Arpious of the Planes

The man grumbled to himself a bit before getting out of his chair and walking to a cabinet not too far from his desk.

The succubus made sure to keep an eye on the man in case he did anything suspicious.

But, all he did was pull out a few scrolls and toss them to me, only uttering a few more sentences before sitting down and returning to his work.

"You can find the common information elsewhere. The dirt is right there, but it is sealed by my sponsor, an influential being in this kingdom who wants to reform it. If you find her, be sure to tell her the keyword: Kilt of Dreams,"

He didn't say anything else after that, and his attitude and seriousness made me smile a bit.

"I like you. How about we get a beer sometime," I suggested, but the man just waved me off as he continued to read the paper in front of him.

So, we left just like that, even needing to dodge a few blades which came at us as soon as we exited the man's office.

But, as soon as we left, we were soon greeted by a strange encounter as tons of citizens were lined up along the streets, waving at a carriage of two frost rabbit women who gently waved back.

"They smell good," The succubus beside me muttered, and as my eyes shifted onto them, one of them locked eyes with me.

Her smile slightly wavered, but she soon looked at another person, and her smile persisted back onto her face as if it was fighting for a spot.

"How so?" I asked, and the succubus just shrugged gently, and by putting all the signs together, I knew they were dangerous.

She only says something like that when somebody is lathered in miasma, meaning one thing… they are dangerous, and we should be wary of them… obviously.

We decided to get some lunch right after the little parade, and I could tell the succubus was feeling down now.

Normally, she was all cheery with bright smiles and such, but now, she was just expressionless without much energy.

"Do you not know how to frown?" I asked, my hand shifting over her hand in order to comfort her.

"What do you mean?" She asked as she stirred the cream into her coffee, a little smile appearing on her face, but it was flat, still without emotion.

"*sigh*... If you're sad or disappointed about something, you can tell me," I muttered, and the succubi's eyes drifted over to me from her coffee.

"You know. I can't cry or even frown to this day," The succubus admitted, a surprising turn of events for somebody as prideful as her.

Admitting a weakness like that, which might not be useful in battle but useful in the mind games, could be devastating… though, of course, it seems she's only told this to me, signaling her overwhelming trust for me.

"It's okay to be a sociopath. In fact, Arpious and Loath are practically psychopaths… and maybe you occasionally, but that's fine. I don't care," I said, and the succubus creased her lips as she looked down at her coffee again.

"I uhhh… I… I'm not a sociopath. Maybe a psychopath, but not a sociopath. I just can't cry anymore because it's been beaten out of me since I was a child… Being raised to be the empress of such a terrible empire really takes a toll on you… The training isn't easy, and showing weakness was a guaranteed way to get you beaten or verbally abused," The succubus muttered with a weary smile, stirring her coffee once more.

My mouth just hung there, surprised, completely in shock, or you could say flabbergasted. I was entirely shaken to the core that the succubus had experienced such a thing.

"I know you never wanted me to learn your name, but can you please tell me? I won't tell anyone… I swear," I muttered, and the succubus looked back up at me with a dead and flat smile.

"It's-"

"No, not the fake one. Your real one," I said, seeing straight through her as whenever she does a hard blink, I knew she was lying.

"Salvaloth Zelgerik… the third. My mother was the previous empress, but I've never known my father. The emperor was somebody entirely different,"

"Zelgerik? You mean the one who rose to be a demon lord?" I asked as I knew I had heard that last name from somewhere before.

"Yeah. That was the father of the emperor of my time… Anyway, the emperor had hundreds of concubines, and my mother trained, beat, and tortured me until I was the sole victor. Standing on a pile of corpses feels nice, but seeing how selfish your mother can become after all your hard work is… it really sucks," The succubus muttered.

As I held onto her hand, I wondered why she was telling me all of this. Well, I could tell she was trying to make me pity her, but she always does that, and all of this didn't seem like a lie.

So, I decided to give it to her straight.

"Why are you telling me this? Do you want to cuddle again or something?" I chuckled a bit, but the succubus didn't smile and kept her expressionless face locked onto me.

"I'm jealous. For the first time in my life, I'm jealous. Everything has been an act. You could say it was me trying to get your attention, but not really jealousy… I've never felt so terrible in my life," The succubus said, and she slowly stood up, leaving the cafe.

I quickly chased after her once I had paid the bill and walked beside her as we made our way toward the hotel.

"What are you jealous of? Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked, caressing her shoulder as I pulled her in close.

"Why not marry me? Why are you marrying just Loath? Why are you marrying just Arpious? What about me? Am I just a sex toy to you?" The succubus asked with a creepily dead smile that almost seemed to glare at me.

"Huh?"