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Okay, it was official they were ignoring him.
Normally this would actually be a good thing, but Ed and Ben had never outright ignored him before, no it was more like they ran away from him.
Deon almost felt offended...
Sighing he glanced out his window looking up at the 3 moons.
Have they finally figured it out?
Should I make a run for it?
No, even if I do they'll just quickly find me.
...
Ha- what is my life...
Feeling dead inside, Deon inwardly cursed his luck before deciding to walk around hoping to ease his nerves.
As he walked around the castle, he saw two demons chatting with one another, but as soon as they saw him approaching they suddenly looked at him in full panic, no more like horror, before they ran off somewhere.
Was there something wrong with him? Was he some kind of monster...
No besides that, where is everyone?
The Demon King's castle was far emptier than usual, in fact those two were the only demons he'd seen so far.
Deon sighed before his ears picked up on a commotion, there seemed to be chattering coming from one of the corridors, actually chattering might be putting it lightly.
Wait, is that music?
Was something happening that he didn't know about?
Deon, who had come to realize that ignorance was a sin, and a matter of life and death, decided to investigate.
Walking to the entryway, it suddenly went silent.
Just wha-
"SURPRISE!!!"
Okay. Firstly he managed to prevent coughing up blood, and secondly he prevented an ungodly scream from erupting past his lungs.
He almost wanted to congratulate himself.
Thirdly, what the fuck!
Deon tried to calm his erratically beating heart, not realizing the deadly glare he was giving everyone.
Okay, calm down.
Deon quickly glanced around the large room, at all the demons surrounding him, all the corp commanders were present as well as the 0th corp along with Ed and Ben. The two demons from earlier were also here.
His eyes wandered, was that a cake?
Looking further, decorations of every kind littered the room, a table sitting in the edge of the room, seemingly filled with different presents.
Wha- just what is going on?
Deon's eyes finally landed on the grinning Demon King, his red eyes looking at him questioningly but before he could say anything an overly cheerful voice called out to him
"Sir Arut!"
Deon internally cried, before turning to face the pink-haired ray of sunshine
"Ririnell."
A smile so bright it lit up the room was accompanied by a small box which she handed out to him
"Happy birthday, Sir Arut!!!"
"..."
"Birthday?" Deon whispered
It was his birthday?
ah
'I'd completely forgotten...'
A small smile reached Deon's lips "Thank you..."
He ignored Ririnell's squeak instead reaching out and grabbing the small box, before habitually patting Ririnell's head.
...Wait, how do you know it was my birthday?
Deon briefly glanced at Ririnell before his eyes trailed back to the Demon King, squinting up suspiciously at him
I'm sure I've never brought up such a useless topic, the only one who might know is the devil himself.
An overly pure smile worked to the Demon King's face, followed by a quick shrug, his eyes folding as if he was innocent.
Bastard...
"Demon." The Demon King smiled happily before pulling a bottle out of who knows where and carefully setting it in his arms right next to Ririnell's gift.
What? Deon looked down baffled
'Alcohol?'
Deon carefully looked up at the Demon King
Are you really the Demon King, in that moment he seemed more like an angel.
No, wait.
Weren't you the one who banned me from having alcohol in the first place, why are you allowing it now, you bastard.
Deon clang to the bottle wrapping his arms almost protectively around it, his eyes unknowingly sparkling.
You can't take it back now.
The devil chuckled, "Enjoy yourself, just try not to kill anyone."
What are you talking about?
Deon looked at the almost innocent smile, the look on his face asking if the other was crazy.
An ever present smile played on the devil's lips as he looked into the bright red eyes, a rather gentle voice flowed out,
"Happy Birthday, Demon."
"...Thank you, your grace." Deon bowed before turning to meet the many eyes that were looking at him
All the corps commanders stood around all looking at him with extremely serious expressions on their faces, other than Ririnell who looked ready to jump at him.
Deon who had no way of knowing it was because the alcohol he'd just been given was terrified, his body stiffening.
Scary... Deon tried to look away,
'They must think I'm annoying, having to celebrate something so trivial.'
Let's just try and leave.
"Sir Arut!" A familiar and scary voice called for him before he could move.
The 2nd corps commander, Develania.
Damn it, I honestly didn't want to see her.
She leaned in her eyes sparkling as she spoke,
"Happy Birthday Sir Arut."
"..."
"I specially bought clothes for you!"
She gestured happily towards the table
"I gathered them from all different kinds of places, including both the demon and human realm." She spoke with such excitement, the sadistic woman.
"You'll wear them, won't you?"
'TT'
"...yes...thank you."
Deon couldn't stop the full-body shiver that ran through him,
Why does she insist on buying me clothes?
What pleasure could there be in treating me like a dress up doll?
Please, leave me alone...
Deon held the bottle in his arms just slightly closer, his grip on the small box tightening.
He needed to get away from these damn demons.
"Sir Arut,"
Now what?
"Do you want to cut the cake, I hear it is tradition in the human realm." An excited and cheerful voice called
The cake?
Deon's eyes turned back to the cake which he'd seen when he first walked in
It was a grand two layer cake, judging for its white appearance it seemed to be vanilla, strawberries were placed in circles decorating the tops of the cake.
Is it really vanilla, did they have such a thing in the demon realm? And strawberries, how did they acquire them?
Deon glanced back confusingly at Ririnell
"Strawberries...?"
"Don't you like them?"
"...I do." But they shouldn't be able to grow here, how did you...
'Oh well, it's best not to think too much.'
Deon looked down at his hands, he couldn't cut the cake like this.
Suddenly an arm reached out and took the contents of his arms.
Deon looked up at the devil, his eyes glancing intently at the wine he'd just taken.
The Demon King smiled but his eyes held exsaperation "Don't worry, I'm not taking it from you…"
He clicked his tongue "For now I'll set it with the rest of the gifts."
Deon's eyes held dissatisfaction yet he couldn't say anything, watching tearfully instead almost in a daze as his alcohol got further away…
Right, the cake.
Reaching out, Deon grabbed the knife handed to him by a smiling Demon King. For some reason the room which had been filled with chatter silenced.
Deon felt sweat roll down his back.
A cake in front of him,
How should he cut it? He'd never personally cut a cake before...
Sighing Deon carefully cut into the bottom layer of cake, cutting a small and neat slice, he set it on a plate handed to him.
Wasn't it proper to personality cut the slices and hand it out to the most notable guests, before you eat yourself?
Deon couldn't quite remember, after all he'd never been in a proper social setting in the first place.
Knowing this Deon carefully handed the plate, a slightly shaking plate to none other than the owner of the castle, the Demon King himself.
The devil smiled good naturally
"Demon."
"The star of the party should take the first bite."
Fail.
How embarrassing.
Everyone must think he's stupid, Deon thought about his already ruined reputation and sighed.
This was in fact not the case. As most looked at the 0th commander with star filled eyes
'Such loyally, thinking of the Demon King even before himself. As expected of Sir Arut!'
Deon blinked and the plate was back in his hand as if I'd never left.
Deon looked down tearfully at the cake, why am I the only one eating.
'Are you trying to poison me?'
It's not like he could refuse now anyway, if he turned down a cake made specifically for him here it would be a death sentence anyway.
So Deon with a heavy heart cut off a small piece and ever so carefully brought it to his lips.
It doesn't smell like poison... and the distinct taste of medicine didn't pollute his mouth.
In fact it tasted quite good.
The vanilla and strawberries meshed well together, creating a truly delicious dessert.
Deon chewed slowly, almost choking at the amount of eyes that were on him,
He felt himself losing any appetite he might have had at their intense stares.
It was almost like they were expecting something, Deon rolled his eyes racking his brain for the answer,
"...It's good?"
Life burst into the room once again, the bakers breathing a sigh of relief.
"Sir Arut, can you cut me a slice too?" Ririnell the ever loyal fan she was asked her eyes sparkling
"...Okay."
I said I would cut hers... but. How did I end up cutting everyone a piece?
By the time I came to my scenes, I had already cut every corp commander a piece, as well as Ed and Ben.
My wrist ached from repeated action.
Deon wanted to glare at the demon in front of him, but the fact that he valued his life prevented him from doing so.
Instead he could only grumble at the mumbling Hell in front of him.
"Cake personally cut by Sir Arut, how could I dare take a bite."
"No, maybe it would be ruder if I don't. How could I show such disrespect, I should just die."
Deon briefly glanced at Hell, who had the appearance of a kicked puppy.
'What's wrong with him?'
Nevermind I don't want to know...
Deon grabbed a plate for himself before he found a secluded corner where hopefully he wouldn't draw too much attention. He shoved a small piece of vanilla cake onto his mouth before looking around.
The 0th corp was getting cake, some of them appeared to be pouting but Deon didn't pay it much mind
In fact he couldn't focus on them as a small dispute broke out between the 3rd and 4th commander, resulting in Aslid's ear being pulled by the red-haired demon
Deon couldn't make out much of their words
Still... Please don't fight in front of me.
Deon shivered, taking another small bite, this time slowly chewing through a strawberry. It was good, yet for some reason it left a bitter taste in his mouth, a familiar taste that he couldn't quite place...
Bringing back a distant memory of his hair being gently combed through, the soft words whispered "Happy birthday, Baby."
Deon's eyebrows twisted, before he was Interpreted from his thoughts, flinching as a hand touched his shoulder.
Looking up two yellow eyes glowed at him.
The Demon King leaned down
"Are you enjoying yourself, Demon?"
"..."
"...yes."
It was an answer said without much thought, but thinking about it they seemed to have put a lot of effort into it and Deon's conscience wouldn't let him answer differently.
And besides that Deon's eyes glanced towards the bottle of alcohol, score.
"...It's nice, thank you."
The devil smiled gently
"Sir Arut,"
Deon turned looking at his attendant that was walking towards him,
Ed glanced at the Demon King before he gently placed some kind of puzzle cube in Deon's hand.
Briefly glancing at it, it looked far more complex and intricate that usual
Looking up, Ed had a smile so gentle it hurt Deon's eyes
The attendant spoke with care
"Happy birthday."
Deon felt the sincerity and couldn't stop the small smile that worked to his lips
"Thank you, Ed."
The already stupidly gentle smile turned a shade lighter
"The others all got you gifts as well." Ed smiled, hinting to the table stacked so high Deon thought it would crush him if it fell over.
"I see..." Deon avoided his eyes
Why would they go through so much trouble for something as pointless as a birthday, especially for someone like me?
Deon was sure that the demons didn't celebrate their birth, so this was a special case made because he was human; however he couldn't understand why they bothered.
Deon hadn't celebrated his birthday a single time since he'd been forced into the 8 year war.
In a place of endless bloodshed, how could one celebrate life? No, it was enough just to hold on and survive another day.
But,
As Deon looked around at all the smiling faces, at everyone who looked so happy.
The cake prepared with so much care made especially for him, the carefully decorated room, the gifts piled up on that table and the one in his arms,
His red eyes unknowingly softened
Maybe, it wasn't so bad.