Refusing My God’s Advances

I chuckled, making the demon princess tip her head to the side at me. "I am not laughing at you, just myself," I laughed, and then sighed. "I will do just that, but I would like to wait. I feel like there is something else I have to do."

I got up, and then left the room, heading back into the one that held Lyra before, turning up my nose. Those bastards didn't even clean up, but I wasn't coming in for very long. 

Once I had retrieved what I was looking for, I headed back into the room Lyra was inside. The moment I entered the room, she started to back away from me, but that was reasonable. I was holding the same knife that had been at her throat a short while ago.

"Don't worry," I said, trying not to laugh at my ridiculous statement. Thankfully, she stopped squirming, and I was able to cut the rope that was binding her hands and legs. 

When it was done, Lyra just looked up at me confused as I dropped the knife. I could understand her confusion but it would be hard to have her move around tied up. After what happened earlier, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone.

"You still never answered why you didn't kill my children?" She asked, looking up at me, making no attempt to move.

I just shrugged. "Something seems fishy, so I wanted to talk to you all first. I've decided that I don't think you are bad, so I am not going to kill you all. Plain as dirt."

"But what if I am lying?" She asked, but this made me laugh out loud for a moment before looking back down at the small woman.

"I had to try my hardest not to kill your children and still went overboard with a few. Are you really stupid enough to try and lie to me?" I asked, but to my surprise, Lrya let out a relieved sigh, relaxing for the first time since I met her. It was a strange thing, to say the least.

Rather than dwell on it, I offered the little princess my hand, but it was hard to call her a princess in her current clothing. More like slum royalty, if anything.

She had a pretty face with white hair, both pretty dirty, and her clothes were extremely worn and dirty. They might have looked nice once, but that time had long since passed. Still, even with all the dirt and ragged clothing, I could tell she was beautiful. 

Made me wonder what she might look like cleaned up, and put into some cute clothing?

The little woman looked at my hand like it was the first one she had ever seen, but in hindsight, this was probably the first hand offered to her. Being from a world where this type of cruelty wasn't as widespread, I guess I felt bad for the demons.

"You can take it," I said slowly, exerting the highest level of patience I could muster.

It took a moment, but she finally took my hand and I helped her up. The entire time, my mind suddenly became filled with Shelli, and I felt something strange and unfamiliar.

Regret?

Since when I had ever felt bad about anything that I had done, even if it was bad? For my entire life, I ignored people's feelings, but for some reason, I felt like I had done something very wrong to Shelli. It took talking to this little demon to see it, but now I couldn't shake the feeling.

"Are you okay?" Lyra asked slowly as she adjusted her clothing, and I shook my head.

"No, I feel like I was too harsh on the woman who was with me before," I said, and to my surprise, the demon princess nodded in agreement.

"Yes, you were. It was clear to see that the girl wanted to form a love contract with you, but you were very mean to her," Lyra said, her attitude suddenly changing as she scolded me.

"Hey, what is with all this energy now?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What, would you prefer me to whimper the entire time? I am nice, but you were mean to the girl," Lrya told me, and I sighed.

"So what should I do? I am worried that she is being controlled by someone like you. She also had been pushing herself on me every chance that she gets," I said and scratched my head. "Doesn't that seem a bit off to you?"

"What if you are the first man she has met?" Lyra asked, and I frowned at her.

"That clearly isn't the case. She is a servant of the god of this world, Garland. So, I am pretty sure that he counts as a man, right?" I asked, but she frowned at me.

"You really don't know much do you?" She asked, but not in an insulting way, so I just screwed up my face into a deeper frown.

"What am I missing here?" I asked, and Lyra nodded.

"First. Garland is neither a man nor a woman. The god of this world gave up his sex when he ascended, casting off all worldly desires. Secondly, Angel-kin are all women, and extremely rare to find. I had thought that all of them had been caught and sold into slavery, so you might not be wrong about that. The last thing is, even if she is being controlled, or used in some way, you care about her a lot for someone that just met her. Are you really okay with the face she made before leaving? You look like you broke her heart!"

I... Well, I could only stand there and take it. I didn't care about Garland, but it was interesting info. Everything else knocked the wind out of my sails. Not only that, but I had officially discovered the feeling of regret. The question now was what to do about this?