Chapter 77
“Fwame Dwagon, awe you mad?”
“Peep!!”
“Sowwy. I was wowwied the fwame dwagon would get kidnapped.”
Bunny, kneeling on the ground with a sullen face, spoke up, and the phoenix trembled its wings before glancing at her.
As the phoenix gazed at Bunny, who had gauze taped to her cheek, it tapped the floor rapidly with its tiny talons. Just when she thought it must be absolutely furious.
Flap flap.
The phoenix flew up and landed on Bunny’s shoulder, then gently touched her cheek with the tip of its wing.
Fwoosh—the blazing fiery wing healed Bunny’s cheek in an instant.
“Fwame Dwagon…”
Bunny mumbled as she hugged the phoenix tight.
Fwoosh!
The phoenix blazed even brighter red. The already red flames roared higher, turning an even deeper crimson.
“Fwom now on, wet’s go evewywhewe togewther.”
“Peep!”
“Mm. I won’t abwadon the fwame… no, phoenix anymowe!”
Bunny clenched her fist tight as she spoke, then stuck out her pinky finger.
The phoenix wrapped its wing around Bunny’s pinky, nodding its head up and down.
Just as Bunny, finally forgiven, let out a deep sigh and patted her legs.
Knock knock.
The door opened with the sound of knocking.
It was Allen and Kalbad, their eyes sharp and prickly like thorns, as if they were utterly furious.
“…Bunny, you’re totally screwed.”
Today, too, Bunny melted into a puddle.
Demons.
The most wicked beings in this world, whose very reason for existence was unknown.
A race whose true form was unknowable, endless in scope, capable of even touching human souls if a contract was made.
The race that wielded the wicked magic commonly called black magic.
It was said that in the deepest part of the Forest of Darkness, at the northernmost edge of the world where not even a speck of light entered, leaving it pitch-black day and night, there lay a nation called the Demon Realm.
But what Kiriel Yudia saw when he first set foot there was… ordinariness.
Unlike the dark, filthy, sticky, yin-energy-saturated hell people imagined, the Demon Realm was not all that different from the human world they inhabited.
The only difference was that it lay deep underground, a world where everything was made by magic.
They were utterly ordinary.
They enjoyed fine cuisine ordinarily, studied magic ordinarily, and interacted with others ordinarily.
They followed their king ordinarily and had laws ordinarily. They lived their daily lives in such perfect ordinariness.
However, most had no families, most children grew up without parents, and most demons scorned the lives of any beings outside their race.
It was a world of the law of the jungle.
A world where only the strong survived.
Lies were everyday occurrences, and the one deceived was the fool. The robbed were stupider than the robbers, to that extent.
Even those who had seemed quite friendly turned on him in an instant the moment they realized Kiriel was the enemy.
Adults and children alike lunged to tear into his neck. As if the peace and tranquility he had just witnessed in his eyes had all been a lie.
‘Bunny is a demon…’
But there were many suspicious points.
How could a demon summon the phoenix, a supreme divine beast?
How had the pegasus judged her as ‘blood of the Yudias’?
Why had she suffered no damage from holy power?
‘And a perfect human disguise.’
The demonic energy was so faint that Kiriel, sensitive as he was to it, had almost failed to notice.
‘The only conclusion from all this is half-human, half-demon.’
It was the moment Kiriel let out a short breath.
“Young Master! Seriously. What are you thinking with me right here?”
When he looked up, a barrage of gazes poured down on him.
Being the center of others’ attention was not a pleasant feeling, so Kiriel’s expression turned subtly strained.
“This doesn’t seem like a meeting I need to attend.”
“Wow~ Young Master, you didn’t hear a single word of our conversation? I was listening intently, you know!”
At Jedrian’s remark, Kiriel fell silent. In truth, he had been lost in other thoughts and hadn’t paid the slightest attention to the meeting’s content.
“If it’s about using the child, then I refuse.”
Kiriel replied, his eyes narrowing.
It was then.
Clang!
“έτυτομήπάθοςμίσομοςδήμοςάναςκύριοςάμαμορτία”
Kiriel whipped his head around at the sudden sharp sound of chains.
In the center of the meeting room, a pitch-black-skinned being bound hand and foot with mana-sealing chains was muttering something nonstop.
“I already told Father ahead of time not to drag that child into useless matters. How many times do I have to say it before you fix that bad habit of yours?”
At Kiriel’s pointed remark, Rudbride’s brow furrowed even deeper.
“Hey now, when did I ever say I’d use that tiny little thing? I got dragged here just like everyone else, and here you are, you brat, running your mouth nonstop to tease me!”
“It’s not something to agonize over in discussion—it’s something to just cut down.”
The fierce aura emanating from Kiriel filled the meeting room with tension in an instant.
“Now, now, let’s all calm down. We didn’t gather here to fight. The discovery that ancient elves truly existed is a major find.”
“I know. It’s a relief something came of dispatching those personnel.”
Kiriel Yudia added flatly to the emperor.
That day, what they had seen was an elf city completely overrun by the turbidity of a demon beast that had seeped in through a slight crack in the barrier.
The elf city lay dormant intact beneath the earth.
As if the entire city had become one massive ruin.
Of course, they had no idea why the barrier had cracked only in that spot, but the turbidity that had entered once couldn’t find its way out and had pooled there thickly. By then, nothing remained but corrupted elves and the land itself.
The concentration of demonic qi inside the city was so dense that no one without considerable purifying holy power could venture deeper in.
Yes, it was a place so dark and sinister that it was impossible to believe it had once been an elf city embodying purity and nobility.
One among them.
For some unknown reason, an elf that was awake had attacked them, and Kiriel had captured it alive.
After each side finished reorganizing, a few days passed, leading to the current situation.
A family meeting had already been held once over this matter.
“That child Bunny was telling the truth!”
“…….”
“I can’t believe it. That child—no, that person—must have received tremendous blessings from the gods!”
“Indeed. For our Yudia Ducal Family to be the first to discover ancient elves…”
“And from a branch family child, no less. Young Master Kiriel, adopting the child was a truly excellent decision!”
“More importantly, shouldn’t we send her to the Temple first for proper early education?”
Most of the discussion revolved around Bunny’s future disposition. Without any input from her at all.
“If you spout any more nonsense, I’ll take my children and leave this house.”
Of course, everyone tucked tail and fell silent at Kiriel Yudia’s single remark.
Today, too, he hoped.
He hoped the child wasn’t so outstanding.
Yes, he hoped she was just a bit more ordinary, a bit more unremarkable.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked at the others about to launch into yet another discussion and spoke tiredly.
“Handle the research however you like. I have no part in helping. And I have an evening schedule, so I’ll be going now.”
“A schedule? You have something after this, Young Master Yudia?”
Kiriel nodded at the emperor’s question.
“I have to attend a party.”
“A party? I wasn’t aware of any social gatherings hosted by the nobility tonight.”
“A birthday party.”
“…What kind of party?”
“My daughter’s birthday party. Last time, despite calling it her birthday, she only got a piece of cake and ate it, so this time we decided to throw a proper one.”
“Pie… what?”
