Gabriella descended the stairs to the lower levels, the bracelet already in hand as she reached the basement.
The basement corridors were far more spacious, and the innermost room was an alchemy workshop long fallen into disuse.
The space was roughly the size of a basketball court.
A circular black stone altar stood in the center, covered in ancient script, its visible cracks bearing witness to countless years.
She stepped forward and placed the bracelet on the altar in the darkened room—an area originally meant for alchemy and crafting magic arrays.
Now, she needed to tamper with it.
She wanted to see just how far this so-called Heavenly Herald could go.
What exactly did she plan to do to the Evil God?
Whether a Heavenly Herald even deserved to exist in this world…
Seal the Evil God?
How utterly damnable.
“Lady Gabriella?”
At that moment, a voice called from the doorway.
Gabriella instinctively turned, meeting the gaze of the Saintess who had quietly entered.
Seeing Loli’s face eased her inner anger slightly.
“Loli, why are you here?”
“It’s my turn to clean the basement today. I just happened to run into you, Master.”
“Hmm.”
“Is something wrong, Lady Gabriella? You don’t look well.”
Gabriella suddenly realized her emotions might have gotten out of control.
When she learned the Heavenly Herald intended to seal the Evil God, she had nearly lost her reason.
“I… I don’t know…”
“Would you like to tell me more, Master?”
The Saintess walked behind her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
Gabriella’s eyes dimmed.
“I… Whenever I think about Isabella being in danger, it just… hurts.”
Gabriella was shocked by her own words.
How could she feel such sympathy for that idiot Isabella?
She had thought this feeling was only occasional.
But was it really just occasional?
For example, she felt sad leaving Isabella because she imagined the idiot Demon King looking at her with aggrieved eyes, begging her to return—or how upset Isabella would be without her little cakes.
If she saw Isabella standing with humans, fighting against her—would that feel like betrayal, enough to break her heart?
Gabriella could clearly picture that idiot Isabella crying.
She knew Isabella far too well.
Things like this had happened more than once.
Gabriella lowered her head.
She placed the bracelet on the black stone altar, its crimson glow casting beautiful ripples across her cheeks—yet they found no reflection in her lovely eyes.
Her tail no longer swayed; it drooped to the floor. To keep it from getting dirty, Gabriella flicked it forward and fell into thought.
She couldn’t understand it.
She clearly wasn’t under control, yet she kept considering that idiot Isabella—so she shouldn’t be this loyal.
As she pondered, the Saintess Loli quietly moved to her side.
Because of her small stature, Gabriella had to lower her head slightly to meet Loli’s eyes.
“Lady Gabriella, you’ve always been like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“You can’t recognize your own feelings. You need someone to push you before you realize—like how you wouldn’t have known how much you like the Demon King if you hadn’t kissed her.”
“Huh? I don’t… like her that much… It’s not like that.”
Gabriella stammered.
Could the kiss in the dining hall today have been part of Loli’s plan?
She’s supposed to be my loyal weapon, damn it.
“Some things I understood the moment I arrived in the residential palace. The way you look at the Demon King isn’t like a subordinate to a superior, nor like an enemy—it’s deeper than close friends, a far more intimate bond.”
“I don’t know what love is, but I told you—you can use me however you wish, even if it’s to help your romance~”
Loli’s face showed no particular change in emotion.
She often made Gabriella mistake her for a robot, but both she and Tina were the cold-on-the-outside, warm-on-the-inside type—Gabriella knew that.
This idiot hadn’t even told her about the Fountain of Purity.
Maybe she and Isabella had planned it together, or perhaps they’d made some deal.
Had this idiot, like Elsa, completely submitted too?
Yet no matter what, Gabriella just couldn’t bring herself to dislike her.
“Your problem is actually very easy to answer, Master.”
Loli tilted her head, as if explaining something simple.
“You’ve already fallen deeply in love with Lady Isabella.”
Gabriella nodded, waiting for Loli to finish.
Loli lightly interlaced her five fingers, tapping her smooth, pale chin with her nails.
“Elsa and Tina weren’t wrong in their choice. They knew all along that you’ve always loved the Demon King deeply—that’s why they’re like me.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course~ I knew it the moment they sent me to the residential palace. The reason you don’t want to leave her is because you like her. So many things don’t need complicated explanations.”
Gabriella took a deep breath.
Honestly, she couldn’t fully agree with this idiot Loli’s words, but her mood had indeed improved a lot.
These people might not consider humanity, but they were undeniably loyal to her—even if there were occasional misunderstandings~
Gabriella hadn’t wanted to abandon humanity.
The reason she was so angry was, after all, that detestable Heavenly Herald.
No matter who this Heavenly Herald was, launching a sudden attack on Lady Isabella was utterly rude.
Ignorant and blind, never considering the bigger picture.
Full of nothing but battle and so-called justice.
How troublesome.
Gabriella felt there was nothing wrong with her own choice.
Because humanity’s approach was fundamentally mistaken—they understood nothing yet insisted on interfering.
The Knight Orders, the clergy, the so-called Heavenly Heralds—all of them.
“Loli.”
Gabriella placed her hand on Loli’s head.
Her tail began swaying back and forth behind her; when her mood improved, it wagged like a little radar.
“There’s one thing you’ve misunderstood.”
As she spoke, Gabriella released her hand from Loli’s head.
She slowly crouched down, then knelt on the floor. Reaching out, she touched the silver bracelet lying quietly on the altar.
The [Shadow] coiled around her arm slowly crept toward it, gradually seeping in and corrupting the crimson runes.
“Lady Gabriella?”
“Actually… I only like the Demon King a little bit~”
Gabriella’s eyes were completely shrouded in shadow, transforming into twin cross-shaped stars.
The holy aura on the bracelet vanished entirely.
The crimson was replaced by pitch-black miasma, and faint cyan-blue patterns appeared on the once-silver metal—the exact same shade as those on her horns.
She carefully picked up the bracelet, opened the mechanism at the back, and fastened it around her own neck with a soft click.
Sorry, Miss Heavenly Herald.