Chapter 125 Chapter 125
When he never replied to her, she raised her head to look at him questioningly and saw that he was lost in thought, gazing at the sky with a strange expression on his face. A sad frown had appeared, his mouth forming a thin line. The sadness she saw in his blue eyes was the same that she had already seen when he had woken up after his nightmare, and she wondered what it meant.
What caused him to feel sad all of a sudden? She wasn’t used to him being sorrowful; it was an emotion he normally didn’t display, and she wished she knew what he was thinking of so intently.
“Maxwell?” Valerie asked eventually, prompting him to look at her. For a brief moment, it seemed as if he had forgotten about her. He looked startled, but he quickly hid his surprise and any emotion behind an unreadable expression. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” he replied tersely.
She didn’t know if she should ask him about it, seeing as he didn’t want to talk about it, so she just sighed and decided to let it be for now. “I want to see more of hell,” she said pleadingly. “Please show me around.”
“I’m not a tourist guide, and this isn’t a vacation,” he grumbled and took her hand, linking his fingers with hers while he sternly stared at her.
“I know that, of course,” she pouted. She let her eyes roam around for a moment until they came to rest on the reddish glow far off in the distance. Flames were spouting towards the sky, originating from a deep pit she couldn’t see clearly since she was too far away. She didn’t know what it was; it didn’t quite look like a volcano, but what else could it be? Glowing embers rose, and smoke clouded the area above it. She was fascinated by the sight and wanted to get a better look at it, but Maxwell kept her hand in a tight hold and didn’t budge.
“What’s that over there?” she asked and pointed at the flames.
Something in his eyes darkened as a sinister emotion flickered over his face. “Purgatory.”
“Oh,” she stuttered. He’d mentioned that place before, and she was aware of how dangerous it was, so she didn’t want to go anywhere near it.
“I’ll show you something better, okay?”
“Okay,” she said with an excited smile. “Are there plants in hell? I haven’t seen any so far… I wonder what kind of flowers would grow here,” she mumbled as she looked around, spotting only a bunch of half-burned trees that were barely clinging to life. They had a hard time surviving in the hot air of hell, and the rocky ground didn’t help either. She glanced at him questioningly, noticing that he stared at her like she was an apparition or a phantom, his eyes reflecting a mix of wonder and pain.
“What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly.
He swallowed and tore his gaze away from her. “Nothing. You just reminded me of someone for a moment,” he replied evasively while he cast his eyes at the vast night sky above them. They were both silent for a few heartbeats, Valerie studying his expression with a frown. She wondered who he was talking about as she couldn’t explain why he suddenly looked melancholic. His behavior today was unusual, to say the least.
“Who?” she asked when it became obvious that he wouldn’t elaborate.
He let out a harsh sigh, but he told her, despite not being happy about it. “Juliana.”
“Who’s that?” Valerie asked curiously, never having heard of this name before. This person seemed to be important to him, so she wondered why he never mentioned her. Was she a relative, an old acquaintance, or maybe even his lover?
“She was my girlfriend, but she died long ago,” he answered, and Valerie stared at him with wide eyes, somehow having trouble imagining him in a serious relationship. This woman must have meant a lot to him; he seemed to be bitter about her death even after so many years, and she didn’t like the self-hate that manifested in his gaze. Surely, it hadn’t been his fault that she had died. Valerie couldn’t imagine that to be the case since he was extremely clingy and protective. Then again, he might have become like that only after her death.
“She was killed by demon hunters for absolutely no reason other than to spill demon blood. I left her alone for a few minutes, and that was all it took. Those filthy humans must have been following us for a while, but I didn’t notice them,” he hissed, curling his hands into fists. Faint light radiated off them, flickering uncontrollably.
Valerie was shocked as she had never heard of this before, not from him nor anyone else, and suddenly, so many things started to make sense to her. Suddenly, she understood his seemingly irrational hate for humans, a species that was supposedly much weaker than demons. She had suspected that he had to have a reason for it, but never had she imagined something terrible like this… The pain, self-hate, and regret shimmering in his eyes told her all she needed to know about his feelings towards Juliana’s death. He felt responsible, and he missed her. For a second, she wondered if he was still in love with her, but she willed this thought to vanish, telling herself that now wasn’t the time to be jealous, especially not of someone who had died tragically.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s understandable that you would hate humans after that. They had no reason to kill her.”
“I made them pay, but that didn’t bring her back,” Maxwell said apathetically, his eyes staring into space. She didn’t like the emptiness within them, feeling a pang in her heart seeing it. Hesitantly, she stepped closer to him and took his hand in between her own, offering comfort. He briefly glanced at her from the corner of his eye before he went back to staring at the faraway flames of purgatory.
“What was Juliana like?” she asked, wishing to know more about this mysterious woman. She assumed that speaking about her might help him get a weight off his mind since he was still hurt about her death, even though she had been gone for a long time.