After that, Lara carried the receiver everywhere and listened to the demon's monologue. Sometimes she induced an interrogation herself and sometimes she ordered the wolves to instigate his anger.
Lara realized. For some reason, the demon Valac was not letting them off the hook but was instead lowering himself down because he could not use his strength.
'I need to find out why.'
There must be a reason. Although she had already lived for 10 years in the future, she did not know much about demons. The demon that appeared in Hautean back then was completely different from Valac. The demon could attack or leave them any time, but he just kept pretending to be Prince Sidhar.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
The party set out again for the capital of Tarragon. Once they entered the Empire's territory, they no longer ran into demon worshippers. On the surface, they seemed like very leisurely travelers. During the day, they moved at an appropriate speed and comfortably slept whenever they found an inn or village.
There was no shortage of supplies because they had a lot of money. Whenever Konny took out and flashed a gold coin from the pocket with a calm face, the mercenaries whispered 'like master, like maid' to each other.
Lara could now even take naps in a moving carriage. Demian got off his horse and took over the coachman's seat of the carriage that Lara rode.
But contrary to their relaxed look, they were all on edge. Everyone was wary of Valac, the captured demon who was imitating a prisoner. They did not know what the demon would do with the Prince's outward appearance. It was also a mere guess that he was unable to use his powers, so they had to keep their eyes open until it became clear. Lara continued to listen to the demon's monologue.
「I'm hungry.」
「I'm really hungry…」
「Humans are still eating terrible food. They haven't made any improvements at all.」
The demon was very hungry. He chewed and swallowed some food brought by Valentine but as he was a vampire, it did not seem to fill his stomach. He wanted blood, yet Lara and her party did not even catch a rabbit for him. Because, though eating meat was fine, sucking blood was too terrible.
「What an interesting memory.」
「So that was the first woman who rejected him. What an innocent bastard. He did not even know how complicated a woman's heart is.」
As they kept leaving him alone, he became more and more talkative. At first, whenever Lara listened to the demon's monologue, Konny trembled with fear. But after about 10 days, she had a hard time holding back her laughter while sitting next to Lara.
「The human's city. The human's Empire. I'm sure it has changed a lot. What should I watch first? What kind of humans should I seduce? It's not fun to live like a King, so should I live like a beggar?」
「I thought this brat was royalty. Why is he so weak? Has he never held a sword before?」
「I'm hungry.」
While moving toward the capital of the Empire, Lara was able to get some clear information about the demon.
"He's a chatterbox."
One day, when the capital was just around the corner, Lara approached her group that was sleeping in the forest. She spoke to them with Konny sitting next to her, nodding intensely.
"Is he sleeping now?"
"Valentine put him to sleep."
"So, uhh…"
"He came out here to play."
The mercenary wolves shut their mouths at once. Flustered, they were speechless and hesitant with their words. Eventually, they muttered their unspeakable words only in their minds.
"Haa…"
Sighs flowed out.
Because he had lived too long, because he was too strong, because he was too great of an existence. What the demon did was play. Not conquest nor revenge, but entertainment. Even though so many humans died in the aftermath of his short playtime, the reason he came out here was still to play.
"Let's kill him."
The wolves said. They were all looking at Demian. As Demian was the only one who had ever fought the demon, they were asking for his advice.
But Lara opposed it.
"He's into human play so he's being obedient now but he's still a demon. If you rush in, some of you could die, or worse, we could all die."
"Milady!"
"I'm going to take him to the temple."
She had to leave him to the God of Fate. When she asked him what kind of demon Valac was, her god laughed joyfully as if it was a ridiculous question. He did say that she needed to prevent him from descending, but he also said that he could solve the problem if she found his name.
"Demian."
"Yeah."
"How long do we have left?"
Lara asked. Demian, who sat opposite to the bonfire and looked at the distant horizon, said slowly.
"You will see the night view of Dandelion tomorrow night."
Dandelion was the largest city in the Tarragon Empire. The capital was just around the corner. Visible white breaths could be seen coming out of Lara's mouth. Winter was starting.
19. Call My Name
"Your Imperial Highness."
"What?"
"Are you sleeping?"
"Yeah."
Even though that was his answer, Acerus was not sleeping. He sat without moving while fruitlessly trying to open his eyes wide and continued to read the report brought by his aide.
"Your Imperial Highness."
"What?"
"The saintess won't magically become another person."
The aide grumbled. He investigated the daughter of Isadora, Lara, at the command of Acerus. A woman who once had a confusing name—Laviore Ria Bailey, but had now abandoned her family name and surname and became 'Lara'. God's vicegerent, the saintess.
At first, his aide also expected Lara to be a good and calm woman like the saintesses in the story. As Acerus said, he also thought it was highly likely that she was a devout and religious person who was raised in a conservative environment. And even if that was not the case, he expected that she would be at least a dignified and elegant woman.
"How can this be?"
Acerus let out a heavy groan. The aide was able to fully understand the Crown Prince's feelings this time. As soon as he received the report, he doubted it several times, wondering if something was wrong.
The daughter of Isadora was a villainess. But not just any villainess, she was a troublemaker that was well-known in Hautean's high society. She was known to be prodigal, extravagant, and have even committed immoral acts. The rumors of her going in and out of hotels with the slave that she bought were nothing. When he heard that she grabbed the hair of a saintess candidate in the middle of the banquet hall of the royal family and shook it up and down, he doubted that God might have accidentally chosen the wrong saintess.
It might be the same for Acerus too. In the eyes of the aide, the Crown Prince was also a troublemaker. But he had a tendency to despise other troublemakers.
But Acerus was strange. After reading the report over and over again, he suddenly shrugged his shoulders and laughed like a madman.
"Hahahahaha!"
"For God's sake."
The aide showed his disgust and fell far away from the Crown Prince.
"Do I still look like a madman?"
"Are you really asking me because you don't know?"
"I can't help but laugh, you bastard. Our saintess…is the villainess of the century!"
"What's with that?"
"Don't you know?"
"Know what?"
"These actions of hers are deliberate. It's all to hide the fact that she is a saintess. I can tell right away. Haa… This is amazing. Oh, I feel butterflies in my stomach. Have I caught a disease?"
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"If she had clearly revealed that she is a saintess, every Tom, Dick, and Harry would cling to her and treat her harshly. The demon worshippers would continue trying to kill her.
"Oh."
"That's why she pretended to be a villainess on purpose! Gosh… How painful must it have been for her? My heart is about to break."
"Ahah."
The aide also agreed with Acerus and nodded. Acerus sprung to his feet and put his hands on his waist.
"I can do better."
"What? Don't say things like that. You're making me uneasy."
"I should do my best to assist the saintess so that she won't feel uncomfortable."
"Pardon? Assist what? Don't do useless things!"
"Fortune has smiled upon us. The saintess has a rich mother, right?"
"So?"
"An immature heiress from a backwater country…who came to the Empire to buy the title of nobility! How is it? Isn't that interesting? Isn't that villainess-like?"
The aide contemplated.
If he hit the Crown Prince and ran away, would that count as treason or not?