The engagement was never annulled?
How is that possible?!
Kane stared in disbelief, and only after a long pause did he manage to blurt out his next sentence.
“Why did no one ever tell me?”
“You never asked.” Seth replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“But…”
“No buts.” Seth interrupted Kane before he could protest further. She dropped her usual playful demeanor, and with a serious face, placed both hands firmly on his shoulders.
“Her Highness has been running all over the place this past month just to help lift your Exile. With a fiancée so devoted to you, you should be secretly rejoicing. Yet you keep thinking about annulling the engagement. If I were Her Highness, I’d consider myself merciful if I didn’t screw your head off.”
“She helped lift my Exile?” Kane asked in disbelief, pressing further, “Didn’t you say before it was my father who did it?”
“Your father handled things openly, but behind the scenes it was always Her Highness. After all, her status doesn’t allow her to act publicly.” Seth sighed with heartfelt emotion. “With both the Duke and the Princess acting together, no wonder they could clear your name so quickly. Tsk tsk, you really are lucky, having such a capable fiancée always on your side. If you don’t hurry up and marry her, do you even have any shame?”
“Though, this might make your Little Maid jealous.”
“But if it’s your Little Maid, there shouldn’t be any problem. She’s the most obedient, considerate girl I’ve ever met. If it’s Princess Vanessa, I imagine the two of them would become good sisters, supporting you together, loving you for a lifetime.”
Kane: …….
When you’re truly speechless, all you can do is laugh.
Enya, obedient and considerate?
Enya and Princess Vanessa, getting along as loving sisters, supporting him together?
Heh, kids, that’s not funny at all.
If this big aunt here had arrived even a second earlier last night, she wouldn’t be saying such things so easily.
“How wonderful, to have two women who love you so selflessly.”
Unaware, Seth was still lost in her own world.
To meet two women who love him so much and silently support him before the age of twenty— if that isn’t the reward for saving the world in a previous life, what is?
“Alright, it’s getting late. Go wash up and have breakfast. I need to prepare for the Meeting. Nephew, you’d better come along too, since you’re a key witness.”
With that, Seth patted Kane’s shoulder twice and left.
Kane was left alone in his room, hands folded under his chin, silent for a long time.
He had thought the only unexpected variable was Enya, and that nothing else would have changed much.
But in reality, things were vastly different from what he imagined.
The most notable change was Princess Vanessa.
Kane had thought Princess Vanessa wasn’t interested in him at all.
Their engagement was entirely out of duty as a Princess.
But now, it seemed the truth was nothing like what he had imagined.
“Did I really misunderstand something?”
Kane began recalling every interaction he’d ever had with Princess Vanessa.
But no matter how he looked at it, nothing she had said or done ever seemed to indicate she had feelings for him.
Could it be that what she wanted to express, and what I understood, are two completely different things?
Kane numbly rubbed his head, his gaze falling on the dirty black stockings still lying quietly on the floor.
As the morning sun rose higher in the distance, the blazing light streamed through the window, covering the dirty stockings with warmth and a gentle glow, as if trying to tell Kane something.
The spots left on them sparkled, twinkling brightly— almost dazzling.
Staring at them, Kane found himself once again thinking of the allure of delicious food.
“Hiss~”
He shuddered and hurriedly pulled his wandering gaze back.
He slapped his cheeks twice— ‘pa pa’— to snap himself out of it, reorganized his thoughts, and told himself:
“Right now, Princess Vanessa isn’t the most urgent concern.”
“The ones I really need to focus on are Enya, and that Black-robed Person.”
Though the chaos of the moment meant Kane hadn’t seen the Black-robed Person’s true face, he had heard Enya’s words loud and clear.
Enya knew that Black-robed Person.
And judging by Enya’s tone, she was also very surprised by their identity.
Just who is this Black-robed Person? Why did they shock Enya so much? And why did they want to kill me?
“A follower of the Tower of Truth? No, Enya should have no contact with those lunatics. In that case, are they Demon Race?”
Enya definitely has her own network among the Demon Race, otherwise she couldn’t have gotten her hands on the Ten Thousand Demons Banner.
Could this Black-robed Person be the Demonkin who helped Enya acquire the Ten Thousand Demons Banner?
Right now, that seems the most likely guess.
But there was still something Kane didn’t understand.
“What’s their reason for trying to kill me?”
If they knew Enya, why would they go for the kill?
Could this Black-robed Person be another yandere? Trying to help Enya by stuffing me into the Ten Thousand Demons Banner?
“Tch, life is just too troublesome these days.”
Kane irritably rubbed his head. With so little information, this was as far as he could reason things out for now.
“I wonder how Enya is doing?”
“From the look of things, she probably went after that Black-robed Person.”
“Hope she’s alright…”
Judging from the Black-robed Person’s fighting style yesterday, it seemed they didn’t want to become enemies with Enya.
Still, Kane later found Seth and asked her to send people to look for Enya.
Of course, the reason he gave was just that he wanted to find his Little Maid.
He could never reveal Enya’s Demon Race identity.
In this world, the hatred between humans and Demon Race runs deep. Not everyone is as free of prejudice as he is.
“All that’s left is to rely on Seth.”
Kane let out a silent sigh and made his way to the Meeting room.
……
At the same time.
In a dark, damp alley where no light shone.
The peculiar gloom made time seem to slow, every second frozen in eternal stillness like a lake.
In this place where light and shadow, brightness and darkness, stillness and motion all mingled and clashed without rhythm or beauty, shifting rapidly—
Enya, now back in her black-and-white Maid uniform, darted through the alley, chasing after the Black-robed Person ahead.
From last night, the two had been playing a game of cat and mouse.
But even after such a long chase, neither showed signs of slowing down.
Of course—they were both Demon Race, and both from the upper echelons of the Demon Race—Succubi. Their innate superiority put them head and shoulders above the rest, even among Demon Race.
Not to mention, both of them were equally determined.
One was absolutely set on catching the other.
The other was absolutely set on not being caught.
But this stalemate finally came to a silent pause at the end of the alley.
Enya’s crimson eyes glowed with a dark, night-red light as she stared coldly at the Black-robed Person before her, her voice tinged with anger:
“Can you give me an explanation now?”
“Why did you try to kill Young Master?”
“Ilena.”