Ronobe and Dekarabia were unaware, but they both harbored the same thought, concluding with a ‘Surely not’.
Dekarabia, tilting her head, finally took a step. Assisting Beril in her morning routine was her exclusive duty as a maid.
However, she soon felt the gaze of Beleled and had to stop. The cold stare communicated one thing.
Do not follow.
Only the two of us will go.
“……”
At that moment when she turned her head, when she looked at Beril, an unusual gentleness overlay Beleled’s face.
Gentleness?
Dekarabia felt it was the least appropriate word to associate with Beleled, the demon overlord who united the demon realm through force.
—Thud.
After the two had left, Ronobe and Dekarabia’s gazes met again.
“……Surely.”
Ronobe still wore a ‘surely not’ expression. However, Dekarabia felt, somehow, her intuition was correct.
While Ronobe concluded logically that a demon maintaining peace for over 400 years wouldn’t suddenly change, Dekarabia thought otherwise.
That’s why she read a different emotion in Beleled’s eyes.
“……I’ll go see.”
Dekarabia turned away from Ronobe. There was one place to seek answers at times like this in Vain.
Since she had received a sort of summons, there was no reason she couldn’t go.
Recalling the path her two masters took, Dekarabia turned in the exact opposite direction.
She instinctively knew they should not meet.
“……Hmm.”
Ronobe, also pondering, eventually followed her.
—Thud.
Finally, the empty bedroom door closed with a soft reverberation.
It was the first time Beril had examined Beleled’s office in such detail.
On one side of the packed bookshelf were books about the human world; the other side was filled with books about the demon realm.
And behind his desk, countless documents used for or in business were stored.
[Military Management Records]At a glance, these were documents that any moderate noble house wouldn’t show to outsiders.
Beril quickly averted her eyes. However, Beleled spoke to her.
“You may look at anything.”
At those words, Beril gave a perplexed smile.
“Aren’t there things I shouldn’t see?”
About the military, or Vain’s secrets.
Yet, Beleled shook his head without hesitation.
“If you remember whose mistress you are, it’s not a problem worth worrying about.”
“That is.”
Can a demon so easily trust a human?
Although there are many sayings among humans not to trust demons, I wonder if there are sayings for demons not to trust humans.
It doesn’t seem likely that they would easily trust humans.
Then what does this person trust about me to reveal secrets so easily?
What if I betray them and run away one day?
Of course, I had no plans to escape, and there would be no escaping from demons with abilities beyond human capacity.
But you never know.
Beril slightly tilted her head. Is it because they know about my past? Because they saw my past through their ‘inner sight’?
It felt good for someone to trust me, but too much trust made Beril feel constricted.
It felt like this relationship would break if she didn’t give back as much as she received. She didn’t know how to handle this.
Accustomed to priests trying to use me, or the two dukes from a past life trying to fulfill their twisted desires, she was at a loss.
“Helbas.”
But Velered gestured to a bird pecking at something by the window, as if this was a right you were naturally entitled to.
―Tweet!
Responding with a chirp, Helbas soon transformed into a human form.
“Did you call for me?”
“If you have any questions, I’ll explain.”
Helbas pointed to the bookshelf behind Beril. It was where Beril had focused her attention the most. The bookshelf with books related to demons.
“……Thank you.”
She had been forced to bestow favors before, but she hadn’t received many.
Suddenly, Beril thought. Is it okay to just receive like this?
But standing next to him might interfere with his work.
This would also be helping him.
Beril began to earnestly scrutinize the bookshelf after settling her thoughts.
The first thing that caught her eye was a single word.
“Hellgate…….”
“Are you curious about the Hellgate?”
Helbas responded immediately. Beril nodded her head. Because it was something she had to open herself.
“The Hellgate is located underground.”
At Helbas’s words, Beril couldn’t help but blink like a fool.
“Underground… It’s located here underground?”
Isn’t it in front of the altar where I have to perform the gate-opening ritual?
She was well aware of the location of the gate, having performed the ritual in a past life.
The gate that opens a passage to heaven or hell, depending on the offering of the Opening Ceremony, was located in the center of the continent.
“Isn’t it the altar for the Opening Ceremony?”
Beril asked for confirmation once more. Helbas nodded as if it was obvious.
“Yes. What’s there is merely a sort of forward base; the real thing is underground here.”
Helbas slightly furrowed his eyebrows.
“It’s closing little by little, though.”
Closing? Beril instinctively looked back at Beleled.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”