ESMLT 91🔐

Chapter 91

I lowered my eyes, glanced at the spear once, and then looked back at the Crown Prince, as if to ask what he was doing.

Even with my displeased gaze, the Crown Prince showed no intention of putting the spear away.

Then, Xien, who had been leaning against a tree and watching indifferently, straightened up with a sharp intensity.

“What the hell is he doing right now?”

I raised a hand toward him as if to stop him. When I shook my head, Xien reluctantly stepped back.

Feeling relieved by that, I turned my attention back to the Crown Prince.

“Your Highness, that’s enough. We have to depart south soon.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about us. Were you eavesdropping?”

Sigh. I pressed my palm against my forehead.

“The demon is right there with you, Your Highness.”

At my words, the demon flinched at the shoulder. The Crown Prince glanced at him, patted his shoulder, and then narrowed his bright yellow eyes, not toward me, but warily.

‘Huh?’

That was when I realized something was going wrong.

‘Could it be… he really doesn’t recognize me?’

That couldn’t be.

The reason the others had remained still while I was marveling at the demon was because they could distinguish between the demon and me. In other words, they were watching a performance, seeing just how good the demon was at acting.

We have two ways to distinguish the demon from the others.

First, gestures.

Tap the inside of your wrist twice while holding up your index and middle fingers.

I did this so that only the others could see it while the demon couldn’t.

Second, consciousness linkage.

For safety, aside from Rapo and Yand, we established a consciousness link with Xien.

Even if the demon could imitate the mark, it couldn’t replicate the ‘consciousness’ connected to Xien.

‘Yes, we did that… so why can’t he recognize me even though Xien should have signaled me with his eyes?’

I felt a bit deflated.

Rubbing my forehead lazily, I pouted slightly.

‘A little… disappointing.’

Looking closely, we didn’t even resemble each other much—how could he not tell? Were his eyes made of grapes or something?

I grumbled to myself.

“……?”

The demon, meeting my gaze, smirked boldly and then swayed pitifully, uttering a soft “Oh my” as if feigning weakness. Then, he looked up at the Crown Prince with sorrowful eyes.

‘Huh.’

Whether I laughed at the absurdity or not, the Crown Prince put the spear away and whispered gently to the demon.

“Hey, my lady. Are you alright?”

“……I’m fine. As I said earlier, that demon pretended to be you and approached me to attack. If we run now, he’ll sneak into our group pretending to be us again. We need to deal with him—ugh.”

“No, your healing comes first.”

The Crown Prince looked at the demon with genuine concern.

Then the demon, panting, urged him.

“I’m fine. You need to kill that demon first.”

Sweat-drenched hair and languid breaths made the scene perversely intense and stimulating.

Leaning back to observe how far these two would go, I straightened my posture.

‘What are you doing!’

It felt like I was the one doing it, making me experience secondhand embarrassment.

Then it happened.

The Crown Prince rested his chin on the demon’s head and winked at me.

For a moment, I couldn’t believe what he was doing and let out a sharp breath.

Then, a thought flashed through my mind, and I looked at the Crown Prince with a skeptical gaze.

‘Is he trying to bait the demon instead?’

When I asked with my eyes, he smoothly twisted his long lips into a smile. I covered my face with my hand, exasperated by the audacity.

‘How can he think of baiting the demon in a split second?’

Yet, I had come to accept it with weary familiarity: “Here we go again…”

‘Knowing how to handle the demon actually makes things easier…’

Exchanging glances with everyone, the Crown Prince silently gained their consent and began the performance in earnest.

He leaned close to the demon’s ear and whispered softly.

“My lady, how can we kill that demon?”

“Just kill it.”

Of course, as a human, I would just do it. But as a demon, it’s different.

Perhaps the Crown Prince thought the same, because he faintly smiled and parted his lips slowly.

“That won’t work. It’s one of the 72 great demons of the Underworld; how could we possibly defeat it?”

Praising the demon so highly, the demon smirked, unaware that a carrot had been dangled to lure him.

“You could annihilate or bind a demon if you knew its true name.”

The demon glanced at the Crown Prince as if offering alms, with a patronizing look.

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes and gave his signature charming smile.

“I see. Then do you know this demon’s name?”

At that moment, the demon flinched at the question. Feeling uneasy, he stepped back slightly and eyed the Crown Prince suspiciously.

“Why does that matter? Just kill the demon pretending to be me. Can’t you see I got hurt because of it?”

The demon’s eyes sharpened like swords, urging him to act. Surely, he felt the unease from the companions who hadn’t harmed me and Xien’s reactions.

If this continued, the demon would notice and flee. Seemingly trying to prevent that, the Crown Prince signaled me with his eyes.

It was a subtle signal asking me to participate in the act to discover the demon’s name.

‘Ugh, making me do everything.’

I glanced toward our group. They were all looking at me, having noticed the Crown Prince’s signal, with faint anticipation.

‘I’m not good at acting…’

I tend to underperform when burdened, so I set my jaw and focused amid the strange tension.

‘I’m sad and heartbroken. Sad and heartbroken.’

After moving my facial muscles for a few seconds, I tilted my head once, unsure if it worked.

But then I lowered my eyebrows, lifted my cheekbones, and managed a reasonably convincing expression.

‘Good. Now, add a wistful gaze.’

With a melancholic look as if stars were falling, I gazed at the Crown Prince.

Xien’s face showed considerable surprise.

“Ria, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“……”

It seemed my expression wasn’t acting. I might as well speak.

Burying my face in both hands, I hid my expression.

“Sob. Sob. Sob. It’s unfair. I’m not a demon, yet Your Highness doesn’t recognize me. Sob. Sob. Sob.”

“……”

Cold silence.

Peeking through my fingers, everyone looked stunned.

Xien clicked his tongue and glared coldly at the Crown Prince.

“You made her do something strange.”

Dan gave me a faint smile.

“My lady did her best.”

“……”

Jaeger shook his head slowly after watching me, then looked away.

‘Seriously, just say it like normal…’

Yand fidgeted with his hands, looking away as if embarrassed to be seen. I happened to meet Rapo’s eyes as well…

“Eep…”

He covered his eyes with his large ears.

‘Are you embarrassed too?’

I felt my face heat up, ready to snap.

Flushed instantly, I cursed the Crown Prince silently.

‘Why make me do something impossible…’

When I glared at him, he lifted his hand as if to acknowledge me and gave a cheeky smile.

‘Ugh.’

Just then—

Whisk—Thud!

The demon broke free from the Crown Prince’s grasp and stepped back.

Crack, crunch—!

Twisting its limbs like a puppet, flesh tearing and bones popping.

Cheeks swollen with blood, its mouth slashed diagonally, revealing teeth fully.

The demon’s entire body dripped with blood, eyes wide and wild.

“When did you figure it out?”

Not exactly asking me, but I answered mockingly.

“Does it matter? What matters is that your pathetic game is over.”

“Damn it, how dare a human humiliate me?!”

The demon roared at me, eyes filled with murderous rage.

‘…Maybe I should have been a little more polite since he’s a demon.’

I swallowed nervously, hesitant.

“As expected, you don’t resemble him at all.”