Her Delusion
William stood alone in the bedroom, looking down at his own body.
"To cast aside a Holy Sword this magnificent and walk away…"
Unbelievable.
Every woman in the Empire wanted him.
"So all I have to do is make Juin Marcus submit, is that it?"
He had been the problem from the very beginning.
Juin had always stood higher than William. He had always looked down on him with those eyes that seemed to know everything.
Promise me one thing, William.
What?
Until we leave the Demon King's Castle, don't lay a hand on your companions.
If they want it too, what's the problem? I've heard plenty of Heroes sleep together just to ease the tension of a campaign.
The Demon Continent is different. The Demon King's Castle is different. It's a place where desire interferes with conviction. Even if their hearts start to waver, you have to stop them. That's the only way you'll still have their help.
I'll think about it.
This isn't something you think about. It's something you act on. If you don't promise me right now, I'm cutting you from the party. What's it going to be, William?
William dropped heavily onto the edge of the bed.
Until he defeated that man, he would never escape this inferiority. Even Helena and Liris were still crushed under his influence.
I'll kill him.
Sorry, Liris. Submission alone will never set me free. Only by taking his life can I become a true emperor.
I will become the greatest emperor in the Empire's history—and claim you as my own.
Thud—
William ground his teeth and drove his fist into the mattress.
A single tear gathered, glittering, at the corner of Liris's eye.
"You shouldn't have rejected my heart. If not Helena, then it was supposed to be me next. You were the one who brought me to the Imperial Capital from that backwater circus. You were the one who undid the barrier on my heart and opened my seventh circle. You were the one who pulled a life that could have ended at any moment back onto its feet. It was always you."
Why do you think I wanted to own every Magic Tower in the Empire?
You were always going to have a hard time of it.
Even if you'd returned after killing the Demon King, the Imperial family would never have allowed you to hold the Towers. So it had to be me. I was going to seize the Towers through the power of the Magic Tower Academy, then hand them over to you.
Not now, though.
Right now I can't even remember why I wanted the Towers in the first place.
Back then, you were everything to me.
Spreading my legs for William was a choice I made so I could gift you the Magic Towers you so desperately wanted.
And you—
"You wouldn't even look at me."
The last image of Juin Marcus rose before her eyes: walking out of the Imperial palace without so much as meeting her gaze.
Tap.
Liris brushed a finger across her dry lips.
I still have something left to give you.
Lips that, from the day I was born until this very moment, have never been touched by anyone.
My first kiss—I want to share it with you first.
Is it still possible?
…
Don't tell me it's that dragon's daughter.
Did that little wretch bewitch Juin's eyes?
I'll kill her.
Helena, that girl—I'll kill them all.
Helena had even gone looking for Juin, claiming she would perform an Adult Ceremony with him.
That bitch.
I won't let you die cleanly.
Knights came walking down the far end of the corridor.
Their eyes flicked sideways, stealing glances at Liris's bare body.
Whoosh—
Liris stretched out a hand and called up flame.
The palace corridor filled with black fire.
Watching the knights choke and scramble away, Liris turned her gaze to the window.
Why does my heart feel like this?
Why is everything so chaotic?
As if the master of my own heart isn't me.
As if something has taken hold of me.
Then she shook her head.
"No. Every choice was mine. At the edge of the Demon Continent, I shouldn't have done it. I should never have gone into that tent. I ruined my own life."
Of course there had been a reason—but she couldn't even remember what it was anymore.
I thought catching the Demon King would make me happy.
I thought I would be able to own everything.
Instead I've walked straight into hell.
Every single day is unbearable.
"Can you help me?"
Liris pressed her lips tight and stared into the distance.
"If you forgive me just once, I'll repent and become a new woman."
Not a chance.
Even as she asked herself the question, the answer was already clear.
Her own mood was this wretched—and yet the clouds drifted by in perfect peace.
Birds followed them across the sky.
It was the sky above the Marcus Territory.
The Demon King was at a complete loss.
"How the hell are these humans more deranged than the demons?"
A young woman who had just come out of an Adult Ceremony collapsed onto the ground in tears. The man who looked to be her fiancé cried with her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
"They call that an Adult Ceremony? In the demon realm, that kind of thing is unthinkable."
A man came running, collided with the Demon King, and went sprawling.
"O-oh, I'm so sorry."
"No, no—when a man's in a hurry, these things happen."
"The world's fallen apart. How could the priests we trusted do this to us…"
"What happened, if I may ask?"
"They dragged my daughter away. She's already married—two children! And still they hauled her off, saying she had to undergo the Adult Ceremony all over again."
"Good heavens… tsk, tsk, tsk."
The man pulled a dagger from his coat.
"I'll kill every last one of them, and then myself. I can't forgive this. Those people are devils. No different from the demons themselves!"
"Well, even demons wouldn't go quite that far…"
"They're not priests and they're not saintesses! The Demon King's own minions would suit them better! They're nothing but the Demon King's lackeys!"
"I—er, the Demon King would never order something like that. He'd just kill you outright before—"
"You be careful too. Those things are beasts, no different from demons. I'm giving up my citizenship and everything else and getting out. Once I save my girl, we're crossing the border to another continent."
"You've been saying 'demons' an awful lot…"
The man clenched the dagger and bolted out of the alley.
A spark flashed in Beelzebub's eyes.
"Wait. This isn't someone else's problem, is it?"
What about my daughter Satin's Adult Ceremony?
There's still time—but that day will come eventually, won't it?
That, at least, absolutely—
"Nooooo, you damned humans!"
Suddenly the Queen's face rose in his mind.
"She never told me."
She had simply ordered me to go to the human lands.
And now that I'm here, a vast Dream is spreading across the continent.
It should be impossible.
All a succubus can do is bewitch the person standing right in front of her.
Most of them can't even use their power without laying a hand on someone. And yet here, the Dream was being propagated through other human bodies.
The Saintess and the mage.
Those two women had been used as instruments of the hallucination.
"My Queen—why would you do this?"
What you want is Satin's rescue, isn't it?
Not starting a war and slaughtering humans, but scattering a Dream like this and corrupting them?
What do you gain from that?
This kind of corruption isn't even my style.
An image of Satin's Adult Ceremony surfaced in the Demon King's mind.
For a demon, a nick on the little finger and a little blood is more than enough. That much I can endure. Demon Continent or human continent—what does it matter? The ceremony is only a formality.
If my daughter has become an adult, that alone is enough.
I can bless her for it.
But what did they just say?
Priests and saintesses, stealing a girl's first experience?
Power gathered in the Demon King's fist.
He wanted to return to the Demon Continent at once, raise an army—
If not for Satin.
If his beloved only daughter weren't being held hostage, he was confident he wouldn't hesitate even if both continents burned in the fires of war.
The Queen's cold gaze returned to him.
I am sincerely disappointed in you. Think of this as your last chance to restore my trust, and find Satin. Otherwise you will truly see the bottom of the Abyss.
Empty words.
If I can't find Satin, it won't be the Queen who binds me—I'll bind myself and throw myself into the Abyss.
How much terrible pain is Satin writhing in right now?
Is she even getting proper food?
What if she's being whipped every day?
What if they've drained all the Magi from her body and she's withering away like a stick of wood?
His body trembled at the mere thought.
The Demon King clenched his teeth and stared into the distant sky.
It was the direction where Satin had to be.
I will find her. I swear it.
Wait for me, my daughter Satin.
Daddy's coming!
A pigeon flew in.
We're working hard to stop the Adult Ceremonies. We've already abolished them in five territories.
It was a carrier pigeon from Helena.
But Juin—strange news is coming out of the Imperial court. The holy knights are gathering. It looks like they may be targeting the Marcus Territory. This is information collected by the Imperial Saintess Corps, so it should be reliable.
The Imperial holy knights?
Knights raised to fight demons, heading here?
What Emperor William wants is your submission. He may even be trying to kill you. Liris is mobilizing mages to help him as well. No—this was probably Liris's plan from the start. I'm sorry. I used to think the same way she did.
I unfolded the second note tied to the pigeon's leg.
Be careful of Liris. She still hasn't given up on the Magic Towers.
— Helena