BTDKD 04

Chapter 04

However, my body—experiencing fun for the first time since being born—was already celebrating this game of gliding across the water at will.

At my laughter, Lucifel wore a subtle expression, then beckoned with his finger once more.

Swoosh— I was pushed back again, and simultaneously, laughter burst from my mouth.

“Kya-haha!”

Slide—

“Kya-ha!”

Swoosh—

“Kya-hang!”

Damn it, stop it!

By the time the slide— swoosh— had repeated about ten times, I was completely exhausted, bodily joy be damned. An infant’s stamina was endlessly fragile.

Fortunately, Lucifel’s amusement seemed to fade right around then; once pulled in front of him, I was no longer slid backward.

To think the day would come when I’d feel like I was riding a water slide while half-submerged in a bath, supported by an invisible inner tube.

I-I feel like I’m gonna get hooked on this.

Unfitting for my soul’s age, I had enjoyed myself to the fullest.

Though shame flooded in belatedly, the corners of my mouth twitched as if I were regressing from thirty years old back to infancy.

B-But… it was way too much fun.

I had to admit it. The current me was not the thirty-year-old me from my past life.

I was a baby, thoroughly faithful to instinct.

“Do you… like this sort of thing?”

Raising his arm slightly to rest his chin on his hand, he asked.

Since it was close to a rhetorical question, he didn’t seem to expect an answer. Still, feeling somewhat compelled to answer the Demon King’s words no matter what, I responded with a bright, beaming smile.

“Fascinating.”

His curiosity-filled face felt quite similar to the way he had shown interest while looking at the bulging belly in my dream.

“You insignificant thing.”

Hoping desperately that it wasn’t a title meant for me, I sneaked a glance sideways.

Unfortunately, Lucifel was still staring intently at me, and his eyes bore a look of satisfaction at the fact that I had turned my gaze toward him.

“Bellatrix.”

“…”

“That is your name.”

“…”

“With that name… that woman will likely be satisfied as well.”

Uttering those inscrutable words, Lucifel stood straight up. Splash— Water poured down.

Though my body drifted back slightly from the current, I didn’t feel as joyful as before.

It was because my heart felt a bit heavy, knowing that ‘that woman’ Lucifel mentioned likely referred to my mother—the hero’s wife.

At the same time, because I ended up seeing Lucifel’s exposed back as he stood turned away, I couldn’t think of anything at all.

I simply squeezed my eyes shut.

Perhaps due to the buoyancy of floating in the water combined with playing and laughing so hard moments ago, sleepiness rushed over me in an instant.

Though I had closed my eyes to block out the view, I couldn’t open them again. They were just far too heavy.

A baby’s body was far more uncontrollable and faithful to instinct than I could have imagined.

At this rate, I’d believe it if someone said I was an animal.

“Excited just a moment ago, and now sleeping?”

I heard a voice laced with utter disbelief, but I couldn’t help it.

This isn’t something I can control by willpower.

Thinking that, I sprawled out in a magnificent starfish pose right on top of the water and fell fast asleep.

Lucifel gazed down at the creature he had just named ‘Bellatrix.’

Watching the baby fast asleep on the water with two arms spread wide, Lucifel wondered what on earth this creature was supposed to be.

Watching the baby’s ever-changing face was quite entertaining, but it made him confused as to whether a creature so thoroughly driven by instinct—even more so than a demon—could truly be a human infant.

Bestowing the name Bellatrix had also been a fleeting whim.

The hero’s wife had chosen a name for the child in advance.

He recalled her chattering away about a few names she had picked out to give the child once it was born with the hero.

However, Lucifel personally named the child ‘Bellatrix.’

The hero had died long ago anyway, and she was already dead and gone as well. The child belonged to him now, not to those two.

Therefore, he believed the name should also be given by him.

It felt somewhat sudden, but it was a reasonably satisfying name.

After watching the softly breathing, soundly sleeping baby for a long while, he suddenly remembered that this creature was a fragile thing incapable of even getting out on its own.

“High maintenance, as expected.”

With a light flick of his finger, he lifted the baby into mid-air; though the baby’s body twitched, it didn’t wake up.

The tiny body wriggled. Its fingers were wrinkled, much like when it was first born.

“To think this was inside there.”

The more he thought about it, the more fascinating it was. It remained hard to believe that something looking like it would die from a misplaced breath had been inside that swollen belly.

Had it not been for the exact same aura of life he had felt from inside her belly, he would have remained suspicious.

On the other hand, he felt a bit disappointed.

He had been deeply curious about how on earth this large thing had come out. He wanted to see the moment of birth, but those vermin-like humans had interfered.

Strictly speaking, it might have been partly his own fault for not visiting the hero’s wife for a week out of pouting irritation, but that was none of his concern.

Regardless, that woman wouldn’t have died if not for those humans.

The expression on that woman’s face when she saw her newborn child… would have been…

Lucifel furrowed his brows at a thought he couldn’t even understand himself. An unpleasant emotion suddenly boiled up from his lower abdomen.

Even after disposing of those who killed the woman, he hadn’t felt satisfied, so he had paused his return to the Demon Realm to instantly wipe out the human kingdom—a small outburst of frustration.

It was unpleasant. The failure after waiting so long for the child to come out hit him as a tremendous wave of unpleasantness.

That house smelled like sunlight. And the fact that he could never smell that sunlight again caused another surge of displeasure to rise within him.

Tilting his head at the inexplicable irritation, Lucifel looked at the softly sleeping baby and asked:

“How did you come out?”

“…”

“Did you tear open the belly yourself?”

The baby did not answer.

With lips barely the size of fingernails twitching slightly, it was even furrowing its brow as if having a dream—arrogant to the core.

Well, that’s impossible. I heard humans enjoy reproducing.

If a belly is torn open, a human dies. Since he heard they bear multiple offspring, there had to be another way.

Either way, the hero’s wife was dead, so there was no way to know. Nor did he have any intention of seeking out other humans to find out.

What kind of expression did that woman wear after giving birth to you?

Was she happy to finally be able to take revenge, or did she lament that there was no child left in her belly to hold her back?

He swallowed the questions lingering in his mouth. Even if he asked, no answer would return. An ignorant human infant could not possibly know such things.

Lucifel knew the hero’s wife was dead. Before breathing her last, that woman had cunningly formed a contract with him using her child as payment.

“Hmph.”

Once again, something unpleasant churned up, breaking his train of thought.

Narrowing his eyes as he looked at the child, Lucifel laid Bellatrix down inside a wine basket.

It was just the right size, making it fairly decent to use for transportation.

Since the basket meant for high-end wine was lined with soft velvet, it didn’t seem bad for a fragile human baby’s skin either.

Upon returning to the castle, Regnator, who had been waiting at the opening doors, narrowed his indifferent eyes and asked:

“Oh? Did the human baby die?”

Lucifel sat on a plush velvet chair of blended black and crimson and said:

“It’s Bellatrix.”

“You even gave the human baby a name?”

“Yes.”

At that, Regnator spoke with a rather serious face.

“Don’t tell me you intend to raise it?”

“And if I do?”

“A human baby in the Demon Realm?”

“Is there a problem?”

Lucifel pulled the basket containing the baby forward and gazed at its sleeping face.

It somewhat resembled the face of the hero’s wife when she sat sleeping on a rocking chair in the sun, on those rare occasions he visited the forest cabin later than usual.

“Isn’t the Demon Realm far too difficult for a human to live in?”

“Is it any different?”

“That is…”

“Are the circumstances of the Demon Realm so dire that a single human has trouble living here?”

“How could that be? It is not a matter of circumstances. It’s just… isn’t it a bit awkward?”

Regnator fell silent for a moment, finding it tricky to explain.

Groaning softly with a phew, he soon gave up on explaining. He looked as if he had judged that no matter what he said, Lucifel would not understand.

However, after much deliberation, the capable right-hand man brought up the reason Lucifel would find most convincing.

“Environment aside, wouldn’t a problem arise regarding the hierarchy first?”

“What problem?”

“That child is your property, Lucifel-sama. Since it is a living creature, how we should treat it is extremely ambiguous.”

It was a problem Lucifel hadn’t considered at all.

To dismiss it as nothing, demons were far too rough. A human baby who couldn’t do anything on its own might break from a mere glance.

That was not the outcome Lucifel desired.

“So, do you have a plan in mind?”

He demanded an answer naturally, as if asking for something he had left in Regnator’s care.

Regnator looked at Lucifel in brief dumbfoundedness, but quickly lowered his eyes at the fierce glare returned to him.

He wasn’t brave enough to make eye contact with the Demon King for more than five seconds. Regnator had zero desire to perish prematurely by upsetting the Demon King’s mood.

As the capable second-in-command of the Demon Realm, Regnator had to ponder deeply and endlessly.

I knew his whims boiled like a monster’s stew, but to think he’d actually bring home a human baby for entertainment.

Though such a thing had never happened once in the history of the Demon Realm, he didn’t utter that aloud either.

Rolling his red eyes—a trait shared by every demon—Regnator suddenly raised his head at a brilliant idea.

“How about claiming she is your daughter, Lucifel-sama?”

“…Daughter?”

“No matter what measures we take, the fact that human blood flows through her cannot be hidden. However, as the subject of the contract and the payment of the transaction, isn’t she linked to you, Lucifel-sama? Furthermore… ahem! Did you not also share a portion of your aura to keep the human baby alive?”

“I did.”

“Naturally, your aura also flows within the child. This cannot be hidden either.”

“Hmph.”

“Therefore, wouldn’t it be most plausible to say she is the daughter born from your union with a human during your recent outing for entertainment?”

Of course, Regnator refrained from mentioning that everyone would be appalled by the mere fact that the Demon King had mated with a mere human woman.

Nor did he mention that it would be better to explain her as a human toy brought along for amusement rather than the suddenly appearing daughter of the Demon King.

Having served Lucifel for a long time, Regnator knew that the human baby sleeping soundly inside the wine basket was by no means just a ‘toy’ to Lucifel.

If someone accidentally mistreated the child and caused the fragile human baby to get hurt or die, there was no telling how Lucifel would react.

Well, if I’m wrong, so be it.

The aftermath of claiming her as his daughter would ultimately be the Demon King Lucifel’s responsibility, not his.

Regnator believed that if the child truly became something ‘special’ to Lucifel, having something happen to her that upset or angered him would be a far more terrifying and horrific outcome.

Of course, more than half of it was out of sheer curiosity, but Regnator hid his feelings completely beneath a solid poker face.

“A daughter…”

Lucifel recalled that the dying hero’s wife had said something similar.

The humans had mistaken the hero’s child for his own, which was why they killed the woman and stole the baby.

Even back then, before he had even imbued the child with his Demon King’s aura.

The hero’s wife was already dead, but he felt that if she were still alive, she would have utterly hated Regnator’s suggestion.

However, her wish was merely to protect the child, not necessarily to raise it as a human or as the hero’s daughter.

“I see. If so… it would fit the fact that both human blood and my aura flow within her.”

“Yes. Above all, doing so grants her the temporary title of the Demon King’s daughter, so no one will dare treat her recklessly.”

It was a pretty good idea.

Looking at the baby sleeping oblivious to the world, Lucifel curled one corner of his mouth into a smirk.

A worthless, pitiful creature, yet daring to hold the title of the Demon King’s daughter.

Given that a mere human possessed hair as black as ebony like his own, her fate was tragically twisted from the start.

“Then we shall do that.”

Demons possessed no blood relations. It was because all demons were born from the Divine Demon Tree.

Of course, since there was a separate Divine Demon Tree that gave birth only to Demon Kings, there were no blood baths over the throne either.

Surprisingly, the Demon Realm was a place with a clear hierarchy that wasn’t much different from the human world, aside from being primarily active at night.

If there was a difference, it was that the density of magical power differed from the human world, making it difficult for ordinary humans to even breathe.

Because of that, demons were stronger and more beautiful than humans.

That was simply how the species was crafted.

“Bellatrix Ecstasis…”

Lucifel curled his lips into a smile as he attached his surname behind the name he had given the human baby.

It sounded like a rather splendid name.