Movira returned only at noon the next day. After finishing her conversation with Saint Eustacia, she had gone to quietly deal with a few “maggots” squirming in the shadows.
That was why she was “a little” late.
“Your Majesty.” Appearing alongside her was Erasia, whom they had not seen in a long while. She emerged from the darkness itself, silent as a shadow beneath the throne.
Her voice was far lower than usual.
“Speak,” Movira answered lightly.
“It concerns the Giantwing Demon convoy.”
The moment she heard it was about that matter, Movira’s brows furrowed. “I don’t want to hear about this. That is for Seraphina to handle.”
“No, Your Majesty. This time is different.” Erasia presented a scroll. “The crossbow bolts left at the scene… only human craftsmen could have forged them. Moreover, they are anti-demon bolts, highly lethal to our kind.”
The irritation on Movira’s face froze solid. The air around the throne suddenly turned heavy and still. She lifted her eyes and took the scroll.
When she saw the cold conclusion written upon it, the corner of her mouth curved into a smile utterly devoid of warmth…
“So the humans have made their move?”
Movira would never take Saint Eustacia at her word, yet… this was simply too fast. She had warned the Saintess only yesterday, and today something so blatantly “treacherous” had already happened.
“No, Your Majesty. Traces of the Fangs of Terror were found at the scene.”
Erasia’s final verdict shocked even Movira. Then her voice grew soft, yet carried a chill that could freeze the soul.
If it had been humans attacking directly, at most she would demand an explanation from Saint Eustacia.
But if it was the Fangs of Terror…
“Anti-demon bolts… How very nice!”
“That idiot Gorka, his brain devoured by nothing but power! I trusted him so much once! Did he really think he could borrow a human blade to sever the order I myself allow to exist?”
Erasia lowered her head and stood silently. Movira’s stance was clear; she needed no further interference.
After a long pause, Erasia asked, “Does… Her Highness need to know about this?”
“She may… No!” The sudden reversal left Erasia puzzled, but she remained still, awaiting Movira’s instruction.
“No need. Seraphina is already overwhelmed handling internal Demon Realm affairs. If we drag human powers into this as well… her mind will break.”
In truth, even if Movira said nothing, those loyal to Seraphina would still inform her.
But every moment delayed was a moment gained.
Boom! As she spoke, Movira set the scroll alight; it burned to ash in her hand.
The flames looked especially harsh in the dim hall, the light falling across Movira’s face—silent and cold.
“Your Majesty, one more thing. The prices demanded by the human side have risen again.”
After letting the breeze carry the ashes out of the hall, Movira merely nodded at the report. “As expected. Only they can produce such things. I will find a way. You are dismissed if there is nothing else.”
“Understood.” Erasia gave a brief reply and vanished as silently as she had appeared.
In the empty throne hall, Movira leaned back against the throne, fingertips pressed to her brow. Saint Eustacia’s icy, expressionless face seemed to appear before her once more.
“When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning hare is dead, the hounds are boiled…”
If Seraphina truly succeeded in dragging the Demon Realm into an era that no longer thirsted absolutely for blood, Movira would not mind sending the Fangs of Terror to the guillotine.
Just as… she had once saved them from that very blade.
And it seemed she would have to visit the Saintess once again.
Very soon, Movira’s voice reached Saint Eustacia through a magic crystal. “Anti-demon bolts have appeared on my territory.”
Her voice was cold as glaciers grinding together.
“Saintess, is this the result of your silence yesterday? Wonderful. Since the Holy See has apparently grown so poor it must sell weapons to demons to stay afloat, I don’t mind donating funds to your cause.”
The words were the greatest possible insult to the Church, yet the voice on the other end of the crystal showed no anger at the provocation—only calm.
“This has nothing to do with the Holy See.”
“Proof!”
Movira’s aggressive demand made a sharp glint flash through the Saintess’s golden eyes.
“There is none. But I am certain it is merely involves certain exiled nobles blinded by profit and a few degenerates conducting private deals. It has nothing to do with the Holy See!”
Saint Eustacia reiterated her judgment, then paused briefly, as though thinking.
“…Find your Regent. Every disturbance in the Demon Realm lately seems to stem from her.”
Before Movira could retort, the crystal’s ripple ceased; the projection vanished.
For a single instant, Movira herself could not understand—could even oppose—everything Seraphina was doing.
Yet the next moment she realised this might be the perfect way to keep Seraphina tied down.
To keep her… forever by her side.
As Movira expected, not long afterward Seraphina received the report Duke Dekrian had delivered: human weaponry had appeared inside the Demon Realm.
“Anti-demon bolts? Humans?!”
When Seraphina heard those words again, they felt utterly alien.
“I should have seen it coming. The moment the Demon Realm grows unstable, humans will surely stick their foot in.” Seraphina looked up at Lina, who had brought the report.
Unexpectedly, Lina continued right where Seraphina’s gaze led her. “I won’t deny human greed, nor the shamefulness of kicking someone when they’re down. Besides… prices on the human side have risen sharply lately—nearly fifty percent higher.”
With prices soaring like this, Seraphina didn’t even need to think to know that the new policies had zero chance of being carried out at the grassroots level!
“This is not the work of the Holy See.”
Lina’s voice was absolutely certain. Even without her saying it, Seraphina could already tell.
Back when she had still been a knight, she had served the Church. Those people who wished they could flay demons alive and drink their blood would never stoop to anything like this.
Hypocritical and incompetent they might be, but in this one matter they were bizarrely principled…
“They actually managed to sell weapons directly to the Fangs of Terror…”
From the outcome alone, it was unthinkable. The Fangs of Terror… cooperating with humans?
Or rather—willing to cooperate with humans?
“I had thought this was purely an internal Demon Realm problem. I never imagined outside forces would get involved after all.”
While Seraphina was agonizing over how to handle the situation, Lina’s next words were like a key turning in a lock inside her heart.
“Seraphina… does this not prove that the Fangs of Terror are traitors to the Demon Realm? And the very reason traitors have appeared is precisely because they are disloyal to the Demon King, and that disloyalty has caused… this division?”