“Why is she here…!”
“Seline… Don’t look over there, you’ll catch her attention!”
Seeing Seline gnawing on her thumbnail and glaring in that direction, Luc grabbed her arm and pulled her to a corner of the venue.
“Didn’t we hear about it on the street? She’s staying at the Nelf Mansion as a guest… So it’s no surprise she’d show up at this banquet for honored guests.”
“I told you, it’s not a banquet, it’s a dance party… No, that’s not the point!” After putting some distance between them, Seline calmed down a bit.
But she still glanced at the Hero’s Daughter through the crowd and servants, whispering to Luc:
“Look at what the attendant beside her is holding!”
Luc followed her gaze and saw that the attendant standing next to the Hero’s Daughter—who was busy stuffing her face alongside a fairy—was indeed holding something that looked familiar to them.
Its appearance resembled the monocles favored by certain human nobles.
But set into the metal frame wasn’t a lens, but a magic stone crystal.
In Cyrus, the two of them had seen it both when leaving the palace and the city—because it was the magic detector the Cyrus City Guard had deployed after the attack.
Even during the days Seline had hidden in the Honglian Palace, she had come to understand… This thing could identify demons in a crowd.
If it got close enough, the magic stone crystal would flash a warning red light.
When leaving the city and palace, they had been detected as demons by this device too.
But as soon as the guards saw the brooches they wore, they let them pass the subsequent identity checks easily, registering them just like any other demon employee or citizen with legal status.
“That’s a magic detector.”
“I was wondering why, after such a huge incident at home, that girl would come to the Sea of Trees and play guest at the Nelf mansion… Turns out she’s after us!”
“But didn’t she arrive in Fenglin City before us?”
“That’s because we didn’t know the way! You forgot how many days we wandered around in those woods before getting out? Who in their right mind brings that thing to a social dance… We need to get out of here fast!”
So Seline grabbed Luc, intending to escape through the corridor they had used to climb onto the platform. But as soon as they took two steps, the soothing music flowing across the platform stopped:
“Attention, esteemed guests—the platform will now rise. If you cannot maintain your balance, please help those around you, and together, hold onto the nearest railing.”
“…Rise?”
Their movements froze. They saw the corridor they had come through sealed off by a glass door, while the wooden railings around the platform slowly rose to a height rivaling walls.
“Were those railings controlled by mechanisms all along? When they rise, they become walls… Ah, there are wooden carvings on them too. It seems to record the founding of the kingdom by the First Fairy Queen… I studied this history at the academy—”
“What are you getting sentimental about? Vlad never should have sent you to that academy in Nolanstia in the first place… We can’t get out now!”
Seline muttered under her breath to Luc, who had stopped to admire the carvings on the railings… But even if Luc hadn’t, they had already missed their chance to leave the venue.
Because the platform was now truly trembling and slowly rising. Around them, several elderly guests looked terrified, supported by nearby servants or companions to keep their balance.
Meanwhile, the younger guests—dressed in trendy, human-like fashion—seemed already accustomed to such changes, sipping champagne and fruit wine from their goblets as they sneered at the old folks:
“Look at these old fogeys. Can’t even stand steady with a little shake. It’ll get even more violent from now on… You won’t drop dead on the spot, will you?”
“These brats who haven’t even lived five hundred years…!”
“Feels like these guests aren’t very friendly with each other?”
The tension between them was so thick that even Luc, an outsider, could smell it clearly.
“These young fairies, looking like humans in their teens or twenties, haven’t even hit five hundred… Then those old-timers among them are probably older than my parents.”
Realizing they couldn’t leave the venue, Seline dejectedly let go of Luc’s hand, grabbed a pastry from a nearby plate, and stuffed it into her mouth.
“What if we climb over the railing and jump down… No, you’re practically human now, you’d definitely die from this height.” Seline chewed the pastry while seriously thinking of an escape plan, “What about using ‘Shadow Shift’… No good either. Casting a spell in full view… And there are guards at the edges. Even if I could get us some distance, that girl and her other escorts would definitely catch up.”
The Shadow Demon Clan’s special movement spell, “Shadow Shift,” allowed them to sink into the shadows of objects and move within them.
With Seline’s ability, it was even possible to move Luc along with her—that was how they had escaped from Iyue and Lian in the first place.
But like all powerful spells, “Shadow Shift” had clear limitations. If it was just Seline alone, it was fine… But carrying another person or items severely limited the distance she could travel.
She also had to dispel her imitation, wrap Luc in her original form, and sink into the shadows on the ground.
All of this would have to be done under the watchful eyes of everyone at the dance… So this method was invalid from the start.
“It seems like jumping down is the only option. At least it’s better than being caught red-handed by that girl.”
Seline racked her brain… and the most feasible method was still climbing over the wall and jumping.
“Seline, calm down first.”
“I’m very calm. I’m thinking about how to get us out of this situation safely.”
“We definitely can’t jump. Not to mention I’d die from this height, but if we jump out like that, it’s practically a confession.”
“Then we can’t let that thing detect us either! Once they drag us off to confirm our identities, it’s all over! Even when your magic wasn’t sealed, you got beaten black and blue by that Hero’s Daughter… Now you expect me to take on her plus the Nelf family guards by myself?”
“But she and her attendant haven’t made a move yet.”
“Come on… You don’t think she brought a detector to the dance just for fun, do you?!”
Seline felt that after being thrashed by the Hero’s Daughter, that awkward, bitter aura that had been hanging over Luc seemed to have dissipated somewhat.
But at the same time, her sense of danger seemed to have faded too. Seline really couldn’t understand how she could stay so calm in a life-or-death situation like this—
“Would you two like some champagne? The platform’s ascent is almost over.”
Just then, the young man in the tailcoat, a Shadow Demon, approached them with a tray of champagne. As soon as Seline saw him, she leaned in and gritted out:
“Why didn’t you tell us that girl was here…?!”
“I didn’t receive any information that the young lady would be attending this dance.”
“Aren’t you the Nelf family butler?”
“In the Nelf family, there are dozens of butlers like me. Her attendance was truly unexpected… She hadn’t attended any of the previous banquets or dances.”
“That attendant beside her has a demon detector… We’ll be found out!”
“It won’t detect anything unless it gets close enough, right? Otherwise, we’d have been found by now. Please calm down… Let’s see what the young lady plans to do next.”
The tailcoat-clad young man calmly reassured Seline, offering her a glass of champagne from his tray.
The platform rose among the branches… After reaching a height high enough to overlook half of Fenglin City’s forest, it stopped.
They were now very close to the crown of the giant tree “Nelf.”
Sunlight filtered through the shady leaves of the canopy, scattering onto the platform as spots of light that shifted shape with the rustling foliage—
One such spot landed on Nephtalia. She wobbled, raising her arm to shield her eyes from the sun.
“Natalia, are you okay? How are you supposed to host the dance like this?”
Milin looked at Nephtalia with concern… The latter, supported by her personal attendant Carol, was hiccupping repeatedly.
“I’m fine… Hic.”
During the platform’s rise, she had wolfed down her food and choked… Carol had squeezed her upper abdomen to make her spit it out, then fed her a big gulp of water to help her recover.
From Carol’s practiced handling and her calm, unflappable expression throughout, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
“Please rest assured. Miss Nephtalia is fine. I deal with this ridiculous situation about once every three days.”
“Calling it ridiculous is going too far. Are you really my attendant?”
“I wish I weren’t. Can you fire me?”
“Absolutely not. Without you, I’d probably choke to death many times.”
“That’s the situation. I have to take care of Miss Nephtalia and explain to the guests why she looks so foolish… So leave finding the demons to you.”
With that, Carol handed the demon detector back to Milin.
“Alright.”
Seeing her caring for her friend, Milin had no choice but to take the detector.
She had originally planned to have Carol or Nephtalia carry it and scan while she chatted with the guests… But since it had come to this, she had to do it herself.
Anyway, this thing looks just like those monocles stuffy old gentlemen like to wear. Even if I stare at people with it, it should seem normal, right?
Through her communication with Lian, she had learned from him that there were demon spies among the palace and Cyrus guards…
This also explained her long-standing confusion—how the Demon King’s Daughter had escaped the heavily guarded palace and city without a trace.
But it also proved from the side that the city guard’s magic detector was effective.
If the demons had a way to bypass the device, they wouldn’t have needed to activate their spies in the first place.
Still, she had to thank Sister Lian… If she hadn’t overheard those two demons talking, the palace might have taken much longer to figure out they had escaped with the help of traitors.
“Natalia, Sister Carol. Are you sure there really are demons among these guests?”
“Mhm… Like I told you in the Northland, there are Shadow Demon spies mixed into the family. I’ve wanted to root them out for a long time.”
“Shadow Demons…”
Milin repeated the word, then tightened her grip on the copper handle of the detector.
Back in the Northland, it was after hearing this news from Nephtalia that she decided to come to the Sea of Trees with her.
She hadn’t even planned to catch those two demons immediately at first… Because before Lian told her, she didn’t know about their plan.
She was just following the latest clues—Feiyin had been lurking in her palace for years, and Nephtalia said there were Shadow Demons hidden in her family…
There were many similarities just from the descriptions. Whatever Feiyin and the Demon King’s remnants were planning… it was unlikely they were acting alone.
And with Feiyin being a Shadow Demon Lord who could command the Shadow Demon Clan, the connection between these two incidents became even more likely.
Of course, the Shadow Demons hiding in the Nelf family couldn’t be Feiyin.
But if she could catch these ones, she might be able to follow the thread and uncover these guys’ true goal, and find Feiyin’s whereabouts…
That alone was reason enough for Milin to act, not to mention Lian had also told her about the Demon King’s Daughter’s plan.
It was unlikely they would appear at the Nelf family’s dance… But Milin’s original purpose was to catch the demons hidden in her friend’s family, so she had brought a detector from the Northland.
“Just go ahead and confirm it. After all, this dance… was originally thrown to root out the traitors in the family. Those guys have been hindering the cooperation between the family and your mother’s company, hindering the Sea of Trees from moving toward a better future.”
Supported by Carol, Nephtalia looked around at the guests, then said to Milin with heartfelt sincerity.
“Natalia… Thank you for doing all this for me.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s not just for you. This is what I needed to do anyway. Your arrival just gave me a reason to gather these guys who usually hide in their own forest lands… And you can catch the demons among them and achieve your goal.”
Nephtalia smiled at her, then straightened up from Carol’s embrace.
“Are you okay now?”
“Yes. Stick to the original plan and assist Milin. I’ll announce the start of the dance.”
With that, Nephtalia adjusted her gown and walked toward the center of the platform. She clapped her hands firmly, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Thank you all for attending this dance.”
Her tone remained as relaxed and easygoing as ever, as if she were just greeting an old acquaintance or friend.
But as her voice grew stronger, she standing at the center of the platform slowly emitted an overwhelming presence… No one could tear their eyes away from her.
“As the host of this dance, I hope everyone can temporarily set aside your positions or prejudices and enjoy the moment.”
Her gaze swept across the guests, a faint, almost imperceptible smile on her lips.
“Before the dance suite begins, everyone is welcome to enjoy some refreshments or have a few drinks—after all, you need to be well-fed and watered to have the energy to dance, right?”