DKFTI 103

After the rainy season ended, a cold air filled the Demon King’s castle, but Sibel had no time to feel cold.

“That piece goes here.”

The reason was Aizen, who clung to him like he was some kind of human blanket.

“No, it’s here.”

Sibel was wasting another infinite day in the most productive way possible. Spending an entire day on puzzles without feeling guilty about wasting time was a truly happy life.

He thought all that talk about immortality being a punishment was wrong. Why would it be, when something this good existed? If he wanted, he could spend days working on this puzzle without even knowing whether it was fun or not.

“No, look, this white part is a wave.”

“Isn’t it a cloud?”

The puzzle pieces were only the size of a fingertip and all in blue and white, so it was hard to tell if they were sky or sea. The bright blue sky and horizon, the sea and waves in similar shades, the beach, the clouds. He had picked a puzzle that was hard even by choice.

“I told you, it’s here.”

Aizen wrapped his arms and legs around Sibel and held him in his embrace. His hand reached around from Sibel’s back and took the puzzle piece from his fingers.

“See, it fits perfectly.”

At Aizen’s confident words, Sibel squinted and checked the picture. Aizen quietly looked down at the back of Sibel’s head as Sibel stretched his neck and checked every detail.

“You’ve got a good eye.”

“Of course.”

“What’s your eyesight?”

“I never checked.”

“Then, how far can you see from that window?”

Why that was important right now, Aizen didn’t know, but he found Sibel’s habit of suddenly fixating on small things cute. The way his conversations jumped to unpredictable topics and the way Aizen got dragged along as he tried to keep up, always pulled him in helplessly. He liked that feeling of losing his way inside the absent-minded Demon King’s head.

In short, he liked the time they spent joking with each other.

“I’m someone who can see very far.”

“Oh, confident.”

“Maybe I can cross distance and time too.”

“Superpower?”

Their conversations never fit together like puzzle pieces, but they always flowed like this.

“Oh, I put this one wrong.”

Sibel turned away from the talk and pulled out the piece he had fitted in the wrong place.

“So, when are you lifting my ban from your bedroom?”

Aizen was under Sibel’s bedroom restriction. It wasn’t a magical or ritual ban, but Sibel puffed himself up like a hedgehog on guard, and Aizen decided to go along with it. Knowing when to retreat was what made a real hunter.

“I’ll think about it for two hundred years and tell you.”

“That’s a really hurtful thing to say.”

When Aizen saw Sibel speak so casually about a stretch of time that long, he felt something stronger than frustration over how short a human’s life was, he felt anger.

“You know you can be really cruel sometimes?”

Aizen rested his chin on Sibel’s shoulder. Sibel squirmed as his shoulder grew heavier, but that only made Aizen’s arms tighten.

“Sometimes, when I see you sleeping soundly, I get scared. I’m afraid you’ll sleep for a hundred years and wake up in a world without me.”

“Come on, who sleeps that long? Besides, demons don’t even need to sleep in the first place.”

“But you do.”

“That’s just my human habit left over. Wow, I finished the beach part.”

Sibel clapped in joy after completing the beach section of the puzzle. Aizen glanced over at it. He had struggled at first, but now that he had adapted so fast, Aizen found it impressive.

“Is the puzzle more fun than me?”

“Of course. It’s better than a pervert who keeps poking my butt.”

“Oh, you noticed?”

“It’s hard not to.”

Aizen laughed at Sibel’s curt reply. Every time Aizen laughed, Sibel’s nape tingled and he shivered.

“Ah, seriously! You’re distracting me!”

“Don’t be mad at me. The great Demon King shouldn’t bully a poor human.”

“Who’s poor here? I’m the one who got pinned down all night and cried!”

Aizen snorted again. No matter what Sibel said, he just found him funny.

“Ha… I’m not doing a puzzle right now, I’m meditating, so don’t disturb me.”

“I’ve been helping all along though?”

“Anyway…ah! Why is your hand going under my clothes!”

“Huh? My hand? Oh. Why is it here? Maybe my head and hand aren’t on the same page.”

As Sibel flailed and slapped at the hand burrowing into his clothes, the puzzle pieces scattered everywhere.

“I said stop bothering meee!”

“Alright…”

Aizen usually answered Sibel’s words with a quick “alright.” That meant he no longer got angry like before. The problem was that he now only listened but doesn’t keep his words.

For some reason, if he wanted to stay close to a Demon King who was naturally good at pushing people away, that kind of shamelessness was necessary. And he liked that the softhearted Demon King couldn’t really reject him properly.

The problem was that because of that same softness, his mind started running wild a dozen times a day, worrying that Sibel might act that way with someone else too. But when he held Sibel, who was so warm and pliant, every worry and thought melted away like snow under the sun.

“Why did your hand stop? Keep going.”

“The line between the sea and the sky is hard. The colors are almost the same.”

Now Sibel had given up on resisting Aizen’s interruptions and just accepted them. He continued working on the puzzle.

“I kind of think if I just shove a few in, no one would notice.”

“Just because the colors look alike doesn’t mean they’re one piece.”

“You say something that sounds meaningful, but stop touching my bare skin while saying it.”

Sibel swatted Aizen’s hand away.

‘So, if bodies actually mix, does distance disappear that fast…?’

It was strange that even when they were this close now, he didn’t feel much discomfort. Maybe that was what people meant when they said they knew each other inside out. Why did that phrase sound dirty again? Sibel continued puzzling while he wrestled with that thought.

At some point, he had grown used to Aizen’s scent. He smelled warm.

***

The peaceful days continued. Sibel yawned and browsed through the community, wondering if anything interesting was happening today.

#DemonKingCommunity#

–Rules of Use

–Announcements

–No fraternization, good deeds, or religious solicitation!

(Other) We’re screwed.

(Photo of a collapsed building) (Photo of fallen demons) (Photo of a white flag) Just as you see it.

Comments

└What are we supposed to be looking at?

└Hey, I know that castle.

└Who did that?

└(Author) You’ll be in a photo next, yeah? Can’t you read the room? Look at the flag.

└Holy Kingdom?

└Who’s the one lying dead there?

└(Author) Your future.

└Damn, that’s scary as hell.

└Lol, the cult’s just being loud again.

└They always do that once in a while, nothing new ㅇㅅㅇ

└(Author) Ugh, you fools with no sense of danger. See you in the next photo.

└Coward, drop the Demon King titleㅉㅉ Uh… guys, it’s kinda loud outside my castle? brb, going to check.

└Gasp!

└Gasp 2!

└I’m the one who said it’s loud, but there’s a bunch of white things outside. What are these? Going out to kill them;;

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.

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└What happened???

└No update.

└That Demon King never came back??

└Nope. Damn.

└Why are you already wailing lolololol

└Guys… you’re next…

Clack

The scroll bar of the crystal communicator slid all the way down. Sibel had now learned a lot about the Demon King community. He knew that about seventy percent of the posts there were fake or manipulative. How many times had he been tricked by posts like this before? How many nights had he spent trembling in fear?

Now he could tell easily that a random Demon King had just made a joke and disappeared. That kind of person was called an attention-seeker.

‘I guess I’m becoming jaded too.’

The fact that he could stay calm in a situation like this definitely meant he had grown more mature than before.

“Demon King! Demon King!”

Ruru came running, his fur bristling.

“Yes, Ruru.”

“Huh? Demon King, why do you look so thin?”

At Ruru’s question, Sibel smiled. That story was something he would never tell for as long as he lived.

“Demon Kiiing!”

Maybe word had spread that the Demon King of this area had finally come out of seclusion, because Shanti came rushing in too. Behind him was Ramiel, still carrying the gentle air of spring. He hadn’t shown his face much during the rainy season, so seeing him again felt nice.

“Why is everyone looking for me?”

“Because the so-called hero keeps hiding you, Demon King!”

“I doubt that…”

“There’s a rumor that the hero imprisoned you!”

His body still felt heavy from the aftermath of the rainy season. The feeling that his bones and muscles were still reconstructing hadn’t gone away, so he had decided to rest for a few days, but imprisoned? Wait, that… actually made some sense.

Now that he thought about it, he had been distracted with delicious food and snacks, and whenever there was time, Aizen had been all over him with massages or other nonsense. He even brought him fun board games and toys so he wouldn’t have to go outside. Was this the so-called confinement he’d heard about?

“But this is my house.”