From that day, Lucifer made sure to include her in everyday activities.
Playing games with her in which she had no interest in playing.
Forcing her into races she inevitably lost.
Having arguments she barely understood a word of.
Whenever Lucifer ran across the estate grounds, Evelyn was somewhere behind him trying to keep up.
Other children noticed her quickly.
They whispered the same words whenever they thought the adults were too far away to hear.
They sometimes taunted her openly about her lower nobility, about her being a charity child, about her being the last scrap of a dead house.
Lucifer didn't fully understand the words at the time.
But he understood the tone well enough.
"She's with me," he told them once, glaring with such open hostility that the whispers stopped immediately.
And strangely enough, that explanation was enough.
After that Evelyn followed him everywhere.
Followed him like a tail, always watching his every move with interest.
Even as a child she understood things Lucifer did not.
She knew her father had once spoken privately with Clara Valcrest. She had overheard fragments of conversations meant only for adults. Dimitry Valemount had suggested binding their houses together permanently.
He wanted to bind both of their houses through marriage. Not immediately while the children were still young, but someday, when they were old enough to make their own decisions.
Clara had not rejected the idea.
Evelyn knew about it from the beginning, but Lucifer didn't. Even the current Lucifer had no memory of it.
To him she had always been simply Evelyn.
The girl who followed him around.
The one who appeared whenever he called.
The one who listened to almost all his nonsense.
She liked him.
Not the complicated affection of adulthood.
Just the simple trust of a child who believed the person beside her would never change.
When Evelyn awakened her SS-Rank Origin Card, Lucifer celebrated harder than anyone else.
"That's amazing!" he shouted, grabbing her shoulders and lifting her off the ground despite barely managing the effort.
"You're amazing!"
For the first time since her family died, Evelyn laughed.
That year she smiled more often than anyone expected.
Then Lucifer began to change.
The change happened slowly but steadily.
At first it appeared as impatience. Then he became more frustrated as time passed. Over time that frustration hardened into bitterness.
As other children awakened their powers while he remained dormant, Evelyn's success became something he could no longer ignore.
She became a reflection of everything he lacked.
"Stop following me," he snapped one day.
And as shocked as she was, she stopped.
From that moment onward Evelyn focused entirely on her training. Clara personally accepted her as a disciple because of their similar affinities and supervised her education carefully, guiding her through the disciplines required of a noble heir.
The quiet girl who once lingered behind Lucifer slowly transformed into someone far more controlled.
She became precise where she had once been hesitant.
She became sharper than most children her age.
Many years later, when Lucifer was drunk and surrounded by laughing friends, someone dared him to ask her out.
Evelyn refused immediately.
There was no hesitation in her voice when she rejected him.
Her voice was colder than she intended.
When he grabbed her wrist in front of everyone, she struck him down without hesitation.
She knocked Lucifer unconscious for half a day.
From that day, their relationship dynamics completely changed.
And now, years later, Evelyn Valemount stood behind him in the Ancestral Hall.
At sixteen Rowan Obsidian Valcrest formally declared her Countess Valemount, restoring her father's title in her name. With the Valcrest house backing her claim and the memory of House Valemount's sacrifice still fresh in the western territories, no noble dared challenge her authority.
She governed her lands from within the Valcrest estate.
Lucifer finally turned toward her.
She studied him carefully, her red hair falling neatly over her shoulders while her crimson eyes assessed him with quiet focus.
"…You look like you stopped eating," she said dryly.
Lucifer smiled faintly.
"I'll take that as concern."
"Don't," she replied flatly. "It doesn't suit you."
She crossed her arms and leaned slightly against one of the obsidian pillars.
"So what are you doing here?" she asked. "The rumors outside say you've been avoiding everyone."
Lucifer glanced back toward the family wall.
"I wasn't aware I had an audience."
"You always do," Evelyn said. "You just used to enjoy it more."
Lucifer let out a quiet breath.
"And you still enjoy criticizing me."
"That depends," she replied calmly. "Are you still the same idiot as before?"
Lucifer almost laughed.
Before he could answer, Sebastian appeared at the entrance of the hall.
"Lucifer," he said carefully, glancing between them, "Father asked everyone to come to dinner."
Lucifer nodded once.
"Understood."
He turned and walked away without another word.
Evelyn remained where she stood, watching him leave. An uneasy feeling crept into her heart.
Something about him felt wrong to her, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint why.
Lucifer closed the door behind him later and leaned against it.
In the game timeline, Evelyn Valemount survived almost every route.
There had been many moments when she could have ended his life. Even after the original Lucifer had fully fallen and allowed a demon to take control of his body, Evelyn still hesitated.
She had fought against him, tried every possible means to hunt him, but she never really killed him.
Despite having every reason to kill him, she never delivered the final blow.
Even now, remembering those scenes, Lucifer felt a quiet respect for her.
In the game she was one of the central heroines, one of the few characters who never completely abandoned her principles.
Lucifer rubbed his forehead slowly.
His fiancée, Lilith Helena Valkyrie, alone was a walking disaster.
The future villainess who destroyed half the central continent almost by herself.
The main point was that she also hated him.
She was a death flag so bright it practically screamed.
Then there were the heroines Amelia and Evelyn.
He thought that life was hard for someone like him.
Lucifer stared at the ceiling for a long moment.
"I'm running out of room for mistakes," he muttered quietly.
This time he would not wait for fate to decide his future.
This time he would make sure fate had no choice but to follow his lead.