“You’ll never heal it like this.” Lina’s voice remained flat, but her feet took a step forward.
“Bask said this place isn’t clean; if the wound isn’t treated promptly, it will rot quickly.”
The words were half-true, half-false, carrying a bit of a scare.
Hearing this, Seraphina’s body trembled slightly. If it rotted…… it would hurt a lot, right? She was of course afraid of pain, even more afraid of letting Lina help in such an undignified way.
She couldn’t back down from her pride, stubborn and silent.
Lina didn’t urge her to do or say anything, just standing aside watching her.
The standoff lasted a few breaths, but ultimately the pain won out; it was a real sensation after all.
Seraphina extremely reluctantly squeezed a bit of sound from her throat. “Then…… hurry up……”
Her tone still carried unwillingness, but she had softened after all.
Upon receiving Seraphina’s command, Lina stepped forward. For her, over a decade of rough living had taught her various self-rescue methods; compared to that, this could be called paradise.
She first righted the tipped water bottle. Luckily the opening was small; a little over half the water remained.
She found another clean cloth, dampened it, and wiped the messily smeared ointment on Seraphina’s arm—not gently, but not roughly either.
The cool damp cloth touching her skin made Seraphina instinctively shrink back, but Lina grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t move.”
Her strength was just right, enough to restrict Seraphina’s movement.
Of course, if Seraphina insisted on breaking free, she couldn’t stop it.
Lina kept her eyes down, her hands not stopping, carefully cleaning the surrounding area, then digging a bit of ointment with her finger and applying it to the injured spot.
The movements couldn’t be called gentle, but they were accurate, far better than Seraphina……
The ointment was evenly spread, bringing a coolness after the sting.
At this moment, Lina’s thoughts drifted a bit. This arm was dazzlingly white, even slimmer than her own, feeling like it could snap with a little force.
Now it was blue and purple in patches, looking a bit…… jarring.
Was this demon, revered by all demons as Princess Regent, really like the tyrannical, vicious demons in legends? The thought flashed by quickly, ungraspable, but it made her heart waver for a moment.
Then she recalled her compatriots who truly died at demon hands, forcibly pressing that wavering back down.
Then she took the gauze and began bandaging. This time much smoother; a few motions wrapped the injury, not loose not tight, tied into a solid knot that wouldn’t strangle.
“Done.” Lina released her hand, stepping back, her voice still flat and indifferent, as if nothing had happened.
“Don’t use this arm for the next few days, and don’t get it wet.”
Seraphina tried moving her arm slightly; it indeed felt much better than before, the pain reduced by a few degrees.
But seeing the mess on the floor, she couldn’t save face again. Her voice stiff, unsure if to cover or what. “……You’re pretty skilled……”
Lina was bending to clean the chaos on the floor. Hearing this, her movements paused slightly, not looking up. “Mhm…… this is how I used to live.”
These words made Seraphina feel suddenly choked, opening her mouth but ultimately making no sound.
Her eyes looked at Lina’s silent profile, finally just turning away, staring at a faint crack in the wall.
“Then…… why do you want to go back? Isn’t it good to stay here?”
When Seraphina threw out this question, she regretted it herself. Why ask this?
Lina’s actions cleaning the “aftermath” visibly paused, her shadow seeming a bit stiff. She didn’t answer immediately, instead continuing her work.
But slower, as if carefully chewing the weight of the question.
“That…… if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”
The question was indeed untimely; just a few days ago she had forcefully stopped Lina from sneaking out.
The room was left with only the occasional crackling from the firewood burning in the fireplace.
Though she had rejected the topic, Seraphina’s gaze still shifted from the wall, involuntarily landing on Lina’s back.
“Why go back?” Lina finally straightened, turning to face Seraphina, her face expressionless, but her eyes surging with complex emotions.
“Because that is my country……”
The corner of her mouth pulled into a faint, bitterly curved arc.
“It does enslave me, but the people there have the same habits as me, the same joys and sorrows…… Perhaps they aren’t kind to me, but no matter how good here is, it’s just a cage.”
These words were spoken softly, yet each carried weight, striking Seraphina’s heart.
“Uh…… alright, that’s it; the atmosphere got all wrong.”
Seraphina’s expression was complicated, a flash of helplessness in her eyes. Wasn’t this also asking herself?
Looking at Seraphina’s suddenly cold yet unintentionally revealing vulnerable profile, Lina tactfully didn’t inquire. Silently pushing the tray closer to Seraphina’s hand. “The food will get cold.”
Seraphina had no appetite, but still stiffly picked up the spoon, forcing down the hard-to-swallow meal.
Thinking of herself as a demon king yet still treating food merely as sustenance, not enjoyment.
It felt absurd; this time she had to solve the food problem when she returned!
Meanwhile, deep in the eastern valley.
In a former mine pit, some individuals different from ordinary lesser demons—huge in size, with faint cunning red light flickering in their eyes—were communicating in their crude way.
……
Far away in the Demon King’s Castle, or rather, most likely not in the Demon King’s Castle.
Movira lay lazily on a bed covered with soft beast pelts, her fingertip hooked on a crystal ball. Inside emerged the scene of Seraphina talking with Lina in the room.
Though the sound was unclear, the moment of confusion and struggle on Seraphina’s face didn’t escape her eyes.
She of course knew what Seraphina was thinking, even without hearing the sound.
“Starting to think about the future, my dear?”
“It’s fine; at worst, I’ll let you escape. In the end, you’ll discover in disappointment—the only place in the world that can accommodate you is with me! How delicious will that expression of resignation be?”
She extended her tongue, lightly licking her red lips, as if already tasting that long-awaited “delicacy.”
Seraphina suddenly felt a palpitating sensation of being watched, chilling her back. She wrapped her clothes tighter, looking toward the deepening night outside the window.
(Extra chapter, thanks for the fire coupon)