The Depressed Demon King and His Bedchamber Maid - Chapter 35

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He walked slowly to where Lucy had gone out, and there, stood facing the raging blizzard.

Even as he confirmed that his barrier had been undone from the inside, Laegar’s face remained impassive.

Gazing up at the ash-gray sky for a moment, he let his eyes rest on the forest of Roan, visible far in the distance, and sank quietly into thought.

* * *

A few days later, lying sprawled on the sofa, Laegar’s fingertips tapped gently on a crystal orb the size of a child’s head.

He had ordered Alfredo to find Lucy—no, the woman who had now returned to being Eredite—and to circle her vicinity.

It seemed one of the lower-ranking messengers had been captured by the Roan side, causing things to turn out this way. But Alfredo, who had left after swallowing a portion of Laegar’s demonic power, was at far less risk of such a fate.

And at last, having found Eredite as his master desired, Alfredo was now projecting the woman’s image onto the crystal orb.

“Hah!”

Chuck, Chuck—!

A bitter taste rolled inside Eredite’s mouth as she swung the axe countless times to fell a large tree. Dressed in a wool tunic and an elk-hide vest, she did not stop. Because if she stopped, she felt she would go mad.

“Enough now, hand it over to the lads.”

Her direct subordinate Alex tried to take the axe handle from her, stopping her. Felling trees and splitting firewood was the work of low-ranking soldiers.

But lately, Eredite was obsessed only with pushing her body violently.

As if trying desperately to forget something.

As if trying to shatter and destroy horrific memories.

Because of this, Alex had not been able to ask his superior Eredite where she had been all this time or how she had even returned.

He knew only that Eredite had received a report of the ‘Demon King’s’ appearance, gone out for a surprise reconnaissance, and then vanished.

After that, he had been utterly distraught, unable to find any trace of his superior—and then she had suddenly reappeared.

But the woman who returned did not open her mouth about the past.

Her personality had changed, too, in subtle ways.

She had always been quiet and reserved, but she had grown even more somber than before, and she clung only to work that pushed her body, as if she wanted to destroy something.

In the mornings, she personally oversaw the training of the guards or felled trees. In the afternoons, she went out for regular reconnaissance and hunting. Even when night came, she would volunteer for night watch and remain in the tower’s lookout.

Even though the subjugation of demonic beasts for the latter half of the year had already ended, she resolved to head out once more, with herself at the fore.

And Eredite wanted to go alone whenever possible, but Alex could not leave her by herself.

It felt as though she might vanish without a trace all over again.

Chuck!

“Hah, haah….”

At Eredite’s final strike, white mana shot sharply along the axe blade, and the tree trunk at last began to tilt to one side.

At that, a crow that had been perched on it let out a mocking caw and soared into the sky. But seeing it settle onto another branch without flying far, Alex swung his fist and spat curses.

“Why do these damned things keep…!”

He was about to grumble—lingering around the captain—but soon shut his mouth.

It was because rumors had begun to circulate quietly among the tower guard posts—that the captain might have been taken prisoner by the Belluk territory.

“Let the lads below handle the firewood. Please, go in and rest.”

At his subordinate’s cautious suggestion, Eredite rubbed the corners of her eyes as if tired, but shook her head.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she spoke without even glancing at Alex.

“I’ll go check on the embankment construction.”

Before he could even attempt to stop her, she had already moved beyond the radius where his nagging could reach. Left behind, watching her as if she wanted to speak to no one—not him, not anyone—Alex could only shrug his shoulders.

Mounting a horse tethered to a nearby tree, Eredite began racing through the forest path.

She hadn’t really meant to check on the embankment site. She simply drove her horse anywhere, looking for a place where she could be alone.

Her own horse was probably still at the Grand Ducal Castle in the Belluk territory.

The moment Belluk crossed her mind, a hollow breath escaped her lips and something squirmed unpleasantly in her gut. At the same time, a destructive impulse surged.

Feeling as though she was going mad again, Eredite drew her sword and began hacking wildly at the branches in her way.

The twigs were all cut down before her as she galloped, but the surreal events that had taken place at the Grand Ducal Castle clung stubbornly to her mind.

‘Horrible.’