78.Beautiful Demon
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Hours passed.
The mansion was bright again.
Priests gone.
Blood stains cleaned.
Broken walls repaired.
Eleanor sleeping safely under medical care in another room.
And Maximilian still lay unconscious on the couch, chest rising and falling softly.
Then—
His eyelid twitched.
The sound of chaotic renovation workers drilling and hammering echoed across the hall.
Max opened his eyes.
For a moment everything was blurry.
Then Kyron's face came into view, relieved and smiling.
"Sir! You're awake. I'm sorry if the noise disturbed your sleep—renovations are a bit chaotic today."
Aiden and Chloe rushed in right behind him, both smiling, both looking perfectly fine, holding fresh coffees and take-away breakfast.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Chloe joked, placing the tray beside him.
"Yeah, we thought you were gonna sleep forever," Aiden teased.
Max blinked.
Looked at their faces.
Healthy.
Safe.
Alive.
His chest loosened with a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
"Good," Max whispered.
"You both look… good."
Everything looked normal now.
Peaceful.
Almost like nothing had happened.
Thanks to that woman…
That dangerous… powerful… terrifying… wickedly beautiful—
Woman.
Marcelline.
He frowned.
Wait.
Hold on.
Why…
Why does he remember her?
---
Memory Erased? No. Something Broke Through.
Max sat upright suddenly, startling Chloe.
Kyron frowned.
"Sir? Are you alright?"
Max ignored him.
His heartbeat thundered.
He remembered everything.
The demon.
Chloe and Aiden falling like dead bodies.
His own helplessness.
The monster wearing Eleanor.
Marcelline's eyes.
Her lightning-fast moves.
Her healing power.
Her demonic aura.
Her voice whispering against him—
"Relax… I don't bite. Unless someone begs."
And the way she said—
"You too," before erasing memories.
She did erase.
He saw the light.
He felt it hit his mind.
He should remember nothing.
But he remembers everything.
Max's breath hitched.
What… what does that mean?
---
"Sir?" Kyron asked again, worried.
"You look pale."
Aiden put a hand on Max's shoulder.
"Dude, are you sick or something?"
Chloe squinted at him.
"You okay? You look like you saw a ghost."
Max swallowed hard.
Ghost?
No.
He saw a demon.
A very beautiful demon—which is worse.
But why can he still remember her?
He pressed a hand to his temple.
Her face flashed again.
Her glowing yellow eyes.
Her smirk.
Her voice.
Her power.
This wasn't normal.
No one should be able to resist memory erasure.
Especially not from someone like her.
So why him?
His breath shuddered as one horrifying, impossible thought hit him—
Maybe she couldn't erase me.
Maybe something about me… blocked her.
Or maybe she chose not to erase all of it.
But why?
His pulse jumped.
There was only one thing he knew for certain:
He has to find her.
---