Seeing Natalie silenced by her own retort, Daphiel pressed her advantage.
“Demon King, if you still don’t plan on going to the front lines, then I’ll come find you every single day until you agree to go!”
Daphiel knew better than anyone that Natalie was truly annoyed by her presence.
However, because Daphiel almost never made mistakes, there was no legitimate reason to punish her.
Unless she truly reached her breaking point, Natalie would never act like a tyrant and punish someone without cause.
The two instances where she was called an ugly man and when her body was insulted were both times she had lost her cool.
In a sense, Natalie would directly reach her breaking point as long as someone struck her weaknesses.
But Daphiel was an expert at gauging the limits; she would never let Natalie snap that easily.
‘This Daphiel is definitely serious…’
Seeing Daphiel’s incredibly determined gaze, Natalie understood that if she didn’t go to the front lines to repel the human attack, this woman really would frequently interrupt her private world with Emily.
That would mean her plan to cultivate feelings with Emily would end in failure.
How was Natalie supposed to whole-heartedly bond with Emily when a third wheel might pop up at any moment to disturb them!
Whatever, it wasn’t a big problem to begin with.
There was truly no need to continue this entanglement with Daphiel.
She would just go and quickly wipe out those humans!
“I understand. Daphiel, I will follow your counsel this time.”
“Thank you, Demon King!”
Hearing Natalie’s words, Daphiel was deeply moved.
Her persistence had finally paid off; Daphiel had originally been prepared for a long, drawn-out struggle.
Regardless, there were other high-ranking officials holding the fort at the front lines, so there wouldn’t be any major issues in the short term.
As long as she could bring the Demon King to the front before the fortress was breached, everything would be fine.
Of course, if Natalie went now, the Demon Race would sacrifice far fewer lives.
As for Emily, Daphiel planned to have someone deal with her secretly after she accompanied Natalie to the front.
At first, Daphiel had intended to kill the Saintess.
Whether for personal grudges or the interests of the entire Demon Race, Daphiel could not allow this femme fatale who bewitched the Demon King to continue existing!
As long as Emily stayed in the Demon King’s castle for a single day, Natalie would continue to be obsessed with her beauty.
Natalie wouldn’t be able to work seriously until she lost interest in Emily.
And Daphiel had no idea how long that would take.
It could be several years, or she might never lose interest at all.
If Natalie slacked off for a few days, Daphiel and the other officials could work hard to maintain the country’s normal operations.
But if Natalie slacked off for years at a time, the order of the entire nation would rot.
Thus, Daphiel believed that dealing with Emily was an emergency second only to repelling the human invasion.
As long as Natalie remained by Emily’s side, Daphiel had no opportunity to strike.
This trip to the front lines was Daphiel’s best and only chance.
However, Daphiel eventually gave up on the idea of killing Emily, even though it was the most reliable way.
After all, if Emily was still alive, she might return to Natalie’s side.
Daphiel could not predict how Natalie might go on a rampage after losing her lover.
This was the first time Natalie had ever liked someone.
If it only cost her own life, Daphiel wouldn’t mind paying for Emily’s life with her own.
But Daphiel was worried that a rampaging Natalie would carry out a Great Purge of the Demon Race.
In that case, the victims wouldn’t just be her, but the entire Demon King’s castle — perhaps even the entire Demon Realm.
Countless people would die, and the humans might take advantage of the internal turmoil to launch a massive invasion.
Therefore, Daphiel’s current plan was to secretly send someone to release Emily from the castle and let her escape on her own while Natalie was away.
When Natalie eventually returned, Daphiel could use the excuse that Emily had escaped of her own accord to gloss it over.
Just as Daphiel was refining her plan, Natalie suddenly turned around and spoke to Emily.
“By the way, Saintess! You’re coming to the front lines with me.”
“Huh?”
“I’m going too?”
Natalie’s words caused both Emily and Daphiel to wear expressions of utter disbelief.
“Um… Demon King, are you serious? You want to take the Saintess to the front lines…”
Facing Daphiel’s stuttered questioning, Natalie gave her a look that asked why she was stating the obvious.
“What? Is there a problem?”
From the very beginning, Daphiel had gotten the premise wrong.
She had assumed that Natalie wouldn’t take Emily to such a dangerous place.
She thought Natalie would leave Emily in the castle like a treasure, protected by layers of guards.
But this was a miscalculation.
In Natalie’s mind, the safest place in the world was naturally by her side! What’s more, Natalie couldn’t bear to be away from Emily for long.
Since she was going to the front lines to face a human army of over 100,000, she had no idea how long it would be before she could return.
Naturally, she had to bring Emily along.
“Well… letting the Saintess go to the front might be dangerous… and taking a woman to the front lines will definitely strike a blow to the soldiers’ morale.”
After all, if the soldiers were risking their lives at the front while the ruler was in the rear playing around with a “beloved concubine,” the soldiers would obviously feel resentful.
If they lost the war because of that, it would be far too embarrassing.
“Oh? You’ve always been murderous toward the Saintess, so why are you suddenly worried about her safety? Could it be that you plan to do something to my Saintess while I’m not in the castle?”
Natalie hadn’t become the Demon King through martial force alone.
How could she not see through the little schemes in Daphiel’s heart?
“…No, how could I dare? Besides, wasn’t I going to the front lines with you, Demon King?”
Daphiel broke into a cold sweat.
“Is that so? But for some reason, people in the castle have been monitoring the Saintess and me lately. I’m not sure whose subordinates they are. Daphiel, tell me, does secretly monitoring the Demon King count as a crime punishable by the execution of nine generations?”
“…That is natural. I wonder who could be so rebellious as to dare to monitor the Demon King… I will send people to investigate immediately.”
Daphiel knew that Natalie was well aware she was the one behind the monitoring.
But since Natalie hadn’t explicitly stated it, Daphiel wasn’t about to confess and seek death.
If she admitted it, she would be forcing Natalie to punish her.
Daphiel also knew that Natalie was only giving her a warning so she wouldn’t push her luck.
To Natalie, agreeing to go to the front was already a huge concession.
If Daphiel still wasn’t satisfied, Natalie wouldn’t mind making a scene out of the situation to get a legitimate reason to execute her.
“Forget the investigation. Right now, dealing with the human invasion is more important, isn’t it?”
“Naturally…”
“It seems you won’t stop me anymore?”
“No, I didn’t intend to stop you. I was just reminding you that the front lines are dangerous for the Saintess…”
Seeing Daphiel back down, Natalie didn’t press her further.
If she hadn’t known that all of Daphiel’s actions were for the future of the Demon Race, Daphiel would have been killed long ago.
She would never have been allowed to live this long while being such a nuisance.
It could be said that Daphiel’s survival was entirely due to her unwavering loyalty to the Demon Race.
‘So what about my opinion… fine, my opinion probably doesn’t matter to the Demon King anyway. Good grief, going to such a dangerous place! I won’t be blown up by some stray explosion, will I?! Or does this Demon King plan to throw me onto the battlefield so I can be killed by my own side? Or maybe she’ll strip me naked in front of the army to destroy the humans’ morale!’
As she listened to the two of them talk, all sorts of terrifying thoughts flashed through Emily’s mind.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.