Several hours later.
Inside the New Succubus Shop in Rossi City, within the luxury manor rented from a fallen noble.
Aimil was filthy, wearing only a single pair of tattered white stockings.
She looked incredibly pathetic.
Joen had no idea that the Aimil who had followed him and Liya to the birthday banquet, only to “disappear” halfway through, was actually a fake Liya had fashioned out of a Pupu.
The real Aimil had been imprisoned in the rock dungeon of Pu Town until the cell mysteriously loosened tonight, allowing her to escape with everything she had.
‘That damn Pupu! How dare it lock me up!’
Aimil gnashed her teeth, her eyes flickering with the burning fire of revenge.
‘Just you wait! I’m going to tell Aunt Ella about that Pupu pretending to be the Demon Lord! Such a huge scandal—the crime of conspiring with demons—I don’t believe the Brave One won’t be obedient then!’
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.
Her mind was already filled with images of her using this leverage to threaten the Hero.
‘Hehe, Brave One, you wouldn’t want everyone to know that you and your pet are impersonating the Demon Lord and attacking nobles, would you?’
‘Since that’s the case, then be a good boy and listen to Aimil. Quick! Take off your pants! Also, you must marry Aimil and let her be the Duchess~’
If an ordinary Human woman had such delusions, Aimil would have mocked her for overestimating herself.
But as a succubus, Aimil was extremely confident in her ability to seduce men.
When the time came, she would just need to use a little Charm, act pitiful, and play the role of a “yandere” driven mad by secret love.
How could the Hero have the heart to betray her deep affection?
Clinging to her many beautiful fantasies, Aimil pushed open the door to Aunt Ella’s room deep within the manor.
“Auntie! I have something important to tell you! That Lily — “
Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly froze.
The figure in the room slowly turned around.
With silver hair flowing like a waterfall and red eyes like blood, the handsome yet eerie face bore a faint, mocking smile.
“D-Demon King Lia?!”
Aimil was scared out of her wits, falling flat on her backside.
But she quickly reacted, letting out a sigh of relief as she patted her chest in exasperation.
“Ha! Scared me to death. It’s just you, that Pupu fake! You’re actually doing a pretty good impression!”
She stood up, straightened her messy clothes, and adopted a haughty stance.
“Perfect. Since you’re here, let’s put our cards on the table. If you don’t want me to expose your little secret, then hurry up and — “
“Shh.”
The person in the chair raised a finger to her lips, making a gentle silencing gesture.
The movement was elegant and composed, carrying a deep-seated confidence belonging to a superior.
Aimil’s voice stopped abruptly.
She suddenly felt that something was wrong.
This feeling… was too familiar.
It was so familiar that it made her recall those years in the Demon King’s Castle, when she had hidden behind her mother’s legs, trembling yet curious as she stole glances at “Demon King Liya.”
“What are you doing? Little Pupu, don’t joke around…”
She forced a smile, trying to break the eerie atmosphere.
Liya ignored her, merely picking up the red wine on the table and swirling it gently.
The crimson liquid left blood-like streaks on the glass.
“It seems you still remember me. You aren’t so arrogant as to forget the things that should be carved into your very bones.”
Liya smiled slightly and drained the wine in one gulp.
The hair on Aimil’s neck stood on end.
She backed away step by step, wanting to flap her wings and flee.
But in the next moment, it felt as if she had stepped into a quagmire; her feet were swallowed by the floor, and she could no longer move.
She looked down, her horror intensifying — it was her own shadow that her feet had sunk into.
*Clink!*
The goblet shattered, the sound as sharp as a startled lute string.
Liya slowly rose from the high-backed chair.
She approached, one step after another.
“Many years ago — “
Her voice was as slow as her footsteps.
It was no longer the milky voice of a little girl, but the deep, resonant voice of the Demon King that Aimil was familiar with — a voice that had once made the entire Demon Realm tremble.
“I once brought you unity and prosperity, yet you did not need it.”
“I once brought you wisdom and civilization, yet you cast them aside like trash.”
Aimil’s smile froze on her face.
She retreated as much as she could, her voice beginning to shake.
“Who… who are you?”
Liya acted as if she hadn’t heard, simply staring deeply into Aimil’s pretty face with an enigmatic smile.
“I once thought I was doing the right thing — eliminating oppression, driving away plagues, sweeping away ignorance, suppressing sin, and ending wars.”
Behind her, her shadow stretched long under the moonlight, like a giant serpent waiting to devour its prey.
“But it was not until the day you betrayed me that I finally understood. It turns out you *are* the oppression, the plague, the ignorance, the sin, and the war itself.”
“The fire-bringer is imprisoned, while the treacherous sit high in the halls. What a spectacular puppet show. You are all puppets of the Gods, and I am — the Rebel King who faced the Gods alone on the sacred mountain at night!”
“Now… I am no longer blinded.”
As the last word fell, a sharp light blazed in Liya’s crimson eyes.
That was the pressure belonging to a true Demon Lord, a murderous aura forged in a sea of blood and mountains of corpses.
It was a soulful essence that no disguise could ever imitate.
*Thump.*
Aimil’s knees went weak, and she fell completely to the floor.
Fear that reaches the marrow of one’s bones cannot be faked.
This was no imitation.
This was Demon King Liya herself!
“Demon King Liya… I was wrong! I’m willing to repent! I’ll offer you everything, including my loyalty!”
She wailed and wept, kowtowing frantically until her forehead was soon a bloody mess.
Liya walked up to her and slowly raised a foot, elegantly and lightly stepping onto the top of her head.
“Do you really think you get a second chance?”
She looked down at the trembling traitor beneath her foot, her lips curling into a cruel and satisfied arc.
“Now… as far as you all are concerned, I only have one obsession left.”
And that is to turn all you ungrateful idiots into batteries!
“Pudding!”
Liya glanced toward the corner.
“Oh ho! Is it my turn? Is it finally my turn?”
Zyra, currently a black blob, hopped out from the shadows.
Her Pupu-like features showed an expression of both excitement and anticipation.
She reached out with two shadow claws and pulled out the “Magic Power battery chamber” that Liya had prepared long ago.
“Hurry up and let me see how this works! I’ve been so curious!”
The battery chamber opened.
Aimil stared blankly at the ambiguously shaped tentacles and mechanisms inside, her face turning pale.
Suddenly, she seemed to understand a great many things.
“Hurry and return ‘home’~ my little Princess~”
Mockingly, Liya bowed politely and made a “please” gesture.