Thinking of this, Liya suddenly turned her head to take a deliberate look at the Hero behind her.
Although she couldn’t see Joen’s expression under his helmet, those scorching gazes hidden behind the eye slits were like burning charcoal, gently rubbing against the cold, pale skin—unique to the Blood Clan and simulated by Pupu—under Liya’s dress.
Heh, as expected.
The Hero restrains the Demon Lord, the beautiful girl restrains the Hero, and the Sigma Demon King restrains the beautiful girl.
What a strictly hierarchical relationship of restraint!
Damn it, I should have sacrificed my dignity sooner!
Forget it… it’s not too late now.
Demon Lord fusion! Beautiful girl form, activate!
She fluttered like butterfly wings in front of Joen.
Those pure, innocent, enchanting red eyes blinked gently, and she tucked a stray hair behind her ear, saying softly: “Friend~ Friend~ Lily has finished changing~ Does this outfit of Liya’s look good~?”
Joen was silent.
The air remained still for several seconds before a muffled voice came from beneath his heavy helmet: “It looks good.”
Liya’s mouth corners couldn’t be suppressed and curled upward madly.
Heehee.
“When we go back, I’ll have one custom-made for you so Lily can wear it every day,” Joen added earnestly after standing and observing her for a moment.
He saw that Lily was very satisfied with this outfit, and surely she would be happy to wear it regularly?
Liya’s smile flattened rapidly, even curving downward slightly.
[Not Heehee.]
Holding the seal of the “Duke’s Daughter” as an excuse, Liya walked into the banquet hall openly with Joen.
A handmaiden with extremely stiff and mechanical movements led them to a guest room for a brief rest.
Seeing Joen still sneaking glances at her, Liya blushed and hurriedly looked for a topic: “Oh right! Friend, Lily thinks something is off about this banquet today.”
“Is that so?” Joen was stunned.
“There are three strange things,” Lily counted the suspicious points casually.
She looked down, her long legs wrapped in white silk rubbing together bewitchingly as she lost herself in admiring her own beauty.
“First is the deliberate choice to assign us a low status… it’s almost like trying to provoke the Demon Lord on purpose. But what good would provoking the Demon Lord do for her?
Second is the handmaidens around here; they are too silent and mechanical, without a shred of vitality.
Even ‘Pupu’ is sharper than them.
Yet when touched, they are indeed living people, not Magical Automaton constructs made through Alchemy.
“Besides that… it’s this room.”
Liya’s heel landed, tapping the wooden floor twice and making a crisp “clack-clack” sound.
“There is so much dust here.”
Liya bowed her head and blew gently at the floor; a small patch of dust rose instantly in the light.
“This is the Duke’s property. Even if it’s a guest room, it shouldn’t be so dilapidated. If there were no servants, I could understand it as the owner meditating and having no time to clean, but there are clearly servants right here…”
“Lily, your observation is very detailed,” Joen couldn’t help but praise.
“It’s just that Lily cares more about these things,” Liya brushed off the Hero, looked up, and continued to search the room for possible clues.
She always felt that Zyra was a bit unusual today.
It seemed… she was slightly too dismissive of her, the Demon Lord, as if she had suddenly gained some strange confidence, entirely different from her attitude a few days ago.
Before long, Zyra pushed the door open and entered.
She had applied very exquisite makeup, and her crimson lips couldn’t help but turn upward.
She was exuberant and lively, like a forest fire that had just been ignited.
“Oh~”
She stared at Liya with great interest, “Demon Lord, I didn’t expect you to attend the banquet in this identity. Having fun, aren’t you? Oh no, I should call you—the Duke’s Daughter, Miss Lina, now.”
She even boldly teased Liya, bowing like a gentleman at a ball, and slowly reached out her hand toward Liya: “Beautiful lady, would you care to dance with me?”
Liya’s eyebrows twitched: “Are you crazy?”
She looked Zyra up and down with a strange expression.
“Hahahaha~~”
Zyra laughed heartily, “A birthday is the most special day of the year, so of course, one must be happy. Otherwise, living every day in such a dreary state, what fun is there in life?”
Liya’s brow furrowed deeper.
She tilted her head, staring straight at Zyra without reservation.
Zyra stared deeply back at her.
“That’s true,” Liya suddenly stood up and grabbed the “Knight” gentleman’s hand, “Then… I shall go dance with my Knight. Ms. Zyra, enjoy yourself at your leisure.”
“Feel free,” Zyra pointed slowly toward the door.
Until they left the room, Liya kept replaying Zyra’s exuberant expression in her mind.
Something is wrong, definitely wrong.
It is often said: every birthday before twenty is a step closer to adulthood, while every birthday after forty means one is a step closer to death.
An 80-year-old person would never have such a joyful and bouncy mindset on their birthday.
Halfway there, Joen’s slightly embarrassed and stumbling voice suddenly came from beside her: “Do we… really have to dance? I don’t think I know how. I heard that when dancing with someone like me, a girl should wear iron boots.”
“Don’t worry, Lily is ‘Pupu’, she can’t be stepped to pieces,” Liya replied.
“By the way…”
Joen suddenly poked the exposed snowy back of Liya’s dress lightly.
The sensation of his fingertips made Liya’s body tremble slightly, “The items created by ‘Pupu’… so this body of Lily’s has feelings? I thought it was just…”
Liya looked back, gave Joen a charming and alluring look, and said huffily: “Even if it’s a body made by ‘Pupu’, there is still sensory feedback, you know.”
“Then is it—”
“Keep those unhealthy thoughts to yourself!”
Liya’s face turned bright red.
She crossed her hands in an ‘X’ shape in front of the Hero and interrupted him nervously, “Lily is ‘Pupu’! It’s ‘Pupu’! No lewdness allowed!”
“Huh?”
Joen was stunned, “But I just wanted to ask if Lily could disguise herself as a human to attend balls, listen to theater, and play soccer in the grass…”
“Eh? Is that so?” Liya’s face grew even redder.
“Stop reading so many books written by Succubus,” Joen chuckled.
His large hand, hidden under the armor, gently stroked Lily’s snowy, soft hair, but fearing to mess it up, he finally just straightened her butterfly crown.
In that instant, Liya suddenly had an illusion that she had truly become a delicate “Duke’s Daughter,” falling in love with a loyal and reliable knight.
‘Damn it! What kind of nonsense am I thinking about again?’
Rubbing her cheeks twice to shake off the extraneous thoughts, Liya decided to proceed as planned and treat tonight’s grand event as a stage for the Demon Lord’s brilliant return.
“Friend~! Have you laid the ambush for the Naga~?”
Liya asked while looking up.
“Yes,” Joen nodded.
“Good,” Liya stepped on her tiptoes slightly and gripped the Hero’s shoulder armor.
She was like an enchanting climbing flower wrapping around a giant tree, her red lips hooked playfully and coquettishly as she leaned near Joen’s black helmet to whisper intimately:
“Ten o’clock tonight, the operation begins!”
Joen nodded.
Meanwhile.
Inside a secret chamber separated by several thick stone walls, Zyra walked in with a relaxed expression.
“Lady Maive, I have tested the fake Demon Lord. She is nothing but a piece of trash with meager Magic Power and won’t be able to stir up any trouble. At 10:00 PM tonight, proceed according to the original plan.”
She reported to the hovering stone chair that had its back to her, her tone not respectful, but sufficiently solemn.
The stone chair turned around slowly.
A beautiful woman with a pale complexion was hidden within a black robe.
Her temperament was cold, her figure plump and well-proportioned, but every movement gave people a strong sense of dissonance, as if she were an ethereal phantom constructed out of thin air, piled up from countless illusory shadows.
“How does it feel to completely dedicate yourself to the shadows…?”
Maive’s thin lips parted.
“It’s great,” Zyra could no longer hide the excitement in her eyes, “It has been a long time since I felt this good. Endless energy, interest in everything I do; it’s as if I’ve suddenly become sixty years younger.”