<CHAPTER 44>
Peace Built on Lies
Harond, the Demon King’s right hand, had come up with the perfect solution to this enormous problem.
“You appear as the embodiment of strong and majestic terror!”
“Embodiment of terror?”
“Yes, an absolute ruler of the demon world, untouchable and formidable!”
Redemberg tilted his head slightly.
It seemed he wasn’t fully satisfied, but at least it wasn’t wrong.
Before Harond could feel relieved at crossing one major hurdle, an even more serious question followed.
“Harond, do I ever boss you around?”
“…Yes?”
“I mean, have I ever troubled you?”
Of course, always.
Even now…
Unable to call it “being bossed around or troubled,” he had to lie through tears.
“Ah, no, Your Highness! I have never felt that way at all!”
“Then why does Ehilie dislike me?”
Ah, it’s because of Lady Ehilie!
Harond was puzzled.
Before arriving here, the atmosphere had been so friendly; when did it become strained?
“Did Lady Ehilie say she dislikes me?”
Redemberg’s eyebrows rose sharply, his eyes flashing intensely.
Harond hurriedly explained.
“Ah, no! That’s impossible! Lady Ehilie adores Your Highness. Just now, she told me to protect you! Surely that shows how much she values you!”
Harond’s tearful persuasion worked.
Redemberg’s intense energy softened slightly, his rigid lips relaxing.
“I see, that’s right.”
In his blood-red eyes, a spring breeze of affection appeared.
“She said she likes me.”
Redemberg smiled gently, like a boy in love.
The cheerful smile clashed with the blood-soaked surroundings, and Harond shivered.
“But why…”
The soft curve of his lips straightened.
The sweet atmosphere vanished, replaced by a chilling coldness.
“You dislike the Demon King?”
It was a threatening voice, like a beast’s growl.
Before the Demon King, whose mood shifted instantly, Harond felt like crying.
He could not voice his true thoughts to his clearly insane master.
“Indeed… why would she dislike you? You are magnificent, the king of the demon world! The most powerful in the demon realm! To refuse a chance for such a rise in status is… foolish… No, I don’t mean Lady Ehilie is foolish, I just—”
Harond’s role was only to agree.
“Um, Your Highness, have you completely dealt with Bella?”
Harond’s attempt to change the topic finally worked.
Redemberg swung his tail in his hand and let out a relaxed sigh.
“She ran away.”
A trail of bloodstains stretched across the floor.
Redemberg would not have sent her away with all limbs intact. Her wings and tail were in his hand.
Shards of broken horns were scattered on the floor.
‘Barely escaping with life, it seems!’
A succubus’ power is contained in her wings, horns, and tail.
In this state, she would have lost all her power.
She would likely die soon.
Harond clicked his tongue.
‘Why did she dare touch Lady Ehilie!’
Redemberg was surprisingly merciful. He spared assassins attempting to kill him and ended their lives instantly without torture.
Yet he ruthlessly crushed Bella because she had dared harm Ehilie.
Harond realized how sincere Redemberg’s feelings for Ehilie were.
He also felt worried.
If this love was not accepted by her, how much would it hurt him?
And the hurt would not be only Redemberg’s. Ehilie, though not as crucial to Harond, had grown attached…
“Your Highness.”
Harond, as his subordinate, spoke what needed to be said.
“There are no eternal secrets in this world.”
It was not urgent.
Redemberg had just fought a battle and was sensitive; disturbing him was dangerous.
But as the Demon King’s only right hand, his duty had to be fulfilled.
“Peace built on lies will eventually collapse. The higher it’s stacked, the greater the shock when it falls. I worry that Your Highness might be crushed under a weight you cannot bear.”
Harond spoke despite the risk.
Redemberg said nothing.
He simply stared at Harond with his red eyes. Harond met his gaze.
Then he chuckled.
“So serious for once.”
A light tone, but tinged with loneliness.
Harond’s sincerity had reached him.
Relaxed, Harond spoke in a mock-indignant tone.
“Serious, I say? I always serve Your Highness faithfully, you know!”
“Stop talking and clean up. Five minutes.”
“Five minutes? How can I clean all this in five minutes?”
Redemberg ignored Harond’s plea and cleansed the blood with magic. Now tidy, he strode ahead.
Harond pouted.
“Your Highness!”
“Four minutes fifty seconds.”
At the cold countdown, Harond tearfully began cleaning.
Being the Demon King’s right hand was truly difficult.
***
“Huff, huff.”
Kane wandered through the secret passage beneath the castle.
The castle belonged to Kane. He knew all the emergency escape routes.
But the passage was like a maze, and he quickly lost his way.
‘Damn it. How did this happen?’
Kane felt wronged.
He had no guilt. He only yielded the castle and pretended ignorance about the trapped hero under Bella’s threat.
‘The strong survive, the weak perish. That is natural.’
‘I did nothing wrong. My life is at stake, so I have no choice.’
To survive, he followed the stronger.
Then someone stronger appeared.
“My love Redi, long time no see!”
Bella’s fiancé and the king of the demon world, Redemberg Lu Edeltaine.
Appearing in human form, he instantly transformed into a demon.
He burst the monsters like balloons and quickly dispatched Bella.
Kane hid behind a wall, trembling and then ran frantically.
‘If I’m caught, I’ll die!’
Sweating and gasping, Kane heard a deep male voice.
“This way! Ehilie.”
Instinctively, Kane crouched.
Clutching his head, trembling, he muttered.
“Ehilie?”
Ehilie—the name of his sister.
The cause of his misfortune, the family’s shame, the root of all evil.
Kane’s eyes flashed.
‘Yes! She just needs to disappear!’
“It seems this woman Ehilie has swayed my beloved fiancé.”
According to Bella, Ehilie had won the Demon King over.
This meant Ehilie had allied with the Demon King.
By imperial law, anyone colluding with demons was a heretic, punished severely.
‘If I capture Ehilie and present her to the temple, my honor will be restored.’
His alliance with Bella, a demon, was already erased from his mind.
Even if it existed, Kane didn’t care.
He would rationalize it as usual.
‘Ehilie is the witch who swayed the Demon King. Capturing her makes me a hero!’
In Kane’s mind, a rosy future appeared.
A hero who saved the empire. Count Kane Terbavon.
Or perhaps he might be granted a new title, even a duke.
“Heh heh heh, yes, now you’re finished, Ehilie.”
Kane crept forward, grinning maliciously.
Far ahead, he saw Ehilie. Beside her was the battered hero, Gabriel.
“Hah… now she even rescued the hero?”
A witch who abandoned men, from the Demon King to the hero.
First, he needed to separate the hero and Ehilie.
‘Yes, this will do!’
Kane took out a purple magic stone hidden nearby, stolen from Bella.
‘Good. First…’
He hid the stone and staggered forward, deliberately collapsing with a thud.
“Huh?”
Ehilie’s startled voice reached his ears.
Kane curled his lips into a sly smile.
‘No matter how obstinate you are, you can’t ignore someone collapsing in front of you.’
“Why is that, Ehilie?”
“I think I know this person.”
As expected!
Though the address was “someone I know” rather than “brother,” it didn’t matter.
Ehilie slowly approached Kane.
‘Just a bit more… just a bit more…’
Kane, subtly measuring the distance without her noticing, suddenly threw the magic stone.
Flash-1
The stone glowed intensely, creating a massive barrier.
“W-What?”
“Ehilie!”
Gabriel rushed forward too late.
A solid barrier now separated Ehilie and the hero.
“Hahaha! Ehilie, you’re finished, a witch who can do nothing without men! Colluding with demons and corrupting the hero, now pay at the temple!”
Kane approached Ehilie with a grin, thinking he could subdue her bare-handed.
He expected her to tremble and beg for mercy as in the past.
But from Ehilie’s lips came:
“What are you talking about?”
It was a first laugh, filled with disbelief.
