Facing the approaching magic whip, Emily was so frightened that she closed her eyes.
After all, Emily wasn’t some tough guy; there was no way she had the courage to watch herself get hit.
She had already decided that as soon as she was struck once, she would cry and scream and spill every bit of information she had.
However, the intense pain she expected never came.
This caused her to slowly open her eyes.
Upon doing so, Emily discovered a dark, translucent barrier had suddenly appeared in front of her.
Dafel’s attack had been effortlessly blocked by it.
Naturally, upon realizing her attack was stopped, Dafel hurriedly turned her head to look behind her.
Natalie had appeared out of nowhere and was glaring at Dafel with a look of displeasure.
It was clear she was extremely dissatisfied with her subordinate’s unauthorized actions.
Dafel truly hadn’t expected Natalie to come find Emily so quickly.
Initially, Dafel thought it would be a while before Natalie could come over.
After all, her leader should have had at least some business to handle after their meeting.
Handing over full command to Dafel wasn’t something that could be finished with just one single sentence.
So, in Dafel’s original expectations, by the time Natalie finished those tasks and arrived, the interrogation of Emily would have long since concluded.
Dafel truly never imagined that Natalie would head straight for the prison right after speaking with her, with no intention of arranging the transfer of command first.
Because of this, Natalie was only slightly slower than Dafel.
Furthermore, after learning at the prison entrance that Dafel had tried to enter, Natalie had even used magic to accelerate her pace, which was why she appeared out of thin air.
After all, Natalie knew Dafel all too well.
She knew that Dafel wouldn’t simply give up because of her order forbidding anyone from approaching the Saintess; she would definitely sneak in.
If Dafel were really that obedient, she wouldn’t be butting heads with Natalie every single day.
“My Lord Demon King…”
“Dafel, you have a lot of nerve, don’t you? You actually dared to defy my orders?”
Along with those words, an invisible pressure slammed directly into Dafel’s body, pinning her against the cell wall until she was completely unable to move.
The pressure was so immense that cracks even began to slowly appear on the wall.
Due to Natalie’s actions, the vine magic that had been binding Emily’s limbs was destroyed as well.
Without any support, Emily fell toward the floor.
Just as she thought she was going to have a hard fall, her body suddenly floated up and landed gently on the ground.
Naturally, this was Natalie’s handiwork.
Natalie didn’t want her beloved to get hurt in front of her.
In her eyes, Emily was like an exquisite item that would shatter at a single touch.
In reality, that was pretty much the case.
Emily’s physical condition was truly no different from that of the most ordinary human girl.
Of course, Dafel saw Natalie’s gentle actions clearly.
She wasn’t a fool; she immediately realized that Natalie didn’t enjoy torturing the Saintess at all, but was instead interested in Emily herself.
Only now did Dafel realize that there weren’t even any signs of torture on Emily’s body.
This made her even more certain that the whole “interrogating the Saintess” thing was just an excuse for Natalie and Emily to be in the same room.
Furthermore, the usual Natalie would never get this angry over the unauthorized interrogation of a prisoner, let alone use magic to suppress her own subordinate.
Under Natalie’s magical suppression, the sheer pressure was making it difficult for Dafel to breathe.
“Tsk…”
Realizing that continuing would hurt Dafel, Natalie withdrew her magic.
Once the suppression was gone, Dafel simply dropped.
Natalie certainly didn’t use her magic to catch the falling Dafel the way she had caught Emily; instead, she let her slam straight onto the ground.
It formed a sharp contrast to her gentleness toward Emily.
If possible, Natalie wanted to teach Dafel a bit more of a lesson.
However, as the Demon King, punishing her executive just because she attempted to harm the Saintess would be difficult to justify.
After all, Dafel was thinking of the Demon Race’s greater good and was simply acting out of an eager desire to serve her country.
Punishing her for that reason would definitely make other members of the Demon Race feel dissatisfied.
“Dafel, head back for now. I’ll treat today’s matter as if it never happened.”
Suppressing her anger, Natalie commanded Dafel in a cold tone.
The reason she could hold back was that she had successfully prevented Dafel from harming Emily in time.
If Emily had actually been hurt, Natalie would never have let Dafel off so easily.
“My Lord, is this really all right?”
Dafel knew that if she just left obediently, nothing would happen to her.
But out of her own sense of responsibility, she had to ask.
For the Demon King to strike out against her own executive because of a Saintess was baffling.
It was completely incomprehensible to Dafel; based on their positions alone, Natalie should have harbored an immense hatred for the Saintess.
This was why Dafel had initially thought that Natalie simply enjoyed torturing her.
In Dafel’s mind, it was impossible for Natalie to develop any kind of emotion toward their mortal enemy.
Yet no matter how unbelievable everything was, she had to admit that the Demon King held some strange feelings for the Saintess—perhaps friendship, sympathy, or pity.
Dafel only knew that Natalie was being very protective.
She didn’t realize at all that Natalie had fallen in love with Emily at first sight.
Since both Natalie and Emily were girls, Dafel wasn’t exactly someone whose mind was filled with such thoughts.
She wasn’t going to conclude that Natalie was in love with Emily just because of her protective behavior.
“I am the Demon King, so anything I do is fine!”
Facing the inquiry of her loyal subordinate, Natalie spoke those words, which sounded no different from those of a tyrant, without any hesitation.
“I see… I understand.”
Although she was incredibly disappointed in Natalie, Dafel knew that she was still her leader and remained the benefactor of all dark elves.
No matter how disappointed she was, however, she could never give up trying to correct Natalie’s dangerous way of thinking.
It just wasn’t the right time.
Dafel could see that Natalie only refrained from punishing her because her position made it awkward.
If she continued to clash with Natalie now, not only would she fail to change her mind, but she would also get hurt or be punished.
Dafel didn’t plan on letting a moment of impulse cost her the chance to fix Natalie’s dangerous mentality.
After Dafel reluctantly left the cell, Natalie looked at Emily with a pained, caring expression.
Emily, meanwhile, was completely dazed.
Her mind hadn’t processed it all yet.
A high-ranking executive had suddenly appeared to torture her, and just as the blow was about to land, it was the Demon King who protected her.
Because it was all too surreal, Emily’s brain had stalled.
Moreover, because she had been truly terrified by Dafel, she could clearly feel that she had leaked some fluids that shouldn’t have been leaked.
Emily never expected that in a single day, she would experience being scared to the point of wetting herself.
Watching the pitiful Emily, Natalie felt a surge of protectiveness.
With the girl she liked showing such a fragile expression and posture right in front of her, it was difficult for Natalie not to feel moved.