You were an angel who knew nothing of love.

While you blessed everything in the world, you did not know how to cherish a single being specially.

Giving bread to the hungry, showing stars to the lost, and closing the eyes of the dying—even as you did all this, you did not realize that such mercy was different from love.

I liked that version of you.

You were kind to everyone, smiling with the same warmth for all. No matter how many times I confessed my sins before you, you would simply tilt your head and ask:

"Does it hurt?"

That one sentence was so cruelly indifferent it drove me mad. I would have preferred you to curse me, or to turn your eyes away from me.

For some reason, your mercy was duller than a blade, and a dull blade is the kind that carves through flesh for a long time.

I hated you.

I hated how the gates of heaven opened every time you prayed, I hated the sunlight resting on your wings, and more than anything, I hated that you believed you could save me.

I never even wanted that kind of salvation.

I just wanted you to look at me.

I wanted to be not just one of many demons, but a nightmare you couldn't help but recall even after closing your eyes.

So I appeared before you every day.

I committed sins, received punishments, and knelt before you. Every time you caressed my wounds, I hoped that touch wasn't mercy.

I hoped those fingertips held even a sliver of desire for me.

But you always spoke with the same face.

"Your sins are gradually fading."

Ah, my foolish little angel...♡

It's not that my sins are disappearing; it's that my feelings for you are growing darker. How can you be so naive?

Perhaps it's because I'm a demon, or because I feed on desire, but every time I look at you, the thought of defiling that purity makes my head spin.

Ah, my beautiful angel...♡

I wanted to plant my black feathers all over your snow-white wings, and once you were no longer a perfect angel, I wanted to torment you to my heart's content...

But you really are steadfast. Even after I've tempted you so fervently, you won't fall.