The morning after the Dolun City attack, fifty li outside the city, at a certain estate.
The sun had only just risen when someone galloped up to this rural villa.
“You said it wouldn’t be like this!”
The man pushed open the front door and shouted at the woman sitting on the sofa inside.
“Not like what?”
The woman, whose right arm had been neatly severed and whose chest bore extensive burn marks, showed little reaction to his anger.
She merely looked up at the man.
A flicker of pink light passed through those purple eyes.
The man, who had been so agitated just a moment ago, immediately shut his mouth, closed the door behind him, and hurried over to kneel before her, carefully tending to her wounds.
“You’ve raised a fine dog, haven’t you? So, the assassination plan failed?”
Another woman, who appeared younger, stepped out from the shadows and took a seat on a nearby chair.
Watching as the first woman gritted her teeth against the pain, her gaze brimmed with mockery.
But her eyes wandered before finally settling on the burn wound on the woman’s chest, paying no heed to her severed right arm.
“Oh? Such pure divine light. Did that old bishop exorcise you in a magic circle? No, if that were the case, you wouldn’t have made it back. So what actually happened?”
“Erles, you’d better shut that foul mouth of yours—I’m in a very bad mood right now.”
“Foul mouth? Ha… You went to be that old man called Duke Kelar’s lover, and I didn’t even find you disgusting.And now, even after ending up in such a sorry state, you still have the nerve to talk tough to me, Arya? You really are something. What, proud in defeat? If I hadn’t covered your retreat, how would you have escaped?”
Erles twirled her long emerald hair around her fingers.
As a shadow demon, she made no effort to hide her dislike for Arya, who was a succubus.
But upon hearing this, Arya grew calmer.
“Yes, thanks to you. It’s just a pity that the plan we worked so hard on has gone up in smoke. I fear it’ll be difficult for the imperial princess to attend another noble banquet soon, and besides…”
She stretched out her leg and stepped on the face of the man who had come to the estate, her expression full of disgust.
“I thought that man’s son might at least be of some use, but look—useless. Heh… But then again, I suppose it’s to be expected. Any family I could so easily manipulate was never going to have any promising members. If they’d retained even a shred of their ancestors’ glory, they wouldn’t be so utterly defenseless before me.”
“I’m more worried that the emperor of this country will catch wind of your activities. However you look at it, the investigation will lead straight to you.”
“I’m not stupid enough not to retreat…”
As Arya spoke, she glanced at her missing right arm with lingering dread.
Now that her wound was treated, her flesh was regenerating, but it would take quite some time for her body to regain its full strength.
When she triggered the explosion, a surge of ancient magic in the hall manifested a barrier spell that nearly trapped her beneath the stage.
If she hadn’t reacted swiftly, she wouldn’t have merely lost an arm to that shield-like defensive magic—she would have lost her life.
Who would have thought barrier magic could be used for offense?
As a spy from the Demon Nation, a failed operation was no big deal.
She still had a chance to frame the assassination on those fools trying to provoke war between the two countries.
But getting caught—now, that would be a different story entirely.
If the operation had succeeded, it would’ve been fine—even getting caught wouldn’t matter, as long as the core objective was achieved.
Her Majesty the Demon King would have to obey the hawks and launch a war, and nothing made a better banner to rally the army than the death of the Empire’s heir.
That would be a rousing cause.
But now, all their efforts had come to nothing.
“Your arm must be the work of that elf who chased me—supposedly called Elka Muzan, an old woman said to have lived for over a thousand years, maybe even connected to the legendary Hero. For you to get away from her in this state, you’ve really had a stroke of luck, but…”
Erles’s eyes were still glued to the burn on Arya’s chest.
“You still haven’t told me about this burn, which could only be caused by pure divine light. How many years has it been since a pure believer of the Goddess has appeared among humans? Even that bishop… heh, there’s no way he could perform such a purifying magic, right?”
Reminded of this, Arya absentmindedly touched the wound on her chest with her intact left hand.
It took a while before she answered.
“You know, that banquet was held by the eldest daughter of the Deran family to confer a medal on a girl called Flora emerald. At first, I only thought she was that young lady’s lover—much like I once was myself—so I didn’t pay much attention, but…”
Memories surged up.
Arya found herself unable to describe what happened in the banquet hall.
From the moment Flora appeared, her gaze had been irresistibly drawn to the girl.
After that, whether it was her stunning beauty or the divine light with which she healed wounds, Arya found it impossible to look away.
With a sense of loss, she murmured, “Only then did I realize, in front of her, what sort of succubus am I really?”
“Huh?”
Erles was left completely baffled by such an outlandish remark.
As she had been waiting outside as backup, she hadn’t witnessed what made this Flora so extraordinary.
But judging by Arya’s reaction, she could guess something was unusual about the girl.
After all, Arya was a high-ranking demon officer like herself—not someone who’d lose composure over a nobody.
“Spit it out already.”
She sat up straighter, now genuinely interested in the star of the banquet, and urged Arya to explain.
“Do you know why I really tried to assassinate the imperial princess?”
Arya responded with a question that left Erles dumbfounded.
“You lost your hand, not your mind, right? Never mind that this operation was an order from above—after all, we’ve known each other a long time. Didn’t you say you volunteered for this mission to avenge your ancestors’ slaughter and to better the lives of your people back home?”
War is never good for the common folk, but for the demons already tormented by disaster, they had little choice.
Raiding others was the quickest way to redirect internal strife, and the demons were already planning to go to war with neighboring races.
The Hikali Empire, the largest human empire with deep ties to the demons, was the natural first target.
If Arya succeeded, the honor she’d earn would bring more supplies to her homeland, and her people would get a chance to join the army and plunder the Hikali Empire.
She ought to understand this clearly, yet now Erles could only sense a strange uncertainty from her words.
Erles couldn’t help but step up to Arya, kicking aside Duke Kelar’s son, and grabbed her shoulder, giving her a shake.
“Yes, I know, but… I think I met a god at the banquet.”
Arya still looked dazed, uttering words that made Erles uneasy.
“What are you talking about…”
“Erles, I had countless chances to kill the princess on stage—countless!”
Arya suddenly grew agitated, fixing her shadow demon colleague with a fervent gaze, then soon composed herself.
“But I only made my move in the second half of the banquet, and that was because of the girl named Flora. Believe me, when you see her, you’ll find it nearly impossible to harbor any intent to fight. She simply doesn’t seem human, nor an elf or anything like that—more like someone from another world…”
She furrowed her brow, expression tangled with pain.
“To call her a being akin to a god is no exaggeration. I believe that’s why that old bishop declared her the Saint of the Church.”
“Saint?”
Erles, reeling from this barrage of information, felt her legs weaken.
Seeing this, Arya pulled her down to sit beside her.
Her right hand had only just recovered, but the burn on her chest showed no sign of healing.
“Otherwise, where do you think this divine burn came from? I clearly evaded the senses of the palace guards and that elf you mentioned, but before I could cast my spell…That’s right—just as I mobilized my mana, she seemed to sense my killing intent and took the princess far from the stage, then countered with some unknown magic that I couldn’t avoid. That’s when the elf nearly took my head.”
Arya spoke without a hint of resentment or dissatisfaction toward Flora.
Seated close beside her, Erles could even sense a trace of obsession in the succubus’s words.
It was as if, had she truly died under Flora’s magic, she would have found redemption.
Unable to bear her companion’s increasingly odd state, Erles shook her.
Sensing Erles’s anxiety, Arya continued, “Honestly, that wasn’t the best moment to act—I should have withdrawn. But… seeing Flora and the princess dancing so intimately, I was consumed by jealousy…”
“That’s why you acted?”
“Yes…”
Arya nodded painfully.
Not for revenge or duty, but out of jealousy toward the princess, she’d launched the attack.
It was simply too absurd.
“This must be reported to Her Majesty the Demon King.”
Erles grew even more grave.
If such bizarre matters were left uninvestigated, the demons might face unimaginable danger when they launched their assault.
The echo of recollection faded, and Arya regained some of her former fierceness.
“That’s right. But if we could get her into our hands, with her abilities and privileges, we might be able to take the Hikali Empire with ease.”
Though it was nearly impossible, it remained an option.
From her observations, Arya had noticed certain clues about Flora.
Based on these, she suspected that this girl—who made her heart race—might one day reach out to the demon race.
After all, at the banquet, Flora’s calm composure had seemed, to Arya’s discerning eyes, more like repressed pain and growing resentment toward the event’s host.
Erles studied her for a long moment before nodding.
“If you say so, then you must be confident. So this guy is your backup plan? Leaving now is without a doubt your best choice.”
Knowing Arya’s nature, she didn’t press further about her intentions for Flora.
She simply looked down at the man lying on the floor, full of disdain.
“Still, using a duke’s legitimate son as your escape route—isn’t that a bit too bold?”
“No need to worry. Duke Kelar and his sons have a terrible reputation anyway. I’ll just have one of my kind spend a night of pleasure with him, then get them both to write confessions and commit suicide. That’ll settle any loose ends.”
Erles had no objections.
Even in the Demon Nation, succubi were the lowest caste and universally despised.
Arya had no fondness for her shameless kin and didn’t even consider them people.
This plan was perfectly sound, and, being as capable as ever, she set to work without delay.
Soon, these two high-ranking demons, the masterminds behind the Dolun City attack, slipped out of the Hikali Empire.
The means of escape they left behind provided the palace guards and investigators—who were desperate to give the enraged emperor an explanation—with a convenient pair of scapegoats.
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