When he kissed me, all the angels in the sky turned their backs on me.
The heavenly throne split in two under its own weight.
My betrayal of God was punished the moment the devil I had fallen in love with lost his memory.
As my wings were torn and I fell to the earth, I witnessed Luciel's blood-red eyes looking at me without a trace of feeling.
"You shall now be chained with the other demons!" said God as the heavens trembled. The angels were flying their wings high in the sky. The clink of rusty, heavy chains was the only sound in my ears.
Luciel opened his eyes as if he couldn't hear those sounds at all, and looked up at the sky.
"Who are you?" he asked with a dull voice. The fire at the end of the chained necklace around his neck dropped onto his chest. The crimson in his eyes had faded, and his memory had been bound by God's iron threads. He could no longer reach our memories.
Seconds passed through each other mercilessly.
Death was now one door closer to me.
Hell had never been this hot before.
But the way he looked at me like he didn't know me—it was hotter than hell itself.
"God, please... forgive me!" I begged, my voice heard only by the angels in the highest realm. "Please, forgive me! Give him back his memory! Please!" I fell to my knees, my hands covered in bruises and wounds, raised toward the sky. "Please," I pleaded once more, helplessly.
Luciel didn't even remember my name.
"Remember me," I whispered to him. "Remember our memories. Remember everything between you and me. Remember how you kissed me with such passion on a fiery night. Remember how you touched the cheeks of eternity with me before the dungeon gates..." Words slipped from my lips as if time itself were crushing down on us. "I betrayed my God for you. For you..."
Luciel kept looking blankly. His brows briefly furrowed and lifted. The contour on his cheek was more defined now. A look appeared on his face, as if my words were absurd nonsense."Leave me alone... I don't know who you are," he said simply, and pushed his hands into the soil.
The angels laughed as they rose to the seventh layer of heaven, leaving me completely alone with him.
This was my punishment.
I found the strength to try to grab Luciel's arm as he attempted to stand.
My frail hands—what kind of pressure could they place on his grim, fire-forged bones?
"Don't leave me," I murmured with a voice full of tears. "I can't live without you."
Luciel pulled his arm away swiftly, not even sparing me a thought. As if I were nothing.My hand remained suspended in the air. I clenched the hollow fist between my fingers.In that moment, every part of me turned to ice.Not even his fire could warm me.
Luciel looked at me intently.His facial muscles relaxed.As if he were searching for meaning. For a small thing to hold onto.
But there was no sign that he recognized me.
He brought his hand to his temple and pressed it hard against his head.As if it could bring everything back.
With a pained expression, he shook his head from side to side, then turned around, stumbling, his hand behind his neck.
Even then, the emptiness on his face wasn't enough to make me stop hoping.
He left me alone with my punishment.
I should never have fallen in love with a devil.
And as he walked away with heavy steps, I waited for a single answer:"I know you."
But that answer never came.
That's when I realized:Forgetting the one you love is the greatest punishment of all.
And I had earned it, completely, through my betrayal.