Loving The Mad King

Rion, Don't Hate Lucifer

Rion closed his eyes for a moment, then exposed his story to Odette.

"That's… because I was worried about you," he finally said. It made Odette proud. She felt her heart was filled with so much warmth.

Rion looked at the woman intently.

"Get some rest, I don't want you to get sick," he said, then turned around, and continued his activity. He glanced at Odette, who didn't move as she stared at him.

'You are like the changing weather and I still fail to understand you,' she thought to herself.

After a long silence, Odette finally left the place, and walked toward her room.  In her room, she sat on the bed and thought of Rion's words.

'That's because I was worried about you.'

'Now go and get some rest. I don't want you to get sick.'

Those words echoed in her mind. She then kept thinking of Rion's words after she saw the wound on her neck.

'I just don't want you to get hurt.'

Odette walked over and peeked at Rion, who was arranging things on the shelves.

'I should be able to understand you better, Rion. You're a good man, very kind, but you treat yourself in a different way. Maybe you do that because you don't want anyone to pity you.'

'I don't know what's going on with me lately, I felt so sad and upset when you told me to leave. Even though you weren't the first patient to tell me to go and leave them. So far, I have never left them, even though they kicked me out. I understand that they are frustrated and have lost faith in people and in having a happy life.'

'I can't leave them just because they kicked me out in such a state. They need a stubborn person to stay by their side, to help them get through the tough times and get their life back.'

'I've never been surprised and upset because of their words when they kicked me out. But when you did that, I felt that way. I asked myself what was wrong with me? Why do your every sentence and your attitude affect my emotions so much? Now I found the answer to that question.'

'Rion… I think I'm in love.'

"I love you, Rion," Odette spoke quietly.

She took a deep breath, then turned, and leaned her back against the door. She had just confessed her feelings to herself. That was a relief. But she felt complicated when she remembered that she wasn't from this era and place.

She thought that having feelings for Rion was something abnormal, but… she liked that feeling.

It felt good.

"So, this is what it feels like to be in love. It's so exciting." She smiled involuntarily while she felt her heartbeat that kept on accelerating.

"Rion… Rion… oh Rion…" She mumbled Rion's name over, and over, and then giggled. It felt ridiculous, but… "Huh?"

She was startled because the door suddenly opened and she fell backward.

"Agh!"

THUMP!

Earthquake.

Odette felt an earthquake shaking her chest as she fell into Rion's arms. Her eyes couldn't blink at all when she saw Rion's eyes, which were also staring at her intently.

For a few seconds, time seemed to stop. If this was a movie, then a romantic song would definitely be playing in the background. When the female lead fell and was caught by the male lead, then they looked at each other and felt each other's breathing and heartbeat.

"Ri-Rion?" Odette's face turned red.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to rest?" Rion asked while he was still holding Odette's back.

"I-I..." Odette stammered.

"Were you..." Rion brought his face closer to Odette's, until Odette held her breath, and felt her heart beating so hard it could make her chest collapse. "Spying on me?"

"Th-that's not true." Odette was very nervous. She glanced at the wall, trying to avoid the look in Rion's eyes. It made her very nervous. Two seconds after she said that, she was surprised again when Rion suddenly picked her up and carried her to the bed.

This made Odette feel even more nervous. She thought that she was approaching a dangerous zone, where an accident could occur.

"W-what are you doing?" Odette panicked a little. She tried to get up as soon as Rion laid her down, but Rion didn't let her.

"Don't think about weird things. I just want you to rest," said Rion, and then covered Odette's body with a blanket.

"I… wasn't thinking of anything weird," said Odette quietly and turned her face to the side.

Rion didn't respond to those words. He collected all the clothes that were scattered on the floor, after which he crouched down, and began to neatly fold the clothes. He was quite skilled at doing household chores.

Odette, who was curious about what Rion was doing, got up and sat down. Her beautiful blue eyes looked at the man in awe.

'Rion… when he's like this he looks really cute. He really is the ideal husband type.'

"Why did you get up?" Rion asked without looking at his interlocutor. "You should know more about taking care of your health. Besides, I'm surprised to know you claim to be a doctor. How could you get sick?"

"Doctors are humans too," said Odette quickly.

They looked at each other. Rion looked at Odette intensely, and it made Odette nervous again. She stammered, "W-why are you looking at me like that?"

"It doesn't matter." Rion stood up, and put all the clothes he had folded into the closet. Odette just saw the basin filled with water as well as pieces of cloth on the table. She took the piece of cloth and looked at it closely.

It wasn't long before she began to remember what happened last night, and her eyes widened in shock.  She was in and out of unconsciousness during her fever, and last night she felt someone compress her forehead, and then …

'Your body is hot but you said cold. You freak!'

'You are like an abandoned duckling…'

'Tell me where your mother is! I'll drag her here…"

"..." Odette's forehead turned blue when she finally remembered. It was Lucifer who took care of her last night, and… and… Lucifer was also the one who laid next to her, and gave her a warm hug.

What angel had possessed Lucifer last night? He didn't strangle Odette, or douse Odette with the water in the basin. Instead, he wanted to take care of Odette?

There was only one reason Lucifer did that. He was worried that if Odette died, his soul would be locked up forever in a soul cage.

"From your face you seem to remember something," said Rion, and it brought Odette out of her daze.

"Do you remember now how Lucifer got to sleep next to you?" he asked as Odette looked up at him.

"Last night… Lucifer took care of me," Odette spoke in a confused tone. She also couldn't believe her own hearing.

"That's impossible." Rion refused to believe it. He added, "The devil can't possibly do such good things. He can only hurt other people and make difficult situations."

Just as Lucifer hated Rion, Rion also hated Lucifer.

"But I don't think Lucifer is that bad. He's a part of you that loves Rose very much. He's a man who was hurt because the woman he loved so much left him for good," Odette said. Her words made Rion's eyes widen.

Odette stood up and she took the cell phone that was in the drawer. Rion knitted his brows as he was unfamiliar with the object.

"What's that?" Rion asked.

"This is a cell phone. One of my stuff from my time. People use this as a means of long-distance communication, and almost everyone has it. Now I want to show you something."

Odette turned on her cell phone, then quickly swiped her finger across the screen, and opened her gallery.  "Look at this."

She showed him a photo of Lucifer, who was wide-eyed in shock. After he saw the photo, Rion was also shocked.

"It's me?"

"Lucifer."

"What?" Rion looked at Odette questioningly. Odette explained that a cell phone could capture images instantly. She then explained how she had deceived Lucifer, by taking advantage of this feature of her cell phone.

Now she showed him a photo of Lucifer, whose head had been replaced with a monkey's head. When Rion saw this, his forehead turned blue, but immediately returned to normal when Odette told him what happened.

"Lucifer was very scared when I said that he wouldn't be able to meet Rose, and Rose would choose Rion because his head has turned into a monkey's head. Lucifer believed in that, and was really worried that he couldn't meet Rose."

Rion stared closely at Lucifer's photo on the phone screen. Meanwhile, Odette continued her explanation. "Lucifer is nothing more than a man who loves Rose very much. Rose's departure has hurt him so deeply that he acts that way. People will get angry quicker when they are hurt, disappointed, scared, or offended. Lucifer is you, who is hurt by Rose's death."

Rion's chest tightened. He looked at Odette without blinking.

"Rion… don't hate him, because he is you," said Odette.

"Because he is a part of me, so he deserves to be hated," said Rion. A mist of sadness could be seen in his eyes. He added, "I'm a very bad man. I killed a woman who was as good as Rose, because of that, I deserve to be hated."

"Bad people don't care about other people's safety," said Odette. "You hate yourself because you keep seeing the wrongs you've done, but you don't see the good you've done."