Project: Socialize

After I retreated back to the living room, in the background, I could hear the sound of water splashing against the tiled floor in the bathroom as Emilia showered, which made it quite difficult for me to remain calm. I switched the channel to the news channel, hoping that listening to some news would help normalize my mind.

The news program was currently playing a live feed, with the emperor, a young handsome man of only twenty-five years of age by the name of Leshius VII, being broadcasted live as he gave a speech to the international community regarding the politics of Vilheim. The speech was about the renegade province of Vilheim called Forsia, which was occupied by a pro-democracy group that wanted to end the absolute reign of the emperor.

"As for the issue with Forsia," the young emperor said in a steady voice, "Vilheim as a whole do not, and will not, accept its independence. I would also like to make a direct statement to all powers in the world, especially those in the west, that this issue is an internal issue and will not need any foreign intervention. Despite your stated support of the One Vilheim Policy, I know that there's still communications between Forsia and such foreign powers going on. I would like to remind you all that Vilheim today is not the Vilheim seventy years ago. Then, our nation was wiped off the map by the Jorzan invaders. Prior to that, our nation was subjected to imperialism. However, I would like to remind not only my subjects, but also all that reside in this world. Vilheim is no longer weak. We are strong. The strongest of all. We have developed into the superpower in this world, and that development will not stop no matter how hard one would try to restrain it."

The sound of the crowd clapping caused the emperor to pause in his speech. Even with this temporary stoppage, the serious expression on the young man's face didn't disappear as he maintained his focus.

Well said. To be honest, I don't understand why those people would even want independence anyways. In the name of democracy? Well...if it doesn't work, then why bother with it? With this style of government in Vilheim, we achieved prosperity and progress at a speed unrivaled by the rest of the world. If no problem is there, then why bother fixing it?

Therefore, I support my emperor wholeheartedly. Some may say that we are all brainwashed, but I think that those people are brainwashed to think so. If loving and supporting ones nation is called being brainwashed, then all of humanity is.

The emperor is a great man that even I admire. At a young age, around seventeen, he was a member of the Knightglaive unit, a special operations military unit. He has military experience, as well as politics. He had also spent the majority of his childhood living the life of a commoner, so he knows what is best for the people. That is also a major reason why Emperor Leshius VII is so popular among Vilhemians.

"I like this guy."

A sudden voice sounded from my right. It was a familiar yet foreign voice. With a sudden tensing of my muscles, I turned in the direction of the voice, arms up in a defensive stance and ready to defend myself if I had to.

"Who are you?"

I glared at the boy with scarlet hair that sat on the couch next to me with a relaxed posture. He looked back at me with a carefree smile on his face, and that was when I noticed the oddity in the boy: one of his iris was a crimson red while the other was a golden yellow.

"No need to be so defensive," the boy laughed. "You don't recognize my voice? I'm Ralus."

"Ralus?"

I lowered my arms but still remained cautious of him. I eyed him with a suspicious look, but he seemed to be quite ambivalent to my actions and acted quite carefree with me, almost as if he saw no threat in me. I guess he has a right to think so, since he is a divine being while I'm just a mortal.

"So," Ralus began speaking. "I see that you've met my girlfriend."

He looked over at Emilia, who was walking out of the bathroom and back into the living room. Instead of the formal clothing that she wore earlier for her job as a teacher, she was dressed in more casual clothing.

"Ralus..." She frowned as she saw him, and a sense of pain and sadness swept over her. Despite that, she bravely confronted Ralus and looked him in the eye with a will of strong iron. "Why are you here? Didn't God assigned you to a series of tasks as punishment?"

"I can finish those quite easily," Ralus laughed. "Besides, is that all you're going to say when you see your boyfriend after about a whole month of being apart?"

"Boyfriend..." I muttered, finally learning about their relationship.

"Ralus..." Emilia appeared to be at a lost of words, not knowing what to say about her relationship with him.

"Why that sad face?" Ralus frowned. "Did he do something?" He pointed over at me. "If he did, one word and I can make him suffer."

"He didn't," Emilia responded. "It's not about him at all."

"What is it then?" Ralus's facial expression relaxed. "I hate to see you with such a sad look on your face."

"It's..." Emilia sighed. "It's nothing."

"You don't wanna tell me," Ralus glanced down at the floor. "Fine then I guess. Privacy is needed in relationships."

"Why are you here?" Emilia dragged the conversation back onto topic.

"I just want to see my pretty girlfriend," Ralus smiled. "And come see the guy that she's currently living with."

"Jealous?" Emilia grinned with regained composure.

"No," Ralus shook his head and laughed. "If it's Alevian, then so be it. I have high hopes for him."

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because I can sense it in you," Ralus looked over towards me. "The reason why God has Emilia monitoring you...has she told you about it yet?"

I glanced over at Emilia from the corner of my eye in attempts to seek guidance from her. However, Ralus's words seemed to have paralyzed her, causing her to stand there with a painful expression on her face.

"No," I responded.

If she's not going to give me any orders, then it looks like I'm on my own.

"She didn't say anything about it," I finished.

"Then should I tell you about it?" Ralus smiled slyly and glanced over at Emilia who looked away. Her authoritative aura was rendered into nothing, leaving her weak and vulnerable.

I looked over at Emilia as well. This was the first time I saw her like this. For some reason, the her that I saw at that moment didn't feel like it was her. No longer was she that strong and mysterious angel that I had met this morning. Instead, she was like any other woman in this world, any other person to be more general. She has a weakness, a weak side of her with vulnerabilities. For someone of her caliber to feel insecure, it must be something quite severe. Therefore, if it's something that can cause her to become so submissive in nature, then is it something that I want to find out?

"I think I'll pass on that."

My words elicited a look of surprise from Emilia as well as a round of laughter from Ralus.

"Interesting," he laughed. "You're so interesting, Alevian. I'm so glad I chose it to be you."

"Chose it to be me?" I muttered in confusion.

"Don't worry about it," Ralus wiped away the tears that had formed from his round of laughter and stretched a hand out to me. "Nice to meet you, Alevian."

I looked down at his outstretched hands, and then back up at his face. He was even scarier than Emilia because due to how difficult it was to read him. Unlike Emilia, who concealed all information with a mysterious smile, Ralus seemed to be flaunting all of himself. However, with so much information came the scary part. What part of it is real? How do I know if it is real or not? Is any part real? These questions will never be answered unless I pondered over and test each option, which will prove to be impossible at the moment.

"Nice to meet you," I muttered as I shook his hand and stared into the different colors of his eyes. The two different colors appeared to be almost hypnotizing, but I was snapped out of the trance by a hand that was placed on my shoulders. "Emilia?" I looked over my shoulder at her.

"Isn't enough already?" She whispered in a sad and trembling voice as she pulled me back and away from Ralus. "How many times do you have to do this? When have you become like this?"

"What're you talking about?" Ralus smiled innocently.

"Lucifer," Emilia said with tears forming in her eyes. "Can we stop this? Can we go back to the days of the past?"

"Emilia." The eerie smile never left Ralus's face as he spoke. "You know we can't go back anymore, right?" He said in a calm and eerie voice. "We can't go back anymore...Especially after all that."

I could sense that there was something else in this situation, something much bigger than I can fathom.

"Why can't you forgive?"

"If I do forgive, then what's the point of it all? Emilia, I've given up on the name of Lucifer for years already. It'll never be the same now that I am Ralus Satanael Betran. It won't be the same now..."

"..."