A Kingdom Born to Protect Him
That night, Lilith and the others sensed something was off.
"I'm sorry. I'd like to turn in a little early tonight."
"Hm?"
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"No. I'm just not in the best condition today."
Kaisent — the undisputed king of their nights, the one who always reduced them to trembling, submissive females — had canceled for the first time.
Having been remade into a demon by Kaisent's hand, Lilith now received his affection without reservation and shared the first-floor dormitory with the rest of them. As he lay down first, she quietly cast a spell akin to telepathy without him noticing.
—Hey. Does anyone know what the hell is going on?—
Naturally, every head shook. Confusion sat plain on every face.
Once they realized none of them had an answer, their gazes converged on Arty.
Within radio range, Arty could maintain a secure channel with Artemis. Calling it "secure" was generous — there was no eavesdropping technology to begin with — but it was something.
She asked Artemis what had happened.
—I simply follow Master's decisions. I am sorry.—
With that, Artemis fell silent.
When Arty relayed the reply, the women all felt it at once: Kaisent was in some kind of trouble.
—Act natural so he doesn't get suspicious. I'll look into it.—
Lillian, Priscilla, and Arty were warriors through and through. Lilith, who had far more experience with covert work, volunteered to tail him.
Tomorrow was a rest day. Perfect chance to find out what was going on.
The next morning, Kaisent's mood was uncharacteristically heavy. He ate, then announced he had an appointment and left.
The old Lilith would have been caught by his senses. But with her demon blood fully awakened and every ability unlocked, she followed him with ease. The real headache was the identification card that restricted where she could go.
Fortunately, she managed the tail without triggering any alarms. What she witnessed was this:
"You little shit! How dare you keep royalty waiting!?"
"B-but I arrived exactly on time…"
"Don't talk back, you otherworlder trash!"
The Third Prince of the Halrot Kingdom was kicking Kaisent.
Lilith remembered the face well — the knights had once shown her a magically captured photograph of him, warning her never to be rude to the Third Prince.
That bastard.
What rose in her mind was not a rational question of why the prince was tormenting Kaisent. It was pure, consuming rage that swallowed reason whole.
Ah.
When she came back to herself, she found she had already formed a mana arrow and drawn it to full tension — power enough that releasing it would not put a hole in the prince's skull so much as erase half his head.
So he started bullying Kaisent because he's an otherworlder, and younger than him at that.
In a world where otherworlders had nearly toppled the authority of kings and nobles, even the slightest resistance from one against the aristocracy was grounds for immediate execution.
Kaisent's strength meant he could ignore such rules if he chose. The problem was his nature — kind, and far too soft-hearted. If he caused a scene, the fallout would not stop with him. It would land on his companions as well.
An otherworlder who defied royalty. And that otherworlder's companions. To the privilege-obsessed ruling class of this democracy-hating world, wiping them all out would not even raise an eyebrow.
I was too complacent. Akina is the exception — this is the rule.
Until now, they had never become personally entangled with this world's nobles. The only one with any real connection was Akina — a rational woman with a proper sense of values who doted on Kaisent and worked to help him grow the right way.
To every other noble, a powerful otherworlder was nothing more than a hazardous object. Proof of that stood on either side of the prince: attendants with hands already hovering near their sword hilts, ready the moment Kaisent resisted.
And…
The prince's behavior should have reached the other knights' ears. Instead, the moment they learned Kaisent was being beaten and cursed at by royalty, they turned their backs and looked away. Some of them even wore malicious little smiles.
Should I just kill them all?
She wanted to inflict pain so thorough the prince would beg for death — and then give the watching knights and attendants the exact same end. How Akina would react was uncertain, but if Lilith explained the situation, there was a chance she would let it go.
And if she doesn't, I'll just create an opening to run.
She had felt the gap in skill during her spar with Akina before — but that had been a confined training ground. On open terrain, if she committed fully to stalling, she could keep Akina occupied all day.
"Hey. Put this around your neck."
While Lilith was calculating the aftermath of killing the Third Prince, Jeraid held out a collar to Kaisent.
"This is…?"
"You otherworlders are just animals wearing human faces. Animals should be treated like animals, don't you think?"
"Th-that's…!"
Even Kaisent, whose patience ran deeper than most, showed raw revulsion at the sheer humiliation being forced on him.
"If you refuse, I'll tell everyone you hit me. I won't need evidence. The word of some otherworlder versus the word of a prince — who do you think people will believe?"
"…"
"It won't end with just your life, either. I'll send every last one of your companions to the guillotine."
Cruelty no sixteen-year-old should possess. For the sake of his companions' lives, Kaisent reached to put the collar on himself.
"From today on, you are my personal sla—aaah…"
"Ghhh…"
"??"
In that instant, Jeraid and his attendants' faces went slack, eyes losing all focus.
"Kaisent."
"Li-Lilith…"
"We're leaving."
"But…"
"Ignore them. By now they're trapped in an illusion, watching whatever they most want to see."
With a gesture from Lilith — who had sealed the prince's party inside a magical phantasm — they shuffled obediently toward a corner on their own.
But that was not enough for her. She planted a Word of Weakness deep in the prince's body. Not a curse — a spoken-word spell that simply degraded the flesh. The priests and mages of this world would have a miserable time trying to undo it.
Lilith returned to the others with Kaisent and explained everything that had happened.
"…"
Rage, hatred, sorrow, and despair rose in them all at once. Looking at the boy who hung his head as if he himself had committed some crime, sorrow reached them first.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I'm sorry… But he said he could have all of us killed for the Crime of Colluding with Otherworlders…"
Lillian, who had once been royalty herself, found herself sighing at a law she had always taken for granted.
The Crime of Colluding with Otherworlders. Those who aligned themselves with otherworlders' values or political ideals were not even taken as prisoners — they were exterminated. A charge that permitted punishments harsher than high treason.
"The other knights knew and looked the other way, didn't they? Let's take this to Akina."
"Agreed. A subordinate's crime is the superior's crime. We must ensure this never happens again."
Priscilla and Arty resolved to speak with Akina — to demand punishment for the knights who had stood by, and to press for measures against any recurrence.
"No. The privileged class of this world both shuns and fears otherworlders. Knights sitting at the bottom edge of that class will push back against Akina's orders. In the worst case, they report this to the royal family and charge her with the Crime of Colluding with Otherworlders too. Then we lose the one power backing us."
Lilith told them there had even been a knight who smiled at Kaisent's torment. If dissenting knights fractured the ranks or stirred trouble from within, even Akina would find herself at a disadvantage.
"Then what do you propose? We just sit and watch Kaisent get abused?"
"I have an idea. Not forever — but for five months, it's doable."
Lilith explained her plan: she would layer multiple spells on the prince — weakening his body, tormenting his mind, and harassing him in every other way she could invent.
"We buy time that way. In five months, when the war with the Saryeong Kingdom begins, we leave. Done."
"That's the best option we have right now."
"I agree."
The others accepted her proposal. They would not give the Third Prince so much as a free moment to torment Kaisent.
"See? When you talk things over with all of us, a way always appears. Next time something like this happens, tell us. Understood?"
"Yes… I'm sorry…"
Kaisent had never endured this kind of bullying before. For once, his usually sound judgment had failed him completely.
"Artemis. I am disappointed. Moments like these are precisely when you should advise Master."
—I offered the same counsel you all would have. But Master said he did not wish to burden any of you. He even ordered me not to tell you.—
She could have ignored Kaisent's command with ease if she chose — but that would mean trampling her master's authority, and she had not been able to bring herself to do it.
Arty started to argue, then reached the same conclusion herself: in Artemis's position, she would have made the same call.
"Kaisent."
"Yes…"
All the hurt he had been holding back seemed to surge at once. When Lillian opened her arms, he walked straight into her embrace.
Her full, soft breasts cradled the boy's face. The steady beat and sound of her heart gradually restored his sense of safety.
"You're stronger than any of us. And you'll grow several times stronger still."
"…"
"If my existence ever blocks your path… I will leave for the sake of your future."
"What!? N-no! Lillian leaving…!"
Ever since being forcibly separated from Dang Seol-yeong, Kaisent carried a deep PTSD around losing his women. Lillian's declaration struck him with pure horror.
"Things like this will happen again. More than once."
"She's right. Now that your strength is known, the open obstruction and harassment will only get worse."
Priscilla agreed.
"And every time, you endure the pain for our sake? I would rather vanish quietly than become that kind of obstacle."
"If my existence forces Master to suffer like this, I will destroy my own circuits."
To Arty, the terror of causing Kaisent pain outweighed even the prospect of permanent shutdown. She agreed without hesitation.
"In this situation, what can you do?"
"What I can do…"
"What else? All of us grow stronger than we are now — strong enough to withstand pressure at the scale of entire nations."
Lilith believed that overcoming this kind of unjust tyranny ultimately required power, and nothing less.
Lillian, who had reached the same conclusion, spoke as if declaring it to every person in the room — not only Kaisent.
"With your talent, I believe you'll one day be able to fight enemies on a national scale. But I refuse to be dead weight that only ever receives your protection."
At first, her goal had been revenge against the Saryeong Kingdom.
But once she saw how the world looked at Kaisent, she understood: protecting the husband she loved — standing and fighting at his side — demanded far more than that.
"I am going to restore the Luciarkenel Kingdom."
"What?"
"Recovering my people and the authority that should rightfully be mine is part of it. But more than that — I will use the power of a kingdom to protect you. That is the only way someone weaker than you can keep you safe."
Resurrect a fallen kingdom for the sake of one boy.
Any other royal who heard it would have been furious — that a sacred authority chosen by the gods was being spent on some otherworlder.
But from the moment she learned what Kaisent had suffered simply for being an otherworlder, she had decided this was the only path by which her own strength could shield him.
"Building a nation for a reason like that… I like it better than the empty grand causes most people spout. At least it's honest."
"I approve. Malice directed at Master is malice on a global scale. To protect him from it, we will need at least the power of a nation."
Lilith and Arty agreed: founding a kingdom to defend Kaisent from the world's hostility was the right course.
"I'm in. I will never let Kaisent go through something like this again."
Priscilla was not agreeing out of some royal duty to reclaim lost authority. She was answering a deeply personal desire — and she committed herself to it fully.
In the years to come, no one would ever guess that the true reason the fallen Luciarkenel royal house rose again — reclaiming lands once held by the Saryeong Kingdom — was to protect a single otherworlder boy.
…This is getting enormous. Is this really okay?
—Give up, Master. This is the price of making everyone worry about you.—
Artemis, your tone is freezing…
—How fortunate. This is my first attempt at that register, and it seems the intent landed correctly.—
Ugh…
Artemis was scolding Kaisent for ignoring her advice and making everyone anxious. She had been worried about him too.
And so a heated debate began among the women who intended to build a kingdom to protect one boy.
How to reclaim the kingdom. How to hold it once it was theirs.
Kaisent was startled by how fierce the discussion became — and yet, feeling their determination to protect him no matter what, a quiet happiness settled in his chest.
Trying to handle everything alone just because I'm strong was never the answer. Father always consulted with all of Mother's when something important came up. So this is why.
Even his father — a tyrant who could shatter a planet with a single punch and conquer every one of his wives in bed — set aside his own willfulness when the matter truly mattered, and shared counsel with them all.
Understanding at last how precious the bonds he had built truly were, Kaisent nestled deeper into Lillian's arms and let the wounds of the day begin to heal.