Chapter 9
Chapter 9
As I blinked in confusion, wondering what on earth that meant, I recalled what Regnator had just said about capturing various winged magical beasts and turning them into a mobile.
‘S-Stop that!’
I wasn’t sure if the pegasus he mentioned was the real pegasus I knew of, but regardless, it was clear that their kind would soon be wiped out. I just had that kind of ominous feeling. Thankfully, Regnator, perhaps out of concern for the demon realm’s ecosystem, shook his head with a serious expression.
Thank goodness. At least one of them is sane.
“Instead of a pegasus, how about a unicorn?” he asked.
I was mistaken. The one even more unhinged than the Demon King Lucifer was right in front of me. Completely oblivious to my rising horror, Lucifel earnestly took Regnator’s suggestion into consideration.
“Bring them both.”
With that absolute command from the Demon King, Regnator quietly exited the bedchamber, saying it wouldn’t take long.
I give up…
My own life was hanging by a thread. I wasn’t in any position to worry about the ecosystem of the demon realm. So I decided to turn a blind eye to the fate of the pegasi and unicorns. But come to think of it… weren’t those creatures supposed to be incredibly sacred? What were they doing in the demon realm?
I had so many questions, but no way to find any answers. Sure, there were people I could ask but the problem was, I didn’t know how to ask those questions. Despite my overwhelming curiosity, I had no idea how to speak.
It had only been three days since the incident where they tried to get me to breastfeed. In other words, it had been exactly one week and three days since I became Bellatrix. To be honest, I had spent more time with my eyes closed than open, so I wasn’t entirely sure how long it had been. That was just my best guess based on how it felt.
‘Other than when I went to the bath, I was always in the bedroom…’
Besides, the bedroom was so dark that not a single ray of sunlight came in. And every time I was taken to the bath, it was always under the red moon in the dead of night. That made it even harder to keep track of the days.
I glanced sideways and saw Lucifer was leaning back against the headboard, reading a book. Whenever I was awake, he’d stay nearby like that, reading. With how serious he looked, I figured it must be something incredibly difficult.
It made him look cool. Though truth be told, he looked cool just by breathing, but seeing him focused on something only amplified it. Unfortunately, that image came crashing down once I overheard the conversation he had with Regnator.
*
“Lord Lucifel, how is the book I gave you?”
“Is the content actually true?”
“Of course.”
“It doesn’t seem very useful.”
“It will be. I learned human common sense from that book myself.”
*
Hearing that exchange, I realized Regnator was passing on his warped understanding of human norms to Lucifer as well. So that’s where Regnator’s twisted ideas about humanity came from. I swear that is a damned book. The book was as thick as an adult’s hand span, and now I was terrified of what could possibly be written inside.
And the title, ugh, don’t even get me started.
When I heard Lucifel mutter the title [How to Raise a Human Baby Without Killing It], a cold chill ran down my spine.
‘One day, I will burn that book to ashes. I swear it.’
With that vow repeating in my mind, I let out a deep sigh, silently. I looked at Lucifel, who was seriously engrossed in what, strictly speaking, was a guidebook on how to raise me.
‘Is it really worth reading that seriously…?’
Watching Demon King Lucifer, whose thoughts I couldn’t begin to guess, I focused all my energy on adapting to my new environment and that is all for the sake of survival.
* * *
A week had passed. Since the appearance of the stuff hanging in the air had, just as Lucifel said, turned into a pegasus on some days and a unicorn on others. After that, the mobile changed every day, but after the unicorn, it didn’t elicit much reaction. That was because she was seriously concerned about the ecology of the demon realm in Lucifer’s stead.
Lucifer looked quite disappointed, but she didn’t want to gasp in horror the moment she opened her eyes anymore. So she only showed a favorable response when the less grotesque pegasus or unicorn mobiles appeared, and from then on, those two became the main ones hanging in the air.
Lucifer wasn’t entirely clueless, thankfully.
The sad truth was that because she’d once shown delight at the first, terrifying bat mobile, it still occasionally made an appearance. Today was one of those bat-mobile days.
“Bella.”
As she was mulling over the eventful past week, she uneasily heard Lucifer call her name. She turned her eyes toward him and saw Lucifer’s eyes sparkle more brightly than usual.
She was nervous. Whenever he affectionately called her Bella like that, it always meant trouble.
She wouldn’t be fooled by that beautiful face anymore! She tensed up and waited for what he would say, but the voice came from elsewhere.
“See? She responds right away when Lucifer calls her. Even if she’s not too bright, she seems able to distinguish her father’s voice.”
“Indeed… Bella was always good at understanding speech.”
“That’s right. As Lucifer’s daughter, she’s clearly different from an ordinary human baby.”
Even though she had an impressive true lineage as the daughter of a Hero, Lucifel and Regnator didn’t care at all about that and proudly referred to her as the ‘Demon King’s daughter.’
“You call her.”
Lucifel, apparently wanting to confirm if she only responded to him, ordered Regnator to try. Regnator’s eyes gleamed as he spoke.
“Lady Bella.”
Flinch —
The name Lucifel had given her now felt so familiar that it might as well have been her real name, and her head often turned reflexively whenever someone called it. But her instincts were screaming at her now.
‘Don’t turn your head!’
“Hmmm.”
Lucifer’s face lit up with a satisfied smile.
“Lady Bella! Look over here~ Lady Bella~”
Regnator’s loud, chipper calling continued, but she didn’t so much as glance his way.
One thing she’d learned over the past week: she had excellent survival instincts.
Just by the satisfied expression growing on Lucifer’s face, she knew she’d made the right choice.
‘…What the hell am I even doing…’
It was such a ridiculous thing to be doing in the name of survival.
“She only responds to Lucifer’s voice, it seems.”
“Even with low intelligence, can she recognize the Demon King?”
“Maybe it’s just recognizing her father’s voice.”
“Hmmm, is that so?”
As Lucifer’s doubtful gaze continued, she gave him a bright smile and wiggled her fingers in his direction.
“Try calling her from a different side. If she still responds, then it’s certain.”
Thanks to the damned Regnator’s suggestion, Lucifer gladly agreed. And so, for over thirty minutes, she had to respond to Lucifel calling her from every direction. She turned her head so much in response that she thought her neck would cramp up.
The crazy Regnator even kept calling her at intervals to make sure she only responded to Lucifer, like it was some kind of speed game her eyes were practically spinning.
‘Huff, huff… You bastards, I’m tired! Stop already!’
In the end, she surrendered first again. Panting with her tongue out, she gasped for air.
Her throat was dry, and she was getting hungry. Seeing her like that, Regnator approached with a baby bottle filled with white milk. The biggest event of the past week was probably discovering the truth about the dark red liquid she’d been drinking until recently.
She had been suspicious from the start. Actually, the mere fact that Regnator brought it should have set off alarm bells.
But what choice did she have? Back then, she would’ve died without eating something, and she kept drinking it faithfully until the truth came out.
‘And of course… it wasn’t milk…’
The revelation that the ‘milk’ Regnator had brought was actually the blood of a wolf-like magical beast called Hirpus had been quite the shock. There was no one she could blame for the despairing truth.
She could only fault herself for assuming that the unique name ‘Hirpus’ must’ve just been a demon realm cow. Of course, it also didn’t help that she hadn’t doubted Regnator, who brought it with the most innocent expression, as if it were normal baby milk.
She really should never have trusted that damn abnormal Regnator.
All of his human knowledge was utterly broken. He clearly had never once visited the human world. Even Lucifer occasionally asked him about human knowledge, but not a single thing he said ever turned out to be true.
Maybe the book How to Raise a Human Baby Without Killing It was literally just ways to avoid killing, and nothing else. No broken bones, diseases, or psychological damage considered.
Probably.
Since it was Regnator’s go-to guidebook, that seemed likely.
That damn Regnator.
Once she could move her body, she swore she’d punch him at least once.
After a long, dramatic refusal of blood through sobbing, she’d finally earned the right to drink actual milk, imported from the human world. Recalling that distant, exhausting memory, she finished the milk which tasted far worse than Hirpus blood and let out a hearty burp. A pleasant sense of fullness followed.
Regnator laid her down on the bed and casually pulled out a massive, heavy book.
She instinctively frowned. She had just been thinking about that cursed book earlier, which made it worse.
“Why are you frowning again?”
“Lady Bella seems curious about the book I’m holding.”
“That one with all the info on human babies?”
“Yes, according to this book, babies are very curious.”
“Right, that’s why we made toys like this.”
Lucifer proudly puffed up his chest as he glanced at the terrifying bat mobile. The fact that he was proud of that made her heart heavy. And yet, it was that damn book that was the real problem. It was reducing her intense, burning glare to mere ‘curiosity.’
This was all Regnator’s fault.
She turned her sharp gaze from the book to glare at him instead.
“She’s frowning at me now.”
“To you?”
“Because it’s me.”
Regnator straightened his shoulders and rejoiced this time. I didn’t know he would accept the enthusiastic glare like that. It somehow made me feel even more wronged.
As expected, he was a tough one.
However, Lucifer didn’t seem to like the fact that I was looking at Regnator so fervently, so a large hand blocked my view.
“Bella, don’t look. That is a demon that is harmful to you.”
“What kind of sad words are you saying, Your Majesty? Lady Bella will hear and misunderstand.”
“You should think about your ability to handle corpses. This is a human.”
The Demon King Lucifer didn’t care at all when instead of referring Bella as a human, he called her ‘this.’
