Now that I think about it, I don’t really know her name, do I?

I looked at the blue-haired child in my arms and wondered what name would suit such a lovely pumpkin, while she held on to my fingers and tried her very best to put it into her mouth.

“Hmmm…your name…blue hair…just calling you light blue or just blue sounds weird.”

“Oh! What about Periwinkle?”

No… that name is way too long…

“Alright! I’ve decided. You shall be called Celeste…I’ll just call you Celes.”

I take Celes to my room and place her in the cot Emma prepared for her. It’s just a wooden cot one of the carpenters affiliated with the palace put together in a hurry, but it was still well made.

“Ba-ba-ba…”

She happily wriggled around the cot, I stared at her for a few minutes and she slowly dozed off.

I went back to my office to take care of some of the paperwork I had. I could assign all this work to Sapphire and little spiders and all the information regarding the papers would go straight to my head, but I sometimes sit down and go through them myself.

And Sapphire spiders have been gradually evolving with different capabilities and there are already a large number of spiders in my possession. I use special magic to place them in a different dimension where I can call them out anywhere at any time.

I didn’t realize that time was passing, and it was already dark outside.

I went back into my room and noticed Mia holding the child in her hands feeding her some food. I sat next to Mia, and she handed the child to my hands.

“Acedia-sama…”

“Hm? What is it, Mia?”

“Why did you bring this child with you?”

“I don’t know…I just felt like I was destined to meet the child.”

“Well…are you going to raise the child here?”

“Huh? Of course not. That’d make me a total mother figure in the child’s eyes.”

“That’s what you're concerned about?”

“And besides…her parents might be worried about her…”

“I know that the other demons won’t go against your wishes, but won’t they be dissatisfied if you protect a human?”

“Oh…don’t worry about that…when the time comes, they’ll listen to her words…even if I’m not by her side…”

“What…do you mean by that?”

“Alright! Let’s put the child to sleep, shall we? She has to wake up early morning tomorrow…”

Mia knew that I purposely changed the topic, but she didn’t ask me anything else…

She tucked Celes into her cot as I instructed her to, and she quietly closed the door and left my room. I don’t usually sleep since I don’t need any.

And I saw the same dream once again. The blue-haired girl who stood a few feet away from me and the white void that extended to who knows where…

But this time…the white void slowly turned into a bloody battlefield…bodies scattered around us…and the sound of swords clashing…

Just like in my first dream, the girl turned towards me, drew her sword, and lunged at me with her sword pointed right at my gut…

Her blue hair fluttered around… and her hands quivered…she was in pain…not her body…but her soul…and her heart were suffering…

And when I woke up, both Sapphire and Ruby were standing above me, they were worried about me suddenly losing the connection I always had with them.

“Don’t worry…I just had a nostalgic dream…”

I looked at Celes who was fast asleep in her newly built cot. I got up from my bed and went closer to her. I brushed her blue hair and eyes and patted her head softly.

I suppose I’ll lose to you one day, won’t I? But it wouldn’t be so bad…if you were the one to take my life…

“But I promise you one thing…I’ll make sure that the humans and demons will attain peace when that time comes…I’ll make sure that you’ll be able to live in peace…”

I could hear a knock on the door. I knew who was behind it from the aura he was emitting.

It’s Zelus…I guess his back.

I open the door and exit the room so as not to disturb Celes.

“Did you find anything?”

“Yes, Acedia-sama.”

I instruct him to follow me and the two of us head over to my office.

“Can you give me your report Zelus?”

“The child’s name is ‘Serena Starfield’. She is the second daughter of Duke Starfield. She was born as the younger sister of the leader of the Seven Capital Virtues; Constantine Starfield and was considered a thorn in their side.”

“It was most likely Constantine himself who left the child in the Labyrinth and instructed Aizawa Zen to go save the child. And the Starfield family plans on accusing Aizawa Zen as the culprit who killed the child once she returns to the capital without the child in hand.”

“…I see…I can’t believe they’d do this to a mere child…”

…sigh…what do I do now? I would honestly be relieved if Celes were to live in this castle. But as the hero, she’s an important factor in the plan for peace between the demons and the humans…

… if I were to hand her over to the Starfield family they might find a way to get rid of her. And if Constantine were to find out that she’s the hero, who knows what he’d do to her?

…but on the other hand, if I were to leave her in the hands of the church, they’d just use the child for their gain, and I doubt she’d have any freedom if I were to leave her in the hands of the church…

Beelzebub enters the room. She bows down in front of me.

“Please forgive me for eavesdropping on your conversation, Acedia-sama.”

“It’s alright. What is Beelzebub?”

“In my humble opinion, I think that Aizawa Zen is the right person to protect the lady.”

“Why do you think so?”

“It’s because she’s the most respectable person out of all the Seven Capital Virtues. She also has the power to go against the Starfield family as a royal princess.”

I let out my aura to pressure her. Now I could easily control my aura without any worries.

“You are aware of the fact that she’s taken the lives of many demons. And that she’s one of the Seven Capital Virtues, aren’t you? Can you take responsibility for your words Beelzebub?!”

I could see her shivering profusely, but she still held on while biting her lips as hard as she could.

“…yes, I do…there might be better people for the job…but…deep down, I believe in Aizawa Zen!!!”

She held her head high and I could see the resolve and respect she held for Zen within her eyes.

“Hahaha…I didn’t even imagine I’d see one of the Deadly Sins believe in one of the Capital Virtues so much…”

There’s only one person I can trust if she says something like that…honestly…it makes me happy to see BB like this…

“Zelus. Find any evidence of Constantine’s actions against Celes.”

“…um…Celes?”

“Oh! I meant the child…Serena. I like to call her Celes.”

“Oh.”

“I want you to find any sort of abuse or neglect against the child and if it is possible, find evidence of Constantine and house Starfield being the one who left the child in the Labyrinth. Spread this information around the capital city of Yithia. And hand over the proof to mammon.”

I summon Mammon using spatial magic and instruct him on what he has to do.

“Mammon. I want you to order one of your men to make contact with Aizawa Zen before she reaches the capital. Tell them to inform her of Constantine’s betrayal and the whereabouts of the child. I’ll leave the child in one of the human towns close to the border.”

“Tell Aizawa Zen to get back the child and protect her. And in return, the ‘Noonday House’ will do everything in its power to help out Aizawa Zen and the child from here on out.”

The ‘Noonday House’ is the company Mammon established in the empire of Yithia.

They used my title as the Noonday Demon to name the company. Since the humans don’t know my name, they won’t find it suspicious, so I let them use the name.

“Aizawa Zen’s the only one I can trust right now. We can’t show that the Noonday House has anything to do with the child.”

And most importantly…we can’t show them that they were the ones who saved the Hero…

---

Aoi here,

Well, I don't think we'd have to worry about Acedia's lover right now since we've got a long way to go. It could be one of the characters revealed or a completely new character so I'll leave that to your imagination. The next few episodes are gonna be a blast and someone else is gonna take the spotlight now so do look forward to it.