Chapter 121
“Why are you here?”
It was an appearance I never expected.
“Could this be another illusion?”
I narrowed my eyes and looked at Blanche, who was grumbling in annoyance.
“You wouldn’t have been defeated so easily under normal circumstances, but you probably didn’t expect him to be here, did you?”
“It feels real…”
The illusion had been so realistic that I was tricked at first. Now, I couldn’t tell if this was real or just another illusion.
“Besides, he’s at full strength, and I crossed the barrier recklessly, leaving myself weakened…”
Blanche shut his mouth tightly, remaining silent as he met my gaze.
“…My king?”
Noticing the strange atmosphere, Blanche called out to me with a puzzled expression.
I smiled gently to reassure him, crouching down to meet his eye level.
“Blanche, I just got tricked by a powerful illusion.”
“Of course. It’s Laveliçe’s illusion.”
“Laveliçe?”
“She’s one of the four dark stars that serve me. She knows how to create extraordinary illusions.”
“Yeah… it really was extraordinary. So how could I trust you? This might also be an extraordinary illusion.”
“Huh? What do you mean… Ugh!”
Without warning, I bumped my forehead against Blanche’s in confusion.
As his scream rang in my ears, a sharp pain spread across my own head.
“Ugh… that hurts.”
“Of course it does!”
Blanche, tied up tightly with ropes, couldn’t even rub his forehead and fussed helplessly.
‘If the pain feels this real, it’s not an illusion.’
No matter how realistic an illusion feels, there’s always a subtle difference from reality. You just have to be alert enough to notice it.
The problem is that when someone is swept up in an illusion, it’s hard to think clearly. That’s why so many people get fooled.
“Wait a moment. I’ll untie you.”
I reached out to the ropes binding Blanche and thought for a moment.
‘If I had been an ordinary young lady with genuine affection for this mansion, I wouldn’t have been able to escape like this.’
The demon hiding inside Kana, the one who had pushed me into the illusion, clearly didn’t understand my complicated feelings for this mansion and my family.
‘If it really knew me well, it wouldn’t have shown me the old scenery of the mansion…’
Of course, Rienne’s face came to mind immediately. Then the meddlesome three brothers and the stoic duke flashed through my thoughts one by one.
‘I wonder if Rienne and Ska are trapped in illusions right now too.’
What kind of illusions could Rienne and Ska be suffering from?
‘I’ll ask them when I meet them.’
While thinking that, I finally untied Blanche completely. He stretched his arms, looking relieved.
“Feels like I can breathe again.”
“If you’re the Demon King, shouldn’t you be able to untie ropes yourself?”
Blanche glared at the ropes indignantly.
“It wasn’t an ordinary rope.”
“It was easy enough to undo, though.”
“My king.”
As I shook the ropes and tilted my head, Blanche frowned like he was chewing on something.
“It’s not that the rope was ordinary, it’s that you’re just too strong.”
“Oh.”
Right. I am really strong.
Feeling a little embarrassed, I cleared my throat and tossed the rope into a far corner.
“How did you get caught?”
“I was tricked by an illusion…”
“You said she’s your subordinate, right? One of the dark stars serving you. And yet you were defeated by your own subordinate’s illusion? And you call yourself a king?”
Blanche scratched the wall, staring into the distance as if he realized how ridiculous it was.
“Looks like they haven’t cleaned in a while. The walls are filthy.”
“…Blanche, be honest. You weren’t really the Demon King, right?”
I should have known the moment he went down with a single punch in my previous life.
‘If someone like him is the Demon King, the demon world wouldn’t function properly.’
Suspicious, I scanned Blanche, and at that moment, I sensed a strange presence behind me and heard the door open.
‘Is that the demon?’
I turned around, ready for anything. But the figure that entered made all my defenses crumble instantly.
“Danae.”
“Rienne.”
Rienne stood at the door, slightly disheveled. He quickly checked my condition, sighed in relief, and stepped inside.
“What about Ska?”
“I don’t know. He moved separately.”
Rienne and Ska must have been trapped in different illusions.
“How did you find me?”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?”
“No… of course you would.”
He is a dragon, after all.
Realizing I’d asked a pointless question, I laughed awkwardly. Rienne stepped closer, cupping my face in his hands.
As he lifted my chin, his face filled my vision.
‘Why is he acting like this?’
Was he checking for injuries?
“My face isn’t hurt. Anywhere else is fine too. I just got out of the illusion.”
Rienne let out a small laugh at my explanation. I could feel the faint curve of his lips.
“Do you think I’m checking for injuries?”
“…? Then why?”
“There’s only one thing a partner does after overcoming a crisis, Danae.”
‘Partner?’
What nonsense was this?
My mind went blank at the absurdity, but fortunately, the ridiculous feeling didn’t last long.
‘If Rienne is saying nonsense like this, there’s only one possibility.’
That he wasn’t really himself.
I frowned and looked at Rienne—or rather, the human-shaped illusion of him.
‘Looks like Blanche’s subordinate mistook him for my lover.’
Whether king or subordinate, they were both careless. Both were so sloppy it was impossible to tell who was worse.
‘Is the demon world really okay?’
Even I, not a demon, was starting to worry about the future of the demon realm.
‘Well, it’s not entirely wrong to think of Rienne as my lover…’
I knew there were strange rumors circulating among the staff of the Winter Mansion about Rienne and me.
When Rienne first became my personal doctor, I pretended to be sick to call him every day just to tease him. From that time, the servants whispered that the young lady liked her doctor.
‘And when we moved to the Coral Mansion, I brought Rienne along.’
Unintentionally, it confirmed the rumor among the staff.
Since then, I hadn’t summoned Rienne in that way, so the strange gossip hadn’t spread.
‘But leaving without clarifying it would look odd, so I just left it.’
Blanche’s subordinate, believing those rumors as truth, had sent me this illusion.
The situation was absurd. I chuckled, staring at the illusion of Rienne.
The illusion was so precise that even I, who knew him well, hadn’t immediately noticed it. Every feature, his height, his build—everything.
If it weren’t for the “lover” nonsense coming from his mouth, I might not have realized it was an illusion.
‘Now that I know it’s an illusion, the atmosphere does feel different from usual.’
Rienne is always straightforward. Just the young lady and her doctor—nothing more.
But the illusion before me, taking on the role of “my lover,” radiated a strange heat from his eyes.
‘Ugh. This feels weird.’
I needed to escape this illusion quickly.
Like when I broke the mirror, if I found the medium and destroyed it, this illusion would disappear too.
‘Where could the medium be…?’
But before I could locate it, the illusion made its move.
“Danae.”
The illusion smiled and lowered his head, pressing his lips to mine.
‘Ah…!’
Startled, I opened my mouth without thinking, and the slippery sensation slid inside like a snake capturing prey.
I widened my eyes at the unfamiliar feeling.
Blanche, standing a little away, was just as shocked, his jaw dropped as he stared at us.
“Danae.”
The illusion called my name with our lips pressed together. Every breath sent tingling warmth.
‘What is this? Why…’
It was a sensation I had never experienced. Ticklish, heated, making my legs feel weak.
“The important thing hasn’t even started yet, and this is happening already?”
The illusion of Rienne grinned and covered my eyes with his hands.
With my vision blocked, only the sensation remained.
As I tensed my shoulders, a low laugh whispered in my ear.
