Chapter 50

“I also think so. I’m not sure whether it was just a normal demon, but since the monster you killed is a chimera, which are artificially created demons, the probability of it having come from the north is remarkably low.”

Woah, the empress is a really crazy person. If someone other than me had encountered the demon, they would have died with their body punctured with holes.

“First, let’s go down the mountain and inform Lanoa. We need to deploy people and immediately find the space from where the demon came.”

Halfway up our trail, Sihael and I decided to go down the mountain. It would have been nice if we could return to the mansion safely, but we ran into more demons on our way.

Within five minutes of killing the third demon, I was completely fed up with the demons that appeared again and again.

“Your Highness, I’ll leave this to you now.”

“Are you passing this off on me?”

“These demons were originally released by the Empress to capture you, Your Highness.”

Also, I didn’t know how to find a nucleus, so it was taking too long. It was good that I could release some of my pent-up stress, but I had used up too much of my stamina.

“Rosetta, that’s not fair.”

Sihael, who knew I was weak to Shasha’s appearance, pretended to be sad on purpose.

Oh, you’re pretending to be pitiful again. The crown prince of the empire was a dignified and proud person. No matter how hard you look, there was no one like him in the empire. But I was used to seeing him act like this, so I turned my head firmly.

“Acting cute like this won’t work.”

Then, Sihael took a different approach.

“Master.”

“What? Why are you being like that all of a sudden?”

“Master, then can Shasha ask for a hug?”

Sihael gently raised the corner of his eyes and fluttered his eyelashes. I bit my tongue at his devious appearance. It seemed this was probably what the phrase ‘One may look kind, but not act anything like it,’ looked like.

“Shasha is so scared. Quickly give me a hug.”

Why did he want me to give him a hug when it was him who had catched most of the demons? I looked at Sihael’s feet and clicked my tongue briefly. He said he was scared, yet he was crushing the demon under his feet.

“Please stop pretending. Shasha has already left my side.”

“No, he’s always by your side. Watching over you.”

“No, he’s gone! Instead of my little wolf, there’s only a devious human here now!”

“Hey, that was harsh!”

Puck. The demon’s head exploded under the force of his muscular legs.

“Ah, that was by accident…”

It was too late for him to pretend to be weak now.

We quickly defeated the monsters with Sihael’s powerful paw attacks, descended safely, and then informed Lanoa of what had occurred. When he heard that there were demons, and even Chimeras in the mountain, Lanoa took the knights and went straight up the mountain. This was due to the fact that while the mountain was dangerous after the sun went down, allowing the demons to run wild was far more dangerous.

Nanabi followed along to find the space from where the demons were coming.  The occasional commotion in the mansion disturbed the atmosphere. Lanoa and Nanabi, along with the knights, must have been suffering in the dark, so I couldn’t bring myself to sleep soundly alone.

But I couldn’t run outside, so I kept moving around to ease my discomfort. I drew a picture with paper from my desk. The model was Sihael. I drew the picture as my hands moved, and then showed it to Sihael.

“Your highness, Your highness. Look at this.”

“Don’t tell me, is this me?”

“Ding ding ding. You are right.”

Sihael found it hard to believe that the crooked figure drawn on the paper was him.

“You don’t like it? It pretty much looks like a good work of art.”

“Give it to me. I’ll show you what’s really called a work of art,” said Sihael confidently.

I laid the paper on the floor and handed him a pencil in his mouth. Then I sat down on the bed and watched him draw. It didn’t take long for the painting to be completed.

“Is this the demon we saw today?”

“It’s you!”

“At least my painting had eyes, nose, and mouth in place.”

The thing Sihael drew was definitely not a human being. The eyes were next to the ears, the nose to the chin, and the mouth to the forehead. What on earth was this terrible hybrid like monster?

“Look at it through your heart. Then you would be able to see it well.”

What nonsense! Even if I looked at it through my heart, the mouth on the forehead did not disappear. Just when Sihael and I were holding a competition to see who was worse at drawing, someone knocked on the door.

“Come on in.”

It was Eugene who came in.

“Milady, I have found Lilliana Manu.”

“Already?”

I expected it wouldn’t take long to find her with the traces she left behind, but I didn’t expect it to be this fast. It had only been six hours since Nanabi had examined Eugene’s bracelet, and they had already found Lilliana’s whereabouts. If my subordinates, who had been pulling all-nighters to find Liliana for a few days, knew about this, I was sure they would be very upset.

“She has escaped the duchy, but fortunately she’s still here in the north. Tomorrow, as soon as the sun rises, the teacher said she’ll go and pick her up.”

“Good work,”

If Nanabi goes in person, she’ll definitely bring Lilliana safely.

“Then I’ll get going.”

Eugene, after finishing his job, went back. Though Eugene said he didn’t need anything, he still contributed greatly to finding Liliana, so I thought about giving him a reward. It’s something I would have to do when I’m done with all this.

My priority right now was, of course, Sihael.

“You’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”

Finally the end was in sight.