DGDITMIAE 15

Chapter 15

Lady Kiraldur let out a long sigh, fluffed her wet feathers, and departed.

As soon as the lady left, the maids’ chatter resumed its lively tone.

“Oh my, so you went to the border again?”

“Yes. Those paladin bastards were messing around on my land, so I went and chased them out.”

“Paladins… how fascinating. I’ve never seen a paladin in my entire life.”

“They’re nothing special. They don’t even smell weird.”

“Smell? Ahaha, but I heard all paladins are nobles. Wouldn’t they wear expensive perfumes?”

Is that so?

Terestia tilted her head at Mary’s words.

But that one knight who shone the brightest among them… was his name Isolric Yenier?

From Isolric, she smelled neither strange perfume nor the scent of blood.

For the first time in her life, she realized that this was what it meant to be pure and clean.

How could he alone remain like that in the middle of all that chaos?

They said he was a capable one, so perhaps that’s why he alone was sparkling, pure white… maybe that was it.

But asking to be taken on as a knight out of the blue—he must not be in his right mind.

More than anything, he was too dangerous—he might expose my true identity!

Terestia shook her head quickly, trying to erase the thought of Isolric from her mind, and turned her gaze back to her maids.

She sniffed at Dalia, who was gently wiping her arm as if giving a massage, then shook her head and spoke.

“The scent from you all is much more pleasant.”

“Oh my… Your Highness, saying that makes my heart flutter.”

“Goodness, what does it matter if your heart flutters? Your Highness, you saw it earlier too—how she dared call you a drowned cat and whatnot. It’s because Your Highness speaks so kindly to them that maids like Dalia become so impertinent!”

Beth glared at Dalia with her sharp face and spoke. At Beth’s reprimand—Beth being over ten years older than Dalia—Dalia pouted slightly.

Mary laughed at the sight, and the arrow of criticism turned toward her.

“Mary, you too! Earlier, when you were making snacks for Your Highness, you kept whining that Her Highness would be happier eating cake than this! It’s not for you to eat!”

“But Her Highness shares with us so often, so what’s wrong with that? Ah, why are you bringing that up in front of Her Highness? Are you tattling?”

As Terestia blankly watched the maids bicker, a pitiful sound came from her stomach.

She must have exhausted her energy from the consecutive physical demands.

She’d definitely eaten dinner, too.

The snacks the maids had brought were clearly warm garlic baguettes, but they weren’t very sweet, so they weren’t Terestia’s preferred food.

Instead, at the mention of cake that Mary had brought up, she reflexively thought of Argo and gritted her teeth.

‘Come to think of it, my cake… he said he’d sneak it to me as long as the lady didn’t catch him!’

And yet, not a single hair of his had been seen—he’d clearly run off on his own.

A child with no loyalty, no faith, no devotion!

Terestia was more upset about not being able to eat the cake because of that bath—scrubbed down like laundry by Lady Kiraldur—than about the bath itself.

Feeling downcast, Terestia pretended not to notice the maids’ quickening hands, muttering to herself that she wouldn’t let Argo get away with it when she saw him tomorrow.

“Good morning, Your Highness.”

At breakfast time the next day, Argo appeared as if nothing had happened.

‘This brat, finally crawled out.’

His soft, pleasant-looking gray hair lay calmly, and his blood-red eyes were as placid as if he’d faced no danger at all.

But that neat, smug appearance only seemed irritating to Terestia, who’d been subjected to a long scolding from Lady Kiraldur all by herself.

Her hand, reflexively gripping her fork, tightened, but she pretended nothing was wrong on the outside.

Patience, I am a dignified and great demon.

I must be able to forgive even a bad subordinate who ran off and left me alone…

But Argo seemed to read all of that in her expression, approaching with a slightly playful look.

Then, pretending not to notice her sullen face as she ate, he fixed his gaze on her.

“You seem more energetic and healthy than usual today. Is it because you didn’t snack last night?”

“…Argo…”

“Oh dear, don’t look at me like that, Your Highness. If I’d run into Lady Kiraldur, I would have just had to endure the scolding alongside you, wouldn’t I?”

Terestia’s eyes narrowed in disbelief at Argo’s words.

This disloyal brat! So you saved your own skin, is that it?

Receiving Terestia’s resentful glare, Argo eventually couldn’t hold back his laughter.

As his vivid red eyes curved gently on his chiseled face, Terestia fell silent and savored the meat she was chewing.

She chewed the meat vigorously, as if it were Argo himself right before her eyes.

Damn bastard, he only smiles relying on his face at times like this.

Her weakness for handsome men might be an influence from the original Terestia she’d consumed… but in any case, even a demon, if forced to choose, would prefer a good-looking face over an ugly one.

Seeing Terestia’s prim expression, Argo didn’t lose his smile and pushed a plate with his portion of fruit pudding toward her, speaking.

“Your Highness, please forgive me with this.”

“…”

“Is it not to your liking?”

“…Leave it there.”

Terestia accepted Argo’s apology token with a bland air.

After all, even when she got angry at Argo, it never lasted long.

Terestia subtly pulled the fruit pudding toward herself and spoke.

“Those bastards are all gone from the territory, right?”

“Are you referring to the Holy Knights?”

“Yeah.”

They’d acted so arrogantly on her land.

They were irritating enough as it was, but hearing they were paladins made it even worse.

And that knight who’d stared at the ground for a long time at the end… was his name Isolric?

She’d been so shocked when a paladin, rumored to be a candidate for the next Pope, had asked her to take him in.

At the time, Terestia had jabbed Argo’s side—he’d been standing quietly beside her, watching Isolric—wondering if her identity had been exposed.

Of course, Argo had simply smiled at her, meeting her eyes, and gently brushed her wind-tossed hair aside.

Perhaps the rejection had been quite shocking—that elf-like knight with the oversized build had stared at the ground for a long time.

What on earth had gotten into a man who was influential in the capital, the son of the Pope, and destined to become His Holiness the future Pope? Had he eaten something wrong?

Terestia had thought that maybe there was something in the demon’s blood that drove people mad.

Isolric, who’d been blinking blankly, seemed to come to his senses only when another paladin called his name.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have turned so coldly on his heel, as if he’d never begged to be taken in.

So quickly that the one who’d rejected him was left awkward.

Argo had understood the question Terestia hadn’t even voiced and calmly replied.

“You need not worry, Your Highness.”

Argo, unaware of Terestia’s true identity, clearly had no idea what she was worried about, but his firm words reassured her.

Thanks to Argo, Terestia finished her meal combatively and even popped the pudding into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

Then, as if to rouse her, Argo called her quietly.

“Your Highness.”

“What?”

“It seems you’re almost done with your meal. I have a brief report to give.”

“Speak.”

“Several trading caravans that have been granted entry permits are set to begin trading today. They’ll be bringing foodstuffs, magic stones, and other monster byproducts, respectively…”

To be honest, she didn’t really listen to the words that followed.

Terestia was too busy slowly savoring the sweet, soft texture of the pudding melting in her mouth.

Not that she wasn’t thinking of anything at all.

Rather, she was in the middle of scheming how to coax Argo into letting her eat the cake she’d missed yesterday.

“The Belloni Caravan has registered that they’re selling fruit and flower seeds, including strawberry seeds…”

“Strawberries?”

At that, Terestia gulped down the pudding in her mouth.

Her eyes sparkled as she exclaimed.

“Strawberry cake! I couldn’t have it last night! Have them bring some.”

“…You’re currently eating fruit pudding, and you want cake?”

Despite Argo’s incredulous expression and gaze, Terestia shook her head.

“I couldn’t eat it yesterday, so consider it one saved up… Wait, what did you just say? They’re selling seeds?”

“Yes, seeds—not cake.”

“Seeds? Do flowers even bloom in the North?”

“Well…”

Argo trailed off vaguely.

The look on his face suggested that if he said anything unnecessary, Her Highness the Grand Duke would surely stir up a great deal of trouble.

Unfortunately for Argo, his efforts were in vain, as Terestia jumped up and declared.

“Buy all those seeds! Right now!”