After driving away Daphiel, Natalie turned her gaze toward Hadia, whom she had bound with telekinesis.
Seeing that look, Hadia struggled to escape.
At this distance, if Natalie wanted to kill her, she could simply thrust a fist through her chest.
But no matter how much Hadia thrashed, her body remained fixed in place.
Just as Hadia believed she was surely going to die, the telekinetic force binding her suddenly vanished.
The moment it disappeared, Hadia scrambled backward, putting distance between herself and Natalie.
She realized the Demon King had released the binding herself.
“Demon King, what is the meaning of this?”
Hadia asked, her face full of confusion at Natalie’s sudden mercy.
“It means nothing. I simply had a thought.”
“A thought?”
“Indeed. Didn’t you sneak into the Demon King’s castle for her sake?”
Natalie said, hoisting Emily up in her arms as if showing off her spoils of war.
“Put Lady Emily down this instant!”
“Don’t be in such a hurry, Hero. Since you’ve worked so hard, I’ll give you a chance. How about playing a game with me?”
“A game?”
“Yes. It wouldn’t do my reputation any favors if word got out that I spent my time bullying a weakling like you.”
Although Hadia was displeased at being called a weakling, she couldn’t argue.
Before the Demon King, she was truly a helpless weakling.
“If you can land one sword strike on me, I’ll release both you and the Saintess. How about it?”
Hearing this, Hadia wasn’t foolish enough to believe her blindly.
She pondered what the Demon King was up to and whether this was some kind of trap.
“Don’t be so cautious. If I wanted to kill you, I could just do it! There’s no need for me to play a game with you, is there? If you don’t gamble, I’ll kill you right now. If you bet against me, you’ll still have a sliver of hope. This is for your beloved Saintess, isn’t it? If you win, you can return home with her hand — in — hand!”
“…I understand.”
Hadia gripped her sword hilt and took a combat stance.
She knew she had little chance of winning, but she truly had no other choice.
As for whether the Demon King would keep her word, it was no longer something Hadia could afford to worry about.
Watching Hadia, Natalie remained nonchalant.
She truly didn’t take the Hero seriously, viewing her instead as a toy.
She was like a cat that enjoys toying with its prey after catching it.
Natalie’s mind was filled with dangerous ideas about what commands she would force Emily to give once Hadia was captured.
Just as Hadia was about to launch her attack, Emily — still in Natalie’s arms — suddenly cried out, “…Please wait!”
Emily’s words immediately interrupted Hadia’s movement.
Both of them looked at Emily with puzzled expressions.
Emily was terrified to have spoken up, but she understood that if Hadia tried to fight head — on, there was no way she could defeat the Demon King.
Once Hadia lost, Emily would be completely finished.
For her own future and Hadia’s safety, Emily believed this was her last chance to resist!
She summoned her courage to shout from Natalie’s embrace.
“Oh? Saintess, what is the meaning of this?”
“Demon King… do — do you not think it’s shameful to bully someone who is severely injured?”
Because she was so nervous, Emily’s voice stammered.
“Look at the Hero now — she’s covered in wounds! Even if you win, the rumors won’t be kind…”
Emily’s voice grew softer and softer as her confidence wavered.
After speaking, she simply stared at Natalie, unsure if her words would have any effect.
After all, Natalie had no reason to listen to a prisoner.
After a few seconds of silence, Natalie put on an expression as if Emily had convinced her.
“…Fine. You have a point.”
Normally, if anyone else had said that, Natalie would have likely responded with, ‘Oh? Who do you think you are to order the Demon King around?’
Before turning them to ash with a blast of magic.
But because the speaker was Emily, Natalie was exceptionally indulgent.
Emily was likely the only person who could change Natalie’s mind with a single sentence.
Emily, however, didn’t realize this; she simply thought she had successfully persuaded her.
“Then what do you plan to do?”
“…Let me heal the Hero!”
“…Very well.”
Natalie gently set Emily down.
Emily felt a sense of unreality as she regained her freedom.
The Demon King was being surprisingly obedient.
Trembling with fear, Emily ran to Hadia’s side.
Natalie felt a twinge of displeasure seeing how much Emily cared for the Hero.
Their close relationship sparked a strange jealousy within her.
Fortunately, Natalie didn’t yet view Hadia as a romantic rival, or else the Hero would have been obliterated on the spot.
Once Emily reached Hadia, she immediately began casting healing magic.
Under the spell’s effect, Hadia’s wounds repaired themselves at a visible rate.
As a Saintess, Emily’s healing abilities were undoubtedly the best in the world.
As long as someone still had a breath left, she could restore them to full health within 10 seconds.
“Lady Emily, that was too dangerous! If you had angered the Demon King…”
Hadia was genuinely startled by Emily’s sudden intervention.
“It worked, didn’t it? Listen, Hero, I’m going to secretly cast every support and enhancement spell I have on you. Take this opportunity to escape.”
Emily knew that even if she healed Hadia, the Hero couldn’t win.
If Hadia lost, they were both doomed.
It was better to gamble on an escape.
Considering they had succeeded once before, Emily believed a fully healed Hadia could escape the Demon King’s clutches.
“What? You want me to abandon you and run alone?”
“No… it’s just that you can’t possibly defeat the Demon King. So please, after you escape, find a way to gather reinforcements to save me. Until then, I will endure!”
Though she said that, Emily had zero confidence that she could withstand Natalie’s “torture.”
Yet, this was the best choice she could make.
If Hadia stayed to fight in the heart of the castle, they would both surely die.
And besides Hadia, no one else would risk their life to rescue her.
“I refuse! I’ll hold the Demon King back instead. You take the chance to escape while I block her! I can surely stall her for 10 minutes!”
‘No, Hero, with my movement speed, stalling for 10 minutes won’t help. I’d be caught by the Demon King again in just a few seconds…’