“Selene? Selene… wake up!”
Slap! Slap!
In a dark room, Selene—the Shadow Demon of the Demon Race quartet who was currently posing as Princess Nolan—opened her eyes to a sharp impact on her cheeks.
“Are you… Oak? I’m awake, I’m awake! Stop hitting me!”
She quickly reached out to stop the palm of the black-haired young man before it could fly toward her face again.
The person waking her was Oak, a Beast Demon Officer from the Demon Race quartet.
His current appearance was a world away from his usual burly soldier image, but his strength had not diminished in the slightest.
The reason she could recognize him at a glance was that the Imitation image Oak was wearing was her own handiwork.
‘He has to go to the street to meet the humans, so you need to prepare a new look for him. His original form is too conspicuous,’ Luc had said… That was right, where was Luc?
Recalling her companion, the day’s memories flooded her mind like a tide.
She remembered taking on the appearance of the Hero’s Daughter in a secluded spot on the street, then entering the mansion with Luc after the explosion.
To save time, she and Luc had split up to search for the real Hero’s Daughter’s whereabouts in the fire.
Then, Selene met that Maid. She didn’t know why the woman was in the mansion, but somehow, the Maid’s expression at the time had made her feel a sense of dread.
So, she had put on a tearful face and affectionately called out her name, lunging for a hug, just as she remembered the Hero’s Daughter behaving with this woman — she intended to pierce the Maid’s throat with spikes formed from Magic Power during the embrace.
But before she could act, she was pinned to the ground by the Maid grabbing her neck.
Even though she exerted all her strength, she could not break free from the Maid’s grip.
“Who are you?”
Upon hearing that emotionless question, the Magic Power composing Selene’s Imitation began to collapse.
This usually only happened when she completely lost control of her emotions, but at that moment, she hadn’t even begun to understand what was happening before her eyes…
Ultimately, it was the suffocating sensation of being throttled by that hand that made her realize—the Magic Power itself was terrified of this Maid.
The magic that constituted her very being was trembling, wanting to flee from the Maid.
The particles even defied their master’s command to maintain the Imitation, desperately trying to escape from the terrifying thing in front of them.
Then she saw a flickering silver light. Under that silver glow, her very existence began to rapidly fade away —
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
Selene clutched her head and let out a terrified scream. Oak was startled by her, and his habitually stern expression became somewhat flustered.
“Selene… Selene… calm down! It’s safe here! And, and we are in the presence of His Royal Highness!”
Selene continued to wail and scream as if she hadn’t heard him.
She looked utterly petrified, and her Imitation of Princess Nolan was collapsing at an extremely fast rate.
Seeing this, Oak looked toward the person sitting beside him with eyes pleading for help.
“Your Royal Highness…”
“Why are you looking at me? Isn’t she your companion?”
“But I have no experience with this.”
“Then start practicing now. Learning how to soothe a crying girl is a required course for every gentleman, isn’t it?”
Not only did he fail to gain the person’s sympathy, but he also drew an amused look and a joke.
He could only swallow hard and open his arms toward Selene’s collapsing body.
‘Selene…’
“Don’t kill me, don’t kill me… I don’t want to die… I really don’t want to die!”
His arms froze mid-air, and he looked back at the person again.
The person looked at him with an expression that seemed to say, “Are you an idiot?”
“Your Royal Highness, I beg of you — “
“Are you an idiot?”
He was actually scolded. Thus, Oak had no choice but to steel himself and hug the girl in front of him.
“Selene, Selene!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I really don’t want to die… please spare me, spare me!”
Selene struggled incessantly in his arms, trembling while weeping bitterly.
Her entire body was freezing… like a block of ice.
Seeing her, who usually let out affected “Ohoho” laughs with such arrogance, turned into this state, Oak suddenly felt a pang of sadness in his heart.
He exerted a little pressure, but Selene continued to wail and struggle as if she couldn’t feel it.
So he used even more force, hugging the girl in his arms with a strength that might actually be painful, shouting her name even louder.
“Selene! It’s okay! I’m here! I am Oak Eisenhardt! I will protect you! As long as I am here, no one can hurt you!”
His shout echoed through the room like a battle cry. The person watching the two of them covered their mouth and let out a faint laugh.
“Oak… you’re Oak?”
Selene finally heard him.
She looked up; the Imitation of her face was collapsing, and the shadows of the Magic Power clumps forming her face were sliding down like pitch-black tears.
From a human perspective, it was terrifying to the extreme.
But Oak was not afraid. He wasn’t human to begin with.
He looked directly into Selene’s eyes and told her, “Yes. I am right here. Don’t be afraid. It’s already safe. I’m here…”
His usually stoic face suddenly turned red. He turned his head and looked at the person behind him.
“And His Royal Highness. As long as he is here, no one can harm you.”
“Gosh, you’re really a hopeless case, kid.”
The person sighed and shook their head.
Oak wanted to direct Selene’s gaze to their true savior behind them, but Selene’s eyes only looked at him.
“…Really? You’ll really protect me? You won’t leave me alone and run away?”
“…I swear on my dignity as a warrior and as the heir of the Beast Demon Duke. I will protect you.”
Oak felt the blood vessels in his face throbbing. Since he was born, his face had never felt so hot.
“Uuuh… thank you, thank you…”
Selene lowered her head into his chest. She was still crying… but the collapse of her Imitation slowly came to a halt.
……
After a while, Selene finally regained her composure. She gripped Oak’s sleeve tightly, facing The Humanoid figure shrouded in shadows side by side with him.
They were in a room of a high-end apartment. There were lights in the room, but they weren’t on.
Only moonlight spilled in from the nearby window, faintly illuminating the dim environment.
Oak wanted to turn on the lights, but his sleeve was being held by Selene.
Moreover, he hadn’t received permission from the person sitting in front of the two of them… His Royal Highness.
“Why are you staring at me like idiots? Drink some tea. I brewed it myself.”
Even under the moonlight, this person was shrouded in a mass of shadows that made them impossible to see clearly.
Whether it was gender or appearance… there was no trace to be found.
They invited the two to drink tea in an exceptionally relaxed tone—several cups of steaming tea had already been poured on the porcelain-white dining table in front of them.
But even with such an invitation, Oak couldn’t bring himself to pick up the teacup.
After hesitating for a moment, he chose to ask the question he had been wanting to ask.
“Please forgive my presumption. But Your Royal Highness… did you really kill the Sage?”
He had been by this person’s side—or more accurately, he had been “carried” by him.
After being rescued from the mansion, he had been enveloped within the person’s shadows and moved alongside him, witnessing everything he had done.
“How could that be? That was just a relatively powerful Doppelganger. If her true body were that easy to kill, you all would have won during the Great War. Though from the looks of you, it seems none of you participated in the Great War, did you?”
The person shrouded in black shadows took a sip of tea with very elegant movements… Neither of them saw how the tea disappeared into their mouth.
‘No, no, no. Did he even open his mouth?’
“I didn’t participate. I am the youngest son of the Beast Demon Duke. By the time I was born, the Great War had already reached its final stages. The Beast Demon territory had already withdrawn from the war at that time. But Selene… she should have participated.”
‘Otherwise, it would be impossible for her to have such a massive trauma regarding the Sword Saint,’ Oak thought to himself.
“Excuse me, may I ask a question!”
At this moment, Selene, who had been silent, spoke up. After calming down, her Imitation was mostly repaired.
She took a deep breath, finally raised her eyes, and summoned the courage to ask the person in front of her.
“Are you… the King?”
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