Chapter 6: Young Master Is Perfect to Be Refined into One 💘

The whole room was filled with a suffocating tension that made it hard to breathe.

Even though Enya was smiling as she spoke, there wasn’t a trace of warmth on her face.

Ilena had no idea how the other woman knew what she was thinking.

Mind-reading didn’t exist—at least not in this world—but now wasn’t the time to figure it out.

All she could do was suppress her discomfort and quickly nod.

“That’s more like it. Since you’re calling me ‘Your Highness’ now, that makes the young master the prince consort. Ilena, how could you possibly harbor hostility toward the prince consort? Tell me I’m right, aren’t I?”

“…Right.”

Ilena didn’t dare say otherwise and nodded rapidly like a pecking chick.

Only then did Enya finally show a satisfied smile.

“Did you find the thing I asked for?” Enya asked.

“Y-yes, I did. It’s at the black market in the next town over.” Ilena was still catching her breath, not yet recovered.

“Then hurry up and go get it. Make sure it’s back before eight. I still have to prepare a lovely dinner for the young master. I won’t keep you.”

With that, Enya turned back to the stove, happily humming a little tune as she continued making a delicious pineapple pizza.

Seeing that Enya’s mood had improved considerably, Ilena let out a breath of relief and stepped forward to ask:

“Your Highness, should I pick up a few monsters while I’m at it?”

The item Enya had asked Ilena to find was the Ten Thousand Demon Banner—a magical tool used to refine and control monster souls.

Sending the cautious faction’s leader out to catch monsters personally was clearly inappropriate.

But Enya simply smiled and declined:

“No need. I don’t want their filthy, hideous souls to taint the place where the young master will live.”

The place where the young master will live?

Could it be…

“Your Highness, you’re planning to use the Ten Thousand Demon Banner to refine Kane?!”

“Yep.”

Ilena stared, stunned, as Enya nodded without hesitation. Her jaw practically hit the floor.

After two seconds of silence, she cautiously asked:

“Your Highness… did you and Kane have a fight recently?”

“Nope. Our relationship is wonderful.” Enya cradled her cheek with one hand, “The young master even said I tasted good this morning.”

Tasted good? Did you two even have breakfast together?

Experience told Ilena not to dig too deeply into that.

“Then why would you want to refine him into the Ten Thousand Demon Banner?”

Ilena couldn’t wrap her head around it.

If their relationship was so close and loving, how could she even consider something like this?

“Because I love him, of course.”

Enya spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

She turned around, hands crossed gently over her chest, tilting her head slightly to show off the elegant curve of her neck.

With a disturbingly blissful smile, her chest rose and fell rapidly.

“I love the young master, and he loves me. We’ve always only had eyes for each other. But the problem is, the young master is just too attractive—there are always some bitches trying to get close to him. Even though he’d never be interested in them, they just keep throwing themselves at him.”

“It’s so pitiful for him. To protect him from being harassed by those bitches, I have no choice but to refine his soul into the Ten Thousand Demon Banner. That’s the only way he’ll never be bothered again, and he’ll always stay by my side.”

Enya was completely intoxicated, her face flushed, fully immersed in the fantasy of a beautiful life with Kane’s soul fused into the Ten Thousand Demon Banner.

Ilena watched this scene unfold before her in stunned silence. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, several times, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

She didn’t understand—but she was utterly shocked.

“What? Ilena, you mean you don’t understand?” Enya tilted her head in confusion, rubbing her chin. “I thought if anyone would get it, it’d be you.”

“…?”

What? How could I possibly understand something this twisted… Ilena was just about to object when Enya added:

“Don’t you and your guy have something similar going on? I always thought you two must be like that, too.”

?!

“Y-Your Highness, how do you…?”

Ilena stared at Enya in disbelief.

Enya laughed softly and stepped forward to hold her hands. “We’re friends. Of course I know about your love life. We both need to work hard for our own happy futures, okay?”

Enya went back to diligently preparing the candlelight dinner.

Ilena, however, didn’t leave right away. She looked at Enya’s busy figure, and before she realized it, the words slipped out:

“Your Highness, aren’t you worried about revealing your identity to Kane? If he finds out you’re a demon… can he really accept that?”

Ilena wasn’t sure why she asked. It just came out.

Enya didn’t hesitate for a second. She answered immediately:

“He’ll accept it.”

“Why?”

Enya turned to look at her, a wide smile on her face, her deep eyes shining like stars:

“Because he loves me.”

……

Ilena had left.

In her mind, Enya’s final words kept echoing.

Because he loves me… Could love really overcome everything—even the barriers between races?

If that were true, then maybe I could…

With that thought, Ilena stepped out from the shadows.

She had changed into a plain, homespun outfit.

The horns on her head and the wings on her back had vanished.

Now, she looked just like any ordinary village girl.

She headed toward the vegetable garden next to Kane’s house.

There, a young man was hard at work with a hoe.

The moment he saw Ilena, he broke into a cheerful smile—an affectionate gaze reserved only for someone he loved.

That smile melted her hesitation.

Ilena decided, just for now, to stop thinking about complicated things.

Like a girl in love, she broke into a run toward him.

…

After leaving the village, Kane put on a cloak that masked his presence, a face-distortion mask, and strapped a flash scroll to his waist for easy access.

Once he finished disguising himself, he headed for the neighboring town and found the entrance to the black market.

Luckily, this part of his memory was still clear—if it hadn’t been, he might’ve failed before even getting started.

As if foreshadowing the trials he was about to face, the clear sky suddenly turned dark and overcast.

Thick clouds, like dense cotton, rolled in from the northeast, quickly blanketing the borderlands.

The air grew heavy with humidity—a storm was brewing.

Kane moved quickly through the pitch-black corridor. Before long, he reached the end.

The stench of decay clung to the air, and chaos and filth met his eyes in every direction.

This was a lawless place of sin—but also the one place that might change his fate.

Following his memory, Kane soon arrived at the shop where the protagonist would eventually buy a holy relic.

It wasn’t hard to find.

A massive scythe hung above the entrance, as if warning all comers—they were about to bargain with death itself.

There was light inside.

Through the curtain, he could make out the curvaceous silhouette of someone busy at work.

That must be the shop’s poster girl.

“Please let it be in stock,” Kane muttered, exhaling slowly as he pushed the door open.

The bell above the door jingled softly.

Inside, the figure flinched like a startled rabbit.

—Clang!

A sharp clatter rang out as something slipped from her hands and hit the floor.

“Who’s there?!”