Previously
Ariella and Ludvic stage a fake kidnapping on the Imperial warship to ensure Oinos is not blamed for her disappearance. After Ludvic's poor acting fails to impress, he uses powerful fire magic to cause chaos and reveal his demonic identity to the terrified crew.
Ludvic grabbed Ariella by the waist with both hands again.
“Ugh!”
Even this time, however, the posture was far from ideal. Ariella bent at a ninety-degree angle and hung limply over Ludvic’s shoulder, her stomach pressed hard against him. Blood rushed straight to her head until it felt like it would burst.
Kicking her feet, she shouted,
“Hey! At least let me finish my sentence…!”
Ludvic clicked his tongue in irritation, looking thoroughly bothered by her. Then, just a moment later…
Whoosh—!
Ariella felt her body flip once more. Ludvic had shifted her position again when she kept protesting.
The view changed completely. Instead of looking down at the ship, she was now staring up at the night sky.
“…Huh?”
Two firm arms supported her back and under her knees. Her feet fluttered slightly in the air as she flipped.
Yet that brief wobble did not last, quickly replaced by a sense of stability incomparable to before. Her left shoulder rested against Ludvic’s solid chest.
Ludvic, who had been flying upward with her, was now carrying her in his arms, facing up.
To her surprise, it was not as uncomfortable as she had expected; despite his youthful features and slender frame, his chest was broad enough to make his embrace feel quite steady.
She saw his face from an angle she had never viewed before. This was the first time she had observed a man’s features from this close.
‘Unnecessarily handsome.’
The flames rising from below had become their source of light. Thanks to that, crimson and black danced across his jawline.
It was a fierce illumination that could not be compared to ordinary stage lighting made of reflectors and oil lamps.
Set against the light he had created himself, Ludvic’s face looked mysteriously captivating.
In the man’s eyes, which resembled red rubies, the glow of the flames mingled in a similar hue. The heated air rose around them, brushing past them as they hung suspended in midair.
They exchanged glances in silence. It was as if time had stopped. Even the sound of roaring flames and the screams of people running about faded for a moment.
The Demon King, who had been staring down at Ariella with that fiery gaze, finally whispered in a low, dry voice,
“…What was the next line?”
Ariella felt the entire mood shatter at once. Even that fleeting sensation pressing against her chest evaporated.
She hurriedly whispered his line back to him in a small voice. He repeated it in his own manner.
Which was to say, in an awkward and utterly forced delivery.
“I will make you pay for daring to cross into my realm! This princess shall be my prize!”
Only this time, his voice was far too loud, and his acting was so terrible that not even a three-year-old child would believe it. Still, the surrounding spectacle lent the scene some plausibility.
“Is that enough?”
the man asked coolly, in a voice only the two of them could hear. Swallowing the strange sensation rising within her, Ariella answered.
“…Much better.”
She did her best to feign composure.
“In any case, let us finish this now.”
He reacted quickly once more. When it came to action rather than words, he remained remarkably competent.
As he snapped his fingers in the air—
Fwoooosh—!
The flame blades that had appeared earlier multiplied into hundreds, raining down like a deluge. It was as though a storm of fire were descending, tearing the world apart and releasing a brewing inferno from beneath.
The people felt as if they were witnessing the end of the world. Someone choked out a desperate shout,
“What are you waiting for? Wake all the drunkards! Put it out before the fire spreads!”
To make matters worse, the flames were devouring one another and swelling ever larger.
Sailors and nobles mingled in a frantic mess of chaos and panic. From above their heads, the Demon King’s voice resonated like an echo,
“Ha! Ha! Ha! If you can find me, just try!”
…That line was not in the script, either.
Ariella muttered inwardly,
‘Find us? Nonsense! I hope no one ever finds us!’
She secretly prayed that everyone would simply give up and let it be over.
‘After such an enormous uproar, they will definitely drop the matter, even if it is the Emperor himself.’
The ship had not been set ablaze in vain; everyone would testify that the kidnapper was an overwhelmingly powerful Demon King.
“Aaaargh! Save meee!”
She spotted Count Igor leaping into the sea, with only his head caught on fire.
He would face severe punishment for what had happened, being the kingdom’s highest official in charge of this marriage arrangement.
Just remembering how the Count had ignored her wishes, scheming slyly and stubbornly until he forced her into this union, made fury surge within her.
‘I hope he’s punished with the confiscation of his fief, has his assets frozen, and ends up dying homeless somewhere.’
Meanwhile, the rescue crew from the kingdom’s ship arrived. Through the lips of the imperials, word of what had truly taken place would reach her people.
At last, after they had ascended to a height where no one below could see them, the Demon King returned to his usual tone.
“It’s all done, right? Either way, since my vacation has been thoroughly ruined, I’d like to return to my territory.”
Instead of answering immediately, Ariella looked toward the distant coastline, where lights shimmered faintly on the horizon.
“Wait a moment. There is still something I must do.”
A short while later. They had crossed onto land, standing together in the skies above the kingdom.
Stretching below their feet lay the sights of the coastal city, the capital of the kingdom hailed as the jewel of the Edria Sea thanks to its year-round temperate climate and abundant bounties.
And this city would soon fall into the grasp of her stepmother. She was desperate to crown her infant son as king as soon as possible.
‘The people bear no blame, but I am utterly sick of the royal family and cannot stand them any longer.’
There was nothing tying her to this place anymore, so she felt no lingering regret.
Even so, she had asked Ludvic to stop by here, if only to place a single flower upon her birth mother’s shrine.
As she was lost in her thoughts, the Demon King spoke,
“If this is truly the end of it, let us return now.”
Ariella nodded.
“Yes, let’s go.”
Whatever bitterness remained on her face quickly transformed into a spark of anticipation.
‘From now on, I am truly heading to the demon realm! To the place where magic was first born!’
She had a feeling that there, in that world, she might finally witness the very limits of the magical power she loved.
Of course, there were undeniable elements of danger. Demon King contracts were fundamentally formed between entities of unequal standing, so humans were often treated as nothing more than appendages.
One prominent example of this was that if the Demon King died, the human contractor sharing his magical power would perish along with him.
On the other hand, if the contractor died first, the Demon King would suffer grave harm, though it was said not to be fatal.
‘Either way, demons have immeasurably longer lifespans than humans, don’t they? In other words, as long as the Demon King is alive, I will stay alive too.’
Moreover, the Demon King was obligated to protect his contractor, which meant her future life would be free from fear and anxiety.
There would be no more dread of falling into the hands of an inquisition or suddenly losing her life.
Thrilled by what lay ahead, she began drawing up plans for her future.
‘Since he is the Demon King, he must have countless powerful mages under his rule.’
The demon realm was, after all, the birthplace of magic, and demons were its original race.
Just imagining how many mysterious and potent spells had yet to reach the human world was enough to make her heart pound with excitement.
And since she was contracted to the Demon King himself, her livelihood would surely be comfortable.
A life of luxury spent researching and studying to her heart’s content—that was how she envisioned her future there.
A surge of vibrant energy and excitement coursed through her.
“Come, let us go! To the demon realm!”
“Uh, sure… But…”
“Yes?”
“Is it really necessary to smile like you’ve been bewitched? Seeing you from the side… is honestly kind of terrifying.”
The Demon King murmured an incantation. It was most likely the return spell that only one bearing the title of Demon King could utter.
It was a spell entirely useless to anyone without the proper credentials, yet it still stoked the flame of scholarly passion within Ariella’s heart.
Fwaaash—!
As the incantation finished, a light enveloped them both. After a brief instant, she felt a massive surge of magical energy, and the texture of the air around them shifted, signaling that their surroundings had changed entirely.
‘This is the demon realm!’
She slowly opened her eyes after shutting them against the intense flash. In that first moment, what met her sight made her utter in bewilderment…
“U-uh?”
Ariella’s voice cracked in utter shock.
“Ludvic, where are we? Did you get the coordinates wrong?”
“The coordinates are correct. We are right where we intended to be.”
Whooooosh—!
A dry, harsh wind blew past. Ariella parted her lips as if to speak, but she was left speechless for several seconds in sheer disbelief.
“Here, you say?”
“Yes, this is Ludvic Territory, realm of the Demon King.”
Ariella blinked repeatedly, wondering if what she was seeing was merely an illusion.
Desolate agricultural fields overrun with wild weeds, and thatched huts on the verge of collapsing. Broken farming tools lay scattered here and there.
Taking in the scene, Ariella felt an instinctive certainty that something had gone catastrophically wrong.
END