The Incubus Archduke Dreams of a Pet Human - Chapter 39

“Eek!”

Why are demons so shameless when it comes to touching other people’s bodies. Her heart nearly flipped over at the ice-cold hand that startled her.

The approaching man’s breath was rough.

“P-Please, let go…….”

At those words, the man flinched and hurriedly hid his hand inside his robe. She had not expected him to actually let go just because she told him to. The man twitched his eyebrows, looking embarrassed.

“S-Sorry. I j-just wanted to as-ask. D-Did Asmod d-drink all the li-liquor?”

“……E-Excuse me?”

Liquor? What liquor? At the sudden question, Theticia tilted her head. From behind the flustered Theticia, Glacia and Jess hurried over.

“Found you!”

“My, how quick on your feet you are……. Archduke Levia?”

Jess lightly dipped her bonnet, greeting him with proper courtesy. Glacia wagged her tail happily as well. With a dazed expression, Theticia looked back and forth between the pale demon and Glacia.

“……You know each other?”

Only after the fabric shop owner hurriedly prepared seats was Theticia able to calm her startled heart.

“Levia Archdukie, Archdukie’s friend!”

“The Archduke does not respond to ordinary liquor, so he only drinks the liquor brewed by Archduke Levia. His Grace must have been asking whether the liquor had run out, correct?”

Jess fluttered her bonnet as she interpreted the words of Levia, who was crouched down.

From what she heard, this long, pale demon was Levia, one of the Seven Archdukes, and he was acquainted with Asmod. Theticia remembered the bitter mugwort scent that wafted from him.

‘On the first night I spent in the Demon Realm, Lord Asmod smelled like that too.’

That bitter scent had mixed into the hot breath he exhaled. To think it was because of the liquor this demon had made.

“Mm, I-I smelled Asmod, so. I-I just wanted to ask. S-Sorry for st-startling you. H-Here, I made this tea.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry for reacting so openly.”

“N-No. No.”

To think a demon who looked so unguarded and timid was an archduke like Asmod or Mammon. Between him and Glacia, she thought it really was wrong to judge demons by appearances.

When Theticia took a sip of the tea Levia offered, she gasped and covered her lips.

“It’s sweet……! It’s really delicious!”

A cool, mint-like fragrance spread through her mouth, and a light sweetness lingered on the tip of her tongue.

“It’s dried new shoots of sweet sagewort. I-I am glad you like it.”

“Sweet sagewort? Ah, I have seen it in a compendium!”

Theticia hurriedly rummaged through her bag and took out her compendium. It was a Demon Realm plant she had been curious about after reading that it developed a distinctive flavor when brewed as tea.

“A, a monster compendium? It is an old book. Do you l-like th-things like this?”

Levia accepted the offered compendium and curled the corner of his mouth into a grin. Jess, standing beside him, lightly added,

“His Grace Archduke Levia is a renowned botanist of the Demon Realm. This book was also authored by Archduke Levia himself.”

At those words, Theticia’s cheeks flushed bright red.

“You wrote the compendium……! I love plants and animals so much! The Demon Realm is full of plants that don’t exist in the human realm, so it’s all incredibly fascinating. I went to see the Moon Trumpet today as well. The way it all bloomed at once was incredibly splendid.”

“Y-You went to Moon-Viewing Hill. Y-You went at just the right time for the full moon.”

At those words, Theticia could not hide her surprised expression.

‘The full moon……. Lord Asmod brought me today on purpose.’

Even though he was busy enough to stop the flower viewing, Asmod had still made time for her, and that consideration felt deeply pleasing. Theticia resolved once again that she should embroider something, putting this gratitude into it.

“It is pretty, the Moon Trumpet. Th-The seeds are used as medicine. G-Good for stomachaches.”

After glancing around, Levia went on and on about plants.

For quite some time after that, Theticia fell into chatter with Levia. Each time she asked about a plant or a monster she was curious about, Levia pulled out a small specimen from within his large green robe, and the conversation never broke.

At the Viscount’s estate, she had only ever been scolded, told why she would bother taking interest in such things. Theticia felt as though she had found a kindred spirit.

By the time Glacia, who had no interest in the topic of conversation, opened her snout wide and yawned, the fabric shop owner quietly knocked on the reception room door.

“Your Grace, my apologies, but it is time for us to close.”

The heated discussion cut off abruptly, like a ripened pod bursting.

“Ah, it is already this late……!”

Having talked with such enthusiasm that her face was flushed, Theticia suddenly looked out the window. The light of the full moon had weakened by as much time as had passed.

Just as she realized she had kept Levia for too long and hurried to gather herself.

“You, you are interrupting our conversation?”

At the edge of her gaze, Levia was glaring at the fabric shop owner. His long, pale gaze stared sharply at him.

“H-How dare the likes of you. A pleasant conversation.”

A voice sharp as thorns. A head dropping stiffly to the side, like a wooden puppet.

Before she realized it, Theticia stepped forward and blocked Levia’s line of sight.

“I-it is fine, Lord Levia! Lord Asmod must be waiting, so I should head back now.”

Theticia blurted it out quickly and swallowed a dry gulp. Even she could not quite grasp what nerve she had to stand in the way of an archduke. Her body had simply moved first, at the thought that something terrible would happen if she did not.

Fortunately, Levia immediately withdrew his murderous gaze.

“……C-can not be helped, then.”