The war began shortly after Logan turned two hundred.
He and Disha had been married for thirty-eight years before she died.
The Great War had claimed countless lives. Creatures from different realms fought relentlessly, and bloodshed had become a daily reality. Logan had been on the battlefield when his wife died at home.
If only they had been mates, he would have known she was in danger. The mate bond would have alerted him the moment something happened to her.
But they weren't mates.
And that fact haunted him.
During the war, a powerful witch lost her husband to her own kind. She had married a demon, but when the witches turned against the demons, they began killing those who had married outside their species.
Fortunately, the witch had a son—a child born from both witch and demon blood.
A mixed-blood.
The witches had tried to kill the boy, but they failed.
Logan found the mother and child surrounded by danger and intervened before they could be harmed. After saving them, he asked for their names.
The woman answered on behalf of both of them.
"I'm Hazel, and this is my son, Nathan. Thank you for saving our lives. We owe you a debt. If you ever need help in the future, please come to me. I'll do everything I can to repay you."
Logan stared at her for a moment.
I'm a Demon Lord. What kind of help could I possibly need from her?
Still, he saw no reason to reject her gratitude.
"No problem. I'll keep that in mind," he replied before walking away.
The woman looked young, but Logan knew she was probably older than him—perhaps close to three hundred years old.
What he didn't know was that the witch he had just saved would one day become his mate's great-grandmother.
What a small world, humans would say.
Logan returned home and performed the burial rites for his late wife.
Once again, he was a lonely Demon Lord.
The war continued for another twenty-eight years before finally coming to an end.
Time flowed differently in the Underworld and the human realm. Twenty-eight years in the Underworld amounted to only seven years in the human world.
When the war finally ended, peace slowly returned.
The Underworld was divided into four major realms. Demons occupied the highest position, followed by witches, vampires, and werewolves of various Lycan breeds.
The cause of the war had been a desperate hunger for power.
Some members of the other three realms had grown rebellious and dissatisfied with the existing order. Their desire for greater power eventually turned into a bloody uprising.
But after countless lives had been lost, the rebellion was finally brought to an end.
Five hundred years passed after the Great War.
Logan was still single.
He drowned himself in work, using his responsibilities as a distraction from the emptiness inside him. His grandfather and the rest of his family felt sorry for him, but there was little they could do.
He had never fallen in love.
He had never experienced the connection he had spent centuries longing for.
The loneliness constantly tugged at his heart.
I must be cursed.
The Supreme Goddess had done him dirty.
Despite possessing power, fame, wealth, and everything else a demon could desire, Logan still lacked the one thing he had wanted since childhood.
Love.
A mate.
A family of his own.
He had always dreamed of finding someone he could shower with love and affection—someone he could give his entire heart to without fear.
But that dream remained out of reach.
The Supreme Goddess had truly played him dirty.
For seven hundred years, Logan had endured life without a mate, without someone he could call his own.
Eventually, he stopped believing the goddess would ever answer his prayers.
He had lost all hope of finding love, having a mate, or building a family.
Then, one day, news reached him that a child had been born.
But this was no ordinary child.
She was said to be destined to bring lasting peace to the Underworld and the human realm and eliminate the threats that had plagued both worlds.
Naturally, many wanted her dead.
Some wanted to eliminate her because they believed she was a threat to their existence, while others wanted to exploit the immense power she was rumored to possess.
Logan eventually discovered that the child was a descendant of a powerful witch, although he didn't know exactly who.
Curious, he decided to visit the family.
They had gone into hiding, but finding them was hardly a challenge for a powerful Demon Lord.
When Logan arrived at their hiding place, he was surprised to see a familiar face.
Hazel.
The woman he had saved five hundred years earlier.
She had aged, though only slightly, and her son had grown into a fine man.
"Hazel," Logan called softly.
She turned toward him.
"Are you the great-grandmother of the divine child?"
Hazel nodded, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"Come. Let me introduce you to my family."
She took his hand and led him inside. Her voice trembled slightly, perhaps because her family was in danger or because she had never expected to see Logan again.
When they entered a room, Hazel began introducing everyone.
"As you know, this is my son, Nathan, and this is his wife, Jane."
She paused.
Logan looked at the woman named Jane and immediately knew she was a demon.
"And this is my granddaughter, Cherish, Nathan and Jane's only child. This is her husband, Damon, and their little baby, Irene."
Hazel gestured toward the infant.
Logan's gaze fell upon the baby.
She was beautiful.
No.
Beautiful wasn't enough.
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on.
"It's a pleasure meeting you all. I met Hazel five hundred years ago," Logan added when he noticed the confusion on their faces.
His name was famous throughout the realms, but only a few people knew what he actually looked like.
"I'm Logan, a Demon Lord. Apologies for the late introduction."
The moment he revealed his identity, they covered their mouths in shock as though they had seen a ghost.
They immediately rose from their seats and bowed, Nathan included.
Apparently, even Nathan had never known Logan's identity beyond the fact that he had once saved his mother's life.
"Your Highness, it is an honor to have you grace us with your presence," they all chorused while keeping their heads bowed.
Most of the time, Logan actually forgot that he was a prince.
"Raise your heads. I heard about your child, and I came as soon as I could."
Logan noticed a look of fear and disdain flash across Cherish's face. It disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.
He immediately understood the misunderstanding.
"I'm not here to harm the child. I'm here to offer my help—"
"I'm sorry, Logan, but we can't accept any more help from you."
Hazel's soft voice interrupted him.
"We're already indebted to you for saving our lives, and we haven't even repaid you. So please, don't offer us any more help."
Logan knew he couldn't force the matter.
However, he had already made up his mind to protect the innocent child, even if he had to do so from a distance.
"Alright. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to send word to me. Or, rather, take this."
He handed Hazel a jade mirror.
"You can use this to communicate with me. Wherever I am, I'll hear you and come to you."
Hazel accepted the mirror with trembling hands as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Thank you. Thank you so much for your kind heart. May the Supreme Goddess reward you for your goodness toward us."
Logan scoffed inwardly.
The Supreme Goddess rewarding me?
If she truly intended to reward him, she should give him a mate.
"It's my pleasure. Just tap the mirror three times and call my name once. I'll hear you."
He paused before explaining further.
"You won't hear my response, but simply speak into the mirror, and I'll hear everything you say."
"Alright. I understand. Thank you once again for your generosity."
Logan simply nodded before leaving.
Afterward, he ordered his men to investigate the threats surrounding the family.
One by one, most of those threats were eliminated.
Months later, however, shocking news reached him.
The baby had died the previous morning.
The moment Logan heard the news, he vanished from the meeting he was attending with several witches and demons.
He appeared before Hazel moments later.
"Hazel, what is this I'm hearing? The baby died?"
"Hold your horses, Logan. The baby is fine."
Logan frowned.
"What do you mean?"
He was confused.
The news had spread like wildfire throughout the realms. The divine child was supposedly dead, and some claimed they had even seen her corpse.
Then, suddenly, something occurred to him.
Logan narrowed his eyes at Hazel and raised an eyebrow.
"You're telling me the baby wasn't actually killed."
Hazel sighed.
"Yes. You're right. The baby was swapped."
Logan remained silent as she continued.
"We had to do it because the threats against her life were becoming unbearable. We had no choice but to send her far away."
"Where is she?"
"Don't bother asking. She's safe. She's still wearing the bracelet I made for her. It will make it impossible for her enemies to locate her."
After Hazel explained everything, Logan finally relaxed.
As long as the baby was safe, that was all that mattered.
Hazel then prepared tea for them.
Forty-Four Years Later
Forty-four years passed.
Then, one day, Logan felt something strange stirring inside him.
A longing.
It was an unfamiliar feeling, yet somehow comforting.
It made him feel strangely happy and excited, as though he were missing someone precious.
Someone he had known for years.
Someone he desperately wanted to find.
What's happening to me?
He couldn't understand it.
Could it be that he had finally found his mate?
That's impossible.
I'm cursed.
The thought made him sad again.
But the strange feeling returned almost immediately.
Stronger than before.
Logan tried to push it aside and eventually went to bed.
That night, he dreamed.
He saw a little girl running.
A little girl?
Who was she?
Confused, Logan studied her face carefully.
Then his eyes widened.
She was Irene.
"Hello. What's your name?" he asked the child.
The little girl turned toward him.
"Sir, my name is Layla."
Layla.
The name echoed through his mind.
Logan opened his eyes.
"Mate?" he whispered.
He sat up slowly.
Is she my mate?
But who was she?
He scratched his head in confusion.
The little girl had looked like Irene.
Yet she had called herself Layla.
"Fuck. I'm damn confused."
Logan got out of bed and dressed.
Morning had already arrived.
Over the years, Hazel and her family had stopped hiding because the world believed the divine child was dead.
Logan wasted no time.
He appeared in front of Hazel's mansion and walked inside.
The moment he saw her, he asked the question that had been consuming his mind since he woke up.
"Where is your great-granddaughter?"
Hazel froze.
"Where did you send Irene?"
The shocked expression that appeared on her face immediately told Logan that she knew exactly what he was talking about.