THE LAST TRIPLE UPDATE, STARTING FROM EPILOGUE 1

                  Ara stood calmly, the baby’s fingers and tightening the blanket around her. Winter had come again. Prince Kyungsoo was not here because he had other responsibility to withhold. Hopefully by the Summer Solstice, her beloved would be visiting.

                  Taeyong was beside her. His dark hair was now tinted with hints of silver and grey. He still maintained a serious expression and a tight smile. The two of them stood in the neutral zone’s barrier to wait for a certain visitor late in the night.

                  Kris materialized from thin air. His black robe flashing gracefully in mid-air, creating an illusion of a dancer in the midst of the snowy place. Compared to a few months prior to their meeting, Kris looked thinner than before. His jawbone was more pronounced. His cheeks had shrunken a bit. No doubt, the last war had taken its toll on him.

                  “Ara,” He grunted, a bit annoyed that his sister had insisted on meeting tonight, knowing that he was in the midst of a very busy weekend. Kris’ grey eyes swept pass Ara before landing itself on the blanket in her embrace. So this was it, the source of the anxiety; the result of calamity. “What happened to the mother?”

                  Ara shook her head and glanced at the beautiful baby girl. Her eyes were big, just like her mother, and they were turquoise, a color so bright that it burnt through his mind. They were beautiful. So, so beautiful. And enchanting. But Kris thought that it was the baby’s innocence that caused her to look so fragile and lonely. Those eyes brought back the protective instinct within him for unknown reason.

                  “Her mother passed away the moment she gave birth. Luckily we could save the baby before it is too late. It has been months since she lost her will to live, and we were just trying to prolong her life so that she could safely give birth.” Ara rocked the baby gently in her arms, “A beautiful one, isn’t she?”

                  “Yeah,” Kris’ voice had betrayed the inner turmoil in him. He sounded gentle, for the first time in a thousand year. Even Taeyong found it unusual. He looked up from the ground and stared at Kris, clearly amused to see that the Fallen was showing a bit affection towards the newborn baby.

                  “Her only relative is Jinki and the other Higher Demons, but we are not about to let them know that they have a niece in this world. They have retreated for months. Who knows when they will come back to this world,” Ara explained softly, “I can’t bear to tell the Kings about the baby’s existence or they will kill her.”

                  Kris nodded in agreement. The parents were sinners, but the baby was guiltless. As a Fallen, killing her would be going against the Code of Law and resulted in cold wars between the Fallen and the entire Shadow world. “I understand.”

                  “Will you take care of her in the human world until she is mature enough to understand what is going on?” Ara asked, a bit hesitant about her request. If Kris rejected, she was going to force him to accept. After all, he owed her a big favor after the war.

                  Kris pressed his lips into a thin line and raised one eyebrow at her, “Am I in the position to say ‘no’?” He extended his hands to hold the baby in his arms. He was unfamiliar with kids. He rarely held one. “Let me look at her.”

                  Ara slowly passed the baby to his waiting embrace. The blanket fell off the baby’s head, and it took a split second for Kris to recognize the indescribable warmth that was spreading in his entire body. The baby was strangely quiet, her fingers cutely and staring at the stranger with curiosity.

                  “Have you named her yet?”

                  Ara glanced at Taeyong and slightly smiled, “Not yet. We decide to let you have the liberty to choose for her.”

                  “A-reum,” Kris called out, his eyes focusing solely on the baby. As if sensing someone was calling her, the newly named baby suddenly giggled, holding out her tiny little hands to show her happiness. Kris bit back a smile that threatened to appear on his lips.

                  “A-reum,” Ara nodded and hummed, repeating it for a few times and found herself liking it more than she should have. In the last thirty-six hours, Ara had somehow formed an attachment towards the baby, treating her as she would to a family. “A-reum, our beautiful A-reum.”

                  She put her thumb on the baby’s forehead and rubbed it in a circular motion, “A-reum, may fate be kind to you. I hope you won’t be too disappointed in me when you learn about your lineage.”

                  “I’m leaving,” Kris took a step back. He held out his right palm and a blue Portal appeared.

                  “Goodbye, Brother. Take care of her…”

                  Kris left without so much as a second glance. Unbeknownst to him, his fate had been tangled with the baby’s birth. He, who never believed in the salvation of his soul, might find redemption in the unlikeliest time.

                  But that was another story to tell.

                  Perhaps in a hundred year or two, when the little A-reum grew up to be a charming young woman… when she was no longer tiny and clueless. The flower of affection had long bloomed in his frozen heart. And it was this girl whom he raised since she was a baby that gave him the chance to feel alive again.

NOW READ THE FALLEN'S OBSESSION. The universe is set after this one and it's a one-shot.