might hold the answer. The story was told from a third-person perspective from the outset. For all I care, we are just outsiders observing a story. Do I know the real Lilith at all? Is this how she has been all along? She was supposed to be reckless and cruel. Did the narrative mislead us?"
" Hey, this morning." I turned over to face her, keeping my voice leveled." Why did you hit that boy?"
She didn't answer for a long time, as if she were searching for the right words, or was it that she was trying to figure out why I even cared at all. I can't seem to tell.
" It's complicated." She said, closing her eyes and leaning backward as well. "He said some shitty stuff."
" Can you tell me more?"I whispered, my tone suggestive. *She seems like a fairly calm person from what I've seen through our interaction. What was told to her for her to react like that?*
She didn't say a word for a long time, which made me feel anxious. * I must have said something wrong.*
" I didn't mean to offend you in any way," I said in a genuine voice. " I just want to understand you. It's okay if you feel uncomfortable… I'm sorry."
The rain outside made the atmosphere unnerving as we sat in the dark storage room. Truly do want to know what happened. To be close to someone is to understand them. I want to understand this girl. I need to understand. If I want anything to work at all. I need to be clear about my intentions so as not to mislead her in ways that might not be too beneficial for me.
" He was insulting my late mother." Her voice was cold, and her face unreadable. "That's all you need to know."
" I understand." I acknowledged. "That's a reasonable response on your part. I would do the same thing."
Considering we haven't found any common ground except for us both being motherless, it's kinda funny, not gonna lie. If it were a talkable topic, which it wasn't, then maybe we would have something in common to talk about. Well, since this 3-hour encounter has made me think she's not too much of a danger, let's just talk to her like I talk to any other one of my friends, or in other words, not as a victim, not as a sinner, just another human being. This person is so intriguing, to say the least.
" I wonder if anyone would find us…" I whispered, looking at the rain outside.
" Probably not for a long time." She replied.
"Yeah… probably."