Chapter 156

Anyway.

She had already pointed out the direction earlier. Gustana once again cast Float and slowly descended from the high platform, following the ruins of the Holy Theocracy’s cathedral.

After the fierce battle tonight, the once-glorious Grand Cathedral of Coreia had been more than half destroyed. It would likely require major reconstruction.

But what troubled Gustana the most was not the cathedral’s destruction…

It was the scene he saw when he landed on the cathedral’s ground, standing firmly on the shattered crystal glass.

At that moment, the golden light sphere had also floated nearby.

The Pope frowned, his voice filled with concern.

“Lady Aimeris… why is this…?”

“I indeed pierced through her heart and heavily damaged her magic core. But all things have exceptions… and she just so happens to be one without magic, one who needs no core.”

“Even with her heart pierced, she could still escape…? This is simply absurd.”

“Are you questioning me?”

“No…! Absolutely not! Lady Aimeris, please do not misunderstand. When I said absurd, I meant that the vitality of this Demon Clan member is unbelievably strong.”

“The Demon Clan has always been so.”

Indeed.

Ailellek had fallen. She should have died in the most wretched of states.

Yet, when they looked toward the fractured ground where she had crashed… her corpse was not there.

Only a large pool of fresh blood remained, and a dense trail of scattered blood leading toward the cathedral’s exit.

The trail extended all the way to the exit before disappearing, which showed that she had already spread her wings and fled into the sky at that point.

The Pope gazed somewhat forlornly at the severely damaged cathedral. His aged face carried sorrow, but more than that, it bore determination.

“She escaped. That might be even more troublesome than if she had died here. The only consolation is… the trump card bestowed upon us by Lady Aimeris has not been discovered by her.”

Between humans and the Demon Clan, it had always been the weak against the strong.

The methods of the weak could only be to conceal themselves in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the strong. Only then could they turn the tables and achieve victory.

“Gustana, you have not forgotten your true duty, have you? Whether or not the Demon Clan can be defeated is not what matters.”

“Of course. I remember everything. Please be at ease.”

…………………………………….

Six wings tore through the night sky of the Holy Theocracy, retreating all the way to a small road beyond the outskirts of Coreia’s capital.

In the depths of night, this wilderness was utterly desolate, with not a soul in sight.

Following this road onward would eventually lead into the neighboring Kingdom of Aurus.

In the silence broken only by the chirping of insects, even the sound of a single drop of blood falling onto the ground seemed piercingly loud.

The desolate moonlight illuminated the beautiful woman, whose face had turned pale from excessive blood loss, making her look all the more forlorn.

Yet on this tragic beauty’s face remained a twisted smile…

As if she gave not the slightest regard to her own grievous injuries.

“Ha… hahaha…! Interesting, how interesting…! To think that such a thing as true instant-cast magic exists in this world. If I were to tell Royal Brother and Royal Sister-in-law, they would surely be surprised! Hehe… oh right, I’ll use this information as a bargaining chip, to make those two have a match with me together…! Hiss… ow ow ow ow.”

Though she sounded carefree as if nothing had happened, when Ailellek lowered her head and looked at her hollow chest, even she could not help but show a wry smile.

This time, she was truly badly injured, wasn’t she?

If it had been someone else—even if it had been her Royal Brother, the Demon King himself—having their heart pierced would have likely meant certain death.

But she was Ailellek, the absolute anomaly who had broken through to six wings relying solely on the strength of her physical body.

The pain came mixed with an itch.

That itch came from the mangled flesh rapidly regenerating at an unbelievable speed. Even the destroyed heart was constantly reshaping its intricate structure.

Ailellek could not be bothered to lower her head to watch this restoration process. After all, she disliked the sight of mangled flesh.

Well~ but thanks to this, she had earned herself another title among the Demon Clan, besides 【Battle Maniac】.

This title was known to very few.

——【Undying, Immortal Princess】.

It had not been long, yet her chest, still faintly covered in a thin layer of blood, had already regrown skin as flawless and pale as snow.

The pain had vanished along with it, leaving only the fatigue of drained stamina, which still made Ailellek feel weary.

But for a battle fanatic like her, that was hardly worth mentioning.

She drew out a spare ring-shaped cloak from her armor’s waist, draping it over her body that had already fully recovered.

Even though the ground was still stained with so much blood, Ailellek stretched her arms high, arching her back in a lazy yawn, like a great cat, letting out a deep, satisfied purring sound from her throat, as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than a trivial incident.

Basking in the brightness of the two moons shining down,

Ailellek clasped her hands behind her head, humming a little tune as she continued her journey.

Hmm hmm hmm~ which country should she go play in next?

Oh… right.

It seemed that just ahead lay the Kingdom of Aurus, didn’t it?

Speaking of the Kingdom of Aurus…

She had heard that Sheffy was now clinging to that place and refusing to leave?!

“Go, go, go! Time to visit my little niece and have some fun!”

—

66. A Restless Morning

Bathed in the morning light, the Kingdom of Aurus appeared as serene as dewdrops clinging to leaves.

Reflecting the warm sunlight, lazily lying atop the foliage, unwilling to flow or fall to awaken.

Birds chirped, butterflies fluttered—everything was a rare scene of tranquility, the very image of peaceful times.

And the Demon Clan Princess, shamelessly lingering within this calm land… was just as leisurely and lazy, wasn’t she?

She was not an insect, yet she lazed about like one.

The silver-haired girl nestled against the gentle softness of the big bed, dreaming that she had turned into a caterpillar, endlessly wriggling forward through comfortable soil~ wriggle~ wriggle~ oh, how wonderfully carefree that was.

In truth, she was already awake now—half-drowsy, half-conscious.

——But she did not want to wake up completely just yet.

Sometimes she truly envied those caterpillars…

Because this half-dream, half-awake moment of morning was a rare treasure of the world… every extra second spent curled under the blankets was pure profit, never a loss.

And yet… why did this beautiful morning feel somewhat wrong…?

She tried rolling left but couldn’t move… tried rolling right and felt like she hit a wall, so cold.

Her hazy mind weakly reminded Sheffy of her current situation.

Mm… Xiarette had just told her earlier… that she would get up first to make breakfast, since Timani got restless when she missed a meal, and that Sheffy should quickly come eat once she woke up…?

Putting that together, Xiarette should not still be lying on the bed, right…?

The Sheffy-caterpillar tried rolling left again to check—it felt a little soft, but not soft enough.

She rolled right once more to confirm—it wasn’t soft at all, actually rather hard.

Ahahaha… neither person beside her was Xiarette. Xiarette’s springiness had way more spirit than these two.

Not Xiarette…

Uh…

Not Xiarette?!

A blissful morning could only count as such if it was shattered by a bolt of thunder from the blue!

Sheffy suddenly opened her eyes wide—at this moment, she was turned toward the right.

And she came face to face with the soft, warm breaths of a blue-haired little girl’s gentle snoring.

Because Sheffy had sat up too abruptly, she had yanked the blanket completely away, leaving Sylatrella shivering, curling her small body against the chill.

“Achoo…! Mm… Lady Sheffy… cold…”

“You, hurry up and cover yourself. Next time I’ll get you ten blankets, for a grand burial.”

Sheffy lifted her arm and furiously wiped her face with her pajama sleeve. That delicate “achoo” Sylatrella had just made had been delivered straight at her face.

She pulled the blanket tightly over Sylatrella, leaving no time to reprimand her, and quickly turned to look in the other direction.

If her earlier impression hadn’t been wrong… there should be another person there too.

Excluding Sylatrella, Xiarette who had gone to cook, and Timani who lazed about waiting to be fed, Sheffy truly couldn’t recall anyone else in the house who would dare to invade her morning territory.

That territory, of course, referred to the big soft bed.

But… the sensation from earlier, when her cheek had brushed against something somewhat soft yet mostly stiff, did feel vaguely familiar.

And when she turned fully and saw clearly the girl lying on her side there, eyes wide open with unrestrained anticipation—

All her confusion instantly vanished.

Oh right, this sort of half-grown loli, developed but not fully developed—there was only one such person.

“Ya~ Royal Sister, good morning!”

“You… I won’t ask first why you’re here. Can I start by asking you a different question?”

“Mm?”

“I want to ask… why are you lying here stark naked?! What did you just do to me?!”

This was way too terrifying!

The fright Sheffy had suffered was enough that demanding compensation in gold from Belith as damages for emotional distress would hardly be excessive!

Just look at her—showing up at dawn, raiding her bed after some thousand-li dash was already outrageous enough, but on top of that—she was completely bare, not a single stitch on her!

And judging by Belith’s fingers hooking onto a strip of white triangular cloth, she had just completed a “shedding.”

Sheffy’s mind went blank for a moment. She quickly stretched out her short little legs, lifting her nightdress to check. She needed to make absolutely sure Belith hadn’t actually assaulted her in her sleep!

Oh… the triangular cloth was still there. That wasn’t hers—it was Belith’s own.

Belith propped herself up on her elbow, constantly shifting her angle, eyes sparkling like stars as she admired the place beneath Royal Sister’s lifted skirt.

Noticing her impolite gaze, Sheffy wordlessly pressed her skirt back down, while using her other hand to press Belith’s head.

“You…! Speak the truth, or else—”

“Ah, Royal Sister, ow…!”

Don’t you “ow” in a way that makes my imagination go wild, alright?! All I did was press your head down and throw a punch!

One could only say Sylatrella’s quality of sleep was truly exceptional. Even with all this racket, she was still hiding under the blanket, fast asleep, muttering ominous things in her dreams.

Belith rubbed her head as she sat up. Silver locks, the same color as Sheffy’s, cascaded over her beautiful body, gleaming in the sunlight with a sacred radiance.

Sheffy smacked her lips and quickly turned her gaze away. That counted as a shred of gentlemanly conduct carried over from her previous life.

Damn it… this Belith girl really had grown over these past two years…

But as her elder sister, Sheffy felt no pride in it.

Because this overtaking in the curve amounted to sheer disrespect toward her elder sister, didn’t it?!

I curse you to reverse your development in the future!

Sheffy casually snatched up Belith’s clothes from the bed and tossed them at her. Hugging the bundle of clothes, Belith sat with her knees drawn up, tilting her head at Sheffy with a gentle smile.

“Royal Sister… you’re worried that I might’ve taken advantage of you while you were asleep, right?”

“Ridiculous, you wouldn’t dare.”

“Mm… how should I put it, it was close. If only Royal Sister had slept a little longer, what a pity, what a pity. I had just finished taking off the bothersome clothes, and then Royal Sister woke up.”

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