As I looked up, I could already see the royal adviser’s distorted face. It looked over at me with pure hatred, staring me down as if I was a piece of meat that he could devour anytime he wanted. He was angry, very angry with me. After all, I was the one who had ruined his plan from the very beginning. I was the one who had ruined his life.

“YOU! IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!” The royal adviser shouted, his face tilting to the side as his appearance continued to change into one of a demon.

His skin became charred, and his eyes turned red as if there was a river of blood within them. He grew stronger by the second as he kept looking at me dead in the eyes.

Surprisingly, he wasn’t trying to run away from me as fast as he could, which had been what I had expected. Instead, he stood there shouting at me, antagonizing me while I slowly patted Amelia’s hair to comfort her.

Even while she was in my arms, I could feel her weak and frail body shaking slightly because of the fear that was slowly consuming her body.

I gave a tight hug and whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll take off this. Just close your eyes. I’ll tell you to open them again.”

She looked at me in the eyes, literal tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She didn’t even say anything; she just looked into my eyes with a weak smile that she struggled to even maintain. Then, she slowly closed her eyes and whispered, “I trust you…”

After closing her eyes, I carefully placed her beside me as I looked in front of me once more toward the ugly demon that the royal adviser had become. I only had one goal in my mind, a very simple one at that, to kill him as painfully as I could for all the pain that he gave Amelia. That’s all a demon deserved to be killed painfully, especially when he had hurt someone close to me.

It had only been a few days, but Amelia was now one of the people who knew me best. I hadn’t opened up to her just yet, but I still trusted her deep down, and to see her crying because of a pitiful demon wasn’t something that I would let happen ever again.

“Hm… you really think a human can fight with a demon?” He laughed right in my face. “You think you can beat me?”

However, I didn’t bother to say anything. I was tired of talking. I wanted to fight… I had given this man way too many chances already, and I should have killed him before leaving for the Icy Lake. It would have made things much simpler for Amelia once we got back.

Instead of talking, I slowly started walking forward as I activated [Bloodlust], my eyes turning red just like a demon, and I could feel energy running through each of my muscles.

“That much should be enough for a weak demon like you.”

I then exuded my aura inside the room, making sure that Amelia wouldn’t be affected by it, and took another step forward as I could see the overconfident expression of the demon slowly leaving his face. He was slowly realizing what was happening. He was slowly realizing that he was no match for someone like me.

His transformation as a demon had made him overconfident in his own abilities. But he still had his instincts, and once I revealed just a tiny amount of my power, he realized that he had no chance of winning. He realized that I was a much stronger being than he was.

“Do you realize now how stupid it was for you to become a demon?” I said with a sigh. “If you really wanted to, you could have become much stronger while being an ice elf. You simply chose the easy way out, thinking that there were no other choices.”

“Y-You don’t know anything!” He shouted. “I had no choice but to make this choice.”

“No,” I said with conviction, not interested in hearing the excuses of a man who sold his principles for some power. I was already disgusted enough. “You always have a choice, even if one might seem easier than the other.”

I was a fervent believer in this. There are always two choices for someone to take, no matter what. That is simply how things are, and nothing will ever change it.

“It was either becoming a demon or dying… you would have made the same choice as me!” He continued to shout, and I could see his legs starting to weaken, just like what had happened with the rest of them in the throne room. It seemed demons really weren’t all that confident in themselves.

“I would rather die than become a demon. So, no. I would have never made the same choice as you, never in a million years.” I shook my head. “Look at you, I only walked in your direction, and you are already on your knees, scared shitless of me. If I asked you to become my slave to survive, you would probably accept. That’s how fucking pitiful you are.”

“I-I just don’t want to die! P-Please, I’ll do absolutely anything… anything you want, I swear.”

“I have no need for a demon. All they deserve is one thing and one thing only. Do you know what that is?” I asked, the smile on my face becoming more and more twisted.

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“Please… don’t kill me… I’ll do anything, anything you want.”

Seeing him beg was honestly satisfying, and it was a good thing that Amelia still had her eyes closed. thinking of her, I realized that it might make her sadder if I were to torture the royal adviser. After all, even if he had betrayed her, he was still someone important in her eyes.

That’s why I decided to be nicer to this demon this time around. I would only cut off his head in one clean strike.

“Goodbye, may we never meet again.”

*Thud*

His head dropped onto the ground, and he was now dead.

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