"When my Princess is checking how a polo shirt for me would look on her đ Die, bitter assholes đ"
That was Casadin's caption.
Hades stared at the post on his phone with a deadpan expression that was growing darker by the second.
The picture was of Casadin in the foreground, smiling that stupid, annoyingly handsome smile of his, while behind him, Evadne was standing in front of a mirror, holding up a polo shirt against herself as if checking how it would look on her.
Of course Casadin would post something like that.
Of course he would make it sound like the whole world needed to know that Evadne was shopping with him.
And of course Hades, drowning in work and unable to be with her, would be the one cursed enough to see it in real time.
"Fuck you," Hades commented under the post, right there among the endless compliments from Casadin and Evadne's friends, plus the NYE students who followed Casadin like he was some kind of charming delinquent prince they all wanted to worship.
Hades let out a frustrated groan.
Here he was, suffocating under his CEO training because he had spent a whole month on a road trip with Casadin and Evadne, and now he had to catch up and double his effort. Meanwhile, Casadin was out there spending more time with their woman all to himself.
"One of these days, I'm really going to punch your face," Hades muttered to the photo of Casadin.
He wanted to video call Evadne, but he couldn't. Not right now. He had too much to do, and he would rather finish everything before five o'clock so he could go to her immediately after work instead of wasting more time at the office because he slacked off in the middle of the day.
So Hades turned his phone face down on the table to stop himself from seeing more social media notifications from Casadin and finally forced himself to open the contract Jupiter had assigned him to review.
It lasted all of five minutes.
Every now and then, he still found himself reaching for the phone and checking Casadin's updates, because almost every post Casadin made always had Evadne in it.
Hades would "heart" the post... but he commented "fuck you" or "eat shit" most of the time because the captions were always obvious jabs directed at him.
Well, before, the jabs had only been aimed at him.
Now, though, Hades had noticed something different. Casadin's captions had started using plural words... 'assholes', 'bitter people', 'die mad, everyone'. Meaning Hades was no longer the only target.
There was someone else now.
And Hades knew exactly who that someone was.
"Does Michael even have a social media account?" Hades muttered to himself.
He highly doubted it.
Even before learning that Michael Heavensblade was the Archangel Michael himself living in a human vessel, the Michael Heavensblade that high society knew was aloof, introverted, and painfully private. He only appeared in public when absolutely necessary, and even then only briefly.
Still, Hades picked up his phone again.
He opened Evadne's social media account. She had given him access to it herself. He almost never checked it because he was not the type to snoop through other people's socials, but Evadne had still added her account to his phone anyway, claiming that if she ever didn't have her own phone with her, she could just borrow his and switch to her account immediately.
Hades went through her friends and followers, looking to see whether Michael Heavensblade was there.
He wasn't.
Hades then started checking Evadne's posts one by one and looking through the reactions instead.
There were, of course, far too many. Evadne had enough followers that reaction notifications were usually turned off.
But then one specific account caught his eye.
And the moment he saw it, something dark and ugly twisted in his chest.
The account had reacted to several of Evadne's posts.
General Mikael.
Hades immediately clicked on the profile.
It was locked.
New.
Very recently created.
The profile photo was just a sword and a wing.
"MotherfuckerâŚ" Hades swore under his breath.
"Hubby, who are you cursing at?"
Hades's head snapped up so fast he nearly dropped the phone.
Evadne was peeking from the doorway of his office.
"Baby!" Hades stood up immediately and crossed the room to her. He pulled her into his arms without hesitation and kissed her, not caring in the slightest that some employees outside had probably seen. Then, over her shoulder, he quickly checked the hallway for Casadin.
Evadne was alone.
"Thank you, Tyla," Evadne said with a smile to Hades's secretary before stepping fully into the office.
Tyla smiled knowingly.
"She said you haven't had your snack yet," Evadne said, lifting an expensive paper bag of takeout food. "So I brought you something."
"Where's Casadin?" Hades asked, taking the paper bag from her while closing his office door behind them. "Why are you alone?"
Evadne rolled her eyes and made a face at him.
Hades's overprotectiveness was not far from her parents' level at this point.
"He had to go back to Nirvana because there's a package he personally needs to receive," Evadne said, tugging Hades by the hand toward the couch. "And anyway, he escorted me all the way to the elevator, so don't be dramatic."
She pulled him down beside her on the couch.
"Have some snack," Evadne said as she unpacked the food she had brought for Hades, setting each container out neatly in front of him.
Everything was leafy, clean, and healthy... perfectly balanced, perfectly nutritious, and very much suited to Hades.
As someone who genuinely loved cooking, Evadne also cooked and ate healthy food most of the time, especially when she was with her parents. But greasy fast food had a different kind of satisfaction. The flavors were outrageous in the best way.
And it was not as if she gained weight.
Back then, she used to wonder why she never got fat no matter how much she ate, even when she did not exercise. But after recovering the memories of her past life, she understood.
Her body was simply built differently.
Just as Lucifer had promised in their deal in Solmara, she had been reborn into the life she deserved... and having a perfect body that did not even catch a fever was one of its perks. It was as if her body had a natural filter against illness, viruses, and even bad bacteria.
Sometimes she even felt that if she simply willed it, dust and dirt would refuse to cling to her skin. As if she were always meant to remain clean... externally, internally, and unnaturally so.
Most of the pain Evadne had ever truly suffered had been mental and emotional.
"How was your lunch at Dalton Villa, baby?" Hades asked as he took a bite of the salad she had brought.
"I'm still full, and that is for you," Evadne protested when Hades tried to feed her. "It was kind of awkward at first. But aside from Michael and Seraphyne being there, it went well."
"Who is Seraphyne?" Hades asked, taking the fruit drink Evadne handed him.
"According to her story, she's Seraphyne Warriors, a member of the Warriors family... a subfamily under the Heavensblade clan. She'll also be studying at NYE this coming school year," Evadne said.
"Another angel," Hades said.
Evadne nodded.
"Casadin told me something earlier," she said, hesitating.
She was still unsure whether she should tell Hades exactly what Casadin had said... about what he and, apparently, Hades too had both noticed in the way Michael looked at her.
"That Michael is starting to become your stalker?" Hades said flatly, as if he had read her mind.
Evadne blinked.
"Is it really like that?" she asked, still sounding unconvinced.
Like Casadin had said, she had always been sharp. Even before she could hear thoughts clearly, she had always been good at sensing when someone liked her in a romantic way. But with Michael⌠she had never once thought about it that way until Casadin pointed it out.
"Yes, baby. It really is like that," Hades said. "Maybe you never noticed because from the very first moment we met him at the mausoleum, you already recognized him as the Archangel Michael. So maybe it never crossed your mind that the way he treats you is not platonic. You thought he was just curious about you. Or that it was some strange, harmless angel thing."
He set down the fork and looked at her seriously.
"But me and Casadin... and I'm sure Hailey, his own fiancĂŠe, and even that old butler of his... can clearly see that Michael Heavensblade is interested in you in a very not-innocent way."
Evadne stayed quiet.
"Do you know," Hades continued, "he never attends anyone's birthday? Not even his own parents'... not since he became head of the Heavensblade family. He never gives gifts personally. And he never gives a damn if a member of the Heavensblade clan gets hospitalized. But he did all those things for you."
His jaw tightened.
"And now he didn't just move into Dalton Villa to become your neighbor. Did you know Dad and Caspian are entering a joint business venture with Heavensblade Corporation? And I'm sure that if they hadn't managed to move into Dalton Villa so quickly, Michael would've approached Dad Romos for a business partnership with Monteverde Realties too."
Evadne stared at him, processing every word.
"I was thinking of confronting him," she admitted.
"I already did," Hades said.
"You what?" Evadne turned to him fully, eyes widening in disbelief.
"Yup." Hades gave her a grim look. "Back when they came to the hospital. I told him outright that he looked at you like he wanted to steal my fiancĂŠe while his own fiancĂŠe was sitting right beside him."
"He denied it, of course?" Evadne said, though it came out more like a question.
"He didn't admit it," Hades said. "But he didn't deny it either."
He leaned back against the couch.
"He said something about wanting to talk to you because he found out Mom and Dad transferred Zeus' estate into your name and that he wanted to buy it from you. But I know what I saw, baby."
Hades' voice lowered.
"He isn't even really trying to hide it. It's more like⌠he can't hide it, even if he wants to."