Exusiai was Lucian's Childhood Friend—and also his best bro.
Back in Laterano, he'd been the Holy Son, so most people treated him with extreme reverence.
But Exusiai was different.
She'd always been reckless, always caused trouble—basically a walking powder keg that gave everyone headaches.
The first time Lucian met her was when she snuck into the Grand Cathedral.
She'd been wearing her children's choir uniform, bright red hair and soft white cheeks smeared with dirt—pure troublemaker energy from head to toe.
The little brat Angel lit up the second she saw him and beamed. "Holy Son! Let's play!"
Lucian sighed nostalgically. "Where did that innocent, adorable little gremlin Angel go…? Ah—no, I mean, where did El go?"
"Huh? What'd you just say?"
The grown-up, fully corrupted Exusiai raised an eyebrow threateningly, one hand already reaching for his waist.
To protect his precious kidneys, Lucian immediately surrendered. "I didn't say anything! Nothing at all! El, do you want to add anything else? Please, go ahead!"
Exusiai wore a very good-you-know-your-place expression. "This shop's double-skin milk is pretty good. I want another. And another mango pancake. And a banana split—with the tiny little flags."
"Okay, okay…"
Lucian, heart and wallet bleeding simultaneously, obediently ordered more desserts for her.
There's a saying: Not every Angel can handle a Gun, but there has never once existed an Angel who hates sweets.
All Angels were extreme dessert lovers.
Which meant: if you wanted to soothe an angry Angel girlfriend, dessert was the guaranteed solution.
But why were Lungmen's dessert shops all this expensive…?
A muscle by Lucian's eye twitched. "Honestly, I can make dessert for you. We don't have to come to some overpriced mall for this, right?"
"Idiot. Zero sense."
Exusiai pointed a spoon at him, mouth full of cream. "It's the vibe, duh. Dessert tastes better in a place where even the atmosphere is sweet! And yeah, your cooking is good, but not cute. Not refined!"
"Why would dessert need to be cute…? Isn't being tasty and filling enough? Women are way too much work…"
Lucian only dared to mutter that internally.
To save money, he ordered nothing but a coffee—looking exactly like the scumbag boyfriend who brought his girlfriend out but refused to spend a dime.
But this was definitely not a date. Absolutely not.
Exusiai was just throwing a tantrum. Dragging him to this absurdly pricey shop was just so she could watch him suffer financially.
He was her Childhood Friend and best bro—they'd known each other for over ten years—so obviously he understood her perfectly. Yep.
Exusiai's puffy cheeks finally relaxed, and she smiled sweetly. "Anyway, other desserts aside, your Apple Pie is still the best. I'll never eat anyone's Apple Pie except yours for the rest of my life."
"Wow… thanks." Lucian looked helpless and touched at the same time.
Exusiai loved Apple Pie, and it was the first thing he ever learned to make.
Most Angels loved sweets and also knew how to make them themselves.
But as the Holy Son, Lucian had never been allowed to use a Kitchen before meeting Exusiai.
The one who kept sneaking into the Cathedral to visit him—Exusiai—was his very first friend, and he'd wanted to repay her somehow.
So he'd said he wanted to learn to make dessert… and the Priests of the Grand Cathedral panicked so hard they built him his own private Kitchen.
And the one who had taught him, hand-in-hand, back then… was the woman who had taken care of him since childhood.
Even now he remembered every detail—the feel of her arms around him, her breath whispering at his ear, the way she teased him by brushing her hair against his neck. Things he'd never forget, not in this lifetime.
"Idiot."
Instead of sitting across from him, Exusiai had sat right beside him. She grabbed a strand of her long hair and tickled the back of his neck.
The overlap of memory and reality jolted Lucian back to himself.
"Sorry, sorry. What were you saying?"
"I didn't say anything."
Lucian had no idea how to explain what he'd been thinking, but Exusiai didn't hide a thing.
She twirled her own hair, pouty. "Quit pretending in front of me. You miss her like crazy. I bet you wish you could turn around right now and see her, then grab her and kiss her all over, right?"
"Hold on." Lucian raised a hand seriously. "Yes, I was thinking about Mostima. But the second half is completely wrong. Forget kissing—if I find her, the first thing I'm doing is tying her up and spanking her."
"…Gross." Exusiai looked at him like he was some sort of deviant.
The tension between them faded instantly.
The woman Lucian had mentioned wasn't a forbidden topic. Finding her was something they both wanted.
Exusiai also sighed. "I wonder what Mostima's doing now."
The woman named Mostima wasn't only close to Lucian—Exusiai knew her very well too.
She had long, beautiful blue hair, always wore a soft, sweet smile for everyone, and carried an almost unreal aura.
She had been a Priest of the Grand Cathedral in Laterano, a few years older than Lucian, assigned to care for him since he was young.
For the Laterano citizens who Venerated the Holy Son fanatically, not just any low-ranking Angel could handle such a responsibility. It proved how high her status was.
She'd succeeded the position of High Priest at a young age and played an important role in Laterano's church, presiding over countless major ceremonies.
But one day, she suddenly fell.
Even in the bizarre world of Terra, Angels were a particularly unique race.
Their intangible Halo and Wings already defied science—and they weren't even innate. They manifested the moment an Angel learned to speak.
According to Laterano doctrine, Angels existed to praise God, so language was essential.
The moment an Angel learned to speak was considered their true birth.
Lucian, being a modern youth with a materialist worldview, didn't believe in supernatural explanations. There had to be some underlying mechanism.
Angels strictly obeyed doctrine, and their crime rate was drastically lower than any other race.
Not because Angels were inherently peaceful, but because they simply could not hide their crimes.
The moment an Angel violated doctrine, punishment descended instantly. No police or enforcement agencies needed.
Because of this reality, their Faith was unshakable. No one truly doubted God's existence.
And one of the gravest sins was this:
An Angel must never shoot another Angel with a Gun.
The rule was bizarre.
It wasn't "don't kill your own kind."
It was specifically "don't shoot them with a Gun."
The moment Lucian learned that rule, he knew something was up.
Whatever the reason behind it, committing that sin caused an Angel to fall.
That was what happened to Mostima.
One day she had become a Fallen Sankta—her pure white Halo and Wings turning black. She'd grown horns and a tail, traits unique to the Demon Race.
And once one became a Fallen Sankta, the rest of Angelic law no longer applied.
So Mostima gave up completely… and did something outrageous to fourteen-year-old Lucian.
Then that scumbag ran off—took what she wanted and vanished.
Lucian had no idea what other Angels thought, but to him, it wasn't a big deal.
If Mostima had been upfront, he would've cooperated long ago. Would've saved him the humiliation of always being the one pinned down.
One of the reasons he and Exusiai had eloped from Laterano was to find her.
Before leaving, Lucian had already used his Holy Son privileges to pardon Mostima's sin.
Even if a Fallen Sankta could never return to being a normal Angel, Lucian didn't care at all. Horns and a tail just meant more possibilities.
Finding her, catching her, and learning what happened—that was one of Lucian's biggest goals now.