[Mammon, the current richest man in Hell x Michael, former deputy ruler of Heaven]
In the 13,657th year of Hell's calendar, Mammon, son of Lucifer the Demon King, turns ten thousand.
His Majesty the Demon King issues an order: all of Hell is to celebrate for an entire year. Every day will bring rivers of wine and feasts of flesh, with singing and dancing all night long. The lights of Rodeoga will never go out, and there will be no more long nights.
Yet one day, the little prince Mammon, star of the festivities, sneaks out of the Palace of Ten Thousand Demons. Without a single demon noticing, he slips into Rodeoga's most famous bar, Tears of Sodom.
The Jordan River begins in Gomorrah, a holy land by the Red Sea. It runs through the Red Sea and Hell before finally flowing into the bottomless abyss beneath Hell's ninth layer.
It bears the obsessions and resentments of countless dead souls. Mist that never fades hangs over its surface as it flows on, year after year, millennium after millennium.
And beyond that mist, Mammon glimpses a god who belongs to him alone.
"Hey, kid. What are you doing here all by yourself?"
At the bar's riverside terrace, a man wearing a half-mask of black smiles at him.
From then on, his world contains nothing but that endless red lotus fire.
Michael has spent half his life seeking pleasure without giving his heart. At least eight out of every ten notable people in the three realms have been his lovers, and his exes could circle Holy Furia three times over.
On one of his occasional trips to Hell in disguise, Michael picks up a devil with a beautiful face.
The young man is arrogant and short-tempered, yet in Michael's presence he is always fawning and ingratiating, with an endless repertoire of ways to act cute.
Everyone in Hell knows how stingy he is, but with Michael, he would gladly hand over everything he owns, as if a fortune were nothing to spend for a smile from his beauty.
For the first time, Michael, who has always treated fleeting affairs as something to enjoy and then leave behind, finds himself going back for seconds.
Then thirds...
Until there is no turning back.
Michael never imagined that he would fall for Mammon.
From the side of the divine throne into eternal night, he abandons the glory and faith he once held, turns his back on the path he has followed for hundreds of thousands of years, and throws himself without hesitation into a demon's arms.
Once, he was radiant with glory. Later, he was mired in sin.
"Greed was never a cardinal sin," the man tells him.
"Only you and I are guilty."
[Extra Scene]
The person Mammon admires most in the world is his father, Lucifer the Demon King. Lucifer united the nine layers of Hell by himself, beat down a horde of restless demons, and became the undisputed ruler of Hell.
The person Mammon envies most is also Lucifer. The ruler of Hell married its most beautiful flower, his mother Lilith, and has it all, both career and love.
But nobody knows that Mammon is jealous of Lucifer, too.
Because Lucifer once possessed Heaven's most beautiful angel.
Mammon was born greedy, so of course he covets the most dazzling treasure in the three realms, the one even the ruler of Hell could never obtain.
Notes:
1. A novel in the same series as The Abyssal Rose of Hell's Ruler.
2. Couple: Mammon x Michael, with Lucifer and Michael as exes.
3. Younger seme; may include scenes where the uke takes the lead.
Theme: One false step brings lifelong regret; by the time you turn back, a hundred years have passed