Malek observed their agitation with a delighted chuckle.
“I’ve been sitting here sipping tea, waiting for my prey to walk right into my trap. Hunting should be elegant like this.”
Hubert and Elaine instinctively retreated toward the door they had entered, because they could see something like red smoke rising behind Prince Abel.
“W-Who are you?”
“Me? Perhaps the more pressing question should be who Sergey Lindell really is, don’t you think, Elaine?”
Malek stood up from his seat.
He just took a step forward with a pleasant smile, tilting his head to the side, and Elaine felt as if she could not breathe.
Hubert now seemed to know his opponent’s identity.
‘The dragon that the master spoke of was the prince of this country! That’s why he said he could not leave the capital.’
A chill ran down his spine.
Hadn’t Sergey warned him?
“Another dragon will target my contractor.”
He had anticipated it but failed to foresee a situation like this.
‘You damn dragon! You should’ve told me in advance!’
But it was obvious. Rabes considered anything other than himself to be insignificant and weak. He’d never believe that another being could threaten him—until he was sealed away, of course.
Even so, Hubert wasn’t concerned about Elaine’s safety yet. He whispered to her urgently,
“Miss Elaine, summon Master Rabes.”
“W-What? How am I supposed to—?”
“Just do it!”
At his sharp command, Elaine began chanting the incantation in her mind.
‘Rekuro Rabes!’
But there was no response from the mark on her forehead.
Malek simply began to laugh out loud.
“Hahaha! Did you really think I’d summon you without preparing for that spell?”
He looked genuinely happy.
“‘Rekuro Rabes!’ You can’t even begin to fathom how powerful that incantation is, can you? Just like that human 500 years ago couldn’t.”
“H-How do you know about that?”
Elaine couldn’t understand that situation at all.
She thought it was Rabes’ secret, but even Hubert, who had been like family to her, and the prince, whom she had only met a few times, all knew the spell to summon Rabes.
“How do I know? Because I’m a dragon too”
“What?!”
“Shall we greet each other formally?”
The red smoke rising from behind Abel’s back began to blur into a human form, then changed into the form of Malek with long red hair.
And Abel’s body, from which Malek had escaped, fell to the floor.
“Hello, human contractor of the Black Dragon. My name is Malek. I am of the same dragon clan as Rabes.”
Elaine gasped, her breath hitching.
“What do you think? Don’t you think my appearance is better than that black dragon’s human form?”
When Elaine could only tremble in shock, unable to answer, Malek playfully raised an eyebrow and added,
“Don’t tell me you truly didn’t know that Sergey Lindell was Rabes?”
Elaine’s eyes widened even more than when Malek had emerged from Abel’s body.
“Oh my god, you really didn’t know! That guy has such a bad hobby. Why hide his identity even from his own contractor? Isn’t that right, Demon Butler?”
Hubert swallowed hard and gently pushed Elaine back toward the door.
“You know very well that you are no match for Master Rabes.”
“Not yet. But will it still be like that after I eat the magic core of that dragon inside this woman’s body?”
“What are you talking about? A dragon eating another dragon’s magic core?”
“That’s quite a delicacy.”
When Hubert heard those words, which were tantamount to saying that the dragon enjoyed eating human flesh, he realized that the dragon was not in his right mind.
“Terro, Contero!”
As Hubert recited the Shatter spell towards the door, a loud ‘Boom!’ an explosion was heard. However, where the smoke cleared, the door remained firmly closed, unblemished.
Malek looked interested.
“You want to let Elaine escape? Why? Someone is as quick-witted as you should have figured out that it would be better to give Elaine to me and beg for your life.”
“How could I possibly betray my master?”
“That Rabes doesn’t seem to have a good personality, but it’s surprising to see a demon with such loyalty.”
“He may have a very bad personality, but at least he doesn’t have any suspicious aspects like you.”
“Ah, I know all about it. He’s so straightforward, it’s almost transparent. Which, in other words, makes him stupid.”
It was Elaine who was outraged by Malek’s sarcasm.
“It’s not that Rabes is stupid, it’s that you are deceitful!”
“And that guy who didn’t reveal he’s Sergey—wasn’t he deceiving you as well?”
“He didn’t do it to use me but to protect me. If you consider why you deceive others, you’ll see the difference. Maybe you’re the fool.”
“Ahahaha! I thought you were a quiet person, but you’re really a reckless woman.”
Malek laughed as if he had heard a funny joke. But soon the smile disappeared and his expression became much colder than before.
“It’s fun, but I guess it’s time to get things sorted out.”
Malek’s golden eyes sparkled.
Inside the small living room, which was completely sealed off from the outside by a magic barrier, the dragon’s magic power began to surge forward.
“Step back, Miss Elaine!”
Hubert pushed Elaine, who had no idea what was happening, to a safe corner.
He had no choice but to reveal his true form as a demon because he had prepared himself for death and had drawn out his magical power to the max. It wasn’t the time to worry about appearances or hiding his true self.
“Butler…!”
Elaine’s voice trembled as she stared at the being standing in front of her.
Before Elaine’s eyes stood not a middle-aged man in a neat butler’s uniform with pomaded hair, but an unidentifiable being with a crimson eye in the center of its forehead, grotesquely large hands and feet, sharp fingernails and toenails like those of an animal, and a pointy tail.
“Hoo, you want to fight me? Are you crazy with fear?”
Hubert did not answer.
In fact, it was difficult for him to explain what he was doing.
Even at full strength, the gap between them was insurmountable.
The opponent was a dragon—he wouldn’t even be able to scratch Malek. But that didn’t mean he’d meekly hand Elaine over to beg for his life.
‘After living like a human for over 500 years, I guess I’ve become tainted by human pretense.’
Hubert laughed bitterly, but did not withdraw his strength.
Before meeting Rabes, he would’ve chosen survival above all else, regardless of who or what he faced. But that was a memory from a time when he had no place to belong.
He was now Hubert Lowell, the proud butler of the Count Lindell family, who served Sergey Lindell as his master, gathering, protecting the homeless demons, giving them a new life, and living with other demons as his family.
Malek, noticing that he was planning to fight back, smirked and tried to appease him.
“All I want is Rabes’ magic core inside this woman’s heart. You know you can’t defeat me. Why make things difficult? Hand her over quietly.”
“At least let me try,” Hubert replied, his voice calm yet unwavering.
“Tsk tsk. I thought you were quick-witted and smart, but I see you’re just as foolish as Rabes. I won’t feel any regret killing you now.”
Malek unleashed a torrent of magic toward Hubert.
A crack appeared on the magical shield that Hubert had placed in front of himself and Elaine.
Elaine’s face turned pale, but Hubert surprisingly thought it would be worth a try.
‘He’s much weaker than Master Rabes.’
If it was Rabes, he would have blown away that level of protection with a snap of a finger.
And even he felt that Malek’s magic was somehow strange.
Unlike the pure and intense magic of Rabes, which made him feel like he couldn’t even think of challenging it, Malek’s magic had a murky feel to it, similar to that of demons or monstrous creatures.
Of course, it was undoubtedly powerful, because he was a dragon.
Hubert strengthened his magic shield while simultaneously striking the wall around Elaine with magic. If there was even the slightest crack in the barrier, he thought he might be able to create a hole in the nearby walls.
“Butler, be careful!”
As Hubert continued to pound the wall, Elaine’s voice rang out sharply.
Before he could turn around to hear the voice, Hubert was thrown back against the wall he had been pounding on with the sound of his shield bursting.
[You dare to challenge me?]
Hubert looked up, spitting out blood, and there was a fiery red dragon looking down at him.
“Ah… this is bad.”
Malek seemed to be hurt by the fact that his attack, however weak, had been blocked once.
Hubert quickly set up a protective barrier around Elaine with his magic. He knew it was futile, but he did it to protect Elaine to the very end.
“No, butler! Stop…!”
Thud—!
Before Elaine could finish her words, a horrifying impact sound filled the air.
Struck by Malek’s tail, Hubert was sent crashing into the opposite wall. Before he could even hit the ground, Malek sent a magic ball toward him, breaking his leg.
“Arghh!”
“Butler! Aaaah!”
Hubert and Elaine’s screams echoed through the room, but no one passing by outside the door heard them.
[The dirty demon, how dare you! How dare you!]
The fact that the Demons who had been silent and subservient to Rabes opposed Malek, awakened Malek’s old inferiority complex.
From the beginning, Malek had never intended to keep Hubert alive, but now, he decided he wouldn’t even show him the mercy of a quick death.
“Argh!”
There was a cracking sound of bones breaking, and Hubert groaned as his body twisted bizarrely.
“No!”
Elaine screamed, but Malek, glowing with golden eyes, approached Hubert.
[I will kill you in the most painful way. I wonder how Rabes will react if I throw your half-torn corpse in front of him.]
Malek murmured softly, sharpening his claws on Hubert’s forelegs as he prepared to strike.
* * *
