The Duchess and the Devil - Chapter 52.2

– Or does he behave like a person because he is in a human body? – she added.

– He’s a devil anyway. And not an ordinary one, but the head of a race.

Perhaps Judith already knew the answer, which was found in the moment when they talked about God. Then Derrick showed that he, like everyone else, enjoys negative emotions: pain and suffering. And people like the demon will never benefit people.

“He doesn’t feel human, but… He’s just different from other demons you know about.”

Carmen wanted to say that Derrick was not such a bad demon. Judith herself understood this: he had already saved her from Lucas and protected her from other adversities. And she felt comfortable next to her husband. Even if she used to hate this appearance to the last detail, to the last line.

At some point, Judith realized: there was no trace of her dead husband in Derrick.

– I understand why you say that.

“But you don’t know him like I do,” Carmen’s stubborn answer made her feel abandoned for a moment.

And it was as if an indescribable pressure blocked her speech. The raven’s red eyes reminded him of Derrick. And soon Judith realized: she really knew almost nothing about her husband and his life as a demon.

– And I want to say something…

– What?

“Even if he is trapped in a human body now, sooner or later he will leave this place.”

It really was like that. As soon as Derrick lifts the curse, he will safely leave his husband’s body and return to the devilish world. Judith understood this perfectly well, because this was in their deal: she helps him get out of here, and the demon gives her a child.

No one lost anything in this agreement – a true business relationship.

But when Judith imagined life without a demon, an emptiness seemed to form in her heart, which worried her. This feeling was so strange that the Duchess involuntarily touched her chest and suddenly felt something.

Carmen, standing at the windowsill, raised his eyebrows in surprise and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Exactly three seconds later there was a knock on the office door. The butler appeared through the slightly open door.

– Madam, I served the appetizers.

– Thank you.

— Is there anything else I can help with?

– No, everything is okay.

Smiling kindly, the butler put the tray on the table and left the library. Judith was left alone and didn’t even touch the snacks brought, she just went straight to the bookshelf built into the wall.

The girl walked along nearby, repeating under her breath:

“Demon,” and she looked at the books with burning eyes.

Carmen’s statement that Judith barely knows Derrick or the very nature of demons is not wrong or groundless. Looking back, she realized that she did not even suspect the existence of something otherworldly. And now the nature of the “demons” was limited only to Derrick. And this is her personal stupidity.

Now it was worth finding out who these demons were.

But, having walked the entire first floor and climbed to the second, Judith did not notice a single mention of them. The bookcases are completely filled with literature on economics, social studies, humanities, but nothing supernatural.

– Yes, such a book…

The library was filled with literature according to the tastes of the late Duke.

Looking at this, the man was not at all aware of the existence of another world, although the demon was right next to him all the time – until his death. But this is also logical. If you knew nothing about this, you would never have placed such a book in your personal library.

One place that came to Judith’s mind was the library of the Imperial Palace. It contained literature about everything that could exist in the world. And in this hundred thousand books one could find the one he needed, because there was no connection to someone’s taste. The knowledge accumulated over the years has always remained intact.

It is said that the western hall of the Palace, consisting of three floors above the ground and two below the ground, contains books in more than four thousand categories. And most likely there will certainly be something about demons there.

– I definitely need to go there!

The Imperial Palace Library is a restricted area and could only be used by the Royal Family. However, the Emperor’s predecessor opened it to the nobility, declaring that knowledge was a value that needed to be spread. And if you are an aristocrat, you can definitely get there.

Judith desperately hoped to find something interesting there.