You have to be kidding me…
Rosa stared at the giant mountain of gifts with a mixture of awe and fear. Gunna and Faenor, who were together with her, had similar expressions on their faces.
The grand birthday party was over, and all the received gifts and presents had been brought to an empty room near Alphegor's bedchambers. After passing a thorough inspection by the castle staff. Although only the most obvious dangerous gifts had been disposed of, there could still be some nasty surprises inside.
"Do we have to look through all of them?" Faenor asked, pale as a sheet.
"His Majesty said that we're to inspect every gift that Lady Morrigan wants to open," the nanny said, and both of them looked down at her.
Excellent, then I can just leave.
Rosa hummed and turned around to leave the room. Gunna instantly panicked and blocked her way.
"Lady Morrigan, how about we look at a few of the gifts? Surely, there should be something you like there?" the dwarf woman said with a smile, but her voice sounded a bit shaky.
Alphegor probably never expected me to not want to open my presents. Gods, how annoying. I'll open a few just so Gunna and Faenor don't get into trouble.
With a sigh, Rosa waddled back into the room and inspected the giant pile. Normally, she'd be happy to receive gifts for her birthday, and on Earth she had treasured every gift that she had received even if she wasn't close with the gifter anymore. But with this many, they had completely lost their appeal. After all, she had no idea whom the gifts were from.
A gift wrapped in dark green wrapping paper and an aquamarine band around it caught Rosa's attention. She went closer to it, and saw that smile on Gunna's face grew larger.
"From Gunna?" Rosa asked and pointed at the gift.
"Yes, that one is from me. How did you know? Lady Morrigan is indeed very smart," the nanny praised, and went to open the ribbon tied on the package. It wasn't really difficult to deduce that it was from her. After all, it was the only gift with a gentle color scheme. Well, this one and one other which Rosa assumed to be from Faenor.
Once the ribbon was undone, Gunna handed the present to Rosa, who swiftly tore the paper off. Inside was a long scarf in a beautiful verdant green color. The color looked so odd in this mostly dark place, but it was so refreshing and vibrant that Rosa instantly hugged the scarf close to her chest.
"Thank you, Gunna," Rosa said, doing her best not to sniffle.
"Aww, it was just something I made in my spare time. I-I never expected you'd like it so much, L-Lady Morrigan," the nanny said and began crying. This broke Rosa, and she too began crying. Gunna then hurriedly picked her up, and both of them wailed for a moment.
"You two are being a bit dramatic," Faenor sighed but he did so after giving them a few minutes to calm down.
"You're just impatient because you want Lady Morrigan to open your present too," Gunna teased him as she wiped away the tears.
"N-no! I am perfectly capable of waiting!" the elf retorted and crossed his arms over his chest.
But you never denied that you wanted me to open the gift.
Rosa waddled over to the other colorful gift which was in a pale lilac package with a bright violet ribbon.
Rosa tugged at the ribbon and it slipped off effortlessly as did the wrapping. Underneath was an unusual, somewhat shabby looking book.
"Faenor, what kind of a gift is that? Certainly you could have done better!" Gunna pressed her arms against her hips and looked at Faenor incredulously.
"For your information, this book is extremely rare and extremely valuable. I've had quite a hard time finding it," Faenor replied with a puff. "It contains information about all of the known magical stones from other worlds."
Magical stones? Like the alexandrite gifted by Lucious. I wonder what exactly they could do.
Rosa reached her hand to touch the stone in the protection talisman Azrael gifted to her. She wondered if it was also magical in nature.
"We can look through it during our next story time," Faenor promised, and Rosa nodded enthusiastically.
"Thank you!" Rosa held the book close, wondering what could be written inside it.
"As long as you like it, Lady Morrigan," the nanny sighed and conceded. "Now which gift shall we open next?"
Oh, right… There were other gifts…
***
A few hours of intensive gift opening later… Rosa, Gunna and Faenor had barely made a dent in the giant mount of gifts. They had unpacked clothes both adult sized and child sized, a whole bunch of plushies that depicted one monster or another, shoes of every size and shape imaginable, books of all genres and fabrics of every color. There was even a live bird in one of the presents which had flown away as soon as the box was opened. Rosa was just grateful that the poor little creature had survived.
"Too many…" Rosa muttered, her little hands tired from unwrapping and ripping all of the paper and packaging.
"We'll never get through all of those on our own…" Faenor agreed as he grimaced at the remaining amount of gifts with unhidden disgust.
"Yes, I thought that we could make decent progress today, but there's far too many gifts," the nanny agreed with a grim nod.
Why do I even need to open all of these gifts on my own? I know that they're meant for me, but it's not like the people, or demons, who gifted me these know me. They only gave me these for Alphegor's sake.
"No more presents," Rosa grumbled to her caretakers, and waddled towards the door. Gunna caught up to her, and picked her up.
"Yes, that's enough gifts for one day."
"What if somebody has put another live creature in their gift box," Faenor suddenly said with a pained expression. Rosa's heart clenched. It was so sad seeing the poor bird trapped in that box. She had wanted to feed it and give it something to drink, but the poor thing was so startled that it flew out of the window before anybody could properly register what had happened.
"But we can't just sit here opening gifts all day. Lady Morrigan is already tired," Gunna objected but her eyes were downcast, showing that she didn't want to abandon whatever poor animal may or may not be trapped within the many boxes. Rosa thought for a second.
This is a magical world, isn't it? Surely there must be a spell or something to make this process quicker. Or perhaps a spell that could find whether there was a live creature inside. And if there was somebody who knew spells…
"Azrael," Rosa said, startling both of her caretakers out of their glum thoughts. Gunna's face seemed to lose all color while Faenor looked at Rosa quizzically.
"Who is Azrael?" the elf asked but before his question had fully formed on his lips, a dark shadow appeared before Rosa and out of it rose the aforementioned demon.
"You called, Princess?" he said with a pleasant smile, standing proud and tall above the dwarf woman, who was noticeably trembling. "My, my, I didn't know you had slaves for caretakers, Princess. I thought your father would surely provide you with someone better."
Rose glared at him, then pointed towards the remaining mountain of gifts.
"Help open," she kept her speech simplistic, and deliberately ignored the fact that he had appeared out of nowhere.
You were expecting some sort of reaction out of me, weren't you? Sorry, I'm not giving you the satisfaction of that.
"No way! I'm a magic teacher and a guard, not a servant," Azrael rejected her request outright, a smug grin on his face. Gunna's lip quivered, and it appeared she wanted to say something but couldn't find the courage to do so.
"Open," Rosa persisted and pointed towards the gifts again.
"Sorry, Princess. I am not obliged to comply with your requests," he teased, his grin wide. He was waiting for Rosa to start crying and throw a tantrum. If she was an actual baby, she would have no doubt done that.
"I tell father," Rosa stated flatly and the temperature in the room got noticeably colder.
"Nice try, kid. But I won't be intimidated by a baby," Azrael sneered, but Rosa noticed that there was a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.
So despite his nonchalant attitude, he is afraid of the King. That will work in my favor.
"Lady Morrigan, perhaps we could just continue unpacking another day," Gunna finally cut in, finding the courage to speak.
"Help or I call father," Rosa repeated and adopted the icy expression she'd seen the Demon King use.
"Alright then, call your daddy!" Azrael waved his hand dismissively. He no doubt thought that the Demon King wouldn't just come at the beck and call of his one year old daughter. Honestly, Rosa didn't think he would come either, and hoped that Azrael would have been more cooperative.
Oh, well… It's worth a shot…
"Father!" she shouted in a voice that reverberated throughout the hallways of the castle.
How did I do that? It seems similar to the way Alphegor speaks when addressing a large crowd.
Before she could ponder the question any further, another large, dark shadow appeared in front of her, and out from it rose the Demon King himself.
He really did come.
As Alphegor emerged from the shadow, he had the largest, goofiest grin on his face and he instantly bent down and grabbed Rosa into a bear hug.
"My darling daughter called me 'father' for the first time. I am overjoyed! What do you need, little one?"
Silence stretched for an awkwardly long time as everyone stared at the Demon King in utter disbelief.
M-My darling?
"Your Majesty, are you quite alright?" Azrael broke the silence, smiling somewhat awkwardly as he slowly, step by step, neared the exit.
"Azrael no help," Rosa said before the demon could run away. Alphegor's expression instantly grew as cold as ice, and the temperature in the room dropped even further. Only this time Rosa was sure that it grew colder for real as she could see Azrael's breath in the air. Gunna and Faenor began shivering.
"Really now?" Alphegor said in a sweet tone that didn't match his icy glare.
"I-I just said that I couldn't do it now since I have to…" Azrael trailed off as ice crystals began forming around feet. "What I mean to say i-is that I'll be glad to help!"
"Excellent!" The King smiled pleasantly, and the cold instantly disappeared from the room. "See that it's done as Morrigan demands. I'll be finding out all the details later."
"Of course, Your Majesty," Azrael said with a forced smile while shaking off the thick layer of frost that had formed on his feet.
Alphegor patted Rosa on her head once, then handed her to Gunna and disappeared back into the shadows.
"You little brat…" Azrael muttered quietly. Rosa decided to ignore the comment since she came out victorious this time.
I do feel a bit bad for forcing him to obey me, but it is for a good cause. We must find if there are any more animals trapped in those boxes.
"So, which one we're starting with?" Azrael grumbled and skulked over to the mountain, grabbing a random gift and throwing it up and down in the air.
"Find animal," Rosa commanded.
"Animal? Why would there be animals here?" Azrael scoffed, but Faenor stepped forward, gathering his courage to speak.
"We previously found a bird inside one of the presents. The Princess is afraid there might be more animals trapped inside."
Azrael regarded the elf like a mosquito that had dared to bite him, then looked at Rosa and sighed.
"I suppose it wouldn't be nice if they died and their corpses began stinking up the place," his purple eyes lit up and carefully looked over the pile of gifts. He then waved his hands and some of the presents began floating around the room and rearranging themselves.
Wow, he can even make things float. That looks useful. I wonder if I could learn that.
After a minute or two of sorting, one smaller box floated to Azrael's hands.
"This is the only live creature I could find," he said in a cold voice, and then the box burst into flames.
"Wha-?" Rosa gasped in shock, the creature inside shrieking in pain as it burned alive in a matter of seconds.
"I'm sorry, Princess, but this is not a friendly creature. It is without a doubt that somebody sent this in an attempt to harm you."
"What creature was that?" Faenor dared to ask.
"A soul worm," Azrael said coldly, and then five more boxes floated out of the pile. Their wrappings burned away, revealing five creepy looking objects – a dagger emanating dark aura, a black rose, a bracelet made from teeth, a necklace with a tiny vial that seemed to contain blood and a rattle made out of tiny bones.
What the hell is a soul worm? On second thought, I'd rather not know. And what's with all these objects? They look like something a witch would use to curse people with.
"All of these are cursed. So I guess it's a good thing I caught them before the Princess unpacked them," Azrael scoffed, and set all of the objects on fire, burning them until nothing was left.
"W-What would have happened if Lady Morrigan had opened them?" Gunna asked with a trembling voice.
"Hard to say. Probably nothing too horrible since she is the Demon King's daughter. But it might have been… unpleasant."
Rosa shivered at the thought, and decided that she wasn't going to open any more of the birthday presents anytime soon.
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Today was a busy day wasn't it, Lady Morrigan?" Gunna chimed as she gently scrubbed Rosa's arms with a sponge.
"Mhm," Rosa muttered and absentmindedly burst a soap bubble with her tail. She was becoming better at controlling it, but still found no good use for it. It was too weak to hold things with and not very attractive either. Like a rat's tail with a pointy end.
Her mood was somewhat gloomy since Azrael had found all those cursed objects and the soul worm among her presents. She still didn't quite understand what exactly the soul worm did, but from the whispering and muttering among Faenor and Gunna she had gathered that it could cripple one's cognitive ability beyond repair. To think she had almost come in contact with such a horrifying creature.
The bathroom door swung open, and Alphegor strode in, wearing his usual evening garb – a simple black shirt and gray pants. Despite the simplicity of them, the Demon King still managed to look regal and dignified.
"Good evening, Master Alphegor," Gunna greeted him with a bow, and he acknowledged her presence with a curt nod.
"You may go for today."
"But what about Lady Morrigan's bath?" the nanny asked nervously.
"I'll finish it myself."
His gaze left no room for questions, so Gunna bowed and quickly excused herself out. Rosa looked at Alphegor quizzically – after Gunna began pouring only the minimum required amount of water in her baths, the King didn't oversee the process anymore.
Alphegor walked over to the baby bath that was set down next to the large bath, and got down on his knees.
"Is the water warm, Morrigan?" he asked with a somewhat bittersweet smile, and dipped his hand inside the soapy water.
"Warm," Rosa confirmed, and carefully studied his expression. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but it seemed like there was a lot on his mind.
Even the Demon King has some worries.
Alphegor absentmindedly grabbed the sponge and began wiping Rosa's back. He was surprisingly gentle, not daring to press too hard. His eyes seemed to be filled with sadness, and she began feeling bad for him.
I wonder what happened to make him feel so down. Maybe I should lighten the mood a bit.
She thought that but she wasn't exactly sure how to cheer a demon up. Without any good ideas in her mind, she flicked her tail and sprayed a mixture of soap suds and water on Alphegor's face. The Demon King froze, but before he could properly process what had happened, she sprayed him again.
Now that's something not many people can get away with.
"You little rascal," Alphegor growled and mercilessly covered Rosa with the bubbles from head to toe. She was trying to get the bubbles off, but there were too many. Before she could begin to panic, the King unceremoniously dumped warm water over her head, washing the suds away.
"Bully…" Rosa muttered in her human tongue, not knowing the word in the demon language. The Demon King just laughed and then pulled her out of the water, wrapping her up in a soft towel.
"Time for you to go to bed," Alphegor said, and carried her to the bedroom still wrapped in a towel.
"No sleep," Rosa protested. Ever since she had started sleeping in Alphegor's room, her bedtime had also become much earlier since she couldn't just pretend to be asleep until Gunna left. Alphegor was always in his room in the evenings, and never left no matter how long she pretended to be asleep. Mostly he would just be doing some paperwork by his desk until he decided to go to sleep himself.
"Yes, sleep," he objected sternly and put her on the bed. With smooth, gentle motions, he began drying her hair which she didn't resist.
"Not sleepy."
"Today was a long day. You should rest," the sad note returned to his voice, although Alphegor's expression remained unreadable as he dressed Rosa in pajamas. "Need to potty first?"
Rosa shook her head furiously. Thankfully, diapers were a thing of the past, but she was still uncomfortable that somebody always insisted to be around when she went to do her business. She understood why they did it, of course, but that didn't mean she liked it.
"I went!"
"Good girl," Alphegor ruffled her hair, and then grabbed a brush to untangle the mess he just made. Rosa observed as the demon carefully brushed her hair, his face was a cold, unreadable mask. Almost unreadable. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the corners of his lips were slightly downcast, his eyes squinted ever so slightly and his fingers tense around the brush.
"Something wrong?" she ventured to ask, and Alphegor flinched slightly. After a moment he chuckled.
"You're a sharp little one, you know that Morrigan. Sometimes it feels like you're an adult already."
Rosa's heart began beating like crazy.
He doesn't know that I'm actually an adult does he? Have I been talking too much too soon? Did I get impatient?
"And yet, you are so fragile. Somebody could have seriously injured you today…" the Demon King sighed, sat down and put Rosa down into his lap. She looked up at him and he wrapped his large hand around her own. Both of her tiny arms completely disappeared within his grasp.
"You are still so small. So weak. So fragile," he spoke somewhat absentmindedly.
No, it doesn't seem like a thing. I'm just being paranoid. He was just worried about those cursed items.
"I'm strong!" she objected and puffed out her cheeks, trying to appear braver than she actually was.
Alphegor laughed loudly, then fell onto his back and lifted Rosa high above him. It was odd looking down on this powerful, tall demon.
"Of course, you're strong! And one day you'll be the strongest demon out there," he announced loudly, then put Rosa onto his chest and bopped her nose with his finger. "And I'll make sure nobody hurts you until that day comes."
Rosa looked at Alphegor just laying there. He looked vulnerable – almost human. Despite the horns on his head, and the long tail that laid limp on the bed, he seemed like a…
"Father?"
"What is it, little one?" Alphegor lifted his head, and looked at her with a gentle smile. Something warm and fuzzy swelled in Rosa's chest, but she couldn't understand what it was. She had never felt this feeling before.
"Let's sleep."
"Good girl!" He ruffled her hair again albeit more gently, and both of them got underneath the silky covers. After a few minutes, they both slept next to each other in complete peace and silence.
***
When Rosa opened her eyes in the morning, Alphegor was already gone and Gunna was dutifully sitting in a chair next to the bed, waiting for Rosa to wake.
"Good morning, Lady Morrigan," the nanny chimed, a bright smile sticking out from behind her beard.
"Morning," Rosa half-mumbled, half-yawned in response.
"Let's get you ready for the day," Gunna said, and began their morning ritual. Wash face and hands, dress up, comb the hair, eat some porridge with odd but tasty fruit and play. Rosa could have done without the last bit, but she indulged the nanny to keep up her baby appearance.
After an hour, there was a knock on the door, and Gunna visibly flinched at the noise.
"It is time for your magic lesson…" the nanny said somewhat awkwardly and picked Rosa up. Another impatient knock resounded on the door so Gunna quickened her stride to open it.
"G-Good morning, Master Azrael."
"You're too slow, slave," Azrael's eyes looked like dark, angry thunderclouds.
All because Gunna didn't answer the door the moment you knocked?
"Childish," Rosa muttered at the demon whose gaze snapped to her. It instantly lost some of its ferocity and instead he appeared mildly annoyed instead.
"What's childish?" he demanded.
"You," Rosa retorted, crossing her tiny arms over her chest. Azrael narrowed his eyes.
"Slaves need to respond instantly."
"Gunna – nanny, not slave."
"She may be your nanny, but she is also a slave."
"You slave," This childish response forced Azrael to take a step back.
"I'm not a slave. I'm the second strongest demon in the Underworld!" he puffed out his chest and lifted his hand up as if posing for a portrait.
"Gunna, what is 'second'?" Rosa asked innocently, and saw how Azrael's face turned bright red from anger.
It's a good thing he's sworn an oath not to do me harm, otherwise I might not get away with this.
"Oh, well…" the nanny stammered, unsure of how to respond.
"Let's just go to your lesson," Azrael snarled and snatched Rosa from Gunna's grasp. His hold was tight, but not tight enough to hurt her. He stomped furiously towards the training room, while Rosa delighted in his sour mood.
"Smile while you can, brat. We'll see how you'll manage to keep your breakfast in while walking as a shadow," Azrael snickered.
This is supposed to be an adult demon? He acts no better than a pompous seven year old.
Rosa had no intention of complying with Azrael on that day. In fact, she wanted to get the whole magic training out of the way as quickly as possible in order to read the book Faenor had found for her. It could contain clues on magic that could help her get back to her world or reverse time. Either one seemed like a good solution.
"Alright, squirt. Let's begin your training. Turn into a shadow," Azrael commanded as soon as they stepped inside the training grounds, putting Rosa unceremoniously down on her bum. But she wasn't dismayed and instead put her plan into motion.
Instead of complying with his demands, she cocked her head to the side and pretended not to understand him. "Play?"
"What? Where did you get that from? No, we are training. Turn into a shadow," Azrael said somewhat impatiently and pointed at the wall. Rosa just blinked her eyes at him, pretending to not understand a word.
"You know… like you did the last time? Shadow? Wall? Turn into a shadow!" he said impatiently while gesturing towards the wall with his hand, as if he were playing some sort of a guessing game. He looked so funny in his desperate attempts that Rosa barely contained a laugh.
"Shadow? What is shadow?"
Azrael groaned and hit his head with his palm, sliding it down his face dramatically.
Pretending to be a fool is more fun than I expected. Should have done this the first time around.
"Alright, alright. I'll show you, you – repeat!" Azrael went up to the wall and then disappeared into the darkness. After a moment he reemerged.
"You saw that right? Now you do it."
"What's that?" Rosa pointed at the dummies on the other side of the room, and began waddling over in their direction. Azrael grabbed her before she could get too far.
"No, we aren't playing with the dummies. You need to train your magic. Turn into a shadow," his eyelid twitched.
"Magic? Show magic!" Rosa cheered, throwing her hands up in fake excitement. Azrael groaned, placed Rosa on the floor and then crouched down while clutching his head in his hands.
That's what you get for bullying, Gunna. Nobody will call her a slave under my watch.
The door to the training grounds swung open, and Alphegor strode in, followed by a few male demon servants that carried some books and documents in their hands.
"How's the training going?" the King asked, addressing Azrael who straightened the second door opened.
"Not good, I'm afraid, Your Majesty. Princess Morrigan is just too young to understand what she's supposed to do," Azrael said calmly.
"What exactly did she not understand?"
"I asked her to become a shadow again, but she wouldn't do it no matter how many times I repeated the request. Instead she thought we were playing."
"Really? Morrigan, would you mind becoming a shadow again?" Alphegor asked with a sort of satisfied smirk. It's like he knew that Rosa would do as he requested. Normally, she wouldn't agree too readily, but she felt like bullying Azrael a little bit.
She went up to the wall, took a deep breath and thought about becoming darkness, about her vision expanding and the heaviness of her body disappearing. Next moment she was a part of the dark wall. The servants next to Alphegor gasped in shock and awe.
"Young Princess is already able to turn into a shadow? That is most amazing, Your Majesty!"
"Of course!" Alphegor said with his chest puffed out proudly as he walked up to the wall. Rosa materialized right into his arms while shooting a knowing smirk at Azrael, who was turning red from anger.
"You little… You did understand me!" Azrael pointed angrily at Rosa.
"Azrael rude," Rosa stated simply.
"What? Is this still about that slave?"
"What slave?" Alphegor asked.
"The dwarf woman. Who even cares about some slaves?"
"Morrigan does. Gunna is her nanny so obviously she wouldn't want her to be belittled," Alphegor paused, then sighed. "I might have overestimated your abilities. Although your magical knowledge is up there with the greatest demons, your manners haven't evolved past those of a twelve year old."
Alphegor turned on his heel and began walking out of the training grounds.
"But the lesson…" Azrael called out helplessly from behind.
"I think you need lessons in manners first before you teach my daughter," Alphegor replied, and Rosa stuck out her tongue at Azrael.
That'll teach you.
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