Later that night, Iris felt the bed dip. Her heightened senses kicked in and her eyes snapped open. She swung her leg, which was caught. But she was swift and lithe. She twisted around and pounced onto the intruder. Sitting on top of the intruder’s stomach, she secured his hands above his head. When her eyes finally adjusted to the dark, she was speechless.

“Ah-, m-my king! What are you doing here?!” she awkwardly released his arms.

“You’re the first to ever attack me,” he said.

“Wha-?! Attack you?! Whose the one who secretly crawled into my bed? If you were me, you would’ve done the same thing!” Iris crossed her arms, pouting her lips.

Even when facing him, she did not dare to act carefully, instead, she acted like herself. She remained locked in her position, not showing any signs of getting off him.

“Not going to get off me?”

“You started this yourself, so you must suffer the consequences,” Iris said resolutely.

The demon king smirked and flipped their positions around so that he was pinning her down. Just as he leaned down for a kiss, Iris managed to free one hand, pressing her fingers against his lips as she stared into his eyes deeply.

“You’re not here to have sex, are you??” Iris inquired.

The demon king stared at her for a while before withdrawing from her. He sat on the edge of the bed, not saying a word with his shoulders slightly slouched. Iris assessed the man. Ah, there it was again. That lonely figure. Iris had encountered countless men like this in her past life; many who came to her broken.

“If you don’t mind me asking, is something wrong?” Iris probed carefully.

“...” the demon king said nothing before slowly turning around to look at her with a rare dejected expression.

“If you can’t talk to me like husband and wife, then how about as a friend?” Iris tilted her head to the side.

When she said the word ‘friend’, a bitter expression appeared on his face. And immediately, Iris knew, something must’ve happened in his past that had a negative association to this one word. 

The demon king slowly turned his head away. “... I once had a person I deemed as a friend… but I was only betrayed in the end… both by my friend and the woman I loved. But that’s all in the past now,” the demon king sighed. “I’ve long forgotten how they both looked.”

“Hm, that’s a relief,” he heard a soft voice say behind him. He looked over to the petite woman sitting in bed with tousled red hair and a sincere smile. “I hope that in the future, you’ll learn to rely on me. Sure, to you I’m nothing more than an expendable human being as food. But if being that expendable food makes you happy, then that’s fine with me.”

Suddenly, the demon king lunged at her, clasping his large hands around her fragile throat, pushing her down to the bed, slowly tightening his grip on her. Although he had her at her throat, there was no trace of fear on her face. Just tranquility, and it was enough to send a chill down his spine. How could such a small human girl not be afraid in the face of death?!

He gritted his teeth in anger, “You know nothing about me!” Iris sensed his unsteady mana again.

“And it’s because I know nothing about you that I can’t understand you.”

“I don’t need you to know anything about me!”

“Why can’t I know?! What are you afraid of?!” Iris yelled out in anger.

“There’s nothing I fear!” the demon king clenched his grasp tighter and tighter. 

“Liar! You think you’re the only one who can read people?!”

This caught him off guard as his grip slightly loosened. “If my words angered you, kill me. I won’t regret it. You’ll only be preventing the end your own suffering, not facing those fears you’ve repressed for so long. Do it for all I care!” Iris remarked with resolution as she closed her eyes, staying in her current position.

The demon king was at a loss. This was the first time in 200 years someone has probed him this far in regards to his locked up memory and lived. He was lost in deep thoughts for a long while before retracting his hand from her white neck.

“Why would you care about someone like me?” he finally asked quietly.

Iris opened one eye and looked at him. “Because I want to better understand you. Was there anything wrong with that?”

“But I’m the demon king, and we’re just strangers.”

“And that’s how most relationships start. They start off as strangers and then gradually get to know one another. I don’t know what happened in your past, but I can assure you this, I won’t leave you just because of that. Not unless you push me away. I will be by your side,” Iris said tenderly as she sat up. 

“Why are you willing to go so far for someone you don’t even know?”

This was a question Iris had encountered many times in her previous life. She smiled and replied, “Because I get the feeling that we’re quite alike. We yearn for affection; to love and be loved. We’re both quite broken, aren’t we?”

The demon king said nothing. His ruby eyes were calm as he stared into her iris-colored eyes.

“You. What’s your name?” the demon king asked.

“Iris. Iris Lovett. What about you, my king?”

“... Rius Solece…”

This was the first step to the start of their new relationship.

Iris extended her hand out. Rius looked at her hand. He slowly extended his hand out but hesitated for a moment. 

GRAB!

Iris took the initiative to grab his hand instead, which startled him. 

“The person I want to know is not the demon king everyone thinks he is. The person I want to know is Rius Solece,” Iris smiled tenderly before letting go of his hand.

When Rius left, Iris threw herself onto her bed, sighing heavily before a smile crawled up onto her face. Finally, she felt like she was going somewhere. If she wanted to have him open up more, she was going to have to put more effort into her actions. 

***

The next morning, Iris got up early and made her way to the kitchen. She was greeted by the demon kitchen staff. She asked on what it was that Rius liked to eat, and to her surprise, it was quite humane. They told her that whenever the king woke up, he’d always eat a light soup to start his day. Iris listened diligently. Even the demons took notice of that. It was very peculiar. This tiny human girl did not mind their grotesque appearances and was not afraid to interact with them. This only elevated their impression of her.

Rius did not sleep that night thinking about Iris. What a mysterious girl, he thought. Her gaze was unfathomable and true that it made his heart shake. As he was lost in thought, he was finally greeted by one of the ghost maids, bringing him his light morning soup.

He then remembered. 

“Took you long enough,” he remarked coldly.

The ghost maid bowed her head, but he noticed that there was a light smile on her face. This irritated him even more.

“What’s with that smile on your face? Do you want me to kill you?” he threatened.

The ghost maid shook her head and offered the bowl up to him.

Rius sighed heavily, took the bowl and lifted a spoonful to his lips. There was an explosion of flavors attacking his taste buds. It was neither too much or too little, just right. He has already gotten used to the somewhat bland morning soup, but since it was different, of course he knew something was off.

“Who made this?”

The ghost maid looked up at him with a smile, “My king noticed the difference. Of course, nothing can escape my king.”

“So?”

“It was one of your human wives. She came to the kitchen and insisted on cooking you your morning soup. Hehe, she was quite cute and earnest. And this was actually her tenth try on perfecting the soup as to how you usually liked it, but it never turned out right so she decided to throw in her own twist. Was it not to your liking?”

Rius stared at the bowl, knowing which wife it was. “... It was good.”

The ghost maid’s expression brightened. “That’s good to hear. She was afraid it wouldn’t be to your liking.”

After Rius finished his morning soup, as the maid was taking the bowl back to the kitchen, Rius unconsciously blurted out, “from now on-!”

“Yes?”

Rius had just realized what he had started. “-let her make my morning soup from now on, and let her bring it to me. If she wants to reject this offer, I won’t force her,” his voice started off awkward but then softened.

The ghost maid took note of this strangely warm atmosphere and departed. After the maid was gone, Rius looked down to his palms and remembered the warmth of the soup. 

“Gotoh,” Rius called out.

Appearing out of thin air was Iris’ chauffeur. So, he did have a name…

“What do you think about Iris?” Rius asked.

Gotoh’s ears perked. This was the first time he’s heard his king use the person’s name rather than calling them ‘human’ or ‘livestock’ or ‘human food’.

“She’s quite an interesting character. Very lively and free-spirited. She doesn’t quarrel with the other humans and keeps to herself. If you’re truly asking about my opinion… I think… she’s the one who should stay by your side…”

Rius listened and reminisced. He saw and heard everything through Maru. Everyday for the past week, he’s been taking a glimpse through Maru to see Iris. He knew from the moment he saw her, he fell. But why? Was it because of her innocent charm? Rius did not know. He only knew that every time he saw her, there would be a slight beating in his chest. 

“Perhaps… she is truly different.”

***

Later that evening, Iris decided she would do some sword training exercises. Maru brought her a pair of training clothes and a double-edged sword. After changing, Iris tied her hair up into a high ponytail. When she took ahold of the sword, she swung it around a few times. Yup, definitely a high quality sword.

She did not emit any mana at all; she was just relying on her actual strength while wielding the sword. And yes, all of the techniques she was displaying were all the ones she was trained in by C-2.

Iris spun around and heard a *clank*. Her eyes widened. Her sword had clashed into another. It was Rius holding his own sword.

“What? Are you training yourself to kill me?” there was a trace of sarcasm in his voice that Iris picked up. His behavior was truly different from last night's.

Iris smirked. “If that’s what you want, I can surely do that for you,” and she spun her sword around to counter his block.

From that point on, they began dueling. Rius sensed that Iris was not using any mana so he also resisted using any magic, however, there was no denying that this friendly brawl caused the ground to shake every once in a while. As their brawl went on, droplets of sweat began forming on their foreheads, running from their faces down to their chins. The droplets glistened every time they were flung off from their skin. Iris saw the unrestrained smile on Ruis’ face and smiled in return.

When they were finally done, Iris was lying down on the ground, heaving. The full moon was already up in the sky. Lying beside her was an unfazed Rius. Iris looked over to him and chuckled softly. 

“What’s so funny?” he asked curiously.

“You cheated, didn’t you?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Hehe, you used mana to keep up your stamina, right? I was a mage apprentice. There’s no way the use of mana can ever escape my perception,” Iris laughed rolled over to his side.

Rius was in a daze. This human girl was truly too dazzling for him.

“Did you have fun today?” Iris asked.

Rius showed one of his rare, genuine smiles, “Yeah, I did.”

Iris’ eyes sparkled brightly as she lied back down to stare at the starry sky.

***

As the days went on, every single morning, Iris would get up early to make Rius’ morning soup and personally deliver it to him. There were even times he had her personally feed him, saying that his arms were too sore to even move because of their training. Iris could only laugh at his childish excuse but would still proceed to hand feed the man.

Their interactions became more and more frequent as his time with his other wives became shorter and shorter. He rarely ever visited them at night to warm their beds, which had them craving, but they were always subjected to staying in their living quarters. And if they ever wandered out or got into trouble, Rius was never there to deal it out. But his wives have noticed that as time went on, this demon king was looking more and more lively, not in a sinister way, but in a more humane way, like he was finally living the life he wanted. And every time they saw him, he’d greet them properly rather than give them the cold shoulder. 

There was one night, when Elena was scouting the palace secretly to find a way to leave when she heard a string of laughter floating through the night air; it was the voice of a woman and a man. Curious, she followed the voices and came upon a secluded manor. Peeking from the rooftop, she saw a petite maiden whose hair was flaming red with freckles drizzled across her cheeks and nose, laughing as she was sitting on the edge of the koi pond with her feet submerged into the water. Beside her, was a handsome man, long black hair that was untied; his skin was slightly paler than the young maiden beside him but it did not hide his manly charm. He was looking at the woman beside him, his gaze filled with unquestionable love. 

Elena was baffled. She knew that the demon king’s behavior has been changing within the past 2 months, but didn't  know who it was that was changing his behavior. But now she knew who it was. It was Iris Lovett. Elena knew who she was. After all, Prince Callum had told her that Iris Lovett has always had a one-sided crush on him… but now, it doesn't look like she even cared about Prince Callum, seeing how content she looked with the demon king. 

Elena felt a slight pain in her chest. She had always been the center of attention. She had light magic, something that was rare and treasured. She was loved by the royal family and was pursued by many men. But now that she was seeing the immovable demon king looking at another with affection, Elena felt an unspeakable emotion grow within her. It was also within these past 2 months that the Rius had completely stopped visiting any of the other wives, leaving them to their own. A distorted expression warped onto her face as she disappeared into the shadows once again.

After she was gone, Rius quickly glanced up to the rooftop. Of course, there was no way Elena could’ve gone undetected by the demon king. This was his domain. No matter how strong they were or how good they concealed themselves, he’d always be able to pick up their tracks, especially humans. However, Rius did not want to disturb the peaceful moment he was having with Iris and ignored the intruder. Had the intruder actually done something, he would’ve dealt with it personally.

Needless to say, Iris was also aware of someone else’ presence, and not just some random person’s presence but the female lead. But she didn’t care. There was only one person she was focused on, and he was right beside her.