IMDD CHAPTER 273 (Patreon)

“I want to hear everything... because if you stop, I might not be able to resist pouncing on you right here and now," she said, half-jokingly. His smile turned devilish for a moment, but it softened as Eva shifted the conversation. "How did you become Gage Acheron? Or should I ask, why do you think all other versions of you fall short compared to who you are now?"

"The other versions of me are just ignorant about human-related emotions. I lacked understanding of many human aspects," Gage began, his voice reflective. "I became myself – the Gage Acheron you know—at a very young age. For the first time, I truly integrated into a human family.

Gage's eyes softened with nostalgia. “It all started that day. At that time, I was aimlessly wandering. I wasn’t sure what I was doing… I was just wandering aimlessly as always when I came across a little child and her dog playing in a park. The dog spotted me and started barking and growling. The dog is obviously scared, but he’s not running away, he is protecting the child behind him. The evil in me wants to silence the dog, so I lifted my hand to do something when the child suddenly blocked her dog from me. She hugged the dog as she cried, begging me to not hurt him. I told the child I wasn’t planning to hurt the dog, I was just going to silence it but she didn’t understand. She asked me to hurt her instead, making me so curious why would a child like her be willing to get hurt for an animal. The child told me it’s because she loves her dog so much. That she loved the dog more than anything in the world…” Gage’s smile was nostalgic. “Love… I was shocked, intrigued and in disbelief that a little human could speak about love like that. That time, I was reminded of you asking me to love you right. I wanted to understand… everything… to know what exactly the little child is actually feeling… to know what exactly you want me to do… to know what exactly the love you’re talking about. So, I decided to become a child, to immerse myself in that experience. My plan was to stay in that form only temporarily, but fate had other plans. An incident led me to the Acheron family. They took me in, named me, and declared themselves my family. I hadn't anticipated forming attachments, but gradually, I transformed into someone I never imagined I could be. Being part of their family, I learned about human emotions and experiences, things I had never comprehended before. And slowly, I began to like being human, understanding and feeling more deeply. Eventually, I came to grasp the difference between a devil's understanding of love and that of a human."

Another silence reigned between them before Gage continued. “I’ve repeated the same cycle for so long like a fool. For so many times, I relied on nothing but my own understanding and my own point of view. If only I had immersed myself in humanity sooner. Perhaps if I had, we wouldn't have had to endure so much pain. I am so glad I coincidently came across good humans that day. The Acherons offered me genuine love and acceptance as part of their family, something unwavering and pure. I never knew such love existed until them. Before them, my love for you was all I knew—the kind of love I didn’t know was… dangerously destructive.” As he spoke, his eyes, filled with sorrow, touched Eva's face gently. “Whenever I think of everything in the past… I want to beat myself to pieces… because I’ve… I’ve hurt and… broke you so many times… and had actually the audacity to called it love.”

Eva kissed another tear that silently fell down his face.

"You were... you didn't know then, Gage," she softly said. "And you've changed now. You've learned what it means to be human. You've worked to understand human emotions, while I... I didn't make the same effort for you. I don’t know if your emotions and feelings are something a human like me could understand, but I believe if you teach me more about yourself, I can definitely learn to understand more, just like you did, right?”

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CHAPTER 274>>