‘I don’t remember this happening in the novel?’ Asterius asks desperately, walking quickly towards the growing crowd of Celestials. ‘Is this something else beyond your data?’
[Host is right, this event shouldn’t be happening,] the System agrees as he weaves in between nosey angels, [But the event is not reading as OOC, so Host should be fine as long as no main characters get involved-]
“Stop!”
Asterius pulls to a halt, even though he knows that shout wasn’t aimed at him, turning sharply at the familiar voice. Maria is there, marching towards the gathered crowd, eyes quickly jumping from the looming goddess, her angel henchmen, and then settling on Cadeyrn collapsed on the ground.
“What’s going on?” she asks with the effortless authority of the female lead.
‘Oh no,’ he thinks, uncaring of how unbecoming he looks now, quickly hurrying through the last few lines of Celestials, trying to get to Cadeyrn as quickly as he can.
[Wait Host stop!] the System says, flashing in front of his face, just as he reaches the edge of the crowd. Reluctantly he stops, waiting for it to explain why he shouldn’t rush in to help. [Host can’t interfere!] it reads in bold, [System will try to lessen any OOC warnings, but Host needs to not get involved!]
‘You just said everything would be fine unless a main character gets involved,’ He reminds, glaring at the holographic screen, ‘The female lead is right there!’
[System knows what System said!] it says, a little angry emoji appearing next to the text box. [As long as Host doesn’t intervene System can try and explain away any deviations in the plot. System can say that there's a malfunction in the script code or there are other outside factors, but if Host directly acts then all story changes will be blamed on Host!]
‘So, I just stand here?’ he asks looking helplessly over at Cadeyrn. The demon looks a bit off balance, a light layer of ice coats the tiles around him, and there’s a noticeable splash of iridescent blood staining the dark gray stone. ‘But he’s hurt and-,‘
[Host please!] the System begs, [please trust the female lead to do the right thing!]
Well, if he had to believe in someone in this novel it would be her. Especially after watching her grow up with his own eyes. He knows Maria is kind with a strong sense of right and wrong, and that she isn’t the type to walk away from someone in need. Maria would help, and she wouldn’t just brush away this incident either, she would remember the injustice of Cadeyrn’s treatment, though in this case that might not be a good thing. This scene was starting to play out a bit too familiarly, even the offended goddess was the same, but Cadeyrn was not meant to be the target of this harassment.
‘Cadeyrn isn’t going to steal Vae’s role in the novel, as the best friend character is he?’
The System chooses to not answer that one, and Asterius tries to believe that it’s because the System thought it was a stupid question and not because it has to actually check if that’s what’s happening.
One of the cupids cautiously walks forward, giving Maria a deep bow, “Empress to be,” the cupid greets overly formal and careful in their speech, “we are sorry for disturbing you my lady. This demon attacked our goddess and we were only defending her honor.”
“Attacked?” Maria echoes shifting her gaze to Cadeyrn, “You attacked her?”
Asterius finds himself holding his breath as Cadeyrn glances between Maria and the goddess of love, seeming to weigh his options, “No,” he says carefully, dragging out the word so it’s clearly heard, letting it hang in the air with an almost physical weight, “there’s been a slight misunderstanding. I apologize for any harm done.”
“You vile villain!” A cupid protests, so angry their face redden like a tomato, “you think a sorry will fix-!”
“This is quite unbecoming,” and all eyes shift to the tall blond-haired and eight-winged angel walking up behind Maria.
Asterius takes a small half-step back as those haunting golden eyes catch on him for a moment. Sanctus gives him a smile and a look that clearly reads, ‘Stay put’, before turning back to Maria. She looks a little startled by his sudden appearance, but lets him place a hand on her shoulder and face the crowd, “Please remember today is a day of celebration, let us not hold onto hate.”
Maria smiles at his words and nods in agreement. Asterius sighs internally, the female lead was definitely too trusting if one sentence was enough to win her over. She would grow out of that blind trust more as the story went on, but for now, it’s almost hard to watch as she sends Sanctus a grateful smile.
“I agree,” she says walking boldly forward and stopping right in front of Cadeyrn, “here,” and the female lead reaches out soft smile on her face, “let me help you up.”
Cadeyrn looks at her hand with a small frown, glancing up only to freeze, face morphing from surprise into a careful mask, he’s spotted Sanctus right behind her. Asterius doesn’t blame him for the hesitation, with the High Seraphim looming at her back, it looks like a trap. Still, this is the female lead, and Cadeyrn is smart enough to know that Sanctus couldn’t do anything in the middle of an official gathering.
Maria wiggles her hand, looking down at Cadeyrn with obvious confusion. Asterius expects him to take it, if only to end the increasing awkward tension, but the demon turns his eyes away, glancing around at the gathered crowd. It almost seems like Cadeyrn is searching for something, but before Asterius can figure out what exactly the demon is looking for their eyes catch. Something shifts in Cadeyrn’s face, and the demon gently pushes Maria’s hand away and gets to his feet on his own.
“A demon refusing the hand of the future god empress? Are you mad or stupid like the rest of your kind?”
“Hey!” Maria shouts rounding to face the god who said that, but in the sea of faces, it's hard to pinpoint exactly who yelled that. Asterius just does his best to keep his face blank, tempering his anger, he just needed to get Cadeyrn, and then this train wreck of an opening chapter would be over.
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“Sorry,” Maria apologizes, giving Cadeyrn a small sheepish smile, and there’s an audible gasp among the onlookers that’s so genuinely shocked Asterius almost laughs. “I don’t really know what’s going on still, but even if you’re a villain, harassment is still harassment.”
Cadeyrn gives her an appraising look, as if seeing her for the first time, and snorts a faint chuckle, “I think I know why he did it now.”
Maria frowns back, face pinching in confusion, “who did what?”
Cadeyrn just smiles like he knows a secret and gives her a little bow, “My blessings to the new Goddess of Spring, may your fate be as stunning and beautiful as your flowers.”
She flushes from the compliment, giving an awkward little chuckle, but overall she looks pleasantly surprised and definitely not upset in any way. Asterius shifts his gaze away sharply, fighting down the sudden uneasy twisting in his gut. He’s happy Cadeyrn is getting along with Maria, and he’s definitely happy Maria seems on the path to not hating demons, but… well it's stupid, Asterius already got over his crush a long time ago. Why should he care if Cadeyrn says something sweet to the female lead? He just needs to warn the demon away before Solveig really kills him or something. And no, he’s not making that decision for any other reasons-
[Host is a bad liar.]
“Well," Maria says, shuffling a little awkwardly in her space, her godly authority crumbling in the face of such an unknown and awkward situation, "would you like to join me?”
And Asterius can feel his heart stutter, both him and the System spinning quickly to watch Maria smiling brightly at Cadeyrn, “I don’t really know a lot about demons and-,“
“Excuse my rudeness Lady of Spring,” and Aphrodisia steps forward, fan carefully covering her harsh frown, “I do not think associating with this demon is a good idea.”
Maria’s face twists, obviously not liking the sound of that one bit, “And why is that?” she asks carefully, giving the goddess an untrusting stare.
Aphrodisia forces her face into a tight smile, face falsely pulling into something regretful, “This demon has made it very clear he hates Celestials, going so far as to threaten all of us present here.”
Maria looks a little surprised by that, and the crowd rumbles with agreement while Cadeyrn’s face remains carefully blank.
‘That idiot didn’t really say something like that did he?’ he thinks desperately.
[System predicates with almost-]
‘Please do not tell me the numbers I already know.’ He begs trying to ignore the obvious. If Asterius took a second to look around them, the answer was clear to see. The gathered crowd is tense, worried whispers creating a low hum, and eyes mostly on Cadeyrn instead of Maria, ‘What the hell did he say for this to happen?’
“Those are rather bold accusations lady of love,” Sanctus says evenly, with a polite face of surprise, “If what you say is true this is a very serious matter.”
“Just look at the ground!” one of the cupids says, pointing at the fracturing ice on the floor that is slowly melting, “that’s proof he was trying to break his binds and use magic!”
‘System-’
[Okay so things are escalating beyond what System thought-] it says quickly, [Still, everything is fine-!]
“Yes!” someone else agrees, “it was going to break free and attack us all!”
‘I’m stepping in,’ he warns and he doesn’t wait for the System to tell him no as he starts walking forward.
He can almost hear the System sigh as a window appears next to his hand, [Please just be careful Host.]
A minor angel that Asteris knows belongs to Solveig picks up the torch next, “A rouge demon is a threat to us all-“
“Is there a problem with my spell work?” he asks lightly.
A hush falls over the crowd as he walks forward, steps even and measured. It’s easy to let his annoyance show, to arrogantly stare down the angel who had just been speaking, “Well?”
“Uh- I mean -I didn’t-” the god fumbles, nearly shaking from fear.
Asterius tuts and turns his gaze to Aphrodisia who’s doing a poor job of hiding her glare, “Surely the goddess of love is not so startled from her ruined dress that she cannot clearly feel my magic in effect?”
There’s a sharp intake of breath from the crowd as he gestures towards Cadeyrn without looking at him, “Or do you need mortal proof that he’s still bound?” and from the rustle of fabric he knows Cadeyrn has rolled up his selves to show off the bindings. “His binds look intact to me. Yet you speak of him like some sort of unchained hellhound. Do you doubt my abilities to keep one demon in check?”
Aphrodisia sends him a look that could kill, but bites out, “Of course not Fateweaver, it is as your demon says, all a misunderstanding.”
He hums and finally shifts his gaze to the demon in question. Despite the terrible situation, Cadeyrn looks almost smug, a cruel edge to his joy. The demon catches his eyes and his smile only grows, “master,” he greets, gently taking Asterius’s hand and bowing down so low he’s kneeling before him. There are several sudden intakes of breath and whispers that erupt around them at this move. Asterius raises a mental eyebrow at the reaction, yes Cadeyrn was playing it up a little, but this wasn’t that unusual of a scene. Lots of angels greeted their gods in similar manners, why the fuss over Cadeyrn doing it?
There’s a gentle tug on his hand and he’s brought back into the moment as Cadeyrn looks up at him with amusement and something he might dare call fondness, “My master,” Cadeyrn corrects, pointed teeth flashing as he speaks.
It takes all 40+ years of Asterius’s existence to shove down the sudden unholy thoughts that little possessive “my” does to his brain.
“Yes Cadeyrn?” he asks, making a point to say the demon's name, to make clear that Asterius won't tolerate any further behavior like this, that Cadeyrn is important to him, and these Celestials should be far more careful going forward. Unsurprisingly the use of his real name causes another loud rumble of whispers to spread.
Cadeyrn's smirk somehow gets even bigger, like that was exactly what he was hoping to hear, “I must seek my master’s forgiveness.”
Asterius tenses, he is not ready to play along and “forgive” Cadeyrn for actions that were taken against him. He knows he has a role to play as the villain, but victim blaming is a line he is heavily unwilling to cross.
However before he can come up with a reason to reject the apology, Cadeyrn speaks, “I was supposed to stay by master’s side, please forgive me for leaving master alone,”
Oh- well, that was certainly not what he was expecting him to say. He almost smiles at the ridiculous offense, something Cadeyrn clearly made up on the spot, but he plays along anyway, “Then do not do it again.”
Cadeyrn nods solemnly as if just handed a great burden slowly raising to his feet. It's all an act though, as his smile is defiantly a smirk now, like a tiger pleased that its trick worked to catch the unassuming pigeon.
[Host the female lead!] The System warns and Asterius shifts his attention to the main character walking up to him.
Maria looks more confused than anything and is giving them both a wary stare, not that he blames her, he is the villain after all, seems he at least hadn’t messed up the bad first impression. Though her mistrust does pull at something in his chest, he keeps his face blank, not letting any of his true feelings show.
His gaze shifts, meeting Sanctus's gaze, which is hooded with displeasure. He tenses automatically at the look, warning bells sounding in his head. Quickly he looks away, forcing himself to breathe normally through the crawling dread, “We shall take our leave first."
He turns away, fully intending to leave but... but it feels wrong to walk away. There's still so much to be said, so many uncertainties hanging, and the plot is already a terrible mess. He needs to leave now, before Sanctus is angered any further and before the System reads him as OOC.
[Host...]
'Just-Just let me have this System,' and he turns back around. One last indulgence before he was stuck in his role then, and he doesn’t fight the soft smile that slips onto his face, “and blessings to your accession Maria.”