Chapter 48
I declared, each word weighted with resolve, “I know we can’t avoid each other entirely. But to me, you’re now just another citizen of the Rubelon Empire. Let’s maintain a civil, if distant, acquaintance from now on.”
This was partly to vent my anger at Seikan, but also a desperate attempt to survive. Seikan’s father, Count Perdian, was an authoritarian man. He wouldn’t tolerate someone he wanted dead lingering near his son. Drawing a clear line was my best chance, however slim, of increasing my odds of survival.
“Adelina!” Seikan clutched my arm desperately, his other hand gripping my other arm. “Lina, what…about me? I still…”
I looked first at Helion, who held my other arm. “Are you trying to say you’re different from Seikan because you haven’t forced yourself on me yet?”
“Lina!”
“If you had won that wager and drunk the Succubus’s blood, you would be hearing the same words I’m saying to Seikan right now. You were brimming with the intention, so how are you any different just because you didn’t actually sleep with me?”
Helion’s lips parted at my taunt.
“Why? Should I sleep with you once so you can cleanly cut ties with me too?”
“Lina! How can you say such a thing?!”
“Since we’re on the subject, let me be clear.” I wrenched my arms free from their grasp, stood up straight, and faced them both. “The three of you…plotting against me like that makes you all the same. So, Helion Ziek.”
Tears welled in Helion’s clear eyes. He was so big now, yet he acted just like he did when he was a child, hiding and crying. “Don’t expect me to treat you the way I used to.”
“Adelina!”
I coldly swatted away Helion’s hand as he reached for mine, glared at Seikan, and turned sharply. My fists throbbed, but my heart felt lighter, liberated by finally speaking my mind. If I’d known the looks the two men behind me were giving me, I would never have said those things.
***
With all key figures present and the matter already reported to the Imperial Palace, the meeting progressed swiftly. After providing excerpts from the bestiary, I withdrew and observed from the back of the meeting room.
“So, this Greater Demon, Tarag, has two cores: one in its head and another in its heart. Both must be attacked simultaneously.”
“Attacking only one allows the other to regenerate, so coordinated attacks are crucial.”
“In that case, the deployment of paladins with divine power and the Imperial Knights should be like this…”
Clovis, seated beside the High Priest, led the meeting with crisp efficiency. Everyone in the room focused on him as he outlined the optimal deployment strategy, highlighting only the key points.
Except for Seikan, Helion, and Reynard.
Out of the three who kept glancing at me, I deliberately met Reynard’s gaze. The root of the problem was the Demon King’s relic. If we could eliminate the Greater Demons one by one and quickly destroy the relic, the Temple elders wouldn’t need to intervene, and elderly figures like the High Priest wouldn’t have to risk their lives in battle.
The problem was that finding it required the underworld’s information network. And the most readily available source I had was Reynard’s mercenary group.
I should tell him I’m cutting ties with him too. But I needed information. It wouldn’t look good to say, “I’ll cut ties with you after I get what I need,” would it?
Confiding in the High Priest or Hestia wasn’t ideal either. They’d inevitably ask where I’d learned about the Demon King’s relic.
This was a headache…
Even if I somehow found it, only they could destroy the Demon King’s relic. They could handle the destruction part, but where should I even begin looking for clues? The more I delayed, the more lives would be lost.
I should have established a backchannel to an information guild. My overly conventional preparations for the future left me ill-equipped to handle unexpected situations.
“Then, let’s utilize the upcoming banquet at the Imperial Palace to manage public opinion.”
The concisely run meeting was nearing its conclusion. Clovis, who had been leaning over a map, straightened up and looked around the room.
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