Previously
Ariella confronts Bivar during a territory management meeting, accusing him of treason for disrespecting Ludvic's orders. Ludvic intervenes and confirms Ariella's role, leading to a chaotic discussion about the territory's financial ruin and Orc raids.
Had she been an ordinary human who knew nothing of magic, this level of pressure alone would have rolled her eyes back and knocked her out.
Perhaps that had been his intention all along. But acting like this was no different from blatantly ignoring the Demon King standing right behind her.
‘How on earth has this territory been run until now?’
Ariella summoned her magical power as well. It was an instinctive reflex to shield herself from the magical barrier Bivar had unleashed.
Sensing something amiss, Ludvic tried to intervene.
“Bivar! Stop—!”
Whooosh—!
The Demon King never got to finish his sentence.
“Huh?”
A power no one could have imagined erupted from Ariella’s body.
It was a truly colossal wave of magic. The air around her seemed to warp under its sheer intensity.
Even Bivar, standing face-to-face with Ariella, felt it.
“What is this? How could a mere human…!”
It was an oppressive aura that brought the entire surrounding space to heel.
Far from falling short of Bivar, who had lived for hundreds of years, it completely overwhelmed him.
“Kegh!”
Bivar staggered back unconsciously.
Amid the collective astonishment, the most flabbergasted person in the room was…
‘My goodness, what is this? What on earth is happening?’
Ariella was in shock. The wave of energy bursting from her was far more powerful than anything she had ever secretly gathered back in the human realm before forging the contract. This was a turn of events she hadn't anticipated at all.
‘No, wait a second.’
Even while confronting Bivar and repelling his energy, Ariella calmly observed the flow of power. The moment she concentrated, she realized the source wasn't originating from within her.
Her body was absorbing potent magical power from somewhere outside herself, then reshaping it as if it were her own.
The process was remarkably swift, precise, and immense.
Where on earth was Ariella drawing this power from…?
“Grrrgh!”
“Y-Your Majesty?”
“Your Majesty!”
Ariella whipped her head around toward the unexpected sound.
“Ludvic?”
The Demon King, Ludvic, had his eyes rolled back and collapsed across the table.
Inside the Demon King’s bedroom, the skeleton chanted an incantation.
“Water Ball!”
Hundreds of water droplets formed in midair, coalescing into a single massive sphere.
The transparent orb wobbled as if held by an invisible hand, then succumbed to gravity and plummeted downward.
It fell squarely onto the unconscious Demon King’s face.
Splash! Splat!
“Pfft-phwooo!”
The Demon King, Ludvic, bolted upright.
Watching him, Ariella was struck by mixed feelings.
Even if he was the Demon King, was dumping water on him really their first response to wake him up? It was easy to guess how he was usually treated.
“What the hell was that?!”
His face was completely drenched, water running down the sharp line of his jaw. His thick black hair, dark as spattered ink, looked even deeper soaked in moisture. The stark contrast with his pale skin lent him an enigmatic air.
Had the time and circumstances been different, Ariella might have been momentarily captivated.
Unfortunately, she had just watched him roll his eyes back and pass out cold right in front of her.
“You are awake, Your Majesty. What a relief.”
Groib, the head butler of the Demon King’s castle, let out a sigh of relief.
Four people were gathered in the bedroom now: the Demon King, Richmond, Groib, and Ariella.
Olken had said he couldn't leave the territory’s defensive walls unattended for long and had gone to inspect them.
As for Bivar, after the Demon King fainted, he had hesitated for a moment before silently vanishing. The humiliation of being overpowered by a human had apparently been too much to bear.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
Ariella asked, her voice laced with concern.
“Yeah…”
The Demon King nodded, his expression still dazed, which only deepened Ariella’s worries.
This king was the lord of the land she had to live in, and the partner bound to protect her life… How could she feel safe when he collapsed in the middle of a meeting like that?
Was he frail by nature? Yet he had seemed quite proficient with a sword.
“Your Majesty, may I see your contract for a moment?”
It was Richmond who spoke up.
“The contract? Why?”
“It may hold a clue to explain what just happened.”
Wiping his wet hands on the bed blanket, the Demon King pulled a stack of papers from his breast pocket and handed them over.
It was the very contract that had materialized in thin air once they completed the ritual.
Richmond unfolded the document and examined it intently for quite a while.
With neither eyes nor a brain, how was he reading the words?
Having read specialized biology texts in her youth, Ariella couldn't help but wonder.
“Hah! What is this?”
A tone of bafflement escaped him. Looking up from the parchment, he asked Ludvic,
“Your Majesty, I ask just in case… Did you actually understand the contents of this contract when you signed it?”
Ariella recalled that the Demon King had initially tried to read the contract upside down.
Ludvic replied dryly,
“That contract only appeared after I agreed to the terms! I didn't even have time to read it.”
“Still, the magic summoning circle must have been drawn beforehand. Did you not decipher the runes, incantations, and pictographs inscribed upon it before agreeing? Or did you… simply rely on the general mood?”
Ludvic averted his eyes without answering, prompting a soft, frustrated sigh from Richmond.
“Your Majesty, the pact you entered into is known as a ‘Protection Contract.’”
“A Protection Contract?”
“A Protection Contract?”
Both the Demon King and Ariella repeated the phrase, their faces full of bewilderment.
Ludvic looked as though he was hearing the term for the first time in his life. As for Ariella…
“The magic books I read never mentioned anything like that… Are contracts with Demon Kings not all the same?”
Those grimoires were gone now, leaving her with no way to double-check.
“There are many varieties of contracts. A Protection Contract places the heaviest burden of responsibility upon the Demon King.”
Ludvic’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“My burden is the heaviest?”
“Indeed. Contracts are typically known to foster mutual interaction and magical sharing, allowing both parties to grow together. In a Protection Contract, however… that link extends to encompass life force as well.”
At those words, Ludvic was not the only one stunned; Ariella’s eyes widened too.
Richmond looked squarely at Ludvic and continued.
“This is a grave matter. In ordinary contracts, if the Demon King dies, the human dies with him. But the reverse is not true; a human’s death does not kill the Demon King.”
“…Is that so?”
“Of course. Most Demon Kings draft contracts entirely in their own favor! Given the vast disparity in power, that is only natural. The weaker party is the human, not the Demon King.”
Yet this contract placed both of their lives on equal sides of the scale.
Ariella had unwittingly learned a magic circle that disadvantaged the Demon King, and he had accepted the conditions without knowing any better.
“Because you signed a Protection Contract, the death of this human means the Demon King dies as well.”
· · ·
Even Ariella hadn't known this.
She had understood that the contract compelled the Demon King to protect her life, but that failing this duty… would result in his own death?
‘Good heavens!’
Worse yet, both parties had entered into this binding arrangement completely oblivious to the fact.
Ariella grew anxious over how the Demon King might react. What if he tried to nullify the contract by any means necessary?
Just then…
“Whatever. It doesn't matter.”
Ludvic looked completely unbothered.
“Nothing has actually changed. All I have to do is protect my contractor with everything I’ve got, right? Just as if she were my own life.”
Ariella, Richmond, and even Groib stared at him in stunned silence.
Despite being told his life was hanging by a thread, his reaction was as if it hardly concerned him.
Then he looked at Ariella with steady, confident eyes.
“Did you honestly think I’d bring you to the demon realm and then leave you to live or die without caring? If that was how I thought, I wouldn't have made the deal in the first place. Protecting you is only natural. Whatever happens down the road, as long as I’m around, I’ll step in. It’s as simple as that.”
His declaration rang firm, confident, and solid.
“I’m responsible for you. And I made my choice knowing that.”
Ariella’s expression shifted slightly as she looked at him.
‘…Turns out he can actually sound convincing when he wants to, huh?’
Even so, she couldn't bring herself to trust him completely. His sudden fainting spell moments ago hardly inspired confidence.
“Hmm, I see.”
Richmond nodded in understanding. Raising a bony finger, he added,
“However, it would be best to keep this matter strictly confidential. It must not leak to the servants or anyone else… This must remain a secret among the four of us.”
There was good reason for his caution.
“If word gets out that the contractor’s death means Your Majesty’s demise, every neighboring Demon King will target her life. By killing a single human, they could claim this entire territory.”
Ludvic asked in genuine, unvarnished curiosity,
“Is there anyone who even wants this territory?”
“I mean, theoretically speaking, it is possible.”
“Fine, I understand the contract part now. But what does that have to do with me passing out?”
The conversation returned to the heart of the matter. The Demon King roughly scratched the back of his head and grumbled,
“This woman drained nearly all of my magical power. It felt like I was being dragged by the throat.”
Turning to Richmond, he asked,
“Was that also because of the contract? Because of this so-called Protection Contract?”
Richmond shook his head.
“At its root, yes, it stems from the contract. But not solely because it is a Protection Contract.”
“What do you mean? Give it to me straight.”
“I reviewed the contract, and there are no special clauses regarding magical power. Unlike life force, magical power is shared only within the limits of what each party can bear. In that regard, it operates just like a standard contract.”
“Then why did that happen?”
“In my judgment, the reason Your Majesty lost consciousness is…”
Richmond looked away from the Demon King and turned his gaze toward Ariella, who stood beside him.
“…because this contractor of yours is an extraordinarily exceptional human.”
END