A part of Theodore was screaming to him to chase Lilith to her territory and get her to back out from the war no matter what. Or at the very least, make her answer his questions. That way, he could prevent some potential disaster later on in the future.

However, another part of him warned him not to provoke Lilith because she was very unpredictable. And because of his provocation, he didn’t want her to cause harm to Adeline in any way.

All this clashing of his thoughts was unbearably maddening for him. And he didn’t want to return to his wife while his mind was not in the right place.

“I have to let out my emotions while I am still here. I don’t want to accidentally say something mean to Adeline, that also on her coronation day.”

Theodore already knew where he needed to be at the moment. And he readied himself for teleportation.

“Well, I have been putting off this fight for a long while now.” Theodore was already excited just thinking about the duel with his brother. “I can’t wait to make him forge that flaming sword for me.”

He happily rubbed his palms together and whispered, “Let’s go!”

As usual, when Cerberus smelled Theodore’s presence, he came running outside to greet him.  But Cerberus didn’t see Theodore anywhere outside. He wagged his tail and ran around while trying to follow the smell, but to no avail.

Theodore was hovering high up in the air while proudly fisting on his hips. He was looking down at Cerberus and was smiling widely.

“Why didn’t I think of this trick earlier? I could have avoided all those dangerous encounters till now.”

Theodore shivered after recalling Cerberus licking his horns the last time. His brows suddenly curled closer and he looked stunned.

He gave a loving gaze to Cerberus who was now barking loudly. And he thought to himself, “Thankfully, no accident occurred that day when he licked my horns.” Theodore scratched his horn and thought, “I should be extra careful when I am around him. These horns have proven to be dangerous.”

“What?” Theodore was startled when he heard his brother’s loud voice coming from beside him.

Theodore narrowed his eyes at Lucifer and asked, “Let’s go and fight. I am going to finally surpass you today.”

“Tch! aren’t you a little full of yourself today?” Lucifer gave a side-eye to Theodore and then focused his attention on Cerberus.

Cerberus was now sitting down while looking all sad and whimpering.

Lucifer looked back at Theodore and asked, “At least go and show your face to him before we leave. He hasn’t seen you for quite a while, you know.”

“What?” Theodore swiftly looked away from his brother and denied, “I’m not insane to go there myself and willingly become his prey.”

Lucifer stretched his arms and yawned, “Alright then. Have a good night. I have nothing more to say or do with you.”

Theodore was pouting and was giving a challenging look to Lucifer as if he was saying with his eyes that he knew Lucifer was just bluffing.

However, Lucifer began flapping his wings and flew lower and lower.

“Wait!” Theodore clenched his fists and unwillingly said, “Fine! I will go and meet him.”

Theodore stopped midair and looked back at Lucifer. And he asked in a soft voice, “Will you at least come with me?”

Lucifer face-palmed himself and scolded Theodore, “You’re not a kid anymore, Theodore! Why the hell are you still so scared of Cerberus?”

Theodore wrinkled his nose and whined, “I’m not scared of him. Well… maybe a little.” He looked down at Cerberus and added, “He might lick my horns and my horns were acting up a while ago.”

“What do you mean by acting up?” Lucifer furrowed his brows and asked.

“I nearly burned Lil–” Theodore abruptly stopped and cleared his throat. And then he continued, “…burned someone alive. I don’t want such an accident to happen to Cerberus.”

Lucifer kept on glaring at Theodore for a while to see if he was lying or speaking the truth. He found that Theodore was indeed saying the truth so he agreed with him. “Okay. Follow me.”

The two of them flew down to the ground and landed right in front of Cerberus.

Theodore stood there like a statue and waited for Cerberus to fiercely attack him.

But unlike the other days, Cerberus sat down in front of Theodore and met his eyes. He kept on looking at Theodore without pouncing him. He was giving that irresistible look to Theodore as if today he wanted Theodore to pet him on his own.

His puppy eyes were too cute to handle, even for Theodore.

In the end, Theodore let out the breath that he had been holding all this while and gave in to Cerberus.

“Alright, alright! Here goes nothing!” Theodore sighed and raised his hand to pet Cerberus.

His hand shivered like a leaf when it slowly approached Cerberus’s head that was in the middle of the other two.

Cerberus was wagging his tail and was excitedly sticking out its tongue. He rolled his eyes up and kept on looking at Theodore’s hand and waiting for a pat.

Lucifer was folding his arms and was staring at his brother with half-shut eyes. He was resisting his urge to grab Theodore and rub him on Cerberus.

Theodore held his breath again and finally touched the fur of Cerberus. He pressed his palm firmly and ruffled the fur.

Theodore’s eyes sparkled and so did Cerberus’s eyes.

Theodore happily glanced at his brother and said, “His fur feels softer than the fur of those puppies… I mean the fur of the werewolves.”

He giggled and used both of his hands to rub two of Cerberus’s heads.

Lucifer smirked and went to stand by his brother’s side so that he could pat the remaining head of his familiar. “See, he is not as bad as you made him sound. He is just like a regular pet.”

Theodore pouted and complained, “He is just behaving like a good boy today. I don’t know why he hasn’t licked me yet.”

Lucifer hugged his hellhound and tried to make his brother understand the behavior of his familiar, “All that my Cer needs is love, which you didn’t offer. So he took it by force. If you pet him then he won’t bother you that much. Isn’t his behavior similar to your familiar?”

Theodore chuckled and shook his head, “My familiar doesn’t lick me… He insults me.”

“Serves you right.” Lucifer also chuckled and then added, “But hey, at least you get to know what Arion is actually thinking. You don’t have to guess.”

Theodore smiled and nodded. “Yes. He tells me everything without any filter. He was nagging me the whole day saying I got heavier.”

The two brothers shared a few more conversations with each other while petting Cerberus.

Though Cerberus was in literal Hell, that moment made him feel as though he was in Heaven. He was the happiest pet. How could he not be happy when Theodore was taking initiative to stroke him on the head and give him lovely scratches?

“Alright brother, show me your new tricks. Let’s go!” Lucifer finally sent Cerberus inside the mansion.. And the brothers headed towards the portal to go to their fighting zone.