“Your magical awareness has gotten better.”

“Looks like it” he grunted not bothering to sit up but scooted upwards so his head lay on the sofa’s hand rest.

“Hmm” she hummed while taking a seat at the other end of the sofa but said nothing.

Soon the two were cast in an awkward silence.

“You know I could feel your eyes on me all day” he commented “even when you weren’t in the same area” she took a seat at the edge of the sofa “it kind of defeats the purpose of giving me space if you’re there all the time.”

“I won’t apologize.”

Stanley snorted as he wasn’t expecting one in the first place.

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to discuss your recent awakening.”

“Is that what it’s called?”

“That is what I call it.”

“So this is a normal thing then?”

“Strictly speaking anyone who is pumped full of an abundance of mana over the course of a period of time will eventually gain awareness and be able to utilize it” she explained “your outburst on the other hand was different.”

“Yeah I figure that isn’t the sort of thing that happens often.”

 “It doesn’t happen at all” she enforced “I daresay you might be the first case of an awakening via an overly negative emotional response.”

“I doubt that.”

Ezraphel gave a mirthless chuckle as she stared off in a random direction “it means that I have failed in my duties as your wife to make you happy.”

‘…no comment.’

“Well” he began changing the subject “I think I know what I want to do while you’re hanging out with Amelia.”

Taking the out for what it is Ezraphel gave him a quizzical look “oh? And what do you plan to do?”

“Magic” he answered “I want to learn magic.”

“You want to learn magic?”

“You don’t sound very thrilled about the prospect.”

“It’s not that I am not thrilled it’s just that I expected you to ask much sooner. You never really showed any interest in magic beyond a few scholarly curiosities.”

He’d always been interested in magic because why wouldn’t he be? He was reluctant to broach the subject because well…

‘God I am such a fucking idiot’ he mentally lamented.

He genuinely did not have a good reason for his procrastination beyond general laziness, stubbornness in clinging to his old ways and hesitance to embrace change. It was honestly so fucked because now that he’s thinking about it him learning magic could have been the perfect bonding exercise for the two of them.

He cringed “yeah I was procrastinating.”

“Procrastinating?”

“Putting off doing something important for stupid ass reasons I don’t wanna talk about” he clarified.

“I see” not really “well I am afraid I will not be available to tutor you as I will be very busy” she sniffed before giving him the side eye “unless you are no longer in need of space…”

“You’re not bribing your way out of this with magic lessons Ez.”

“I don’t see why you won’t drop this foolishness and just travel with us.”

“First of all there are few things in this life that I find more harrowing than hanging out with you and Amelia alone for any prolonged period of time let alone traveling to random places.”

“We can get Liam to join us and make it a double date.”

‘It’s amazing how she went and picked out one of those few more harrowing things.’

The thought of having Liam tag along to make it a couple’s outing sounded good on paper but Stanley’s pessimism more or less accurately painted the miserable reality. Stanley will readily admit that Liam was a better romantic partner than him and based on whatever bullshit he gets up to with Amelia he could picture them raising some kind of competitive streak in the Lilim. While Ezraphel seemed content now it wouldn’t really take much for her to start demanding more from Stanley in the romance department.

Fuck. That.

Also “again it defeats the purpose of getting some space if I went with you.”

“Your punishment is a farce” she practically hissed “we don’t need ‘space’ Stanley we only need to work through our issues like a couple as we always do.”

Staley could feel a migraine coming on because Ezraphel was right. The right thing to do would be for them to stick by each other and work out their troubles like a normal couple. They weren’t a normal couple though and besides, the two of them being kept apart for a little while was more for Ezraphel’s benefit anyway. She needed a bit of forced independence and hopefully having Amelia involved will actually make her focus instead of half-assing it with magic or some shit.

“Not this time. I really don’t want to have to go over a full debriefing of the reasons why I think separating for a bit will be good for us” he said with a scowl.

‘I’ve been dwelling on shit for too long as is.’

“Tch” Ezraphel clicked her tongue with a scowl.

Her reaction drew an aggravated sigh from Stanley who sat up and crossed his legs as he regarded her “clearly you have something on your mind so you might as well get it off your chest.”

Ezraphel opened her mouth hesitated and seemed to ponder her words. There was a long stretch of silence which Stanley weathered with great patience.

“I believe the idea that we need to separate in order for us mitigate this hurdle in our relationship is a fallacy.”

“Do you now?”

“I understand in the heat of the moment you would need time to ‘cool off’ however I don’t see the point in prolonging it” she paused as she gained an uncomfortable look “you do believe me when I say I did not mean to corrupt Amelia do you?”

“Haven’t we been over this?”

“Stanley please…” she half pleaded.

“…I do.”

“And you believe me when I say my actions were the result of an egregious carelessness on my part.”

“I do.”

“Then I need to know, what exactly is the reasoning behind this punishment?”

“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means if you do something stupid you have to accept responsibility for it and bear the consequences.”

 “Is that all there is?”

“What are you getting at?”

“When you first delivered your judgment I could sense you did it partially with malicious intent.”

“I was really pissed” he admitted “still am actually.”

“But now I sense your heart wavering” she insisted “you’re still angry but it has dulled quite a bit since yesterday. I don’t think you even want to continue with this.”

“That’s the mental exhaustion of dwelling on this bullshit” he answered while rubbing the bridge of his nose “I am so fucking tired of thinking about this. I cannot express how much I utterly despise this situation right now. You betraying my trust, the fucking paranoia, wondering if you’re playing me and having to go through all this moral and ethical bullshit thinking in circles over and over and over again and again.”

“Then why burden yourself with it?” she reached out to hold his hand.

Stanley snatched his hand away as he yelled “because I can’t let it go! You fucked with my friend’s fiancée!” he abruptly cut himself short and drew in a sharp breath, held it and released a calming sigh “you want to know why I’m advocating for space? Because right now if we’re together for any prolonged amount of time I’m just going to remember the incident and I’m going to bring it up and I’m going to be fucking angry about it and the implications.”

“…I still don’t agree with this” Ezraphel grimaced at his heated glare but continued “but I understand.”

For a while there was silence between them before Stanley broke it “there is something I’ve been wondering though.”

“What is it?”

“Does your magic work by intent?”

“Intent?” her brows furrowed “well I certainly would need to make my intentions clear to perform spells.”

“That’s not what I-okay look, in some fictions magic can be influenced by heavy emotions to the point where spells or effects can spontaneously happen without the caster being aware of it.”

It was one of the many ideas he’s been toying with during the first sleepless night though he didn’t dwell on it at the time. Ezraphel’s words and a vague recollection of some Harry Potter lore had him ask because if fiction was real and some things in the multiverse were a constant who’s to say that this wasn’t one of them? Seeing Ezraphel gained a distinctly uncomfortable expression as he spoke Stanley couldn’t help but think he might have stumbled onto something.

“Is that a thing for Mamono?”

Meanwhile for Ezraphel memories of a lecture long buried by decades of future experience played out in her head. Once upon a time she apprenticed under one of her older sisters who was and still is one of the most skilled magic users in all of Eos. Ezraphel wanted to learn new and unique spells that would aid her in the pursuit and seduction of a potential husband. Her sister on the other hand was a scholar and actual teacher very much into the study of magic and so her lessons were inundated with longwinded lectures most of which have been forgotten to time.

Stanley’s words however managed to drag one of these previously thought lost memories to the surface which pertained to the subject. That memory she barely remembered before began to gain clarity and as she pondered more on it a pit formed in her stomach.

“What are you thinking about?”

Ezraphel started looking to her Stanley who had a concentrated expression.

“I-what?”

“You look like you’re thinking about something and from the look on your face it isn’t anything good. Did my question happen to ring a bell?”

Ezraphel thought about lying-

“Do not lie to me Ezraphel” he all but growled.

The Lilim licked her lips “t-there is such a thing as instinctive magic yes.”

“Go on.”

“It is…as you described” she began hesitantly “magic born not of deliberate spellcraft but of strong emotions and subconscious intent.”

“…Ezraphel” he began slowly.

“Yes?”

“Be honest with me. How much did you want to corrupt Amelia?"

“I…”

She hesitated because she already knew the truth. There was no denying Ezraphel wanted to turn Amelia into a Mamono. It wasn’t even the first time she thought about monsterizing a woman. She was used to doing just that on her travels and she was far from conservative with it. She has personally seen to the monsterization of upwards of a hundred humans and has turned several villages and towns into Demon Realms. The only reason why she hadn’t aimed higher was because it was an unwritten rule amongst her siblings that any community they had a direct hand in monsterizing they must assume responsibility for until said community could govern themselves and their safety is assured.

“Ezraphel” Stanley continued gravely “was it really an accident?”

Ezraphel didn’t answer for a long while as she thought back to the night of the incident. For some reason there were snippets of memories of the day that were hazy which was disconcerting to say the least.

‘It was an accident…wasn’t it?’

She dug in deep concentrating to that unfortunate night and her memories played out. She remembered preparing the ingredients for the meal the next day. Her Stanley called out his intention to retire for the night and her mind was prematurely overtaken with lustful anticipation. This is where things start to get hazy for her as it usually does whenever sex becomes involved.

As her thoughts became more inundated with her Stanley and sex her movements became more instinctual. She’s been in a kitchen literally every single day for several months now. Performing certain tasks has become such a routine at that point that she can afford to be distracted. Eventually she came unto the memory she was looking for namely the ‘extraction’ of the milk into the glass pitcher. After this she collapsed the barrier and went to place the milk in the refrigerator but as she did she happened to hear the voice of Amelia and Liam as they turned in for the night.

This part of the memory was the most significant because it was the only time she actually stopped thinking about her Stanley. Even if it was only briefly she couldn’t help but imagine Amelia as a Mamono, no she couldn’t help but imagine turning her into a Mamono. Even in her memory the thought only lasted a few seconds at best before she dismissed it. Yet with the clarity assisted by a minor memory spell she couldn’t help but notice a discrepancy in the time before, during and after the thought.

At the time she was literally storing the pitcher of milk in the refrigerator.

Summoning said pitcher, now empty, to her hand she looked over the object with wide eyes.

“Oh no…” she whispered.

“Ez?”

The Lilim flinched heavily having seemingly forgotten she was not alone.

“What does ‘oh no’ mean?”

Shakily she turned to him “it’s…different…”

“What is?”

“The enchantment” she mumbled looking back at the glass with a dead expression.

“Hey!” Stanley half yelled snapping his fingers in front of her “don’t give me that half formed sentence bullshit. Start making sense dammit! Now what the hell are you talking about?”

Ezraphel swallowed heavily “I placed enchantments on this glass so that only you or I will be able to pour the content within. For anyone else they would simply acknowledge its existence but otherwise be uninterested in it or its content.”

“And?”

“The enchantments have been tampered with” she admitted hesitantly.

“…I see.”

There is literally only one person in the entire world that can tamper with Ezraphel’s enchantment.

“S-Stanley I…” she trailed off looking ill with tears forming at the edges of her eyes.

“Yeah…”

“I didn’t mean to-” the tears fell freely and her disguise is dropped revealing her true form.

“Yeah…”

“O-Oh God!” she sobbed dropping the pitcher which fell to the carpeted floor with a muted thump.

Stanley pulled her into a hug and immediately Ezraphel latches onto him with desperation. As it was with every other time they’ve embraced her greater size combined with her wings and tail practically enveloped him wholesale. There was nothing romantic or lustful about this embrace however as the Lilim sobbed into his chest.

“I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry-” on and on she went like a record that was distinctly broken.

Stanley for his part weathered her desperate embrace, tears and wails with a stony expression however the fear, confusion and sorrow he felt through their bond against his consciousness made the endeavor a trying one. Still he did not let her strong emotions wearing away at his obstinate emotional defenses distract him from what really mattered at this moment.

Comforting his wife.