“Mother………….”
Sumili’s voice was hoarse, filled with disbelief.
Rita remembered that Sumili had once said she was the offspring of the Incubus King, so the person she called mother…
Could this person in front of her actually be the Incubus King?
But she had no wings, no claws, nor the Incubus’s trademark heart-shaped tail.
She looked no different from a human.
“What? Me, that old?”
That voice!
Rita recalled that just a few hours ago, she had heard that voice!
The figure concealed in the mist waved a hand, and the fog immediately dissipated, revealing her true appearance.
The girl shook her emerald-green hair, then turned toward Rita, leaving her back facing Sumili, who was still confronting Rita.
“Sister, see, I warned you not to pick a fight with an Incubus. Better safe than sorry, but you just wouldn’t listen to me. What would you have done if I wasn’t here? You’d really be dead!”
That voice.
Valfis?
Rita’s heart skipped a beat, a flood of questions rushing to her mind like a shaken soda, yet none escaped her lips.
Out of the three who had discussed hunting Incubi with Momoka, two of them were Incubi…
How ironic.
Yet Rita couldn’t bring herself to laugh.
Even though Valfis had saved her, Rita couldn’t tell if Valfis was an ally or an enemy.
“Ah, don’t look at me like that, sister! I just found out there was an Incubus I had no clue about, so I came to check it out. Didn’t expect you to be doing this kind of thing. Out of curiosity, I tagged along.”
Valfis shrugged, her tone and expression exactly like when they’d casually talked about which competitor was stronger during the tournament.
But Rita couldn’t pretend she hadn’t heard those words.
Each one struck her like thunder, weighing down her heart even more.
An Incubus she didn’t know… which meant she actually knew the identities of all the Incubi?
When did she start following Rita? Could it be that since Rita’s very first moment after crossing over, she had been trailing her all along?
How much of what Rita had done in Solus City was known to her?
At the very least, Rita was definitely being watched by Valfis tonight; otherwise, there was no way she would have arrived at the scene just in time to save her.
And the so-called curiosity? Was that why she had participated in the Holy Knight’s trial? Could Rita interpret it that way?
If that was the case, then Valfis had never intended to become a Holy Knight.
Her results wouldn’t matter to her at all.
That would explain everything that Rita had found so baffling until now.
Participating in the trial, cozying up to Rita, and even sharing intel about hunting Incubi—
This person had come for her from the very beginning.
Rita felt a cold sweat dampening her back, soaking through her clothes.
“I told you not to be so nervous, I just came to see you, and found out you’re such an interesting kid. Now I see, you really are.”
“Are you……….. taking me back? Or are you going to kill me?” Rita’s throat was dry and burning like it had been scorched by flames. Her hoarse voice startled even herself.
“No way. I let all children grow freely. Besides, you’re not even my child. Whatever you want to do, I won’t interfere.”
Child.
Mother.
These two words spun around in Rita’s mind.
“She called you mother, yet you just said all children… so all the Incubi…………. are your offspring?”
“Of course not! I’m the strongest Incubus—what humans would call a Demon King. So all Incubi call me mother. If you took my place, you’d be called mother too.”
Under normal circumstances, Rita might have made some sarcastic joke in her mind.
But now, she was too overwhelmed to think irrationally.
She stared at Valfis, who squinted her eyes, returning the gaze without any hint of malice.
And it was precisely that lack of hostility that made Rita unable to feel at ease.
Rita had no idea how strong a Demon King really was—that was a realm beyond her reach.
She wouldn’t try to guess the nature of such an incomprehensible existence with her limited perspective.
But one thing was certain: if Valfis wanted to, she could easily turn the whole city upside down.
Plots, assassinations—they were meaningless in the face of absolute power.
Rita didn’t doubt that if Valfis revealed her identity and sent Rita back to report, even after a day and night, she could still waltz in front of Cecilia like plucking a flower and snuff out her life effortlessly.
“By the way, those pieces of intel I mentioned just now—very few humans know about them. I told you, I have information others don’t. See? I’m not lying. If you have any questions, just ask. I won’t hold anything back.”
Rita’s mind was a mess; she didn’t know what to say or what to ask.
After a long moment of thought, she painfully asked a question she considered foolish but absolutely necessary to confirm.
“Does what’s happening in the city have anything to do with you?”
“No, not at all.” Valfis answered decisively. “Besides watching over you, I haven’t done a thing. Oh, and I’m not watching you every second, so don’t feel uncomfortable.”
Rita nodded heavily without another word.
The warehouse, which had been a battlefield just minutes ago, suddenly fell deathly silent with Rita’s silence.
Valfis looked at Rita, Rita looked at Valfis, and Sumili, who had been ignored by Valfis the whole time with her back turned, didn’t dare to breathe.
What was the thing she wanted to kill, that even her mother was curious about, even coming out to follow her for so long?
Just imagining it made Sumili’s heartbeat reach its peak, her heart aching faintly.
“Sister, no questions?” Valfis noticed the oppressive atmosphere and urged brightly in her usual cheerful tone.
Rita shook her head.
Now, she felt as if her body no longer belonged to her.
Every movement was stiff, every thought halted her mind.
Things were happening too fast, too much information flooding in.
Having never faced such a grand scene before, Rita was struggling to keep up.
In fact, she had been through—assassinations, riots—but none of that compared to standing here with this petite green-haired girl.
“Alright then, since you have no questions, sister to sister, I’ll give you a few little suggestions.” Valfis squinted happily.
“First, Incubi don’t fight with brute strength. Although our physical abilities are good, relying on that alone wouldn’t earn us the title of high-level demon race. Nor would I hold a seat in the Committee.”
Valfis stepped closer to Rita and extended her index finger.
A green light ball, about the size of a soybean, floated at the tip.
Rita’s expression tensed as she stared at the light ball, her body frozen.
Though she wasn’t as perceptive about people and big picture as others, her judgment about the current situation was remarkably accurate.
If Valfis wanted to harm her, there was no need for such a complicated method.
Attacking directly would leave Rita no chance to resist.
“What we’re good at is magic, unmatched by anyone. Magic that directly touches the soul. Watching you so far, you don’t seem to understand it at all. But don’t worry, I’ll teach you.”
Valfis said this and lightly tapped Rita’s forehead with her finger.
The light ball vanished into Rita’s brow.
Rita felt as if something exploded inside her head with a bang, yet her body showed no change.
“You can take your time to figure it out. Now… the next thing—I already said, the second round of the trial isn’t easy. But you can slowly discover its content. I promised you some useful information, not the answers.”
Valfis then turned her gaze toward Sumili, who had been ignored all along.
“Lastly, you can go back and tell the Little Princess everything that happened here. For example… my identity, and that your enemy, the Incubus who framed you, was also dealt with by me personally.”
Something was wrong!
Sumili’s heart jolted.
She immediately fluttered her wings, trying to flee, but as soon as she moved, she seemed to lose her balance and collapsed to the ground, her whole body convulsing uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Rita gasped inwardly.
This wasn’t panic-stricken fleeing—it had to be something Valfis did.
An opponent she could never defeat, yet Valfis didn’t even move a finger to subdue her.
Such power, Rita could only find one word from her limited experience to describe it—terrifying.
“Mother! What do you mean by this?”
Sumili screamed, but Valfis gave no response.
“Mother! Mother! Why! Why do you treat me like this?”
Sumili cried louder, tears welling in her reddened eyes.
It was unclear whether it was from fear or sorrow.
Or perhaps simply because she knew she was going to die.
“I’m just acting according to my own will. Isn’t that what Incubi do? You said it yourself, my child.”
Valfis approached the trembling Sumili, who had tears rolling down her cheeks, and gently stroked her face.
Then, Valfis’s usual lighthearted tone suddenly dropped as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
Even as a bystander, Rita shivered uncontrollably at the bone-chilling coldness.
“We Incubi have never needed to survive by nakedly feeding on desire. Nor are we a weak race that requires you to cooperate with humans to revive us. We have never declined, and under my rule, we never will.
“Your self-righteous excuses are nothing but selfishness to satisfy your filthy desires. Your actions have tainted our entire race, dragging us into conflicts we should never have been involved in. My child, what defense do you have?”
After a crisp sound, like a snapped celery stalk, silence fell.
Sumili’s body went limp on the ground, still wearing an expression of disbelief, but the light in her eyes was nearly extinguished.
Valfis stood back up and curved her eyes as she turned toward Rita.
“Those words were just a joke. I only wanted to help my sister get rid of a nuisance.”