01. I fell into the Demon’s Castle.
It was now a little over 4 years since Julia had been brought into the tragic world of a R-19 reverse harem game, 《 Demon’s Paradise 》.
The game had initially started with the main character, Estelle’s 18th birthday. And after the banquet, a demon had approached the Emperor and Estelle, herself, who just returned to the inner palace, before he made a proposal.
‘Dedicate this princess to our Lord. Only then will we bring an end to this war.’
The Demon King’s goal was to become a Demon God by absorbing the mighty power of the magic stone. However, in the midst of a repeated number of failures since they hadn’t found a single way, they eventually heard a prophecy saying that only if the noblest human was to be used as a medium, would the seal of the magic stone be broken.
In response to that, the demons immediately demanded Princess Estelle, who was deemed as the noblest being in the human world, to become the ‘key of the Magic Stone’.
In the first place, the Emperor had no intention of complying with the absurd request. However, the war had been gradually leaning against the human side and in the end, Estelle was forced to sacrifice herself as she set her feet into hell.
Afterwards, as if to live up to the name of a tragic R-19 reverse harem while doing this and that with a number of handsome demons of the underworld, she eventually had her eyes open to the world of physical pleasures…… She remembered that it had been roughly along that way.
‘It was a game that a senior whom I had worked with forced me to play, so I can’t properly remember it all.’
So, when she first opened her eyes, she became absolutely confused. She definitely thought that she was dead, but her common sense just couldn’t acknowledge that she was suddenly in the world of a game. On top of that, it was a character of the Second Princess, ‘Julia’, who had never been in the original story at all.
For the first few months, she wondered if she had just been dreaming away. In fact, she had failed to die and so, she eventually fell into a coma while her body was still lying still in the hospital. Moreover, she doubted that her mind could have actually created such a bizarre world like that of a ‘brain-in-a-vat’.
However, to have it be dismissed as a mere dream, life here was just as miserable as reality itself.
Numerous specks of dust and maggots on the floor, huge cobwebs at every single corner of the ceiling and the musty smell that would linger indefinitely in the lungs were that of Princess Julia’s room.
As if to prove the long period of when she was neglected, her limbs that had been in their growth spurt were thin and her skin, which had never seen the sun, was ghastly pale rather than white.
The maids often entered without ever knocking for every single time and just uttered whatever they had to say before leaving. But then, even the contents had never been fine at all.
There were also things such as; ‘don’t ever come out of the room since a noble guest is here in the Imperial Palace’, ‘be careful not to be reckless since it is the anniversary of the deceased Empress’, or even something like ‘you are obliged to fast because His Majesty is all furious’. Then, they didn’t really give her anything else. It had been a cruel treatment that always reminded her of the difficult past.
Still, she just couldn’t find any way out of the game. So, when she finally decided to live in this world, the first thing she thought was how selfishly fortunate that she hadn’t been Estelle.
‘I will definitely get out of the palace. I’ll run away to a foreign country and settle down quietly and peacefully. So, I just have to be a little bit more patient. It’s going to be okay……’
Princess Estelle, who was loved by all, would be taken to the underworld when she finally turned 18 and the Imperial Palace as well as the entire Empire would be turned upside down by the unexpected tragedy. In retrospect, that could mean her chance to escape it all.
Therefore, that was the only opportunity to run away from all those brutal people who had never given her the chance to go outside and live freely while saying that she was the Imperial stain, who had never been properly cared for.
It wasn’t like she had personally pitied Estelle, but she just couldn’t help it. That was what she thought, but the Emperor had another completely different plan.
“Make sure you’re the one who’ll go. We can’t ever let Estelle go just in case.”
“But what the demons had really demanded is the noblest of humans, so how can I……”
“Yes, she’s definitely Estelle—the noblest child. She is entirely different from you, who only eats her meals needlessly while causing many quarrels every time. Do what you’ve actually been grown for so far. Or do you want to be kicked out of this place all naked?”
Whether it was at the Emperor’s direct order to act quietly so as not to harm the human world or to go and pretend to be Estelle or even to seduce the Demon King just to save her life—Julia had no other choice but to meekly nod her head.
The Emperor’s eyes as he peered at her who turned around were full of relief as if he had already dealt with everything that was turbulent inside of him and Estelle didn’t even spare her a single glance like she usually did. In fact, it was just as if she was merely looking at a single petty ant.