A well-dressed man walked through the wide corridors of the imperial palace, overhearing the maids whispering to each other about how handso he looked. "The Demon King looks different. Is he more handso?" one maid murmured to her colleague. "Strange, he seems much more natural. His skin also looks more alive," she replied. He rely smiled as he continued walking alone.
"The World Tree's blessing had so effect, it seems," he said, having just taken a bath after returning exhausted from his little trip to the World Tree. "Unfortunately, it looks like my vacation has co to an end," he murmured as he walked, beginning to think about a few things. "Protecting this world... Maybe I can do it?
I don't know, I may be confident in the strength of my lovely wives, but I'm still far behind them... I need to train." Dante said. It wasn't common, but when he compared himself to wives like Valentina, Morgana, and even Voralith, who hadn't accepted yet but he knew she would, it made him sowhat disheartened. Strength was crucial at this mont, and he didn't want to go through that again.
"I won't let this bother anymore. I'll get stronger, even if I have to sacrifice parts of myself in the process... No one else will suffer," he said, opening the enormous door where a single woman sat on the throne, clearly waiting for him. "It seems my beautiful Aldria was already expecting ," Dante said with a mischievous smile. It was ti to finish what he had decreed.
"You again," Aldria said. Truly, she was a difficult woman.
Aldria sat on the throne, looking like a bored woman who hadn't heard anything interesting in years. "I'm sure you already know what I've done in the last few hours. What do you want to hear first?" Dante asked as a Blood Throne ford, now making it seem like a real conversation.
Two emperors were facing each other. One represented only his empire and citizens, and the other represented only his desires and self-satisfaction, sothing the other would never consider in this situation.
"Before you start talking, are you okay?" Dante asked. Above all, he was a man who cared about her, not because Adam asked him to—screw Adam—Dante didn't care about the man who made Velryna and Aldria suffer. It was more than right that he was dead, despite knowing the pain they felt about his death. It was better than rembering the many things he caused over the years.
"Ah~" She sighed heavily and began to speak.
"You drive crazy, you know that? I've received hundreds of reports from all sides about a Black-Winged Demon flying at supersonic speeds across the continent. Could you be more discreet? You're not a child who can do whatever he wants! Every two hours, at least six guards ca here to report minor actions." Aldria said, putting a hand to her head.
"Killing a person I understand, but cutting off everyone's arms? Or better yet, dismbering a person in front of their friends. Who were you trying to traumatize? One of the soldiers who saw it is undergoing treatnt from vomiting so much at the grotesque scene you caused!" Aldria scolded him, but at the sa ti, he just smiled.
"Wipe that confident smile off your face!" She scolded him, but he continued to wait for her to finish.
"Seriously, what do I do with you?" She continued her complaints. "And about the mine! What was that! You polluted half the forest with blood!" She shouted, and Dante smiled, almost laughing out loud because the scene of the giant worm dying was very funny in his mind.
"Hey! I'm being serious here! You gave a massive headache!" She said, truly looking angry, but... "Even so, after all this! You still solved all the problems, and it's driving crazy!" She admitted. In a few hours, despite all the problems he caused her, he resolved them all perfectly in a ti that could have taken months to solve.
Who knows how many people could have been affected by the actions of the nobility? Well, that would be resolved only by killing them all and replacing them, sothing Aldria could very well do if she took on the role of a dictator, and that wasn't what she wanted. But the real problem was, what if that huge worm had gone to an inland city? What if soone had died?
Dante should actually be treated as a hero in this respect... and she didn't even know about the beasts.
"Are you done?" Dante asked, his voice very close to her. Aldria, who was thinking about many things at once, heard his voice almost like a whisper. When she blinked twice... she was sitting on Dante's lap. "Huh?! Put back on my throne!!!" She quickly shouted.
"Nothing of the sort, I'm collecting my reward," Dante said, holding the woman firmly on his lap, placing her head on his chest.
"W-We didn't talk about rewards! Y-You did this because you wanted to!" She quickly stamred, knowing what this man wanted. "I don't work for free, my little Sapphire," Dante said gently, which sent shivers through Aldria, who tried to pull away but was stopped again. "Why did you call that! What is that!" Aldria said quickly, truly not knowing what it ant.
"It's a gem, a very rare blue-colored gem... like your eyes," he said with a smile. Aldria didn't know how to react; it was the first ti she had received such a complint, so she just shrank and blushed like a cute little girl. "Hahaha," Dante laughed and ran his hand over her head, gently stroking her hair.
"Now that you're calr, let's talk about serious matters," Dante said while continuing to hold the woman who seed like a different person, her face completely embarrassed... but even she didn't know what to do, and she didn't want to leave that position. It felt like... she lived to be there; it was so... comfortable.
"What do you an by serious matters?" she murmured, and Dante only smiled. "Don't you want to know how I t the World Tree of Elysium?" Dante said, and the woman's eyes almost popped out as she quickly straightened up. He let her move without holding her, after all, he realized she wasn't going to leave his lap.
She just wanted to listen attentively while looking at him, and he was pleased to notice that. "Y-You t a World Tree?" she stamred, knowing what that ant, and Dante began recounting to her what had happened, up to the part about the ritual.
"A Qilin? I've never seen one on this continent... Why is a Qilin not in the East, but in the West? I an, the climate here shouldn't allow sothing like that to live here..." Aldria murmured, truly intrigued by this, but what was really important was the ritual. "I thought we had cleansed the Empire that day..." she murmured, blaming herself, but Dante didn't let her. "It's not your fault.
I couldn't identify the energy of this ritual either. It wasn't demonic. I still don't know what it was, but Fey and I believe it was a curse," Dante said. Many things were going through his mind, especially after all these events, and he felt a certain discomfort.
"D-Dear?" Aldria stamred. "Ah... well, I was just getting to that part..." Dante murmured, and Aldria's gaze broke. Her mind began to generate a theory that, unfortunately for her and fortunately for Dante... she was completely correct. "D-Don't tell you proposed to her," Aldria said, and Dante just smiled without saying anything.
Aldria... for so reason, broke...
"I... I thought..." she murmured to herself, struggling with things she wanted and things she fought against wanting. But this... made a tear fall. She didn't even understand why. mories of what Evangeline said to her quickly returned...
"Do you think my master, who has the best won by his side, would waste his ti with a woman he's not interested in? He should be spending ti with Morgana Arcano now, but he's using his precious ti to fix an Empire that isn't even his," she heard echoing in her mind like a heavy hamr blow. She could only wonder... If he was interested, why did he find soone else in the anti?
Perhaps it was a silly thought, perhaps a thought that didn't even make sense to Dante. After all, unlike him, Aldria had never shared a man with anyone, and Dante shared his heart with several won. Aldria felt... discarded, for so reason. She didn't even know if she felt sothing for this man... she was...
confused about it...
"Looks like soone is jealous," Dante said, almost completely reading the woman. But of course, he did. He still had one of the abilities from his dear mother, the ability to read people, and it seed to only work with the won he was interested in... well, actually, he was just too clueless to rember it at necessary monts.
"Jealous! I'm not jealous!" She quickly shouted, trying to pull away from him. She really felt uncomfortable, but she was in the hands of the greatest demon of all! "Quiet," he commanded imperiously, making her startle. "Sorry, but you don't help yourself either," he said. Now, however, he pulled her even closer, her chest pressed against his torso, and he leaned in close to her ear.
Aldria felt this man's breath almost touching her. Her skin grew hot, and her face turned red. Dante only whispered in her ear.
"Regardless of who is by my side... You will be mine, one way or another. Aldria Scarlet sounds good..." Dante said, and the woman trembled as if her body was being completely devoured. Before her, like a mirage, a demon was seated on her throne that only Aldria could see. After all... it was an illusion of her greed.
"I said... my master wants you for himself," Evangeline said with a mischievous smile.
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