Lucifer would probably have thought about it longer, but Ispis returned to the Hall carrying several books clutched to her chest. Their eyes quickly met.

"My lord," she greeted, immediately inclining her head slightly.

"Where is Beelzebub?" he asked, dryly.

" I'm not sure. We passed each other, but he looked upset so I didn't ask him," she replied, stopping at the counter and glancing at the unfinished calculations. "I could help with that."

"It's not your job," he snorted, rolling his eyes. The girl, however, did not go away. He raised his head slightly so that he could scowl at her with one of those decidedly heavier stares. "You're a prostitute Beelzebub fell in love with. And that's all there is to it. I don't know what he's telling you, but I won't let you work on the Empire's most important documents."

"You are a powerful ruler," she said and leaned over the desk in a completely unambiguous way. "So why are you afraid that you're forbidding me?"

"Nothing. I don't need a whatre to help me. We both know you're only here because you got money from Asmodeus because the boys thought he'd be quieter."

"We also both know that you paid me for it too. So what's the problem? I'm just doing my job, right? He's happy, and he doesn't know anything," she whispered in his ear in a tone that made him shiver.

"In this," he growled, sticking his gaze into the books she was holding. "You are using him. And you're lying that you love him."

"How dare you? No one loves him more than I do. I wouldn't let anything happen to him," she burbled, pulling away from him rapidly. He couldn't tell if it was genuine indignation or if she could really love him.

"If it really is, then I'm sorry," he murmured, returning his gaze to the papers. The last thing he needed here was female hysteria.

"I love him," she muttered finally. "But I don't want you to tell him about it. He shouldn't hear it, not now."

"Just promise me that once you're bored with him, you'll deal with it gently, okay?"

"If that ever happens, I promise," she nodded, smiling again.

Beelzebub, meanwhile, was sitting in the Wardens' Room, sipping warm tea smuggled across the border by Leviathan. He had just taken another sip and looked at Mephisto.

"He's acting like a jealous kid," he snorted.

"Belz, don't get me wrong. You're right, but I can't deal with this right now. The committee will be here tonight, and I'm not going to get peeled off. You know what happens when Lucifer sends out these controls. They'll kill us," muttered the Master of Pain nervously, noting something down on one of the sheets of paper lying on the counter in front of him.

"They won't do anything to you. I have the authority to stop the guard and the committee. They won't come in here today, and Lucifer will have to understand that," replied the Hunter, taking another sip of tea.

"I know, Belz, that you have the powers, but you can't dig into their papers. He didn't authorize it, I know. I asked, 'Are you sure it's a good idea to stop the committee today?' When are you sitting here?" asked Mephisto almost immediately without interrupting his work.

"He'll understand, believe me. And if not, that's not your problem. I'll take care of it. Leave that report and tell me, has the answer to the last letter to Ksira gone through the Chancellors yet?" Beelzebub asked immediately, but the demon only shook his head.

"Asmodeus would report to me first. You know he's bored because, since the guards are hanging around the corridors, it's hard to organize banquets. And even if they weren't... I asked him to monitor it."

"A lack of response from the Heavens has never boded well yet. I know the priestesses have stopped hanging around the border. Tiramis claims his spies have brought nothing new. I don't know whether to believe him."

"Yeah, but that just might be a coincidence. You know Heavenly habits... We have more important things on our minds. Here," he continued to note uninterruptedly.

"You may be right, Meph, but I'd rather be sure. Lucifer has already sent three messengers there, but no one is coming back." Beelzebub took another sip of warm tea, wandering his gaze over Mephistopheles' papers.

"Do you have time to worry about the Heavens? For me to do so, I would have to have the conditions for it. More important at the moment is this damned commission and threats of sentences," he muttered coldly.

"Yes, I am worried. Do you think my papers are not being checked by Lucifer at the moment? Luckily, I can clear it with him. I've already told you that the committee won't come in here today. Not while I'm sitting here," declared Beelzebub immediately.

"Yes, Belz, I've heard, and I'm not convinced. You'd better deal with his stupid edicts, contradictory laws, and the Academy. Ksira can bloody well wait, and we need the corrections now. Have you been to the Academy?" Mephisto put down his pen, picked up his cup, and took a sip while nervously casting his eyes around the room.

"Three days ago, I started running the law course again, just as Lucifer wanted."

"So you understand perfectly why I insist. You remember those kids, loud, brave, just what Hell needs. They sit terrified and memorize everything they get. You know what I do there, you've been to my classes, they know me. I took them down to the dungeons, I brought down the tools. It's not the first time I've done it. They didn't move them, they recited book formulas to me in trembling voices. In the practical classes."