The firewood in the fireplace crackled, and Marina sat by the fireplace and watched the throbbing flames. The temperature passed from the fireplace dispelled the dampness and coldness on her body, and reminded her that she was "alive" of this fact.
Marina is too old to celebrate like a young man. She lived to fulfill her husband's last wish after a broken family. She had already done her best to end her miserable life in the devil world, but she survived.
Not only did she survive, but God gave her a new goal, a reason to live.
"Bell, I'm going to go to the city the day after tomorrow."
Marina turned her head to look at the girl sitting on the other side of the fireplace. Ino was sitting in front of the fireplace with a book in her hand, flipping through it.
There is nothing so precious in this small village as a book, which comes from some of the only goods that Marina has.
The robbery's robbery destroyed almost all her property, but there was still a little left, such as a carriage and an old old horse.
Fortunately, the money is something that Marina carries with her. Even if there is no goods, she still has a property in Nolan, the capital of magic.
As long as people are still alive, there is always a way to go on, but Marina not only wants to live on, she also wants to let this girl who likes to read go to school.
"City? Aunt Marina... Are you going to take me there?"
Ino looked away from the book and said a sad fact. In fact, Ino couldn't understand human words, and she didn't even understand the words of demons.
She used to live at the bottom of the devil world, let alone study. Every day she can only think about living under persecution and scolding, so the book in her hand is just to play the role of Joshua and deceive the person in front of her. human.
Marina has no doubts so far, and her feelings for Ino are getting deeper and deeper, and they have spent the most difficult time in her life together. Treat it like your own daughter.
"Well, but after a while, the carriage can only take two people. Don't worry, I will definitely come back and pick you up to live in the big city. Some libraries are full of books, and I will make you official. Go to a school and learn what you want."
Marina's servants are still taking care of the old horse and carriage in the stables. Since Marlina's body is no longer suitable for driving the carriage, she can only rely on a hired servant to help drive it to Nolan.
It takes about three days to get from this small village to Nolan, and about nine days for two trips.
"Thank you Aunt Marina... I don't even know how to thank you."
Ino didn't know where the kindness of the human in front of her came from. She had lived in the demon world for so many years, and no one had ever treated her so well.
No... Maybe it's just because she has a different identity now, because she is now Belle, a beautiful and kind human girl.
If Marina knew her true identity, an inferior succubus, she would definitely treat her like a piece of trash like those in the demon world, and would be extremely disgusted.
So Ino didn't think too much, she just tried to complete the task that Joshua gave her as much as possible. This was how she lived as Ino, not Belle as a fictional character.
"It doesn't matter child, if you can achieve an excellent grade in school in the future, it is the greatest thanks to me."
Marina has already begun to look forward to her future life in Nolan.
Ino is now in the midst of suffering, a kind of suffering called "being stared at by his boss at his work".
As a succubus, Ino could vaguely feel that Joshua had entered this room, and she could feel Joshua's sight... The feeling of being watched by a higher demon, Ino was all too familiar with it.
"What's wrong with you, Belle?"
Marina saw the uneasy expression on Ino's face, she thought that Ino might have associated some bad memories, such as the scene where her parents were killed by robbers, so she stretched out her hand and put it on Ino. hand.
"nothing."
Ino was stunned for a moment, feeling the temperature from the back of his hand, and the uneasy feeling in his heart was instantly relieved by Marina's concern.
Is this what you call caring? It's... incredible.
Although Ino knew that all this was in front of her, she would lose everything when Joshua's mission was over, but it seemed good to enjoy the only warmth she had now.
…
"Is it really good for you to deceive an old man like this?"
Ciri just walked out of Marina's house when a light rain just happened to fall on Ciri's body, washing away all the invisible powder on Ciri's body.
"Deception? As far as you humans are concerned, we demons are specialized in this business."
Joshua stuffed the camera in his hand and the original spar that had already recorded the image into the suitcase. With Ciri's help just now, Joshua spent nearly an afternoon restoring the footage in the movie.
Although the layout of the scene is not satisfactory, it is unrealistic to realize a scene as beautiful as Disney in this small village.
"It seems... it is."
Ciri recalled the human view of demons, in addition to brutality and evil, there are also cunning and despicable.
As if hearing the whispers of demons, Ciri has heard some rumors about being tempted to fall, but this is just hearsay.
But today Ciri finally saw a real case, so real that she could think of a way to write a record, named "The old lady who was deceived by a succubus"
"And I don't see anything wrong with this deception."
Joshua stood at the edge of the forest and looked at the wooden house where Malina lived, and the voice of Malina and Ino talking was still heard inside.
Judging from the performance of the businesswoman just now, she has indeed regarded Eno as her relative, and she enjoys this time talking with her relatives.
And Ino seems to have gone too far into the play.
Joshua didn't want Ino to have any real feelings for the businesswoman. This kind of family affection exchanged for deceit was as wonderful but deadly as poppy.
When the filming is over, the character Belle no longer exists... No...
Why can't it exist
If the businesswoman could accept Ino's true identity, Joshua wouldn't mind letting Ino live with her.
"Maybe I can develop a business of summoning demons in the future."
Qiao Xiu didn't think there was anything evil about the rumored ritual of summoning demons. Everyone demanded from each other according to the conditions written in the contract. In a modern way, they were business partners.
It is the price that the rumored summoning ceremony needs to pay is that life is too appalling.
But in reality, human life is really useless to demons. It can neither be eaten nor used to improve its own strength, so if it is replaced by something more practical... For example, money, it will be easier to accept.
"business?"
It was the first time that Ciri had heard inexplicable words pop out of Josh's mouth.
"The Devil Gang, the Devil's Agency, the Devil's Master House, etc., may also drive the economy of the devil world and the human world. The propaganda slogan uses 'a summoning array can help you solve all problems.', um... just my one idea."
This is just an idea of Joshua, and this idea is based on the premise that humans can trust demons.
To accomplish this goal, Joshua will take a long time, but now the first step is to shoot the film first.
At present, the only story in the village is the part where Belle and the villagers chorus during the day, but now that the time in the human world is approaching dusk, Joshua can only continue to shoot this part of the story tomorrow.
"It's time to go to another set to see what's going on."
The next scene is the most important castle. The imperial city in the demon world is too far from the castle expected by Joshua, so before the official start of shooting, Joshua found a more suitable castle on the map of the demon world.
It's just that the owner of the castle is willing to let Qiao Xiu use it as a filming location. It is a problem that Qiao Xiu must solve.