Entangled With The Ruthless Demon Emperor

"You shouldn't be here," he said nonchalantly.

"And you," she said as she scowled at him, "shouldn't be standing here in the first place."

A man and woman stood in a very grand hall.

They had once seen its splendor back in its days. Now it's dilapidated, dusty, and dull.

Two large double doors, from where he had just entered stood behind him as he came face to face with his sister. She glared at him with hatred and contempt.

"You don't even qualify to be standing in front of me," Daemon said. He was becoming angrier by the second.

"Qualify?" She scoffed with her arms folded across her chest. "Ask that question yourself when you are just a useless worthless piece of dirt!"

Daemon became angry. Very angry. His face gave him away. He never liked anyone calling him useless or worthless. It brought painful memories. Memories he didn't want to remember.

The woman, his sister Dapheney noticed that she had managed to annoy her brother.

"Because I'm now the demon emperor," he said arrogantly. And you're just a commoner.

"Oh, a commoner, really?" She wanted to laugh and choke on those words.

"Then how it is that you think you're fit to sit on this throne!" Dapheney spread her arms indicating the grandeur behind her. It was more of a statement than a question. Her hazel eyes flashed with anger.

"I was, after all, elected by the people to rightfully sit on that throne, " he made sure to emphasize every word to her, to get it into her mad brain.

Daemon looked around. The beautifully carved pillars of dragons and demonic beasts that were a mixture of different animals had cracks, dirt, and even blood stains on them. The jewels on the stone pillars that were once the eyes of these magnificent beasts faded and looked worn out.

The shine of these stones was no more. The two looked at the ceiling covered with webs and a large amount of dust.

The grand steps leading to a throne room had rubbish scattered around, broken swords and glasses laid strewn about. The young woman counted the steps. Roughly, it was about fifty steps leading up to the throne. The throne was made of pure gold and a rare stone. But the throne has lost its shine after so many years of neglect and isolation.

The palace had been abandoned for years since the last Demon Emperor died. No one knows what happened that year but many claimed that there was a fierce and violent battle that shook the entire country, thus many villages and towns were now living in poverty.

"Emperor? I think you are a worthless one treated like trash! Look at the place around you. You think the people love you?" She gestured to the surroundings. She laughed mockingly at him.

"Even so, I'll make those people all submit to me! And only me!"

"You can go on dreaming! The people out there treated you like dirt. The palace they gave you is full of dirt and debris and blood. " She was definitely having the time of her life, making fun of his situation. She eyed a pillar with obvious blood stains on it. Oh, how Daemon wished he could just slap his sister to shut up her foul mouth.

He ignored her, he knew she could go on day badmouthing him. Instead, he reeled around her, and walked up the steps, breathing in the fresh air that poured in from the two high windows on the right and left side of the wall. He inhaled the air, thinking about his duties and responsibilities, then he exhaled slowly, with a strange light in his eyes.

"Oh, I'll kill them," his eyes gleamed darkly. ", I'll make those who despise me, look down on me, and pay for it with their lives,"

"You're mad!" She screamed at him, looking at him with disbelief. She never thought he had changed so much in the last fourteen years. This was not the brother whom she grew up with.

This was not the brother who protected and loved her. This was a madman!

"Have you not forgotten what you vowed to do!? Have power and wealth blinded those eyes of yours!?" She wanted to know the answer to what she had suspected.

"Yes," he said, much to her shock. ", That's what I'm going to do. Power, I want! Wealth, I want! Revenge, I too want!"

Dapheney got the answer she sought for.

She stared at the brother she Once had known, with disbeliefment and disgust.

But he didn't seem to care the slightest bit.

He now needed to build an army, a demon army and they need ministers to work and assist him, the Demon Emperor.

Well, unfortunately for him, he didn't have any subordinates. Not even a demon lord working under him. I have to start from scratch. What the hell! Damon cursed silently.

"I have to recruit these people, but how?" Damon wondered.

"I'm gonna raise an army," Dapheney said flatly. "This is my revenge too!"

"What? You're gonna raise an army?" Damon didn't believe her. She had never once in her life trained soldiers and commanded men to fight. Not especially in this country where men were regarded as superiors and women were all inferior to men.

"So even you think I'm inferior to men? Hah!" She scoffed. Her eyes burned with anger and hate.

"I've never heard of a mere woman like you, leading an army or accomplishing anything great! Only twenty percent of women had succeeded. But their backgrounds aren't ordinary," Daemon said.

Arguing with his sister is making him angrier and angrier. Even he doubted himself. Why was he wasting his time arguing with a stupid woman like her? It's best if she goes do something else, rather than try to take revenge too. But Dapheney was not one to retreat or back out.

"One day, I'll prove it to you. I'll be better and greater than you!" Upon saying those harsh and threatening words, Dapheney strides out of the palace with full confidence. Oh, she'll make them pay. She'll make her brother understand. She'll make him regret it. Regret it all!

Daemon had been bullied since he took the throne. He knew kindness and gentleness won't work, especially when dealing with those corrupted ministers and officials.

Oh, but he had an idea. The most devious and wicked idea. And it all stems from a certain woman, a woman who intruded into his palace. Daemon's mind flashed back to five years ago when he met her.

FIVE YEARS AGO

A woman sat seductively on the grand steps of Daemon's palace. The steps lead from the outside of the palace until to the throne of the demon emperor. She sat there calmly, admiring her dark-colored nails as if they were made of gold - something precious that deserves to be

admired.

Her cleavage was shown clearly as she wore only a leather bra with its traps coiling around her stomach twice. Her long legs were peeking out from her slit skirt. Her skin was smooth and silky.

A dark red cape covered her back as her long preternaturally white hair draped over her shoulders.

Daemon wasn't feeling good. He had many reports from the commoners. All were complaining about the drought they were expecting in the next month, the monster demons that came every now and then to gobble up the villagers, and the bullying they received from the local ministers.

He stomped up the grand steps. He couldn't wait to vent his anger at his office where no one was looking. He kicked open the double doors to his throne room and what a surprise he had! He saw a lovely and fair maiden, almost half naked as she had shown so much skin, sitting on his grand steps, just four steps below his grand golden throne.

Who in the world has such boldness and courage to actually come uninvited to HIS throne room? The moment he laid his eyes on her, he began to feel uncomfortable from looking at her bare soft, and supple skin. He noticed she had white hair but her face was that of a twenty-something woman.

He didn't know what to say to her. Should he yell and scold her for being so bold as to come uninvited to his throne room? Or should he politely ask him if she came here for help? Or maybe call the guards to drag her out? He couldn't decide. He was about to open his mouth and say something when the woman suddenly turned her head and look at him straight into his eyes.

She wore heavy mascara and red lipstick as red as blood. "Your throne is quite comfortable.

Even something so simple as this staircase makes me feel the honor of a demon emperor," she spoke in a sultry voice.

Daemon felt angry. "Who are you? Why are you here? How dare you taint my grand steps with your...," Daemon started to raise his voice but was lost for words. He wasn't good with words nor eloquent. He looked at her from head to toe, not knowing how to describe her negatively.

"With your rude behavior here!" He continued where his words left off. "Oh," she puckered her lips. She had the look that she didn't care about anything, not even the demon emperor who was standing before her.

Daemon controlled his breathing, taking in deep breaths.

He was already angry from the reports of the commoners and now added this woman whose calm and daring behavior had made his anger worse.

"Lady, I asked you a question and I expect you to answer it," he demanded. She stood up and flipped back her white silky hair over her shoulder. She took a step down towards Daemon.

Then slowly, she took another step toward him. She folded her hands politely over her abdomen.

"Daemon, is it?" She was now very close to Daemon who remained unmoved. He cannot hit her or back down. He would look weak and brutal if he'd punched her. "You are quite daring, to call my real name. Have you no respect?" They were standing a few centimeters apart from each other. She smiled. A strange but seductive smile. "And you're quite brave yourself, for being ignorant of me," she put a hand on Daemon's shoulder.

He could feel the heat from her fingers travels through his clothes to his skin. But he didn't push her away. He stared straight into her eyes. Who is she? She doesn't seem to be someone of the ordinance.

"Let me give you a word," she said staring him in the eyes. He stared back. There was something about her eyes. Something. He couldn't explain it. She looked young, about twenty-plus something, but the look in her eyes reflected that of an experienced woman, a woman who had seen life and death, a woman who had seen darkness and light.

"Weeds and grass will always grow in your garden. When you pull them out, they will regrow again, but more in number. If you do it again, they'll grow again. If you use your shears to snip them short enough, they'll think twice about growing in your garden. If you speak to them with words, they will not hear it for they are deaf, but if you treat them cruelly as if they are nothing but ants in your eyes, they'll dare to come to your garden. A tree won't grow fruits unless it is nurtured properly, with fertilizer and water," her hand moved from Daemon's shoulder to his neck.

She caressed his neck calmly and slowly. Daemon held his breath as he listened to her words.

He could feel her hot breath on his skin near his neck and jaw. "That fertilizer and water must come from you, and you only."

Daemon glanced sideways at her, feeling uncomfortable for being touched at that spot. She did it so casually! Then she removed her hand from his neck and proceed to walk further down the grand steps. Daemon stood still, as of he was glued to the steps. He wanted to move and turn but his legs wouldn't obey his commands.

She walked a few steps down exiting the throne room. Then she turned looking at Daemon's back. "And, make sure those weeds and grasses don't ever think about you."

She opened the double doors and left, her words still lingering in the air. Her last words before she left sounded like a warning. There was something about her words that he couldn't quite grasp, some hidden meaning behind it. Finally, Daemon let out a breath, a breath of relief and something. He couldn't quite make out of it. He didn't bother to see if she had left. If she can enter without anyone noticing, she can do the same while leaving.

Instead, he quickly rushed up the grand steps to his office, taking two steps at a time. He burst through the doors of his office and threw himself down into his stone chair padded with a luxurious cushion of red, violet, and gold. He started looking through the reports sent by the commoners.

Frustrated at his result of having no solution to their problems, he swipes them all down angrily.

The reports clattered as they hid on the stone-cold floor. Then he buried his head in his hands, thinking and thinking.

He thought about the words she said. The weeds and grasses she talked about. And the apple tree. Daemon suddenly had a light bulb moment. He finally understood her words. He stood up and look outside. He realized he had been thinking over it for one day and one night. Excitedly and eager to put his new idea into use, he summoned his Left Protector.

"White Cloud! Come here now!" He bellowed. Mighell came running over. "My lord, what it is?" He curtseyed with one knew up and another knew down. He yanked open his table drawers and took out his token - a symbol of the authority of The Demon Emperor. Seeing this token was equivalent to seeing The Demon Emperor.

He scribbled something down on a piece of scroll. "Take these and give to Minister Fayes. Let him announce it to the public,"

White Cloud looked confusedly at the token and the scroll. Never had he seen his lord so excited and full of vigor.

He took the token and scroll hesitantly, unsure of his lord's behavior. His lord had been acting strange since last night.

"My lord, are you okay?" White Cloud tried to study Daemon's facial expressions. But Daemon waved him off.

"I'm fine. I just need some time to think, some time to relieve myself," he took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.

"Relief? What relief, my lord?"

"Never mind that. Do you know the woman who was here last night?"

"Woman? What woman, my lord?" Immediately White Cloud imagined Daemon flirting and kissing a beautiful woman. He shook his head and dismissed such inappropriate thoughts.

"My lord! You were with a woman last night!? No wonder you're so full of energy!"

Damon shot up at that remark. "What are you talking about, Mighell!? Where has your brain gone to!? I meant, last night a woman in black intrude upon my grand hall. She even sat on the grand steps!" Daemon clenched his fists to show his anger.

"Oh! But no one came to visit, my lord," Mighell White, codenamed as White Cloud said, suspicious of his lord. He thinks his lord illegally smuggled in women to play with. After all, it was not uncommon.

"Then who is she?" Damon and Mighell exchanged looks.

"Are you sure you didn't....." Mighell trailed off hinting to Daemon about illegally snuggling women.

"No! What's with you!?" His mind began to have multiple thoughts at the same time.

Who exactly was that mysterious woman? And why did she have me such a hint? Daemon wondered. He had finally understood her words last night.

"Perhaps you can tell me how she looks. I'm sure the imperial guards will be able to find her."

Mighell suggested.

He, too was in wonders of this woman. He rubbed his chin thinking. "Bring me the royal artist! And Mighell, get to work!" He commanded with newfound strength and vigor.

"Yes, My lord!" Daemon for the first time in his life, had such a devious and shameless idea.

-------------------

And that was five years ago. Five years ago and he's still fighting against the other ministers and officials. But silently, in the dark. Both sides didn't want to disturb the peace or it'll cause panic. It was a game of cat and mouse.

Oh, how Daemon remembered so vividly when he first came to High Moon Palace. He was scorned, look down upon, stepped on, and spat on by the other demon lords and ministers. He watched those people treat citizens like trash, worthless dogs. He watched how they humiliated him, and mocked him and his father.

"Your father must have been a fool to have raised a bastard useless dog like you!" And they all laughed at him. Daemon hated anyone who insulted his father. In his eyes, his father was a hero who saved him and his sister from that fire. That was his sensitive spot, and he'll kill anyone who touches it.

In a fit of anger, he tried to fight with them using fists. But it was no use! They beat him up badly but made sure not to take his life. The purpose was so that they could still have a punching bag to play around with. He was weak and useless! He scolded himself, losing all self-confidence.

But now, it was all different. He had changed. Everything had changed. He discovered powers he had never known he had. Now he wants to make them pay. Yes! Pay for all the humiliation, pain, and suffering they inflicted upon him these past five years. Pay for all his broken bones and blood he shed.

The once innocent naive little demon has now changed into the ruthless demon emperor! And he's back with something powerful, something nasty. He'll take back what is his!

Rightfully his! If not by persuasion, then by force! The throne is his and no one can take it away from him!

"You can hide, but you can't run!"