That night, Lara went to the sanctum alone. Demian acted as her escort and guarded the entrance outside the sanctum. It was to ensure that no one interfered with the conversation between Lara and God.
Lara grumbled to the God of Fate, scolding how he came into her dream to call her. Then, she asked if she was given her healing power because of the demon hiding in the north that had been spreading contagious diseases.
<Lara, to protect this world from extinction… Your death is the one thing that must not happen under any circumstances. Didn’t I show you what would happen if you die?>
Lara hid her surprise and nodded. Suddenly, her body was hot as she recalled Demian who was ruined after her death. The more she thought about it, the more her heart ached.
Lara said she wanted to turn all the Barbarians into demon slayers this time. Like the holy knights who could borrow the power of God a long time ago, she asked if he could give his blessing to them.
The God of Fate was put on the spot.
<In order to do that, the demon has to cause at least a catastrophe.>
So, it’s impossible.
As soon as Lara was about to give up, God told her an expedient.
<Even if it is not necessarily harming humans, you can make the demon use its strength. Think carefully.>
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As the demon possessed his body, Valac gradually started to recall Prince Sidhar’s memories. However, there were some things that he could not understand no matter how he thought about it.
For a human being, this bastard wore quite a decent mask. So why did that woman named Laviore hate him so much?
No matter how much I search through his memories, I don’t think this bastard did anything particularly wrong to that woman.
“Urghhhh…”
Valac had the most dramatic performance of his long demonic life. Dark red blood gushed out of his mouth. Then, the demon’s pattern engraved on his body squirmed like a snake and sucked the blood that flowed out.
The pattern on his body was rough, it wasn’t even properly drawn. And even if he sucked blood, he did not even feel full. It was no different than drinking his own blood. But this process was absolutely necessary.
“Aargghhhh!”
Valac screamed in excruciating pain. Then the knights outside rushed to him, opened the door, and called the doctor out loud.
‘Can I die now because there are already eyewitnesses? Should I wait for Acerus to come? That would be better if I want to talk to him alone, right?’
Valac decided to suffer a little more. While he was struggling and vomiting blood, Crown Prince Acerus rushed in after being contacted.
“Prince Sidhar!”
“Urgh, Crown Prince Acerus.”
“Hang in there! What is this? If you die…”
The demon will wake up.
Valac smiled with great determination.
“Bring the doctor! Get the antidote… Damn it. Where did the Prince get the poison?”
It was not poison but just plain water. But who cares? Valac thought this was the right time, he slowly stretched out his limbs into Acerus’ embrace. Then, he stopped the heart of the body he was occupying.
“No!”
Acerus screamed in despair. Soon after, Valac, the demon, opened his eyes in the body of the Prince.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Days had passed since Lara had been living in Dandelion and rumors circulated that Thousand Gold Isadora had sent her daughter to the Empire’s capital to pass on her business.
Lara’s Garden was used by the wealthiest people in Dandelion so socialites who witnessed Lara at the hotel had spread out her sightings here and there.
Lara paid no mind about all of that. Dandelion was a huge city and Tarragon was a bigger Empire. The number of nobles alone was dozens of times higher than that of Hautean. Lara just thought that their interest in a mere merchant’s daughter would not go long.
But contrary to what she was expecting, the nobles were very interested in Lara. To be exact, they were interested in who Thousand Gold Isadora would hand over her business and property to. In addition, the ladies-in-waiting and knights had spread rumors that Lara was in and out of the Crown Prince’s castle.
“Why can’t I live quietly?”
Lara lamented. She barely did much, but in the blink of an eye, she was a famous person again. Since her mother was such a great person and she met the Crown Prince so often, she already expected the rumors to some extent, but it had spread faster than she anticipated.
The most common story was that the daughter of Isadora approached Acerus to become Crown Princess Consort. Next was the story that Crown Prince Acerus approached the daughter of Isadora for her property. There was also a story that Lara was working quietly to buy herself a title with money. All kinds of rumors about her circulated in Dandelion.
“I’d better not meet him for the time being. The situation’s already a mess even before I reveal that I’m the saintess. Once the people find out that I’m the saintess, they might say it’s a sign of destruction even when I just sneeze.”
“Good idea.”
Demian gladly nodded. At Lara’s request, he handed one of the two long-distance magic receivers made by Valentine to Acerus. After he was told not to meet Lara in person for the time being and to talk to her through the receiver only, Acerus looked as desperate as an abandoned puppy.
Acerus said to Demian that the saintess was the saintess of all of us, so why was Demian trying to dominate her all to himself? Then, his aide advised Demian that it would be better to break ties with the Crown Prince.
“Demian, will Valac really give us information about demons? Won’t he be betraying his own kind? I don’t know if I can really trust him.”
“Acerus will take care of that.”
“Do we really need to take the army to subdue the demon in the north? What if there is another dispute with the enemy?”
“Acerus will take care of that too.”
Demian came down to the hotel’s restaurant with Lara to eat. Flashy meals prepared by the chef were spread out on a white table. Lara was wearing a dark purple dress and a silver fur coat.
“Tell me honestly.”
“What?”
“You don’t really care if the demon reigns and the world comes to an end, do you?”
“I do care.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not.”
Chicken steak that had been generously dipped in red sauce disappeared into Demian’s mouth. He looked straight at Lara, the color of her slowly moving lips was redder than the sauce. And with the corners of his mouth tilted like the moon lying down, Demian spoke.
“Lara.”
“Yes?”
“In your first life, did I look like I was not interested in anything in the world?”
“No. I wouldn’t say you had no interest, you did become a King after all. You just did a lot of things that I couldn’t understand.”
Demian’s eyes were fixed on Lara’s face throughout the meal. He looked at her lips when she was chewing food, her eyes when she was talking to him, and her fingertips when she was cutting meat. Due to that, Lara, who kept losing her words, breathed in briefly and asked him.
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?”
“Because you amaze me.”
“Why? What amazes you?”
“Lara, you only need to give me an order.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you give me an order, I will follow it. Whatever it is, I will do as you say. Did you forget? Lara, I’m a warrior fighting on your behalf.”
Lara placed her knife on her plate. Demian’s voice continued to be heard.
“Waiting for information regarding the demons? Just leave that to Acerus. If you tell me to go to the north right now and fight the demon, I will do it.”
“Demian.”
“Do you want to win the war against the demon? Do you want to make Barbarians their only rival?”
He asked. Then, before Lara could even answer, Demian said something shocking.
“If you want, I can even be the King of the Barbarians right now.”
Crazy.
Lara muttered.
“Not to save the world, but for me?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re going to be the King?”
“Yeah.”
“I will do whatever you want.”
Demian whispered.
The sweet red wine disappeared into Demian’s mouth. His Adam’s apple protruding from his long neck moved up and down, licking the liquor left on his lips with his tongue thereafter. After finishing his meal, Demian put down his glass and leaned his back against the chair. Then, he persistently followed Lara’s gaze with his deep eyes.
She felt like there was hot candy stuck in her throat. The weather was cold outside but Lara wished that she had something cold to drink.
The one who needs to be the hero to save the world says that he will fight solely for my sake. What should I do?
“Do you love me?”
Lara asked.
“So much that I can even save the world.”
He replied.
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