What the Demon King's Love Is
“I didn’t expect you to ask that. Gematria died because of you.”
Kibotos’s expression darkened for a moment, but she soon glanced up at the sky before taking another bite of her snack and continuing.
“Belberman.”
The all-too-familiar name that slipped from her lips left me reeling.
“She was dragged before the Demon King after suffering a crushing defeat in the last battle.”
“So you were watching,” I replied.
“I am the Demon King’s eye,” Kibotos said. “Whether I wish to or not, I see everything. I record everything.”
She absently rubbed her wrist, then suddenly rose and reached out. A sharp, inexplicable killing intent surged from her fingertips. Startled, I glared at her—only for her to ruffle her messy hair and casually brush the crumbs from my face.
“…But I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Her voice had gone flat. “Thanks for the snacks, but I’m too tired to keep chatting with anyone like this.”
She walked straight through the door without opening it. Left dazed, I turned to Jemma.
“Did I… say something wrong?”
Jemma stared at the closed door for a moment before gently stroking my hair.
“It’s all right. That’s just how she is.”
When I looked down at the snacks with a gloomy expression, she pulled me into a firm embrace and held me for several minutes. Sensing my mood, she resumed stroking my hair and spoke softly.
“Gematria and Kibotos were the closest of friends.”
I listened quietly as Jemma explained Kibotos’s past.
“Kibotos possesses the unique magic called Clairvoyance. When she was young, she suffered greatly because she couldn’t control it. Gematria took her in and became her friend. After that, Kibotos was deeply influenced by Gematria’s beliefs. She gathered precious disciples one by one and raised them with all her heart—only for every one of them to die in the war against the humans. They gave their lives protecting the Demon King in a great battle.”
Because of that, Kibotos lost the Demon King’s trust, though she never stopped being loyal. She was simply disappointed that the Demon King could not even remember the names of the disciples who had burned their lives for her. Still, she never doubted the Demon King’s strength. In such a brutal war, even the most precious lives were erased without a trace; that was simply how things were. Kibotos had endured by leaning on Gematria until her disciples died. Then, not long ago, I—the former hero—led my comrades into the Demon King’s castle to strike her down. Gematria fought us with everything she had and fell in glorious battle.
Yes. I remembered now. That executive who had seemed so vicious, yet had tried to drive us away from the castle rather than kill us outright. She had fallen to Chris’s blade.
For Kibotos, that executive had been her final line of mental defense. Even if she had wanted to step in and stop their deaths, her unique magic left her unsuited for direct combat, and she could not prevent them from going to the front lines. She had been forced to watch everything while suppressing her feelings. The merciless torrent of powerlessness would have broken even a demon.
“…I feel strangely sorry,” I murmured, having absorbed their lives and emotions little by little.
Jemma slowly released me. “You need not apologize. We only did our best to survive, and you and your comrades only struggled to survive as well. It was inevitable. Everything was simply part of the natural order, and we were merely wounded by it.”
“……”
Thinking about it that way, I realized I had lost far too much to them to offer a simple apology. My homeland, my profession, my comrades, even my very identity. Had becoming a woman made my heart so fragile that I was now so easily swayed by others’ feelings? As a hero, I had never spared empathy for anyone outside my comrades when lives were on the line. Was I comfortable now? Did this place feel comfortable to me?
“I will speak with Kibotos separately. In the meantime, Master…” Jemma noticed the time and urged me to return to my room. I rose slowly, lost in thought all the way back to the Demon King’s chambers.
What exactly was I thinking? Was I truly starting to see the demons as comrades? Was that why I had empathized with Kibotos? Was that why I was accepting Jemma? Even though I still had something I had to do.
What was I doing?
Tap, tap—
“I will escort you this far.”
Jemma left to prepare lunch once we reached the corridor leading to the Demon King’s room. I walked on alone, dazed, until I noticed something strange.
“……”
“…Huh?”
The door to the Demon King’s room was slightly open.
“She’s already back…?”
Panicked, I wondered how so much time had passed, but I knew it had only been a little over an hour. Still, I approached cautiously and peered through the gap. No one was inside. I realized Jemma and I must have left it ajar earlier and let out a sigh of relief—only to begin questioning my identity once more.
Click—
I stepped inside, closed the door, and found myself alone again.
Tap, tap—
I walked straight to the mirror and stared at my reflection. My body was still human. Yet I kept empathizing with the demons. Had I already become one of them without realizing it? Even so, my body remained human. Despite all my resolve, I was still sympathizing with them. Even though I had sworn to fight for my comrades, I was still being swept away by their emotions and doing nothing. So what was I doing here?
I looked at my face in the mirror. It was far darker than it had been that morning. I grabbed my own cheeks, and my expression twisted uncontrollably as my arms began to tremble.
“Not to your liking?”
I had no idea when she had appeared. The Demon King sat at the table, chin resting on her hand, watching me. Startled, I realized she had been hidden behind my body and out of the mirror’s reflection.
“I don’t have any particular thoughts about it,” she said, adjusting a pair of glasses I had never seen before as she examined several documents on the table. When I hesitated, unsure what to do, she gestured.
“If you have nothing to do, come here.”
Since I had already been caught sneaking out, I had no excuse left. I approached quietly. The Demon King looked up at me through her glasses, staring straight into my eyes. I faltered again and found myself gazing at her long, jet-black hair.
“It doesn’t look bad at all. So why are you doing that?”
She studied my face, including my eyes, as if trying to understand the meaning behind my earlier actions in front of the mirror. I couldn’t answer. How could I tell her that I had resolved to kill her and her kin but was now losing my mind because I couldn’t go through with it? The Demon King, however, had no intention of waiting for a reply. She turned back to her papers.
“So, why did you leave without permission?”
She removed her glasses and let her hair down, now staring directly at me. She had claimed to have no particular thoughts, yet the look in her eyes was anything but thoughtless. I tensed.
“I… I just wanted to go outside…”
“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
It felt like an interrogation, but I answered honestly anyway. Then she spoke again.
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself quite a bit with that attendant.”
She already knew everything. Was this what Kibotos had meant by the Demon King’s eye? If it had been literal, Jemma would never have taken me to a place where Kibotos might be.
“I asked you a question.”
Sweat beaded on my skin as I desperately searched for a way out. The Demon King’s patience had run out; her voice grew colder.
“Answer me. Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
This time, I had something I wanted to say.
“Even if I had asked… you would have just tormented me and dodged the question anyway…”
It had always been that way. Whenever I tried to ask something, she would distract me with torment. Whenever I tried to do something, she would block me. But the moment the words left my mouth, the air in the room seemed to freeze. The Demon King lowered her head and began massaging her temples. Only after a long silence did I realize I had made a terrible mistake.
I was a prisoner. That was all. I had forgotten that simple truth until I provoked the Demon King. Now, facing her again, it became painfully clear. I was nothing more than a captive who could do nothing. Jemma had only been kind because she was a good person. The Demon King had treated me like a bride only because of her personal feelings and Jemma’s private wishes. Under normal circumstances, my neck would have been severed the moment I tried to leave this place.
I finally understood the meaning behind the words the Demon King had once whispered to me. But it was too late. After a period of silence, she slowly rose. I hadn’t seen her cast any magic, yet—
Clink—
“Ah…?”
Heavy shackles appeared on my wrists and ankles, connected by chains whose origins I couldn’t see. Before I could react, the Demon King grabbed my chin and forced my head up, wrapping a leather belt tightly around my neck.
Crunch—
“Ugh…!?”
It was a collar.
“Hrk…!”
I stared at her with wide, panicked eyes as the restraints tightened around my body. Her expression was icy.
“You seem to keep getting confused, so I’ve made a decision. From today onward, I will manage you properly.”
She released my chin and yanked the long leash attached to the collar. I was dragged helplessly toward the bed, chains rattling, and collapsed onto it. She tore my clothes open and began licking my cheek with greedy hunger.
“Until now, I’ve been too busy to manage you properly. Look what’s happened because of it.”
With both wrists and ankles bound and a collar around my neck, I lay beneath her as she ran a hand over my exposed stomach and waist, then bit lightly at my hair before whispering.
“You are nothing now…”
It wasn’t a casual insult meant to belittle me. It was a reminder of my true position. Her desire-filled hands caressed my face as the light drained from my eyes. She devoured me—strangling my neck, licking my skin, binding my wrists, soaking me in pleasure—while making it clear she had known everything from the beginning.
“So give up on killing me.”
She consumed me. It was more painful than when she had torn my body apart. Pleasure forced its way between the waves of pain, shattering my nerves. Her touch left me unable to tell whether I was suffocating or climaxing. I finally understood what it meant to be conquered. Every cell in my body was declaring surrender, from fingertips to toes, filling with the Demon King’s desire to dominate. I should have felt pleasure amid the stimulation and pain, yet all I felt was agony. Too much agony.
“Ugh, kgh, gehk… hhk, eek… ooh—!”