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Chapter 11
Huh… she’s trying to eat it. Something I made myself. Will she praise me this time too?
Thump-thump.
Since arriving in the village, Verdine had watched Seiri go days without proper food or sleep while searching for demons. Wanting to help, Verdine had tried making something herself.
Though she had eaten meals prepared by others every day, she had never cooked for someone else. Not even for Raiden.
If her family knew, they’d probably have raged over such “trivial” work. But Verdine only hoped to hear praise, like last time: “For a human, not bad,” or “Better than some divine beings.”
But why does tearing the sandwich paper look so impressive?
Her admiration continued unabated.
Look at those slender fingers, guiding the sandwich into her mouth, chewing—how can that jawline look so cool? And then she pushes with her hand on the ground and spits it all out… huh?
Seiri was indeed vomiting what she had just eaten.
“Ugh… who made this… ugh.”
Verdine had no idea how crude the curses filling Seiri’s mind were.
“W-why… why is this happening?”
“Ugh… what kind of taste is this?”
Though she had secretly admired human culinary skills in the palace, this sandwich was inedible. It was as if shoes had been stuffed inside—tough, bitter, and unbearably pungent.
Not just the taste—the very texture was impossible to chew. A demon with teeth capable of biting raw meat couldn’t even handle it.
“Is this an assassination attempt? Trying to kill me with food?”
“No! No, it’s not like that! I just… put in what’s supposed to be good for your body…”
“Of course you made it.”
“N-nooo!”
Seeing Seiri’s expression turn terrifying, Verdine’s eyes filled with tears, on the verge of crying.
“What did you put in it? The taste is making my face go numb.”
“U-uh… I chopped some bat wings and kudzu root, mixed them with mugwort juice and noni juice, added some pepper… and blended it all…”
“…What wings?”
“I-I’m s-sorry!”
When Seiri’s face turned pale upon hearing the ingredients, Verdine burst into tears and ran off, while Seiri muttered in disbelief:
“Ugh… everything about this, top to bottom, is just annoying.”
Seiri, trying to shake off the shock of the sandwich, plucked nearby flowers to chew on. Just then, from the hill below, she saw a flash of black hair approaching.
“Seiri-niim! Seiri-niim!”
It was the little girl who had nearly been trampled by hooves.
Short-legged, she struggled to reach Seiri, panting heavily, yet still smiling adorably. Seiri couldn’t help but have her previous irritation melt away.
“Are you hurt?”
The girl noticed a crease between Seiri’s brows and tilted her head.
“I ate something inedible. It hurts so much.”
“Seiri-nim, you’re dying? You can’t die.”
“I’m not dying. But why—are you alright? Your body okay?”
Seiri placed the girl on her lap, her eyes now gentle as if she had never frowned.
“I’m fine. But down there… did you see?”
“See what?”
“A person with horns and black wings is trapped. People were gathered there.”
Immediately, Seiri rose, lifting the girl, and said:
“Lead the way, right now!
“How dare lowly humans—!!”
A demon with tiny horns atop its head bared sharp teeth, shouting. Those nearby flinched.
“This demon will not spare you! I’ll set this entire village ablaze, chain every single one of you, and make you live like dogs for life!”
The pair of black wings on its back was menacing enough on its own.
“If you don’t cut this line now, I’ll devour the children’s hearts and hack off the men’s limbs. If you don’t want that, cut it immediately…!”
“You’d sound more convincing breathing fire. Getting tangled in a spiderweb is… kind of embarrassing, isn’t it?”
A voice echoed toward the demon struggling in a thin, invisible barrier. Though distant, the words were clear.
“One foolish human dares defy me! Fine. If you escape, your heart will be the first I devour!”
Seiri snorted. The wings were tiny, the horns the size of a child’s fist—a low-tier demon not worth much attention.
“Go ahead, try me.”
“I… I’m so scared I’m losing my mind… huh?”
But seeing the figure approach calmly with her arms crossed, the demon froze like stone.
W-what… no way…
As Seiri drew closer, the demon’s heart pounded as if it would burst from its chest.
No… impossible. But could it…? No way, Eides couldn’t be here. Hah… but it looks exactly like him?!
The demon tried to back away, but sticky webs held it fast.
No… it’s just a human resembling Eides. I’m a proud demon. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.
The demon repeated this to reassure itself, oblivious that its thoughts were escaping aloud in panic.
“Everyone’s trembling just seeing me… why should a human scare me? I’m a demon, you’re human. I don’t flinch. I’m a d-d-demon.”
Yet as Seiri approached, the face was unmistakably identical to Eides, complete with terrifying, red, murderous eyes.
“Eek?! D-don’t… come closer!”
Stricken with near-paralysis fear, the demon’s speech reverted to its natural infernal mannerisms.
“W-wait! I’m s-sorry… I just—!”
“You’re going to get hit first.”
Squeeeeek!
“P-please! Spare me! I was wrong! I’ll do anything! Waaahhh…”
As Seiri arrived, the demon begged for its life in tears, hands trapped in the barrier. If not restrained, it would have clasped her hands in desperate supplication.
The villagers and Verdine, watching from a distance, gawked at the demon’s immediate flip in behavior.
“Waaahhh! I’ve sinned… huh? But why are you still so beautiful in a situation like this… agh!”
Just as the demon was about to confess love under the “great power of love,” Seiri’s fist slammed into its face.
The demon’s body bounced off the barrier, smashing into a tree, eliciting gasps from the onlookers.
“Hah… is that all?”
Seiri frowned at her fist in disappointment. Even at maximum force as a test, it barely reached one percent of her actual strength.
“You know I hate anyone touching the children, right?”
As Seiri slowly approached, the demon felt like a king descending from hell itself. Though a top-tier demon herself, her aura rivaled the demon king.
“Of course I… I didn’t know! I really didn’t! Uh… should I say I knew so I get hit less? What do I do?”
“Whether you knew or not, you get hit, you fool!”
After being slammed into the tree three more times, the battered demon knelt and begged desperately.
“I’m sorry! I love you! Don’t hit me! I swear with all my heart!”
“Before I sew your mouth shut, answer my question.”
Though the demon alternated between apology and love confession, Seiri tolerated it, knowing the “great power of love” had made it act irrationally.
“Are there others in the human world messing with children besides you?”
“As far as I know, it’s only me! I never lie to my beloved!”
That was likely true. Despite the high resistance required to suppress it, the demon’s power had its clear advantages.
“Why descend here, break taboos, and use humans as hosts? You couldn’t have made the demon seeds yourself—where did you get them?”
“….”
“You have one second. One.”
“Squeeek! Ho- Horu gave them to me, to use as much as humans need!”
“Horu?”
Seiri’s expression changed sharply.
Horu. Even before Eides, Horu had been her right-hand man—the only person Seiri trusted completely in the demon realm.
He had never disobeyed her. Though sometimes mischievous, his loyalty to Eides impressed even the demon king and elders.
The bond she had built over decades was irreplaceable.
He betrayed me? …me?
“Impossible. Answer me properly if you don’t want to die right now.”
Seiri’s face contorted into an even more terrifying scowl than before.
If this low-tier demon had plotted against her right-hand man or lied through trickery, she intended to end its life instantly. Her trust in Horu was that deep.
