“Dear Seraphina, the border environment is harsh, and your body is weak; pay more attention, don’t get sick. Also, remember to take your medicine obediently; I will check (heart).”
A chill crawled up her spine.
Check? How would she check? Had Erasia come too? Or…… did she have spies here?
No, even so, she absolutely could not drink it!
Finally away from the Demon King’s Castle, finally away from Movira, even if only temporarily, she wanted at least a moment free from the torment of the medicine.
Every sign in her body foretold that the day was not far off, and she did not want to accelerate the process, did not want to go with the flow and let it all happen!
The intense resistance made her almost want to throw the damned box out immediately!
But reason told her she couldn’t; openly defying Movira’s will was a consequence she couldn’t bear……
Even though this place was a hundred thousand miles from the Demon King’s Castle, Movira’s omnipotent power made Seraphina afraid to gamble on whether she could detect it here.
But drinking it was impossible; she would never drink it willingly in this lifetime!
She had to think of a way…… had to……
Her gaze swept quickly across the room, finally landing on the water left after washing.
Pulling out the cork, she unhesitatingly poured the entire vial of potion into it!
The ghostly blue potion rapidly diffused and diluted in the water. To prevent the medicine from penetrating the skin, Seraphina even used the empty vial to stir vigorously for a while, until the color vanished, to the point where it was impossible to see without close inspection.
She quickly put the empty vial back into the box, even cautiously wiping off the water stains with a handkerchief.
After doing all this, Seraphina’s heart was still pounding wildly, both from the thrill of the gamble and the fear of unknown punishment.
Movira shouldn’t know, right……
She tried to force herself to calm down, walked to the window, looked out at the desolate scenery, trying to soothe her mood with thoughts.
Planning for that land, how to deal with the lesser demons that could appear at any time…… anything was better than thinking about that damned potion!
……
And in the shadows Seraphina could not see, on the leeward side of the outpost’s highest watchtower, a graceful figure stood quietly alone.
Movira wore a dark-patterned cloak that blended with the darkness, gazing far at the small window of Seraphina’s room, her eyes swirling with an expression of having anticipated this, and a trace of…… indulgence that was hard to detect?
Seeing Seraphina unhesitatingly pour out the potion, the corner of her lips did not show anger but instead curved into an even more intrigued arc.
“Heh…… learned to play little tricks, huh, my dear.” She murmured to herself, her voice like the whisper of the night wind. “Is it because you left me that your courage grew? Or do you think…… you’ve found space to breathe?”
“Fine……” Movira smiled lightly, her fingertips twirling a strand of hair. “Direct, forced change might only affect the surface, but after a complex plot line, it often makes us inseparable forever!”
“Let you relax a little for now; the way you struggle carefully yet cautiously is also very cute. It’s okay; I’ll always be waiting for your ‘return’……”
The voice dissipated in the wind, and her figure melted like a shadow, quietly vanishing from the spot, as if she had never been there.
The days at Blackstone Outpost were by no means as calm as expected.
The conflict Movira spoke of was not without basis.
Besides this time coming to trouble Movira, on the third day after Seraphina’s arrival, she still received the lesser demons’ “greeting.”
Seraphina was standing in the area of the black land, accompanied by Bask.
The people sent out had successfully brought back seeds of several common human crops.
An old gardener from the Demon Realm had also been urgently ordered to come, clicking his tongue in wonder at the handful of black soil.
“Your Highness, I have never seen soil of this color, but experience tells me its fertility is astonishing.”
His hands were nearly trembling.
Though anticipated, when the conclusion came from a professional’s mouth, Bask still felt extremely shocked.
Moreover, in these few days of interaction, he gradually discovered that Seraphina not only lacked any “princess sickness” but also personally participated in many matters.
For example, yesterday she personally went to survey a mountain peak!
Although Seraphina’s physical condition was not enough to support climbing the peak, this was already enough for Bask to completely change his view of her.
Perhaps as a warrior, in certain situations, he indeed needed the help of scholars.
Just then, a sharp alarm horn tore through the brief calm here.
“It should be the eastern valley!” Bask’s face changed drastically, immediately gripping the heavy sword at his waist. “Your Highness, please wait here for now; I will go……”
Before he finished speaking, Seraphina had already set off, with no trace of retreat in her eyes. “I said before, sitting in a chair cannot give a full understanding of the situation; only what is seen with the eyes and heard with the ears is real.”
She needed to assess the threat, not hide in the safe rear.
When they quickly climbed the reinforced watchtower on the east side, the battle below was already nearing its end.
Five battle-hardened veteran demon soldiers were cooperating as if they had drilled a thousand times.
Their armor was covered in old scars, their movements without any excess, silent and efficient.
It should be known that Blackstone Outpost was located in the territory of shadow demons, who were the most human-like demons under normal conditions, and multiple infiltrations into the Human Empire were led by them.
For example, Bask was a shadow demon.
Three lesser demons, these twisted creations from the abyss, hunched like charcoal, emitting the stench of sulfur and rotten flesh, were making the struggle of cornered beasts.
They had no intelligence to speak of, relying entirely on brute force and corrosive claws to tear.
A shield-bearing troll soldier steadily blocked the frontal pounce, the patterns engraved on the shield sliding all the acid away.
Almost simultaneously, two swift shadow demon soldiers on the wings advanced like ghosts, their poisoned twin blades precisely stabbing into the lesser demons’ joint vitals.
In Seraphina’s eyes, such coordination was undoubtedly seamless, a work of art.
Yet she also felt this combat style very familiar; how were these rough demon soldiers so detail-oriented?
However, abyssal creations always had some disgusting “surprises.” The last lesser demon swept down by the brute soldier’s giant axe, in its dying moment, its swollen abdomen suddenly convulsed violently, bursting open without warning!
No loud boom, only a scalp-numbing tearing sound, countless viscous, bubbling black acid and fragments of its own exploded bones splattering in all directions!
The soldiers below had clearly experienced such attacks; they began reacting the moment there was the slightest sign.