Within an overly grand castle, a handsome young man wrapped head to toe in bandages wandered alone.

The castle looked as if it had been built for giants as massive doors engraved with intricate patterns towered over hallways long enough to make even a sane adult question their life choices.

But it wasn’t an abode of giants.

It was the castle of the Demon King.

And the boy wandering through it was none other than Rael.

It had been nearly a week since the whole treasury incident ended, and he had only woken up yesterday, meanwhile, Arza, who had supposedly been injured far worse than him, had recovered within a single day.

But even after waking up, Rael wasn’t allowed to leave the castle. Apparently, the healers believed his wounds were so severe that he could drop dead at any moment.

Rael wanted to scream at them that the “severe health condition” they kept detecting was simply his normal terminal illness, something that wouldn’t disappear no matter what they did but those doctors were far too devoted to their work and refused to leave him alone, even after he insisted he was fine.

So today, Rael started exploring.

His goal was to find the Demon King in this absurdly large castle because only that guy would actually listen to him instead of trying to tie him back to a bed while saying that it was too dangerous for him to even stand.

Normally, he would have preferred to chill for a few days instead of rushing back immediately to the academy, but unfortunately time wasn’t on his side.

Because even if the treasury had time-distorting effects which made everything that happened in many days inside into a single day outside, the one-week coma wasn’t part of his plans.

He thought the treasury incident would last one or two days, and that he would take at most another day or two to recover but the extra week had screwed his plans quite nicely.

There were two important events he needed to do in the remaining days. The first was eliminating Varek Ashen Noctharion, the bastard who had a duel scheduled with Rael soon and the second was killing Sylvie when the Seed of Chaos awakened during the academy’s rank reassignment exam.

Although he wasn’t even sure that would still happen as the story had already gone far past its breaking point. The descent of the Divine Treasury, something that was supposed to occur in a later arc, had already happened. So he couldn’t be certain the first arc would unfold on schedule anymore.

The Chaos Seed would awaken someday for sure.

He just wasn’t certain it would happen on that exact day anymore, which meant he would need to investigate it himself and gather data.

But one event he was certain about was the A.S.S attack.

It had happened around the same time, and in some ways it was even more important than Sylvie’s death because Rael’s survival depended on it.

He planned to slip away aboard one of the A.S.S ships during the attack and reach his true destination, Alvanta.

Only there could he cure his terminal illness.

Which meant there was no way in hell he intended to waste time resting around the Demon King’s castle when he had so many preparations to make.

But just then, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

“Oh shit… how did she find me already?”

He immediately looked around for somewhere to hide, but the hallway was completely straight. There was nowhere to hide except a small vase resting on top of a narrow pillar.

Rael quickly ducked behind the pillar, fully aware it wouldn’t conceal him for long. He considered using his mana, but that would only alert them even more.

He cautiously peeked out as the footsteps had stopped.

“Did she leave…?”

He didn’t see anyone.

“Phew… why don’t these bastards just leave me alone?” He muttered as he stood up and turned around to resume his search.

But the moment he turned, his soul practically left his body as he stumbled ten steps backward instantly.

A ghostly pale beautiful woman was standing there. She wore a pink nurse outfit, matching her pink hair and eyes.

“Young Master, how many times do I have to say that you should not leave your bed?” She began lecturing immediately. “The healer ordered you to remain on strict rest.”

“And how many times do I have to tell you that I don’t need to be guarded by a Demon Commander all the time, Miss Lilith?” Rael shot back.

She smiled brightly. “As I said before, I have been ordered by the Demon King to not let you out of my sight, Young Master.”

“At least let me meet him then. I need to speak with him about something urgent.” Rael wasn’t about to give up.

“I told you before, he is busy, Young Master.” She replied cheerfully, without the slightest hint of annoyance despite being an SS-Ranker.

Tsk.

Rael clicked his tongue.

She had been saying the exact same thing ever since he woke up, refusing to let him meet Ashavar.

What could that bastard possibly be doing that’s more important than meeting me?

He finished the thought in his mind before being unwillingly dragged by Lilith back to his room.

Inside, a girl with white hair was sleeping on his bed, her hands clutching a half-eaten chocolate that had slightly stained the sheets. Soft strands of white hair fell over her pale face while the obsidian horns crowning her head shined faintly.

Arza.

“Why is she sleeping there again…?” Rael asked with a sigh.

When he had woken up yesterday, he had found her sleeping in the exact same spot. Even though he had somehow pushed her out, she had returned like a cat claiming its territory and gone right back to sleep there.

“She says she sleeps well there…” Lilith chuckled as she replied.

Rael ignored that and walked toward the bed before poking Arza’s soft, plump cheek.

“Hey, get up.”

She didn’t respond.

So he poked harder.

Finally, she stirred awake, her crimson serpentine eyes blinking at him as she slowly tilted her head before her eyes widened slightly as if understanding something.

“You want it…?”

She extended the half-eaten chocolate in her hand toward him, assuming that was why he had woken her up.

If this were any normal time, he would have considered it quite an achievement, making the girl who once tried to kill him for dropping her chocolate now offer to share it with him.

But right now, being uselessly jailed inside his room, with frustration already piling up and Arza’s cluelessness adding to it, a vein popped on Rael’s forehead.

“It’s my bed. Go sleep in your room.”

He said it mercilessly with a smile.

She stared at him blankly for a moment.

“No.” She muttered without any hesitation.

Ever since he had woken up, he had noticed a slight change in her. Unlike before, she was somewhat more responsive to him now.

“Why…?” Rael asked, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

“Why not…?” She answered his question with another question.

Before Rael could snap, Lilith arrived quickly. “Young Miss, you should leave the Young Master’s room. He needs privacy.”

Rael let out a satisfied smirk.

Yeah… tell her, Lilith.

Arza looked at her. “For what?”

Lilith glanced at Rael once before quietly walking closer to Arza and whispering something into her ear.

Arza’s body flinched slightly as she slowly turned her head toward Rael. Her expression hadn’t changed in the slightest, but for some reason Rael felt like she was looking at him as if he were a bug.

Rael had no idea what Lilith had said but it definitely wasn’t anything good.

“Hey, wait a minute…” He tried to speak. “Lilith, what did you say…?”

But before he could finish, Arza had already walked out, following behind Lilith.

Just before leaving completely, Lilith turned back once and winked at him.

“Don’t worry, Young Master. You can take all the time you need.”

This bitch…

Rael wanted to curse, but the power radiating from her made him reconsider.

With a sigh, he slumped back onto the bed, staring at the small chocolate stain the girl had left behind.

Tsk… why are people so complicated?

—

Meanwhile, in the long hallway, Arza walked toward her room, with Lilith following behind. “You should rest as well, Young Miss. Your body is in even worse condition than the Young Master’s.”

Her voice was soft as she watched Arza walk normally despite injuries severe enough to make even grown men struggle.

But Arza didn’t reply.

Lilith sighed, noticing once again the difference between how Arza behaved when Rael was around and when he wasn’t.

As one of Morvana’s friends, she had watched Arza grow up from childhood and had always noticed how emotionally detached she was but ever since Arza woke up a few days ago, Lilith had begun noticing something different.

Naturally, her face still remained expressionless and detached but the way she had sat beside that unconscious human boy, silently waiting for him to wake up…

It was strange.

She hadn’t spoken a word or done anything and yet somehow, Lilith felt that Arza had been worried about him as if, without her watching over him, the boy might die.

As she looked at the girl walking expressionlessly, a smile appeared on her face.

I hope you can finally see the colours, Arza.

She thought as they arrived in front of Arza’s room. Arza entered without any hesitation as Lillith bowed once before leaving.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep