Previously
Bivar uses Blood Art to defend against Ludvic's overwhelming fire magic but is severely burned and cornered. In a final act of desperation, he attempts to take Ariella hostage, but she traps him in a high-density version of the Hold spell.
“Don’t you know Flight Magic?”
“Huh?”
At that moment, Ariella forgot how to answer. It was such a bizarre question, completely out of context.
‘Now?! In this situation? That’s what matters?’
She had expected him to start with something like, “Well done, good job,” and perhaps praise her quick wits just moments ago….
Yet why ask about that now?
“I asked you, don’t you know how to use Flight Magic?”
“No, I don’t.”
Ludvic’s eyebrows twitched faintly.
“A human who can draw the summoning circle of the Demon King doesn’t know how to fly with magic?”
He looked completely unable to accept the notion.
“Summoning is a one-time ritual that relies on offering an explicit sacrifice. It’s entirely different from Flight Magic.”
She then added in bewilderment,
“In any case, why bring this up all of a sudden?”
“If you don’t know how to fly, have you learned Jump Magic?”
Jump Magic, just as its name suggested, allowed one to leap high into the sky.
Hearing that, Ariella began to understand the reason behind these odd questions.
“That… I know how to use.”
“If you know it, you should have used it! That vampire was about to cut your head off!”
Ludvic’s expression remained grim. Yet he went on, uncharacteristically wordy,
“When someone rushes at you to kill you, the first thing you should think of is fleeing. Whether by flying or jumping, you must escape immediately! No sane person stands completely still in the face of such danger!”
Ariella could hardly believe her ears.
He was scolding her for not running away, even though she had stood her ground against Bivar’s assault and handled it cleverly using the Hold spell….
Even so, his only grievance was that she hadn’t run!
“In such a critical moment, how could I cast an elaborate spell like Jump Magic? I used the quickest, simplest spell I had on hand.”
Fortunately, she had used the Hold spell multiple times recently while fighting slimes, growing so accustomed to it that it fired almost as a reflex—even a sudden tap on her shoulder would trigger it instantly.
That was only possible because the Hold spell operated on a simple, swift mechanism.
Even so, dissatisfaction lingered all over Ludvic’s face.
“Next time something like this happens, run first! Don’t think about fighting. Do you realize how dangerous that was just now?!”
Ariella stared at him for a moment, then echoed his words with sharp sarcasm, stressing the first phrase,
“‘Next time’? There won’t be a next time, will there?”
· · ·
“You said you would protect me, didn’t you? On the battlefield or anywhere else. That is part of our contract. So rather than saying ‘next time,’ shouldn’t you ensure it never happens again in the first place?”
Ludvic looked completely taken aback. He was the one who had pledged to protect her, and he knew very well that his momentary lapse had allowed Bivar to target her.
It had been a brief instant… yet it had nearly cost him everything.
“…Understood.”
He nodded, his expression closer to concession and surrender.
Yet he still seemed to have something to say.
“Regardless! Taking on a centuries-old vampire with nothing but a Hold spell? What if he’d broken through it?”
“He didn’t break through. I stopped him. Right?”
He had no choice but to admit that, too. Ludvic fell silent for a moment, his lips pressed thin, before nodding once more.
“Frankly… I’ve never seen anything like that.”
A Hold spell net that dense and tight… was genuinely extraordinary.
Ludvic asked again, as if seeking confirmation,
“Don’t tell me you learned that… on your own?”
“Yes, I read the book and taught myself.”
“I’d like to read that book too.”
“You? You can’t even read. And even if you learned, you wouldn’t be able to read it.”
Evidently misunderstanding her meaning, his face darkened instantly.
“And why not?! Do you think I’m that stupid?! It’s just that I haven’t had the time, but if I actually set my mind to learning how to read… it’d be effortless, child’s play!”
“Oh, do you really intend to learn how to read? Keep your word, then. We can start tomorrow.”
“What?!”
‘Hooked him.’
He was the Demon King; it was beneath him to walk back his word once spoken.
With a sly smile, Ariella began counting on her fingers as though organizing a schedule.
“Besides, when I said you wouldn’t be able to read it, it wasn’t because I doubted your intelligence, but because the book itself no longer exists. Don’t you remember?”
She had offered that very book as part of the sacrifice when summoning Ludvic to the human realm… which had caused it to vanish completely. There was no longer a copy of it in this world.
“…Ah, right. I forgot.”
Seeing him stammer and falter over something so important, Ariella let out a soft sigh.
His combat prowess was astonishing, without doubt… but beyond that, everything about him was lacking to some degree.
Perhaps Richmond had been right when he said Ludvic had agreed to the contract based solely on instinct and feeling, simply upon seeing the summoning circle.
Honestly… this man seemed to need urgent tutoring in everything.
“Even so, how did you learn magic on your own?”
He kept repeating the phrase as if utterly unable to wrap his head around it, looking lost in deep thought.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he blurted out a question.
“You aren’t human, are you?”
That single sentence was enough to make Ariella’s blood pressure quietly spike.
“After all that, you end it by accusing me?”
“Think carefully. Could there be a demon or a dragon among your ancestors?”
“Stop joking, please. There are no such stories even in our kingdom’s founding myths!”
Ludvic began reviewing the reel of bizarre behaviors Ariella had displayed ever since they first met.
“The more I think about it, the more suspicious it is. It makes no sense for an ordinary human to do everything you’ve done.”
He eyed her with deep suspicion, as if scrutinizing some strange phenomenon in need of study.
“I was suspicious from the start. The amount of mana you drew that day was enough to knock you unconscious. Maybe I didn’t form a contract with a human at all. Maybe you disguised yourself to hide your identity. Is this a fraudulent contract?”
“You are truly infuriating! And strictly speaking, I’m the one who was swindled! I had no idea your kingdom was so broke. You hid it all so thoroughly!”
“You never asked whether we were rich or poor. How am I supposed to answer a question that was never asked?”
“There is such a thing as reasonable expectation! Who could have anticipated that a Demon King’s realm would be this broke?”
The bickering between the princess and the king raged on, words and accusations flying back and forth, all the way until they emerged from the forest.
Bivar was dead. It was a shocking turn of events. He was one of the realm’s oldest retainers, having served the kingdom for generations.
No one had expected his steps to be tainted by treason and corruption.
Yet despite the magnitude of the event, there was no great reaction from the inhabitants of the territory. A few rumors spread, but no notable unrest broke out.
When Ariella received the head butler’s report on the situation, she felt a slight measure of relief, yet she couldn’t regard this quiet as entirely positive.
The people were exhausted… so much so that they had no energy left for anger or shock.
They were worn down by life to the point where even their emotions had run dry.
‘What happens among the castle’s high nobility… doesn’t matter to them, corruption or otherwise. People can barely scrape together a daily living just to stay alive, so how could they find the time to care about such things?’
Elsewhere, Bivar’s manor—a sprawling estate now stripped of its master and all its former occupants—was bustling with activity.
“Move everything to the Demon King’s castle, leave nothing behind!”
Soldiers were thoroughly scouring the grand mansion, turning every corner upside down.
And the person overseeing this inspection was Ariella herself.
This time, however, the goal wasn’t hunting down a vampire, but searching for the evidence left behind.
The result? What came to light surpassed even what Ariella had known and imagined.
In Bivar’s bedchamber, a chest full of gold ingots was discovered, and that was only the beginning.
“I knew he had tampered with the ledgers, but I never imagined it went this far.”
“Lady of the Contract! What should we do with this?”
“More papers? I’ll look through them myself. Load them onto the carriage over there.”
“Understood!”
The voices answered her with vigor and enthusiasm.
The soldiers’ demeanor toward her had changed completely from before; when she had first arrived in this territory, they had sneered at her and neglected her orders.
‘Order is finally taking shape.’
It seemed that after the chase ended, Ludvic had gathered all the soldiers and said something to them.
Though Ariella didn’t know exactly what he had said, its effect was unmistakable. Ever since, the soldiers had begun treating her with utmost deference, flanking her as guards wherever she went to a degree that bordered on excessive.
‘Fine by me. As long as they show me proper respect, I won’t complain.’
The soldiers carried supplies precisely according to her instructions. And those vaults sealed with the strongest spells were being opened one by one through her power.
When Ariella later analyzed the documents, the account ledgers proved to contain every single detail of Bivar’s corruption.
The rooms once guarded by vampire soldiers were overflowing with treasures embezzled over the years.
‘Where in the world did he buy all these things in the first place? And how did he transport them? There aren’t even places that sell antiquities like these in the Demon King’s realm.’
The answer… was in the ledgers as well.
END