214. Storm (1)
214. Storm (1)
- 1 -
Stella lay on the bed, gazing at the ceiling.
Her intermittent labored breaths and faint groans filled the silent room.
The blanket, damp with cold sweat, clung to her pale skin; her face had turned so white that the word "pale" could no longer do it justice.
The way her trembling fingers repeatedly clutched and released the blanket would make anyone watching think the illness had progressed to a severe state.
It was hard to believe it was merely feigned. And in truth, it was not solely feigned.
"Rita..."
I took hold of the hand she raised.
A cold hand. Yet, for some reason, it seemed as though warmth lingered within it.
... No, something that had been frozen within my heart was melting.
'Not now.'
For the moment, I simply pressed it down and contained it.
The head lady-in-waiting was behind me, but she merely stood in attendance without saying a word.
She, too, now knew my true identity.
Though when she learned I was not Joanna but Libertas, her face had turned white and she called it a grave disrespect.
"How are things proceeding...?"
"All is well, Your Highness. Everything is proceeding smoothly."
Her face remained drained of color, and her lips held a deep black hue.
But her eyes were clear.
"It is far more taxing than I imagined..."
What was currently encroaching upon Stella's body bore the true presence of 'illness.'
It had been created using the poison of Leviathan detected in the gift from Semira.
"All my life, robust health was my sole asset... To be lying in a sickbed like this... it feels unbearably awkward."
"Once we overcome this matter, there will be no further cause for such an ordeal."
"Will there be...?"
In response to Stella's question, I bowed my head and gently stroked her hand.
There was a reason I had instilled this genuine sickness within her.
Even if others could be deceived, the Demon King could not be.
But fortunately, the standard for that was not so strict.
'If there was an enemy attack, a degree of feigned severity is permissible, after all.'
And those conditions had already been fully met.
- 2 -
"Into Stella's residence... His Majesty's personal physician has entered, they say."
"Yes, yes... Your Highness. What shall be done?"
As the head lady-in-waiting's trembling voice streamed out, Semira closed her eyes before the mirror.
"Has an answer come?"
"The maid... has not returned. Your Highness."
"Ha, I see."
Her lady-in-waiting, a woman of the Blood Kin of Jealousy whom she had sent to Archduke Leviathan, did not return here.
Though news had clearly arrived that she had entered Leviathan's palace.
And Semira was not one to misunderstand its meaning.
'This means they intend to sever the ties first from their end...'
The coming and going of a maid was tantamount to proving the relationship between them.
It was clear that they intended to make it appear as if the relationship had been cut first, before making some kind of move.
"Truly foolish."
Her voice was thick with deep disappointment. No, it was closer to rage.
"To dare attack a woman seated as Demon Queen."
What she had wanted was the downfall of the Second Demon Queen, Stella.
It was not to attack and overthrow her.
Even if the outcome was ultimately the same, as long as she held the position of Demon Queen, she must never be allowed to fall.
Because then, 'he' would rise from the throne.
"To think I pushed the matter forward trusting such a clumsy individual..."
Muttering in a voice devoid of any emotion, she suddenly opened her eyes.
Her eyes, reflected in the mirror, shone coldly.
"I was foolish."
Her disappointment and rage were not directed elsewhere. They were directed at herself.
"Send the children to the administrative office. Secure all documents pertaining to the gifts sent to Stella's palace, and all documents pertaining to the gifts that entered my palace."
"Yes!"
Of course, she did not forget what needed to be done.
Her commands were swift and precise.
Even though those commands were given without knowing it was exactly what someone else desired.
- 3 -
Tok. Tok. Tok.
Leviathan, upon his throne, tapped the armrest with his finger.
Each time that monotonous sound echoed through the darkness, the entire hall seemed to tremble faintly.
The light emanating from his green eyes flickered, cutting through the surrounding darkness, and within that light, a sharp aura of menace was coiled.
- Surely not. Truly.
The two green eyes, spilling light with a coiled murderous intent, flickered.
- Are you saying the Demon Queen, Ishtar, has betrayed me?
A smile crept onto his lips. A smile far removed from warmth.
"Th-that is so...! Her Highness Semira is trying to pin everything, even her own deeds, onto Your Grace the Archduke...!"
The one bowing her head before him was none other than the maid Semira had sent to him.
Originally sent to confirm the truth with him, she was now relaying not only those words but also Semira's intentions to him.
"That poisoning is the doing of the First Demon Queen! It is clear...!"
She even exaggerated to the point of attributing everything to her, including things Semira had not done, thinking that this was what Leviathan now desired.
'If it is His Grace the Duke of Envy, he might spare my life...!'
Ironically, her betrayal was born of Semira's mercy that was not truly mercy.
Because she thought that if she was to die regardless of what she did, it would be better to fall into a 'falsified death' through Leviathan's power.
It was not that her family's lives or the honor of her house were unimportant, but above all else, she herself wanted to live.
Because of that, when Leviathan asked her wish, she quickly laid out her desires.
Her hopeful face brightened radiantly.
- Your wish has been received.
And Leviathan readily nodded his head in response.
- At the appropriate time, I shall arrange for you to appear to have reached 'death.'
"Thank you...!"
- Think nothing of it. Thanks to your aid, I have gained another opportunity.
Beneath his green eyes, a stark white smile stretched.
Catching a glimpse of that torn smile, slit to the very ends of his cheeks—that terrifying face—the maid immediately bowed her head, her body trembling.
'I'm saved...!'
She believed that she had now survived.
Without knowing that this desperate struggle of hers would only make an already great storm even larger.
'Foolish creature.'
Looking down upon her, Leviathan smiled inwardly as well.
In a situation where even Semira had been betrayed, there was no guarantee that this woman would not also betray him.
The path that lay in this woman's future was one of two things.
Being controlled by Leviathan, or simply dying.
By common sense, simply killing her was far easier than making her appear to have reached 'death.'
- 4 -
The position of the Demon King's personal physician was, in ordinary times, one with little to do.
Though it was true that his duty was to look after the health of the Absolute One and his family, the subjects of that duty rarely ever suffered illness or injury.
However, there was one matter among his usual duties that was of the utmost importance.
'Confirming pregnancy after the Demon King and a Demon Queen have spent the night in the same chamber.'
This was it.
In other words, the competence normally required of him was not so different from that of a human midwife or healer.
Except that his magical capability was immensely outstanding, since his position required facing the Demon King and Demon Queen directly—beings with overwhelming presence and power.
And that alone sufficed.
'Because their power ultimately stems from those nightly acts!'
What typically solidifies the power held by the spouse of the Absolute One is the child born between them and the Absolute One.
A successor, or a child capable of becoming one.
However, this principle did not apply between the Demon King and the Demon Queens.
'One must become pregnant, whether a child is born or not.'
The Demon King was a sovereign and the Absolute One.
Naturally, in a world where strength was paramount, the magical power of the Absolute One was mighty, befitting his name.
Because of this, the qualification to become his wife was determined by a single factor.
'Magical endurance sufficient to withstand the Demon King's magic during the marital act.'
No matter how overwhelmingly powerful a superhuman might be, maintaining absolute focus while spending conjugal time in the bedchamber was an exceedingly difficult task.
What more if the individual was one who never restrained their power in daily life?
In other words, the current Demon Queens were not chosen for their beautiful appearances or supreme social status.
'They were the ones with the most durable bodies or the best regenerative abilities.'
What use was youth and beauty, after all?
After conducting the night's affairs together in the bedchamber, they would emerge as a corpse the next morning.
Without a single metaphor, literally and in the literal state.
In short, the position of Demon Queen was one where, on the slim chance a successor might be produced, authority was granted to a woman with whom the Demon King could conduct his nightly affairs without any worry and to whom he could form an attachment.
'And that becomes the power of a Demon Queen.'
The women receiving the Demon King's favor. The Demon Queens.
And yet, one of those Demon Queens had fallen ill.
In the Demon Realm—no, perhaps in the entire world—these women were believed to have the most powerful physical endurance or regenerative ability.
Women who, even if their combat ability was unknown, were surely the greatest in self-preservation.
'What, what in the world is the meaning of this...'
This was why the personal physician of the Demon King's Castle trembled with tension, his lips quivering.
Having lived a fairly long time in the Demon King's Castle, he knew well what this signified.
At the very least, he knew this was not a natural illness.
And if an attack was detected while a woman remained in the position of Demon Queen...
'His Majesty will move...!'
The physician's face, overgrown with a white beard, turned as white as that very beard.
Because he knew who was observing the same thing he was.
The physician, whose daily life consisted of quietly wielding only the power granted by his duty, had, for the first time in a long while, been entrusted with a truly spine-chilling task befitting his title.
- 5 -
"How fares Her Highness, Lord Physician?"
Libertas's low voice, taking the form of Joanna, resonated.
Two meanings were contained in that voice.
One of them was truly an inquiry into Stella's condition.
"Ahem..."
The other was telling the physician, right now, to compose himself.
The trembling that had been spreading through the body of the physician, who was examining Stella's entire body with magic, gradually subsided.
His face was still full of bewilderment, but he had regained a degree of calmness.
He first politely greeted the lady-in-waiting.
"My thanks. Lady-in-waiting. Thanks to you, I was able to collect myself."
"You speak too highly of me."
"Ahem."
The physician, whose gaze had momentarily lingered on her face, cleared his throat once more.
For the face of this demon lady-in-waiting, Joanna, was not particularly beautiful compared to the Demon Queens.
But Libertas's bearing was so splendid that it made the face seem far more beautiful.
To the extent that he momentarily forgot the gravity of the situation.
The physician's face, having regained his composure, became grave once more.
"Her Highness... is currently suffering from... 'Illusory Fever'..."
The physician's voice trembled.
The fear that had settled on his face was because he knew well what this illness signified.
"However, the probability of this illness manifesting naturally in a high-ranking demon like Her Highness is virtually nonexistent. A drug detected within Her Highness's body weakened her resistance, and while her noble body was thus weakened, the virus began to run rampant."
'This is... clearly...!'
The physician swallowed words he could not speak aloud.
The most fatal symptoms of this illness were the inhibition of magical power management and the weakening of magical resistance.
Considering that enduring the Demon King's night was the core qualification for the position of Demon Queen, there was no clearer targeted attack than this.
"Does that mean..."
As the head lady-in-waiting asked with a cold, hardened face, the physician immediately nodded.
Though in his heart he was certain this was someone's attack, he was not the authority to directly judge it as such.
He was merely one who aided the judgment.
"We must... immediately... report to His Majesty."
It was the moment the physician's words fell.
Hwooooong...!
Suddenly, wind gusted through every window of the Demon King's Castle.
The sound of curtains violently flapping and thrashing was like someone's scream.
The torches on the walls swayed in the wind, and shadows crawled up the walls, distorting as if dancing.
The darkness gradually deepened, and the air in the room grew cold as midwinter ice.
- Sh...............
It seemed as if voices were mingled within that wind.
Voices whispering something unintelligible, slowly, yet unmistakably growing stronger.
Libertas watched that spectacle in silence.
'He was already watching.'
The physician was gathering his examination tools with hands trembling uncontrollably.
His lips quivered. The head lady-in-waiting's face grew pallid, and Stella, too, bit her lip.
All of them felt 'his' presence.
They knew well.
What this signified.
That the Demon King had begun to move.
It was the moment the storm began.