Cantro Thirty-Two: Lust’s First Five Years:

The first five years started off innocuous enough. Lust was always showered with attention. Bayu was the one who gave out the discipline. I was more of the fun dad. Okay, I did discipline her a little bit. Bayu and I wanted Irani to bond with his sister. Going fine, yes? There weren’t any sign at the time. I believed us to be the perfect family.

Despite this, I kept up my guard. My subjects glare at my daughter but they cannot touch her. But that wasn’t my only worry. My father already knew about my half-human sons. What would happen if he found out about my daughter? I haven’t heard much about my sons. I don’t know if this was a good thing or not. I could’ve gone out and looked for them. I still don’t know why I haven’t. I don’t have any excuses though I wish I did. Would that make anything better? I can’t tell you that. All I know is that I still love my sons. I love them as much as my other children.

Right now, we are focused on Lust.

Bayu had the same thoughts as I did. She brought it up when she was allowed to get out of bed. She’s more relaxed when she’s holding our daughter. I could see it in her eyes. Bayu found me in her garden. I turned around when I heard footsteps. Bayu stands inches away from me.

“What are you doing up?” I asked.

“Our daughter should not exist,” she said. I stood up, frowning.

“Don’t say that,” I said. “Why would you say that?” Bayu slowly shook her head.

“She’s a mixed species,” she said in a whisper.

“Yeah?” I asked. I didn’t like where this conversation was going. I wanted to stop her right then and there. But we couldn’t avoid this anymore. Did she even know about the charm I placed over our daughter behind her back? I hadn’t needed to make any excuses or lie to her yet.

“What’s going to happen if father finds out about her?” Bayu asked. I shrugged and shook my head.

“I don’t know,” I said. “This hasn’t happened before.”

“But what do we do?” she asked. I walked over and pulled her into my arms. I lifted her chin.

“We will deal with this when we come to it,” I said. “I promise.” Bayu still looked ready to cry.

“Aw, come here,” I whispered. I gently hugged her. She did have a point. There was no getting around it. But still, the last thing I needed was to have Bayu worrying in our paradise. It looked like it would all fall on me.

For those first five years, I kept my ear towards Heaven. I knew that our father was watching us. So far, he hadn’t made any motion. There was no notion that he knew of our daughter’s existence. If he did, I didn’t see it. Still, I couldn’t rest. Sure, I protected my daughter from my subjects but our father was a whole different matter. I never learned any spell to protect anyone from him. A child can’t always go against a parent without knowing what they are doing.

By the time Lust was two, she started to look like a mini version of her mother. Her pink hair came down to her shoulders. She clung to her brother as much as she could. Bayu and I couldn’t help but think that it was so cute. We still couldn’t rest with the demons and our father. I heard that some of the whispers were coming up to Heaven about our daughter. The worried looks on Bayu’s face made my heart ache. I wasn’t so sure that I could keep them both safe.

But I still had to try.

Bayu and I did the best we could do to give Lust a normal child as we could at the time. She was going to get the best education possible. (The way we raise our daughters was different than how humans raised their daughters back then. Here in Hell, we believe that women are equal. We still do, by the way.) Bayu’s garden became her playground. Still another thought crossed my wife’s mind.

“She doesn’t have any friends her age,” she said.

“She has her brother,” I pointed out.

“But that’s not going to be enough,” Bayu said. “She needs to interact with kids her age.” I took her by the hands.

“I will see what I can do,” I said. I know I made promises to Bayu during the time that she lived with me in my kingdom. And I did my best to keep them. I would try my hardest to make it up to her when I fell short. That went especially double for our children. This was going to be no different. After all, I loved both my son and my daughter. I was determined to keep my family happy.