Chapter 24: The Game

The morning meeting ended quickly. Aside from some battle reports from the border regions and rumors circulating within the territory about the Giantstone Demon’s awakening in Hasniya Forest, there was nothing else of importance.

The battle reports mostly detailed small-scale sieges against human villages.

Such reports appeared almost daily, and even Moeji was accustomed to them.

As for the Giantstone Demon in the forest… it was probably just a fabricated story, meant to warn people away from that dangerous woodland.

Listening to the ministers babble below the dais, Landis felt as if her ears were about to develop calluses.

She yawned and waved her hand at the crowd with lazy disdain.

“If there’s nothing else, don’t waste my time. Everyone else may leave.”

The ministers exchanged glances, then bowed and dispersed in a hurry.

Among them, however, a pair of furry ears attempted to squeeze through the crowd…

Landis furrowed her brow, watching that thing closely.

She sighed and drew a circle in the air with her index finger toward that direction.

The cat ears that had been pushing their way through suddenly fell out of sight.

After everyone else had left and the main doors were closed, Landis sat upright and drew a small circle above her head.

A circular portal appeared instantly overhead, and someone inside was screaming…

“I’m going to fall! I’m going to fall, meow!!!”

Moeji suddenly dropped through the portal and landed directly on Landis’s lap.

The imagined pain of a shattered bottom from the fall never came; instead, she felt a soft elasticity and a familiar scent brushing her nostrils.

She carefully opened her eyes, and the alluring, mature face of Moeji appeared right before her.

“Who would have thought you were still afraid of heights, for a cat you are,” Landis teased.

“You!!”

Moeji flushed bright red with anger.

She tried to get off Landis’s lap, but her waist was suddenly gripped tightly, and no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t break free.

Unable to escape, she pointed at Landis’s nose and shouted, “Could you stop using your spatial magic on me all the time? Do you know how high that was?! I almost got smashed into a cat pancake, do you know that?!”

Landis chuckled softly.

“Who said my kitty is so irresponsible? I haven’t said you could leave yet.”

“But didn’t you say everyone should leave?!”

“I said everyone else. You, as my beloved consort, count as others?”

Moeji knew she couldn’t win this argument.

Even if she tried, she’d surely be mercilessly toyed with afterward.

She took a deep breath and swallowed all her spiteful words.

“Then use whatever trick you have quickly. I need to get back and look after my little sister!”

“Your sister? I thought you said it was an elder sister? And you even shared a bed last night.”

Landis’s tone dropped, laced with a cold edge.

Moeji’s eyes widened in shock and anger.

“You’ve been spying on me?!”

“Oh dear, ‘spying’ sounds too harsh. I’m just worried my beloved consort isn’t living well out there in that backwater.”

“I don’t need you to worry about me!”

Landis chuckled lightly twice, but in the next moment her eyes cooled by dozens of degrees, and the smile vanished without a trace.

She reached out with a jade-like finger, pinching Moeji’s cheek and pressing her back against the throne, speaking in a dark tone: “I don’t care whether it’s your sister or elder sister. You, as my consort, sharing a bed with someone else—how do you think you should be punished?”

Her icy breath brushed Moeji’s cheek, revealing that Landis could indeed exhale cold air.

Wasn’t this essentially a living block of ice?

“I—I was only taking care of my injured sister. How could there be anything else between us as family?”

Her waist felt as if covered by a piece of millennia-old ice, squeezing so hard that her speech became slightly slurred.

“You’d better be telling the truth.”

Landis’s body warmed again, and her eyes returned to their usual lazy state.

Her voice softened, as if melting ice.

“Don’t forget, as my beloved consort, you must keep your distance from anyone else. Don’t let something like that happen again, or I will have to give you a proper… punishment.”

“Y-yes, I understand…”

Moeji didn’t dare provoke her further and obediently nodded.

“But this matter isn’t going to end just like that.”

“…Then what do you want to do?”

A mischievous smile curled at Landis’s lips as she whispered into Moeji’s ear, “Let’s play a game.”

With a magician’s flourish, she produced several envelopes out of thin air and waved them before Moeji’s eyes.

“N-no, it can’t be a drawing lots kind of game, my luck is so terrible… Dear Demon Lord, can we change it?”

Moeji smiled ingratiatingly.

At the word “Dear,” Landis’s eyes immediately gleamed with a pinkish desire.

She covered her cheeks, excited. “Oh my, say ‘dear’ a few more times, and I might just consider it.”

“Well then…”

Moeji swallowed nervously and took a deep breath before shouting quickly, “Dear, dear…”

She kept at it for over ten minutes, panting heavily when she finally stopped.

Dry-mouthed, she swallowed again and just as she looked up, her gaze met Landis’s still lustful eyes.

“Demon Lord, are you… satisfied now?”

She subtly pulled her face away, afraid she’d be pounced on and torn apart alive the next moment.

“Of course not, but I want to hear you say it again when I’m ravaging you in bed.”

Landis pulled an envelope from the stack and placed it atop Moeji’s cat ears with a teasing smile.

“Actually, it wasn’t a draw.”

“You’re such a—!!”

“Hmph.”

“Oh dear, why are your ears all fluffed up again? Even your ponytail’s a mess. Such a little lady you’re not.”

“I’m a warrior, not a lady!”

“Well, a cute warrior like you will just end up being treated like a toy.”

Seeing Moeji’s ears puffing up again, Landis tapped the envelope on her head. “Alright, alright, no more teasing. Open it and see.”

“Can you read?”

“Of course! Of course!”

Still fuming, Moeji grabbed the envelope roughly and tore it open.

Inside was a piece of paper with golden embossed patterns, boldly inscribed with the words—Invitation.

Puzzled, Moeji glanced at Landis, who wore that infuriating smile, then returned her gaze to carefully read the contents.

It was an invitation to a banquet, to be held within the Demon Lord’s palace, with Landis herself as the host.

“You’re holding a banquet in the Demon Lord’s palace?”

“This isn’t just an ordinary banquet, silly kitty. It’s specially prepared for those traitors.”

“Traitors…”

“Since there’s already a rat in the house, that means there’s a whole nest of them hidden inside. I’m going to gather them all and wipe them out in one sweep.”

Her eyes grew icy again, filled with murderous intent.

“But the game is…”

“The game is for you to find those traitors. If you find them all, I’ll forgive that matter. If you don’t… hmph, then you’ll have to live with me forever.”