Chapter 10
……The question of “Where are the people here?” almost rose to my throat.
“Ah, yes. Then please tell me about it.”
Half resigned to the situation, I listened carefully to Bael’s explanation.
“First of all, although Miss Liliana is His Grace’s aide, you won’t actually be working face-to-face with His Grace.”
“What kind of aide is that?”
I had already heard something similar from Roan yesterday, but it still sounded ridiculous hearing it again.
“At Winsphere, that’s what an aide is.”
“…But when you explained it to me before, I was told that I would eat with His Grace, go shopping with him, and basically stay by his side all day.”
“Ahem. That’s not important, so let’s move on.”
No, how is that not important?!
The rest of Bael’s explanation went completely over my head.
Then I suddenly came back to my senses and stammered out a question.
Apparently, Roan hadn’t been joking yesterday.
“So, Mr. Bael, are you saying that I’ll be working only with Mr. Roan from now on?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Why? Why?”
“Because most people don’t want to work with their employer directly?”
Hey! He’s standing right next to you! At least put some effort into lying!
I glared at Bael, but he didn’t care and simply shrugged.
His attitude clearly said that what had already been decided wasn’t going to change.
“I was actually looking forward to working with the Duke.”
“My, you certainly have unusual tastes.”
I had to grit my teeth at Bael’s irritating little laugh.
Apparently, the demons standing several steps away found the situation amusing, because they were all smiling happily.
Their excessive interest startled me, and I turned my head.
There stood Roan, their king, staring intently at me.
He reached out and lightly tapped the ballpoint pen holding my hair in place.
I shook my head irritably and glared at him.
Perhaps he was pleased that I had looked at him, because he opened his mouth.
His voice was light and cheerful.
“I really like working alone with Miss Ria.”
The problem was that his words were anything but light.
“Ah, yes.”
“Don’t you like it?”
Roan subtly asked for my opinion.
Seeing an opportunity, I answered hopefully,
“I prefer working alone.”
“But just now, you said you wanted to work with the Duke…”
“Oh, did I say that?”
Roan narrowed his eyes and smiled as if to say, “Did you already forget what you said yourself?”
“Your mouth gets you into trouble.”
“It’s rather cute.”
I heard Roan mutter those words softly, but I did my best to pretend I hadn’t heard him.
The other demons, however, had clearly heard him and their eyes sparkled.
I hadn’t heard anything.
“Hmm?”
“If you didn’t hear me, that’s fine. That’s not important anyway. What’s important is that the two of us will be working together.”
“There won’t be any changes, right?”
“Of course not.”
“I see…”
My shoulders drooped.
I desperately swallowed the sigh trying to escape my mouth.
Liliana walked along with a miserable expression.
Roan followed behind her with a smooth smile on his face.
He looked every bit like the King of Demons.
The demons watching them remained silent for a while, their mouths opening and closing as if they didn’t know what to say.
Some of them stopped rubbing their arms and grabbed the arm of the demon beside them, telling them to look at the goosebumps covering their skin.
“Is this some kind of new game?”
“No way. Our King has always avoided contact with angels and had absolutely no interest in the human world. He wouldn’t go this far just because of some new game.”
Everyone seemed to agree with that.
“Then maybe it’s something else? Perhaps he fell in love at first sight and wants to stay close to her, but our King’s status is extremely high.”
“Right?”
“Humans care about things like that, so maybe he’s hiding his identity because he’s worried she might feel pressured!”
It was a fairly convincing theory, and everyone nodded in agreement.
Amon, who had been listening beside them, also nodded.
It finally gave him an explanation for Roan’s strange behavior since yesterday.
“That makes sense.”
At his serious nod, someone answered sulkily.
Amon sighed and turned his head.
There stood Vasago, who had extremely short hair.
He didn’t seem particularly pleased with the situation and roughly ran his fingers through his red hair.
“Why make things so complicated? Can’t we just kidnap her and charm her into liking us?”
“Vasago. I told you not to talk like a demon.”
“But we’re demons. What else am I supposed to do if I can’t talk like one?”
Vasago bared his sharp teeth and growled.
Amon spoke to him calmly.
“You’ve clearly been ignoring our King’s words. Your head must truly be filled with nothing but rocks.”
“What?”
“Shion. Take this idiot with you.”
“Hey! I’m still third in rank! How can you order me around when you’re below me…!”
“Vasago. Technically, I’m also below you.”
At Amon’s words, Vasago opened and closed his mouth.
He had forgotten because Bael favored him so much, but when it came to physical strength, Amon was clearly above him.
He had forgotten that!
Vasago trembled in shock.
Taking advantage of the moment, Shion muttered something and bound him with magic.
“Amon! Shion! Let me go!”
Shion scratched his ear at Vasago’s loud shouting and silenced him.
“It’s finally quiet. Hey, if the King stops going outside because of you, are you going to take responsibility?”
“Mmph! Mmph!!!”
“Your rank stopped being useful a long time ago.”
Shion irritably pushed his hair back and followed behind Amon.
Vasago, bound behind them and floating helplessly in the air, was dragged along with them.
After they disappeared, silence returned to the area.
Of course, only for a moment.
The demons who had stopped talking soon gathered together in small groups again and began exchanging opinions.
“Is our King experiencing his first love?”
“Could he be acting like this because he’s worried we’d discriminate against her?”
“Are you crazy? Would we really do something like that?”
“Our King is more sensitive than you’d think. He might have actually worried about something like that.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
They were too busy discussing the newly arrived Liliana.
Then one of them remembered Bael’s serious warning from yesterday and asked,
“Yesterday, I thought we were only supposed to hide the fact that we’re demons for a little while. Apparently that’s not the case. How long are we supposed to keep hiding it?”
“Until the King tells her himself?”
“…Even if we try to hide it, do you really think we can keep her from finding out?”
Everyone froze at those words.
They weren’t even worried about hiding it anymore.
They were worried about what would happen if she found out.
With pale faces, they continued discussing what they should do from then on until the sun went down.
“How long are you going to keep following me?”
I asked Roan, who was walking beside me.
“Mr. Bael said that greeting me today would be enough.”
Maybe it was because meeting all those exhausting demons had drained me.
I wanted to rest.
I was preparing to make my excuse when I saw Roan’s lips curl into a smile.
I made up my mind.
He was definitely about to suggest something, but I would refuse no matter what.
“Are you not curious about Winsphere?”
“Uh…”
“There are quite a few interesting places here because it’s not well known outside.”
Roan began tempting me with suggestions tailored to my interests.
“Especially the library. It has not only old and rare books…”
Seeing rare books from time to time while working was my one true pleasure.
Perhaps he knew that.
“There are also many flowers in the garden that only bloom in the South. Oh, Gremory takes care of it, and I believe she also handles documents related to plants. If you go with her, you might be able to see them as well.”
More than anything, I loved books about plants.
“So, I…”
“And there’s a large river near one of the Winsphere villas. I noticed that quite a few small animals wander around there.”
For a moment, I almost fell for it.
Did he even know how obsessed I was with small, cute animals?
I quickly pulled myself together and cleared my throat.
“Mr. Roan, I think I’d rather go back to my room and get some rest.”
I gave him an awkward smile and increased the distance between us.
“If I’m curious later, I’ll ask you separately…”
Roan tilted his head as he watched me.
Then he asked, as if wondering whether I could really refuse this one too.
“Have you ever heard of the Angel Flower, a flower said to be almost legendary?”
