Previously
Ludvic reveals himself at the construction site, having hidden there as part of Ariella's plan to catch the supervisor off guard. His overwhelming demonic aura forces the supervisor to collapse in terror before he can offer a defense.
And that night.
“Hah… I’m exhausted.”
Ariella was thoroughly drained.
After finishing the library’s restoration work, she had spent several days combing through the accounting ledgers. Then she had gone in person with Ludvic to the bridge construction site and apprehended the Kobold.
Following that, she attended the interrogation of the captured Kobold. As expected, the supervisor denied knowing anything.
Yet contrary to his claims, numerous suspicious documents were discovered at his residence.
“Bivar, that vampire, must be involved in this affair.”
It made no sense for this to have happened without passing through the financial administrator. No wonder he had looked so uneasy when she told him she would inspect the ledgers.
When she brought this up, Ludvic appeared deeply shaken.
Though not much time had passed, he had trusted his subordinate, only to discover now that the man had been hollowing out this land for ages.
Ludvic was on the verge of slitting his throat right then and there, but Ariella stopped him.
She then recalled the conversation that had taken place between them.
“We must not act just yet.”
“Why not?!”
“We don’t have conclusive proof yet. The captured Kobold is still keeping silent.”
“Yet all the evidence points straight to that vampire…!”
“If you kill a subordinate merely over suspicious indications, what will the rest of your retainers think?”
· · ·
“If you execute someone without proof, you will be able to kill them once, twice more down the line. And they know that full well.”
If they believed they could be slain at any moment upon a mere accusation, whether guilty or not, it would sow terror among them and destroy their loyalty.
They might even flee this place before coming to any harm.
Ariella pointed out these considerations, soothing Ludvic’s temper.
Ariella intended, based on the documents she had gathered so far, to unearth decisive proof that would establish Bivar’s guilt.
“Just a few days.”
In the end, Ludvic relented.
“So, let’s leave it at that for today.”
Her energy had reached its limit. She sighed, looking over the documents filling her room.
Because the matter was confidential, she could not entrust the task to anyone else. In truth, no one outside Bivar’s inner circle was capable of analyzing this data anyway.
‘And that is another flaw of these lands.’
Every matter concerning money was under the grip of Bivar and his cadre of vampire subordinates.
‘There isn’t even an independent auditing body. Compared to human nations or domains, the system here is wretchedly primitive. It’s a wonder things still function at all.’
Even after turning out the lights and lying down, her mind continued to churn with complicated thoughts.
‘Ludvic himself needs to learn how domain affairs are run—and at the very least, he needs to learn how to read first.’
Her worries kept piling up, multiplying. Her life in the demon realm was nothing like what she had envisioned.
Instead of living in peace and devoting herself to the study of magic, she found herself fretting over the ruler’s illiteracy.
Those thoughts began to bleed across her mind like spilled ink as suppressed drowsiness crept in, her breathing settling into a steady rhythm.
· · ·
After she had sunk completely into sleep,
Rustle—
Two intruders began drawing near the silent room.
They were two vampires sent by Bivar. Bound to him by blood, their true allegiance lay with him, not the King.
They made their way down the corridor until they stopped before Ariella’s chamber.
• “Is this it? The human contractor’s bedroom?”
• “Yes, precisely as we were told.”
There were no magical barriers, only a mundane lock. No one had ever imagined that anyone within the Demon King’s castle would dare attempt to harm his contractor.
The two vampires set about picking the lock using magic. While one kept watch, the other began disabling the mechanism.
• “What is it? Why is it taking so long? It’s just an ordinary lock.”
• “Just wait a moment.”
The reason two vampires had been sent to eliminate a single human was that Bivar had not forgotten the violent aura she had displayed before.
…Click—!
• “It’s open!”
The two slipped inside, communicating through magic.
• “Over there!”
The room was dark.
The sun the Demon King had crafted with his magic dimmed at this hour of the day.
Even that faint glow failed to reach the room, for the head butler had drawn blackout curtains for Ariella’s comfort.
The vampires, however, possessed the innate ability to see clearly in the dark.
In the center of the chamber stood a bed, the blanket rising noticeably over the form lying beneath it.
It was Ariella.
• “Excellent.”
The vampires exchanged glances and nodded. They approached from either side, anticipating the possibility that their quarry might wake and try to flee.
‘This will be as easy as taking a breath.’
This woman had caused immense trouble for their true master. Such an offense could not be permitted to stand.
Though it was not common knowledge, Bivar’s vampire retainers lived luxurious lives incomparable to the rest of the domain’s inhabitants.
Merely gathering the crumbs Bivar tossed their way was enough to leave them wanting for nothing in this world.
Many had even bought houses and estates in the lands of other demon kings.
They could never allow this stable, comfortable golden age to be ruined. It was unthinkable that some human from who-knew-where could stroll in and overturn everything.
To remove the obstacle, the two vampires closed in on Ariella under the cover of stealth magic.
At that exact moment, however,
“Huh?”
Ariella’s eyes snapped open. It was not because she had heard a noise—the assailants were not so clumsy, and masking sound with magic was trivial for them.
Even so, Ariella jolted awake from her sleep.
‘What is this?’
She felt something tugging hard at her entire body, from head to toe.
She had never felt anything like it before. While she was not oblivious, she had never possessed such a sharp, intense sixth sense either.
‘Why did I wake up? I can’t see a thing around me…’
Half-drowsy, her thoughts drifted.
The room was pitch-black, without a single sliver of light entering. Since she did not know where the candles were, Ariella, being a mage, did what came to her naturally out of habit.
Right—if there are no candles, make light with magic.
The moment she decided, she stirred her mana and spoke the incantation.
“O light, manifest.”
· · ·
· · ·
The two assassins panicked. Ariella, whom they assumed to be sound asleep, was suddenly casting magic.
And it appeared to be the ‘Light’ spell used for illumination.
• “Tch, strike now!”
There was no longer any need for caution; the vampires lunged at once.
After all, it posed no real threat to them. The ‘Light’ spell merely illuminated darkness and carried no offensive power.
However…
“Ah? I overdid it again.”
Ariella sighed inwardly. Perhaps because she was half-asleep when she cast the spell, she had forgotten to carefully regulate the flow of her mana.
Worse yet, Ludvic had returned and was staying close by now.
With those two circumstances colliding, the outcome was glaringly obvious.
Whoooosh—!
Ariella felt magical power that was not her own pouring into her body like a cascading waterfall.
‘Is he going to pass out again?’
She was absorbing Ludvic’s magical power with staggering speed and force. It happened faster than light itself.
Before she could fully collect her senses, the spell was already taking effect.
Before the two assassins could reach her, light erupted from Ariella’s fingertips first. It was a blinding flash Ariella had never intended, and one the vampires had never anticipated.
Fzzzzzt—!
“Aaaaargh!”
“Eeeeeeeek!”
As the two vampires shrieked in horror, Ariella was equally stunned.
“Wh-what is this?”
Flash—!
The light spell Ariella unleashed ripped apart the darkness smothering the room. It was a fierce, overwhelmingly brilliant light.
All she had expected was a glow comparable to a candle’s flame, yet what actually appeared was…
“…A sun?”
END