Chapter 51
‘……That is the Demon King?’
Theticia widened her eyes at the sight of a boy who looked far too ordinary. In the fleeting moment she stood frozen in bewilderment, every demon save for her bowed their heads.
“To think Asmod is holding a coming-of-age ceremony. I must have grown far too old.”
Lucifer, looking around with a lighthearted air, spotted Theticia sticking out among the bowed demons.
“So you are Asmod’s pet human?”
“I, I greet His Majesty the Demon King……!”
She wondered if it was acceptable to greet him like this. Theticia offered her respects, drawing upon her memories of having an audience with the Emperor.
“Raise your head. I came because I was curious about your face.”
At the casual flick of a finger before her eyes, Theticia stood up first, and Asmod beside her straightened his posture a moment later.
“Thank you for coming, Your Majesty.”
The blood-red gaze slid past the bluntly answering Asmod and pinned itself upon the small human. His eyes, which had been dull with boredom just moments before, quickly rippled with curiosity.
“My, my……. You two.”
Lucifer let out a soft sound of admiration. His face, smiling with the corners of his mouth stretched wide, looked innocent and yet possessed a chillingly eerie quality.
“If someone saw this, they would think we had traveled back to the past. How could the tastes of father and son be so identical!”
As Asmod reflexively frowned at the unwelcome mention of his father, Lucifer leaned his face close to Theticia with a mischievous expression.
Meeting those crimson eyes that looked like congealed blood, her body snapped into a crystalline stasis. The grinning, boyish mouth twitched before bursting into a loud peal of laughter.
“The woman Belial brought in had exactly this hair color. Blood truly cannot be deceived. Still, that woman was not quite this pretty. You have improved quite a bit.”
“Th, thank you.”
A compliment was a compliment, after all. Theticia replied, bowing her head. That attitude seemed to stimulate Lucifer’s curiosity even further.
“You truly look like a doll. Utterly adorable.”
He touched her hair and poked her cheeks. In truth, the one who looked cuter was the Demon King, who appeared to be no more than ten years old, yet Theticia did not know what to do with the pouring praises.
Only Asmod protested with clear displeasure.
“Do not say such things. Hearing that my tastes are identical is nothing but highly offensive.”
Theticia looked up, and her eyes met Asmod’s. A sudden chill dropped heavily into her chest as his gaze sharply averted hers.
‘So there was someone else who lived in the Archduke’s mansion besides me. ……Did that person have an illness similar to mine?’
At that thought, her heart, which had been resting in peace for a while, began a frantic rhythm. Could that person not recognize the faces of others either? How did they end up coming to the Demon Realm?
Her curiosity swelled like a blossoming cloud inside her mind.
Lucifer giggled, waving his hand dismissively. The ensuing conversation cleanly blew away Theticia’s curiosity.
“What is wrong with calling similar things similar?”
“It has been more than a hundred years, has it not? It is far too old a matter.”
At Asmod’s reply, a heavy, sinking weight plummeted to the bottom of Theticia’s stomach.
‘Wait…….’
Judging from the preceding conversation, Asmod’s age was clearly somewhere between one and a hundred years old. Glancing sideways, she confirmed that Asmod’s face was taut without a single wrinkle.
‘As expected, there is a massive difference in lifespan between demons and humans.’
Considering he looked so young even if he were a hundred years old, she thought that to Asmod, she might truly be nothing more than a passing pet human.
‘I must have taken it too seriously.’
She suddenly felt embarrassed of herself for fluttering over the word fate.
“Asmod, you truly loathe your father. You should still show some respect to the father who passed his mana down to you. Is it not entirely thanks to your father that you ascended to the seat of Archduke?”
The way he gently patted Asmod’s arm was exactly like a grandfather soothing his grandson.
“Is there any need to harbor affection for my father? I am making good use of the mana he left me, and that should be enough.”
“You are managing your territory well, I assume? Distribute it abundantly to your subjects who must have suffered through the famine. The concentration of mana has thinned further these days, so the outskirts must be struggling.”
“I plan to visit as soon as the coming-of-age ceremony is concluded.”
Theticia had no intention of interrupting, but the conversation between the two demons did not allow her the slightest opportunity to interject, causing her to press her lips tightly together. Lucifer abruptly tilted his head toward the fidgeting Theticia.
“Take good care of our Asmod. He has only just become an adult, so it seems he will owe you quite a debt.”
It was a bizarre picture, seeing someone with the appearance of a child treating the fully grown Asmod like a little boy.
“Yes……! I will……. I will do my best!”
Unsure of exactly what kind of debt he meant, Theticia blurted out whatever came to mind, and Lucifer let out a string of soft, stifled giggles.
‘I wondered what kind of seductress she must be to have coaxed out the stone-like Asmod. But looking closely, she is incredibly far from the woman Belial brought in.’
She looked completely unassuming, devoid of any hidden ulterior motives, giving the impression of someone who would, at most, play house with Asmod.
In a way, they were a perfectly matched pair for the inexperienced Asmod. To Asmod, lacking ambition was an enormous advantage.
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