Yuriel was extremely anxious.
Behind him was Arthur, to his left was Martin, to his right was Lyat, directly across from him was Lucart, and diagonally from him was Shekina.
The room seemed to be filled with people who made him uncomfortable, and it was almost unbearable.
He carefully glanced around to gauge the mood.
“So, you’re telling me that this priest knew of our existence yet dared to remain silent about it?”
“You tricked us. We were deceived.”
“Unbelievable. How dare a mere human attempt to deceive us!”
The heated discussion made Yuriel flail his hands in panic.
“Th-That’s not it! I just missed the… the right timing to say something…!”
It was true.
Normally, when someone knows a secret someone else is trying to hide, the proper course of action is to preemptively say, ‘Oh, I already know about that.’
But doing so requires a certain level of audacity.
As someone who was extremely timid, Yuriel found it much more comfortable to pretend not to know anything rather than admit he did.
“When did you find out?”
The air in the room turned heavy and cold.
Lucart, no longer concealing his dark energy, was showing his true self as the Demon King.
Yuriel felt as though he couldn’t breathe.
At that moment, a thought crossed his mind: he was like an ant in front of a lion… no, less than that.
These beings had truly been sparing him. Yuriel nervously fiddled with his hands and murmured.
“Since the Holy See exploded.”
Whoosh!
All eyes turned to Shekina. Still munching on pudding, Shekina responded.
“Why are you looking at me? I couldn’t do anything about it.”
What now?
Shekina’s sharp glare made the others shift their attention back to Yuriel.
“T-The aura from those monsters… It felt the same as Lady Shekina’s.”
Whoosh!
Again, everyone looked at Shekina.
“Stop staring at me! What do you expect me to say?!”
It was no longer reasonable to blame Shekina at this point.
Lyat, holding his throbbing head, asked the final question.
“And that alone made you certain we were demons?”
“N-No.”
Yuriel glanced behind him at Arthur.
“I-I saw Sir Arthur using dark energy…”
“You bastard! It’s your fault, then!”
“Argh! Argh! Why are you hitting me?! Argh!”
Arthur looked genuinely wronged, but no one, not even Shekina, showed him any sympathy.
Shekina finished scraping the last bit of pudding from the bowl and looked up at Lucart.
“So.”
Lucart spoke.
“Why did you keep silent all this time?”
Yuriel gulped nervously.
“I… I was thinking.”
“Thinking?”
“Y-Yes. About the people who saved us twice… and the Holy Father, who killed people and mocked us… which side truly represents good…”
He looked straight into Lucart’s eyes.
“I-I’m not sure yet. But I know one thing for certain. You… you’re not bad people. That’s why…”
“That’s why?”
“I have no intention of reporting you to anyone!”
Hah?
Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of disbelief.
Arthur wiped the blood from his forehead and spoke.
“If you’d even shown the slightest intent to report us, you wouldn’t still be here.”
“E-Excuse me?”
“Your head would’ve already been rolling on the floor over there.”
“T-That’s…”
Arthur pointed to a corner of the room with a twisted grin that made him look more like a demon than ever before. Or was he just mad because he had been the only one beaten up?
“What should we do? Should we throw him in the dungeon?”
Lyat adjusted his glasses and asked. Instead of answering, Lucart glanced at Shekina. Shekina shrugged.
“Why not just let him be? He hasn’t caused any trouble so far.”
“Oh, Shekina. Think carefully. What if he decides to report us to the temple?”
“And who’s going to believe him if he does?”
“Hmm?”
“The Pope who suspected us is already out of the picture. The Northern Temple, which tried to kill him, is now scrambling to take over the Pope’s position. And… if he tries to contact other temples, we’d know about it immediately.”
Fair enough.
Right now, Yuriel was practically a vagabond with nowhere to go. What could someone in his position possibly say or do?
“Keeping an eye on him seems like the better option for now.”
Lucart, who had been watching Shekina mutter his thoughts, nodded in agreement.
“Let’s do that.”
“Th-Thank you…!”
As Yuriel was about to kneel in gratitude, Lyat grabbed him firmly by the shoulder.
“You.”
Lyat pointed two fingers from his eyes to Yuriel’s, signaling as he spoke.
“I’m watching you. Closely.”
“Y-Yes, of course…”
“I’m watching too. Always.”
“Y-Yes, yes…!”
Lucart, watching their exchange from above, pressed his temple with his fingers and murmured.
“Remember, nothing is more foolish than dividing the world into good and evil.”
– I will kill you, your followers, and everyone around you. I will erase you from existence.
– This is my response to your betrayal.
Lucart knew that his own darkness didn’t stem from inherently being evil.
Pushing away the faint memories that stirred in him, Lucart muttered softly.
***
Left alone, Shekina lay on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Shekina tried summoning the system.
“Hey, show up.”
But it didn’t respond.
No matter how many times she called, the result was the same.
This bastard!
Sub Quest: *Win the Prince’s Favor!
The prince, thrilled by receiving his first-ever command, is currently heading north.
You’ll need to treat him well, won’t you?
Win the prince’s favor! (Favorability: 0/100)
Hint: None! Figure it out yourself!
Reward: A collection of imperial family secrets.
Failure Penalty: Death.
After leaving behind this single quest, the system had disappeared entirely.
Seriously? It hasn’t shown up even once since then. Is this real?
“Ha…”
When one issue was resolved, another one always arose, and when that was dealt with, yet another followed. At some point, Shekina found herself forgetting what her original goal even was.
“My initial plan was to use the boss to take down Dehan.”
But was that really the right thing to do?
Now that the game’s storyline had veered so far off course…
With the appearance of a new enemy, Lucifer, and the urgent need to stop him…
Was killing Dehan still the correct decision?
‘What’s bothering me is that the body Lucifer wants to transfer into is Dehan’s.’
In other words, killing Dehan would also weaken Lucifer.
This aligned perfectly with Shekina’s original plan.
But still…
– I’ll dedicate my life to you, Lady Shekina.
“Ah, crap! Why’d he have to say something so unnecessary?!”
Shekina scratched her head furiously and shouted.
He’s only five years old, so why does he act so serious all the time?
Is that why Shekina kept being reminded of someone from her past whenever she looked at him? Clenching her teeth, Shekina pressed her palm against her forehead.
At that moment,
“What unnecessary thing are you talking about?”
“Just… something about protecting me or whatever… Ah, crap, what now!”
Startled by the sudden voice, Shekina sprang to her feet. Predictably, the owner of the voice was none other than Nisha.
“You! I’ve told you a million times—use the door!”
“The window’s more convenient. Why bother?”
“It’s not convenient for me!”
“Not my problem.”
Nisha smiled brightly as she approached Shekina. Then, grabbing her by the back of the neck, she lifted her into the air and dangled her like a toy while inspecting her.
“Hmm. Doesn’t look like you’re hurt.”
“What about my dignity?”
“If you cared about that, you wouldn’t be living in the Demon King’s castle.”
Nisha had a remarkable talent for turning logical words into infuriating ones.
Once Shekina was back on the ground, she glared at Nisha.
“I know why you’re here. I’ve already found the Black Spinels. No need to worry.”
“Of course. I expected nothing less from you.”
Nisha looked down at Shekina with a pleased smile.
“So, when are you bringing them here?”
“I had Calvin handle it. He said he’d bring them by tomorrow.”
“…Calvin? The leader of the intelligence unit?”
“Yep.”
At that, Nisha’s expression froze like never before. Her jaw quivered as she shouted.
“Absolutely not him!”
