Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Regnator, standing beside him, openly twisted his expression.
“A prank?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Lukevart replied.
“…You call placing a teleportation gate near the Demon King’s bedchamber a mere prank?”
At Lucifer’s chilling words, Lukevart knelt on one knee, his face turning serious.
“My Lord, the one place in the demon realm where no one is ever allowed is your chamber. And yet, the fact that a gate could be installed that close means the barrier was that weak. Isn’t that a serious issue?”
The demons gathered in the audience chamber, who had been gauging the Demon King’s mood, nodded slightly in agreement. Lukevart wasn’t entirely wrong. Every demon who had attended the banquet two days ago had felt that the barrier around the Demon King’s castle was unusually faint.
Though peace had lasted long, and Lucifer was revered, he was still a being who ignited the desire to challenge him just by existing. If someone with ambition had tried a rebellion, the current state of the barrier wouldn’t have stopped them. That much was undeniable.
But Regnator wasn’t about to let this slide.
“The barrier is the responsibility of Kursa,” he snapped. “You know that, Lukevart.”
“And it’s you who temporarily took over that duty, Leon Regnator.”
“…The barrier always weakens when Kursa begins to stir!”
“Oh? Then are you saying I planned the timing of the gate to match Kursa’s awakening?”
“…”
“And coincidentally, that was also when the castle held its first-ever grand banquet?”
Lukevart chuckled darkly, amused by his own narrative.
“You don’t truly believe I orchestrated all that, do you?”
“Then why attend the banquet? You weren’t invited.”
“Even if I’ve stepped back from the frontlines, the Pollux family is still a nobility of the demon realm. And yet, not one invitation? It was petty, and I came to return the favor.”
“…”
“The barrier was thin, so I played a little prank. That’s all.”
His words flowed like a river, too smoothly, as if rehearsed. Lucifer, who had been silently observing, slowly rose from his throne. Right now, the truth didn’t matter. What mattered was Bellatrix.
Whether Lukevart’s actions were premeditated or truly a prank, Lucifer didn’t care. If Bellatrix returned safely, he’d let it go. If not… then Lukevart had dared to challenge the authority of the Demon King.
There would be no need to spare him. Nor any desire to.
‘The human world… Even with short lives, it overflows with greed.’
Bellatrix, once human, might feel more at ease there. But she was still a child. The human realm was filled with dangerous, impure things. Too impure for a baby to face alone.
‘Not again…’
A memory flashed in his mind of the hero’s wife dying. That time, too, he’d looked away only briefly. He had let his annoyance get the better of him.
Just a few days. And she had died pitifully. A sharp pain struck his head.
Lucifer clutched it, calming the storm within. His energy threatened to explode, and if it did, the entire area around the castle would be devastated.
“Haah…”
But even suppressed, his overwhelming power leaked out, swallowing the air around him. The demons in the audience hall trembled under the crushing weight of it.
Lucifer slowly stepped down from the dais. His gaze, cold and arrogant as ever, pinned Lukevart to the floor.
“When did you gain the right to interfere in the Demon King’s castle?”
“…I only serve the Demon King…”
“I never gave you that right. You served the previous king, did you not?”
“…Lord Lucifer…”
“Have you had that much free time to waste on nonsense?”
“….”
“Or is it that…” Lucifer’s lip curled with disdain, “You actually thought to worry for me?”
Boom!
Lukevart’s body slammed against the far wall of the chamber.
“Guh… kh!”
The impact cracked the stone, his body crushed by invisible force. Gone was his smooth tongue, he could barely move his lips.
“Kursa always stirs the moment the barrier weakens. But who would dare invade the king’s chamber, even then?”
“…”
“Do I look so feeble in your eyes that I need your concern?”
“…Gkkeuuh.”
“Is that why you pulled your little prank?”
“Gahh…!”
His limbs twisted, bones snapping like twigs. Without lifting a finger, Lucifer had shredded him with only his gaze.
“Know your place, Lukevart,” he said coldly.
Crash! Crack!
Lukevart’s mangled body fell to the floor like a slab of iron. The ground split beneath him. Mercy was Lucifer’s unknown word. Those watching dared not even breathe. Heads lowered, fearing the wrath might spread.
“I’ll go retrieve Bella.”
Lucifer, having vented his fury, waved his hand, opening a dimensional gate. He didn’t hesitate. He wouldn’t entrust this task to anyone. The cold and lifeless body of the Hero’s wife haunted him.
‘Tch… Why this feeling of unease?’
Lucifer’s brow twitched. This hollow anxiety that skimmed his chest was foreign to him. He was a predator, none could rival him. But this feeling… it was worse than he’d imagined.
A feeling he’d experienced only once, exactly one year ago.
“I’ll come with you,” Regnator said.
Lucifer waved him off. He had already deployed the search squads. Someone needed to clean up the mess.
“Stay and handle the aftermath.”
There were still rats to be dealt with. If he took Regnator, it’d only complicate things. As he stepped through the portal, Lucifer clicked his tongue.
His own emotions didn’t matter now. He only thought of Bellatrix’s safety. Why had memories of the hero’s wife come back to him? He didn’t know. So, he tried to erase them.
He didn’t understand these emotions and he didn’t want to.
***
Meanwhile…
In my previous life, I was pretty dense.
The thing I heard most was, ‘Why are you so clueless?’, Sometimes I wondered if I’d left all my instincts in my mother’s womb. But since being reborn as Bellatrix, my sense of awareness has improved fast.
‘I still don’t know if I reincarnated or possessed someone, but!’
Whatever the case, I had a new life. Constantly reading Lucifer’s mood, avoiding death by the hands of demons who knew nothing about humans, of course I had to sharpen my instincts.
It had been nearly a year of eating nothing but tension. Not normal tension, either. The kind you feel when trying to survive under the Demon King’s watch.
I’d finally turned one. I’d finally thought I could live peacefully now.
‘Why is this happening to me?!’
Just when things seemed peaceful, like a twisted déjà vu, a misfortune struck. It had been fine, even when I met the man who was supposedly my uncle in this life. But my luck ended there.
The raiders who burst into the cabin smirked when they saw Sylvanas trying to shield me.
***
Lombard: “Apologies for not recognizing you earlier. Who would’ve thought I’d find one of Alzarith’s children here in Infetera?”
Sylvanas: “What are you talking about?”
Lombard: “Don’t bother pretending. I’ve already confirmed it. “Should I shake your hand? It’s not every day you meet one of Alzarith’s famed children. I thought you were just a coward who trembled at the sight of demons, but look at this. What a windfall.”
Sylvanas: “…It’s not me.”
Lombard: “Oh, but I’ve got men from the Albireo Empire. Some of them begged near Alzahar, they recognized you.”
Sylvanas: “….”
Lombard: “Don’t bother denying it. I could kill everyone else here right now. If you want them to live, admit it. Admit that you’re one of the children from Alzarith’s generation.”
Sylvanas: “….”
Lombard: “Not a bad deal, is it? Hmm? Al Sylvanas.”
When he said Sylvanas’s full name, his head instantly lowered. That was the last thing I saw before being dragged away to this prison. A cold, iron cage with claw marks and the stench of damp rot.
It was a place meant for beasts not humans.
“Damn it! Do you know how expensive that sword was?! Scratch it, and I’ll kill you!”
Lawrence was imprisoned too. He’d lost his only bottle of liquor and his sword. Even so, crammed in a cell where he could barely straighten his back, he still cursed and spat fire.
==
TN: Okay, Dad Lucifer is now going to save our little Bella and cute Derion. Dad Lucifer, be merciful to Derion, huhu.
