The Depressed Demon King and His Bedchamber Maid - Chapter 3

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A bit creepy, sure. But seeing him giggle like that, he didn’t seem like a bad person.

His red eyes did look a little wicked when they rolled around, but if he’s asking to play, he must really be a friend.

As if sensing her mind easing like a ghost, the boy folded his elegant eyes and proposed.

“Alright then, what should we play today? Want to take the secret passage out to the forest? We can hunt out there!”

By now wholly innocent at heart, Eredite clapped her hands in agreement.

“Hunting sounds great! That feels like something I used to love doing, right?”

“Yeah, you got it, you got it!”

The boy cackled, nodding his head, then stood up and started bouncing and dancing.

His black shadow stretching along the wall flickered chillingly for a moment, but Eredite stood up too and clumsily followed his dance.

Then she suddenly tilted her head and asked.

“But why am I so bad at dancing? Was I always this bad?”

The boy, flustered, fumbled for words.

“Umm… you were always a bit bad at it. You were bad. You must’ve been bad.”

It sounded like he was just throwing out whatever, but she didn’t pay it much mind. She was still looking forward to the promise of going out to the forest through the secret passage.

Her head was filled with nothing but the desire to play. As if a long-suppressed wish had sprouted through the gap left by her absent memories.

“So, when do we go to the forest?”

As if moved by her eager prodding, the boy Igor’s red pupils shimmered, welling up with moisture.

“Now!”

So the two of them began making their way through a dark underground passage. But Eredite, still curious about many things, grabbed and tugged at Igor’s sleeve and asked.

“But what did I do before I lost my memories?”

“Uh, um…. You went on adventures with me every day. And we’d get scolded by my uncle sometimes too.”

While Igor giggled, Eredite rolled the word ‘uncle’ around inside her mouth.

At that, the sound struck the stone walls and echoed three times.

“Who is the Grand Duke’s uncle?”

Igor, who had paused only then, glanced back carefully and answered. For the first time, he looked cowed.

“My uncle. Morgadein the Seventh.”

“Ah.”

The Demon King, he meant.

A strange shiver spread through Eredite’s whole body at the answer.

But how do I know that he’s the ‘Demon King’? And why, the more I think about it, does a chill run through my bones?

As if reading her thoughts, the boy snickered and chided her.

“There’s no one on the continent who doesn’t know my uncle. Even the little brats of the lesser races all know. Anyway, you—you can’t get caught by uncle’s eye.”

Watching Igor bend low to squeeze through the increasingly narrow passage, Eredite asked.

“I can’t get caught? But I’m your friend, aren’t I?”

“Um….”

Igor hesitated as if the explanation was troublesome, then changed the subject.

“Ah, you don’t need to know that. You’ll just be staying in my castle, so there’s no chance of getting caught. The citadel my uncle uses is different from mine.”

Eredite felt relieved at those words, though she didn’t know why.

The idea that she was someone who mustn’t be caught by the Demon King… but why…? Like a refrain, the question kept circling back to the start.

But it made her uneasy, so let’s just forget it.

A childish desire to hurry out and play swelled up inside her, so Eredite decided to toss misgivings to the dogs.

Her head was too foggy anyway, as if wrapped in a thick mist, making it impossible to carry on any deeper thought.

And right on cue, Igor stoked her expectations.

“If we catch a baby unicorn in the forest, let’s set its tail on fire.”

By now the passage had grown so low that the boy was crawling out, cackling the whole way.

The glint in his eyes when he occasionally glanced back at her—or more precisely, just above her head—was suspicious, but her urge to get out and romp in the snow was too strong.

Then she examined her clothing, wondering what was making the crawling so uncomfortable. A long, flowing skirt had wrapped itself around her ankles, hindering her movement.

“…A dress…?”

Did I always wear things like this? I’m a woman, so it’s not strange….

But why does it feel so unfamiliar…?

While she was tilting her head in a daze like a lost child, Igor finally squeezed out of the burrow-like passage.

Through the opening he left, a bit of pale outdoor sunlight seeped in.

“Hurry out, Lucy!”

Still tilting her head at the name she hadn’t gotten used to, Eredite crept outside.

Immediately, she felt the sensation of cold, thick snow pressing softly against her palms.

Just as she breathed in the fragrant forest scent and a strange joy was about to rise in her, two black feet suddenly stepped up and stopped before her hands.

“…Who?”