CH 20.1

[Duke Berith, the 28th demon who was in charge of alchemy and knowledge.]

His calm and seductive smile stood out even amongst those many demons. It was, in fact, the sculptural face that she couldn’t help but to keep her eyes on all along.

Julia began to stare at him as if she had been possessed unknowingly. Berith also noticed her attention and softly bent his eyes once again.

‘Still, I’m just glad that not everyone hates me.’

It had been at that moment when Julia was just about to shyly raise a smile after him. Lerazier, who had intervened at the wrong time, suddenly reached out his hand right in front of her face. As she couldn’t possibly comprehend the meaning and simply looked down instead, he started to ask while appearing to be rather frustrated.

“What are you doing, aren’t you coming down? You want to live up there for the rest of your life then?”

“Is this… not an escort?”

“Lord Lerazier is best at accommodating humans.”

When Julia carefully asked the question, he instantly widened his eyes in dissatisfaction.

“Ah.”

Actually, the problem did not lie with him, but with Julia herself.

She had never been escorted by anyone at all. When she finally realized that his hand was extended solely for her, Lerazier had already looked very puzzled. It was unimaginable for her, who was a Princess, to not have any sort of escort experience.

Only Revenna and Kimaris, who had known of her true past, grew stiff in the face of anxiety. Eventually, Revenna sighed and took a very thick glove out of her arms before placing her hand on top of Lerazier’s.

“Let’s go?”

“Eh, what. I don’t even want to hold you.”

“I’m giving you the honor of escorting this Lady Revenna, is there any problem with that?”

“Many!”

Thanks to Revenna’s squabble and not Julia’s, the awkward mood vanished in an instant.

A new hand then reached out right before her as the two demons clashed with each other in front of the stairs. This time, as if he was obviously offering an escort, the man with one hand behind his back began to bow politely.

Berith, who had just been sitting while leaning against the sofa in the hall earlier, was now standing right in front of her.

“Please give me the honor of escorting you instead.”

“Who……”

“Oh, excuse me. I’d like it if you could call me by my first name, Duke Berith.”

“Thank you, Sir Berith.”

Julia carefully placed her hand on top of his own large hand. He smiled and began to walk slowly down the stairs in line with Julia’s tiny steps.

It was then that the appearance of the key, ‘Estelle Vestra’, had officially been revealed. Lerazier and the demons were ultimately deprived of their chance by Berith, who appeared out of the blue, yet they had no other choice but to just chew on their handkerchief in jealousy, lest it would harm Julia’s reputation.

Berith had a thoughtful personality in his own way, so he kept a small conversation going on to avoid awkwardness as they descended along the long stairs.

“I was amazed at how resolute you had been. It must be the first time human could actually see so many demons like this.”

“No, I’m actually trembling right now.”

Julia then looked down at her hand, which was placed on top of Berith’s. Her small hand was trembling, which ultimately made the white and pretty gloves of Revenna, become rather insignificant at best. There was no way Berith, who was already in direct contact with her, couldn’t feel it at all.

However, while pretending not to notice it, he straight away continued along with an even deeper smile.

“Even this is simply amazing. Is it because human is actually a Princess?”

“I’m flattered…”

The moment he put the word Princess in his mouth, Julia instantly felt awkward as if she was currently donning the wrong clothes. Although she was also a Princess, she had never been treated properly like one back in the human world since she was only a child from the Emperor’s own affair.

The ‘Princess’ whom Berith was speaking of had most probably been Estelle Vestra, the most noble and beautiful sister in the whole world.

Julia’s eyelids sank helplessly and right at that moment, Berith eventually wrapped himself around her slender waist before pressing it against him. Berith then whispered softly to her while lifting his gaze so that she wouldn’t think of anything else.

“You look uncomfortable. Is there any problem?”

“No, it’s just a little bit awkward for me to receive such compliments…”

“I think Ingrem V’s education was quite strict then. I’ve heard that humans sometimes raise their children as if they were to be dropped from a cliff.”

Ingrem V, it was a name which she never thought that she would hear again here in the Demon King’s Castle.

The demons had looked down on humans like worms. Compared to themselves, humans’ physical abilities were infinitely lagged behind and they possessed no special abilities either. It had already been a universal thought that humans were merely a race that was known to run wild without knowing their place by believing themselves in only one thing.

So, the demons would refer to humans in a rough manner regardless of their status, but Berith was aware of the exact name of Ingrem V, the Emperor of Vestra himself.

Noticing her query, he proceeded to add more strength, albeit gently, to his hand that was still wrapped around Julia’s waist.

“How is he?”

“I……”

When she was asked about their father-and-daughter relationship, she became confused as to what to answer him with. Julia then took a deep breath while still looking at Berith’s gentle gaze.

In the character window that popped out before, it was stated that he had been the demon in charge of ‘alchemy and knowledge’. She thought that perhaps Berith had simply been curious about the way of life that was experienced by human beings, a race completely different from his own.

‘I wish I had turned on the sight function then.’

On the way to the central hall, she had already turned off the window with the feeling of not seeing Agares’s and Lerazier’s windows would be much better as she kept feeling uncomfortable. She was now regretting it all, but it had been utterly unavoidable.

Eventually, she chose an answer that could be easily looked over.