Episode 65
“…You can stop coming now. I’m fine.”
Chris said this with a strained expression.
Since that day, Jupien had been showing up every single day.
She would just stand there silently, without saying a word.
Even now, she was doing the same.
“……”
She simply stared at Chris with a sullen look.
‘Is she coming here just to make me uncomfortable? Some kind of revenge?’
A timid yet intense form of revenge. It was unbearably awkward.
Mari, clearly displeased, let out a cold, amused chuckle.
“Would you like something to drink, Lady? Perhaps a virgin’s blood… or maybe some juice?”
“No, I prefer bachelor’s blood juice. If possible, from a handsome man.”
“…Bachelor’s blood juice isn’t really my specialty.”
Jupien was a formidable opponent as well.
Mari’s confident reply, delivered without batting an eye, made her slump in defeat.
‘…When is she going to leave?’
Chris had nothing much to say, and even when he tried to start a conversation, Jupien’s responses were so lackluster that he just stayed quiet.
After a while, Jupien began to prepare to leave. Chris inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
“I don’t like you. Someday, I’ll crush you.”
“…I see.”
“Still…”
Jupien’s voice softened.
She turned her head and said,
“…Thanks for this time.”
“……”
Chris thought he saw a faint blush on her pale earlobe. Was it just his imagination?
He looked momentarily surprised, then cracked a sly smile.
“I didn’t quite catch that. You’ll have to speak up if you want me to hear you.”
“…If you didn’t hear it, then forget it.”
Jupien replied coldly.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just acknowledging what you did.”
“Well, I did do something remarkable. If you understand that, you can consider me your lifesaver from now on.”
“……”
Jupien shot Chris a sharp glare.
“When you become a prince, things will be different. Keep that in mind and don’t get cocky.”
Chris understood what she meant.
It was advice.
‘Things will definitely be different from now on.’
Until now, Chris and the princes had been on completely different levels.
He was someone not even worth stepping on.
But once he became a prince, the situation would change.
He would stand on equal footing with them.
That meant the other princes would try their hardest to crush him.
‘Well, I don’t mind.’
Chris wanted to crush them just as much.
The second prince, Eshed, the leading candidate.
The first princess, Yurian, who hid secrets.
The infamous, ruthless third prince.
The mad first prince, Sherad.
They were all targets he had to trample.
‘And does that include Princess Jupien?’
Chris tilted his head, looking at Jupien sitting there like a doll.
Though she had helped him this time, it didn’t mean they were close.
Once he became a prince, he’d have to compete with Jupien as well.
But he didn’t harbor much ill will toward her.
It was probably because of her nature.
She seemed hopeless, but she wasn’t twisted.
Especially when considering how things unfolded when she eventually met her death.
In her original life, Jupien died during the First Great War.
At that time, the Dark Maga had submitted to the Bloodthirsty Demon King’s orders, but when one small allied village refused to be massacred, she was thrown alive into a monster’s cage and died.
It was an unusual incident that stuck in people’s memories.
“What are you staring at? Do you think I’m that pretty?”
“……”
Jupien seemed a bit eccentric.
“Never mind. I’m leaving.”
Chris watched as she stood up sullenly and said,
“You should practice separating illusions from your true self.”
“……”
“Otherwise, your illusions won’t be able to move on their own.”
He was referring to the splitting sword technique Jupien had used against the masked woman.
Jupien stared at Chris for a moment.
“…Do you know a lot about illusions?”
“I studied for about three months.”
For reference, Jupien had practiced illusions for over five years.
“You’re arrogant.”
“Geniuses are supposed to be arrogant.”
Jupien frowned slightly and left the room.
‘Did she get it?’
It didn’t seem like she really listened.
‘Whether she gains any insight from that or not is uncertain. Well, she’ll do as she pleases.’
It was a whimsical kind of help, so whether it bore fruit or not didn’t matter much.
‘Still, I need to recover quickly too.’
Chris frowned.
He felt like he could heal fast if he used the secret techniques of the Uiseon noble family, but he couldn’t because of the others’ watchful eyes.
[Oh ho ho… Now that the nuisance is gone, you can spend some cozy time with the young lady.]
“…You should leave too.”
[Oh ho ho… I’ll bring the young master’s favorite ginger ale. How about a nice drink with the young lady? What do you say?]
“…I don’t like ginger. And what kind of cozy atmosphere are you talking about…?”
As he grumbled, there was another knock at the door.
[…Is it that troublesome princess again?]
“Who could it be?”
This wasn’t the Dark Maga’s main residence, but a villa near the conference hall, so no one else but Jupien was expected.
Mari opened the door with a face that clearly said “another nuisance.”
But it wasn’t Jupien.
It was an unexpected visitor.
Marisa of the Extreme Poison Maga!
She stood awkwardly in front of Chris.
“…What is it?”
“…Are you feeling okay?”
“…So-so. Still pretty sore.”
That was all.
Marisa pressed her lips tightly and said nothing more.
Her emerald eyes flickered with complicated emotions.
‘…Why did she come? If she wanted to talk, she should have said something. Is she here to make me uncomfortable too?’
The ghostly Mari seemed to tell the nuisance to leave.
[Oh ho ho… If you have nothing to say, please leave. Our young master needs my tender care.]
But Marisa surprised him with what she said next.
“There’s someone who wants to see you.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
“…What?”
Chris was momentarily dumbfounded.
He couldn’t help it.
“Your father…?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Chris swallowed hard.
Marisa’s father.
The head of the Extreme Poison Maga and the 8-star demon lord, Duke Huam.
Chris followed Marisa.
Though still recovering, he was able to move around a bit.
“Did Duke Huam come to the conference? I thought only the lower officials attended.”
“He didn’t attend the conference directly. He just coordinated things behind the scenes.”
“…I see.”
Chris nodded.
It was an unexpected meeting with a big player.
‘I never thought I’d meet him.’
Duke Huam, like the head of the Nordian family, died before the First Great War.
Only a year or two left.
But Marisa, walking ahead, said something unexpected.
“…Are you really okay?”
“Huh? So-so.”
“…Alright.”
Silence fell again.
Chris tilted his head.
She seemed like she wanted to say more.
“Why?”
“…Can I ask just one thing? You suspected the conspiracy and prepared for it, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Just like I testified at the conference.”
Marisa pressed her lips tight again.
“…Then, was that why you subdued me?”
Chris didn’t deny it.
“I thought if the Extreme Poison Maga plotted something, they might target you. The succession situation there is complicated. So, just in case, I subdued you.”
“…I see.”
A complicated look returned to Marisa’s eyes.
Looking back, Chris had deliberately pushed her to the limit.
At the time, he cursed her as a killer, but in hindsight, he had been considerate in his own way.
It was embarrassing, but because she was subdued by Chris, Marisa avoided suspicion.
Otherwise, she would have had a hard time explaining her innocence in this matter.
‘I owe her.’
Marisa glanced sideways.
Chris’s face was there.
She felt a strange turmoil inside.
Frowning at her own confusing feelings, she said,
“…Anyway, thank you. If it weren’t for you, I’d have been in big trouble.”
Chris thought to himself as he looked at her.
‘At least she knows gratitude.’
It was time to make Marisa his ally.
He began his approach.
“It’s nothing. You’re an important person to me.”
“…What did you say just now?”
Thump.
Marisa’s heart dropped.
For some reason, her heart pounded wildly.
Blood rushed to her head, and she stammered in embarrassment.
“W-what?”
We’re already done. If you act like this…
She tried to say something, but words failed her. Chris continued.
In a casual tone.
Without a trace of emotion.
“There will be many things between the Extreme Poison Maga and the main family from now on. So, I want us to have a political alliance. For the benefit of both families.”
“……”
It wasn’t a bad proposal, but Marisa’s expression turned cold.
Chris tilted his head.
“Is it because of our past? Don’t worry about that. I have no intention of rekindling anything or reversing the breakup. We’re complete strangers now.”
He emphasized this to reassure her, but her reaction was strange.
She became even colder, like an ice block.
“…Marisa?”
“…I’ll accept the proposal. For the benefit of both families.”
That was it.
Marisa said nothing more.
“??”
“……”
Chris kept tilting his head in confusion, but she remained silent.
He was puzzled, but there was no time to dwell on it.
They had arrived at their destination.
It was time to meet Duke Huam, the head of the fiercely powerful Maga clan and the Demon Lord.
Duke Huam stood gazing out the window.
He looked to be in his mid-fifties—about the same age as Marquis Langham.
“An eight-star demon.”
Yet, unlike the overwhelming pressure that had crushed me when I first met Lord Nordian, the head of the Noga clan, this time there was no such suffocating weight.
Perhaps he deliberately toned down his presence.
His expression was surprisingly gentle for a demon.
He looked every bit the scholar.
But that didn’t mean he was to be underestimated.
Duke Huam was an absolute master of poison, capable of annihilating entire armies with a single gesture.
Beneath that soft exterior lurked an unfathomable abyss.
“Master, I’ve brought Christian from the Baron family,” Marisa announced.
Huam turned his gaze toward her, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes, Lisa. But didn’t I tell you to call me ‘Father’?”
“…Master.”
“You keep putting up walls between us, and it hurts this old man’s heart.”
“We have a guest. Please be mindful.”
Huam chuckled softly.
“Alright, alright. I was being childish. Instead, let’s have dinner together later. I’ve told them to prepare your favorite—venison.”
“…Understood.”
Marisa turned and left, and Huam watched her retreating figure with a warm look in his eyes.
‘…Unexpected.’
Christian’s face showed surprise at the tender exchange between father and daughter.
‘So this is the kind of man Duke Huam really is.’
Christian had no prior acquaintance with Huam in his previous life.
But he knew the duke very well.
It was impossible not to.
He was a figure of great renown.
In the Union, Duke Huam was far more famous than even Lord Nordian of the Noga clan.
Was it because he was stronger? No.