At Ruan’s statement, the hall buzzed loudly. No matter how uninterested in sex a Demon King might have been, there had never been a case of emptying Niar Palace itself. Niar Palace itself was also a display of the Demon King’s power and authority.
Moreover, keeping numerous concubines and spreading one’s seed was natural for a Demon King. To create the strongest child, one needed to have many children to increase the odds.
Those especially shocked were naturally the concubines of Niar Palace. Their comfortable, leisurely lives had suddenly gone awry overnight. However, the other party was the Demon King who had cruelly killed his own father yesterday—one wrong move could cost them their lives, so no one could protest. That’s when it happened.
“Your Majesty, emptying Niar Palace is absurd.”
A demon sitting in the crowd calmly stood up. Vivid red hair fell long to the waist, and skin was white as jade.
Beni inwardly admired the demon’s beauty at an odd time. In the Demon Realm, red was like a symbol of good fortune, so those with red hair were relatively well-liked.
Beni didn’t like the color red, but seeing that demon who caught attention at a glance seemed pretty. That demon clasped both hands politely and stared straight at the Demon King who had killed their father just last night.
However, the Demon King’s gaze was directed not at that demon but at Beni. Beni too was truly dying at Ruan’s eyes that kept lingering on him.
Beni shrank his shoulders until his body gradually crumpled more and more. An impulse suddenly reared its head—to hide his body as much as possible among the demons and escape from those eyes that looked at him like prey.
Only then did Ruan slowly turn his face to look at the demon standing stiffly with head raised before him. Looking at that luscious hair, it seemed to have received plenty of love from that vile bastard.
Arrogant thing—as if waiting for him to look, when their eyes met, it opened its mouth again.
“Your Majesty, may I dare speak?”
“No.”
“Niar…”
At Ruan’s answer without hesitation, the red-haired demon’s face hardened. To be so unable to read the situation even though the Demon King had changed—must have been quite beloved. Ruan chuckled quietly.
“I have no interest in fucking. If you want to stay there spreading your legs, go find someone else.”
A cold atmosphere permeated the hall. The Demon King’s voice wasn’t loud, but its resonance was sharp as a sword. The red-haired demon’s face flushed with humiliation, but couldn’t say anything.
“Three days. Empty all of Niar Palace within that time. Those who oppose will be treated as rebels against me.”
Ruan’s eyes slowly swept over everyone. Red, deep pupils tinged with blood. The eyes of one who would mercilessly behead anyone who disobeyed his words. The demons who met Ruan’s eyes all thought of what he had done yesterday.
The former Demon King’s death didn’t simply end with just his head being severed. They said Ruan had thrown him somewhere in the mountains so they couldn’t even hold a funeral. Monsters would tear him apart—they probably would never find the corpse in their lifetime.
Including the red-haired demon, all the demons bowed their heads in unison. Something unapproachable flowed from Ruan. The atmosphere was precarious enough that it wouldn’t be strange if a blade was thrust into anyone’s throat right now.
In this situation, Beni, who had already been bowing his head, was so nervous and caught up in chaos that his tail had popped out. Fortunately, all the clothes Beni had wrapped up and taken to the castle were ones Trellou didn’t wear, so they were large and it didn’t show.
It was a mistake he hadn’t made at all after growing to a certain age, but everything that Demon King said felt like it was all directed at him, so he absolutely couldn’t stand it.
“Why are you shaking your legs so much? How uncultured.”
The demon sitting right next to Beni whispered irritably. Startled, Beni looked to the side and nodded, pressing down hard on his thigh, but this time his other leg trembled. At that sight, the demon looked at him as if to say “what kind of person is this” before sharply turning away.
‘What should I do.’
Still, he spared my life yesterday, so if I explain the situation once and beg, won’t he let me stay here as a servant instead of a concubine? If I say I’ll never get caught being a beastkin half-blood and will stay quiet like bread crumbs fallen on the floor, won’t he overlook it?
With that thought, Beni glanced at Ruan and their eyes met again. This time it wasn’t just their eyes meeting. The Demon King suddenly pointed at Beni with his index finger.
What…? Beni, who had flinched, tilted his head fearfully because the Demon King’s expression wasn’t that evil. Then the Demon King smiled and pointed at himself with the index finger that had been pointing at Beni.
Sharp fingernail tip—that was a clear warning.
I remember you, if you don’t listen to me you’ll be torn to shreds. You lowly beast brat.
Ah… Even if I plead, the Demon King won’t overlook it. Beni nodded his head quickly with a face that had turned deathly pale. It meant he understood so please stop looking at him, but the Demon King burst into laughter with a “Hahah.”
He must be enjoying his frightened appearance.
〈His Majesty likes things that are loved, you see. If that is not the case, you cannot enter the castle.〉
The words the servant had said on the boat echoed in Beni’s ears. An unloved person like himself had entered, so the gods must be telling him to hurry up and get lost, and of all people, the Demon King even discovered he was a beastkin half-blood.
* * *
While Beni was trembling in fear, Ruan was thinking whether this was the emotion called love. Perhaps that baby rabbit angel and himself were destined. The scene when he first saw Beni was still clearly etched in Ruan’s mind.
He’d only gone in to rescue the poor soul who had to offer their body to the former Demon King, but how could this be. When he entered, some fairy-like angel was looking at him with round eyes.
Even though it wasn’t the time to be instantly entranced, Ruan’s thoughts momentarily froze, and he became so flustered wanting to reassure the thoroughly frightened rabbit. Him, who had lived not caring at all how anyone saw him.
When those moist eyes resembling jewels looked up at him, a protective instinct he’d never felt before arose. If this wasn’t love, what else could possibly explain it.
Ruan contentedly looked at Beni tucked away among the crowd before gesturing to Marcel beside him. Marcel glanced around once before bending at the waist. The High Priest’s speech was currently being given.
“What is it?”
“Was it Beni? That baby rabbit angel.”
Still spouting nonsense—muttering inwardly, Marcel followed Ruan’s eye gesture. The rabbit beastkin he’d seen yesterday was sitting with a deathly pale complexion. So that’s what Ruan had been doing by himself earlier—seems he had a conversation with that beastkin.
“Yes, they say he entered yesterday. As the Count Ravencoat’s second son, there were stories he was a bastard, but looking at his appearance it seems true. Probably a half-blood of demon and beastkin…”
“I asked if he remembered me, and Beni nodded that he does. Baby rabbit is smart too.”
So what about it. Marcel barely held back from saying that. Since yesterday, Ruan had been looking at that guy called Beni and acting like he’d emptied half his brain. Though he wasn’t sane originally, now he wasn’t just insane—he seemed like a dazed fool.
Like a boy fallen into puppy love.
Puppy love…?
Marcel felt an ominous energy that had been staying beneath his feet slowly creeping up his legs.
“…Your Majesty, by any chance, to that spirit…”
“After the coronation ceremony tonight, relay my words to Beni. Tell him not to leave the palace and stay put.”
At Ruan’s statement, Marcel’s expression subtly hardened.
“Are you planning to keep him as a concubine?”
He who had grown up detesting his father’s actions—now that he’d become Demon King, was he going to repeat the same actions? It was the moment Marcel felt great disappointment in the lord he’d trusted and followed. Ruan suddenly shouted.
“Are you crazy!”
“The Demon Realm’s new Seat of Evil!”
At that roar, the High Priest who had been giving a speech in front was startled and bit his tongue. One demon who had been dozing in the back was also startled, opened his eyes wide, and mechanically applauded.
