“What’s your name?”
“My name is Bella, the eldest daughter from the Viscounty of Rodem. I’ve just turned twenty this year.”
“Yes, I’ll remember you.”
As she allowed Bella to kiss her hand, Estelle then proceeded right to the head of the corpse. String of tears welled up in her eyes as she gently wiped the lifeless maid’s face.
At the same time, there were numerous footsteps thumping outside the door.
“Your Highness, Princess! Are you alright? Please allow us to enter immediately!”
“Her Highness is unharmed. Please stand by for a moment.”
Bella, who had risen from her seat, cautiously moved to open the door. People first marveled at the scene that had turned into a sea of blood, but they began to ask Bella for an explanation right after.
“Her Highness was greatly shocked by the sudden accident. I will explain everything outside, so please summon Her Highness’ knights and a doctor for now.”
“Has Her Highness been injured?!”
“She injured her hand with a glass shard while trying to provide emergency treatment to the deceased handmaid.”
Estelle, who had turned away from the door as she took a seat, held a sinister gleam in her eyes.
When Estelle saw Ruslan in that absurd manner—his arm being caught in a metallic spear—and when she realized that Julia’s reputation had subtly improved among the knights ever since the messengers returned just a few days ago, she couldn’t contain her seething anger at all.
She simply couldn’t tolerate the fact that the daughter of a lowly prostitute had dared to defy her.
“Everyone, please come this way. Her Highness is feeling rather uneasy.”
“What on earth has been going on here?”
“It’s all the fault of the deceased handmaid. She was tired from staying awake in the bedroom late at night, so she dozed off. When Her Highness saw her, she took pity on her and kindly asked her to rest. However, it seems that the handmaid was afraid of being scolded and just after she woke up from her nap, she started to behave recklessly and that’s how this accident had happened…”
Estelle had inserted a shard of glass that she had been clutching on back into the deceased handmaid’s neck. If one were to carefully examine the corpse, they might have noticed that the pattern of the wounds was rather unusual, but naturally, such a thing would never happen at all.
‘Anyone within the palace is under my control, no matter who they really are.’
She had already lost Ruslan, her most loyal hound. The one who had made Ruslan like that was none other than that wretched prostitute’s daughter, the woman who had always stood in her way at every turn, the very stepsister who would eventually devour her honor and everything else.
‘If I ever get the chance, I won’t let her go that easily.’
The light of the rising sun illuminated her blood-stained face softly. Estelle Vestra was, as always, the most perfect princess for today as well.
* * *
At the same time, in the grand bed of the Demon King’s castle, a pair of demons as well as a human were laying together side by side. The bed was already spacious, but the demons had Julia sandwiched right in the middle while casting suspicious glances towards one another.
“Why did you wake up so early this time? You could have just slept forever.”
“You missed me that much, didn’t you? Don’t act like you’re not interested at all.”
“I can’t stand you either way! But still, why did it have to be today of all days!”
Agares wrapped her arm around Julia’s slender waist before getting slapped by Revenna with her palm down as she tried to remove the bug deftly by the other side of the bed.
Agares, who burst with anger, exclaimed at once.
“Ah, really! The little key is supposed to be mine for tonight!”
“Could you actually be any louder? Shut up and just go to sleep.”
The sequence of events had begun right at the time when Julia asked for Agares’s help in regards to Paimon.
‘If you help me save Paimon, I’ll let you have a bit of me…’
‘A bit?’
‘…a, a lot.’
Various incidents had kept the underworld bustling in uproar for a long time. Once the messengers had eventually returned to the surface, Agares, who could finally manage to catch her breath, demanded Julia to fulfill that promise of hers. The innocent young lamb, who was unaware of the dangers that awaited her, readily nodded her head.
Agares was absolutely ecstatic. She had promised herself that tonight would definitely be a fun time with the cute little soft key. In fact, variations of preparations (?) had been made in advance solely for the occasion.
Even on her way back to the bedroom with Julia, Agares could barely contain her excitement.
‘Why are you just standing there? Aren’t you tired? Come and lie down already.’
That was right until she had opened the bedroom door and saw Revenna was already lying there with her chin propped against her hand.
“The more I think about it, the more irritated I feel. When did we become so close that you could freely enter my bedroom like this?”
“Hng.”
“Ack, we weren’t even that close…”
Although Agares had aimed her words straight at Revenna, it was Julia who got quietly caught in between the situation while only blinking her eyes as she took on the damage. Her large eyes started to well up with tears as they were filled with distress. She tried to pretend that she was fine before she took in deep breaths, but the more she did, the more embarrassed she became and eventually, her face turned absolutely red.
“I, I see… I must have misunderstood on my own and gotten carried away.…”
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