Cecily returned to the center of the Royal Capital. Ever since her younger brother Joshua left the Demon Realm, this place had quieted down a lot. One will only be able to see some unintelligent water elementals passing by the corridor occasionally.
Right now, apart from the crisis of a potential famine landing in the Royal Capital, Cecily was also worried about her younger brother’s situation in the human world.
Since dispatching her trusted aide to seek out Joshua in the human world, nearly half a month had passed without any correspondence.
While Cecily was pondering whether or not to dispatch another sentinel to Norland, a sound came from deep within the corridor and interrupted her train of thought.
There’s... someone in the kitchen?
Cecily immediately proceeded deeper into the corridor. The only beings that should be allowed to move through this area would be those water elementals. But, the water elementals wouldn’t be able to produce such strange sounds.
Because of that, the first thing that came to Cecily’s mind was that there’s an intruder in the castle.
Cecily arrived at the door to the kitchen and placed her hand on the sword on her waist. Then, using her other hand, she pushed open the kitchen door.
The intruder had clearly not detected Cecily’s arrival. They were still rummaging through the kitchen.
Cecily had unsheathed her sword. After pushing open the door, she aimed her sword’s blade at that intruder.
“Fa...ye?” Cecily caught sight of the person crouching at the corner of the kitchen. She was no intruder. Instead, it was her younger sister that she hasn’t seen for nearly half a year.
The Demon Realm’s fourth princess, Faye Annerlaude.
“...”
Faye turned around to glance at Cecily. Due to having a piece of bread hanging out from her mouth, she was unable to answer Cecily.
“You... why would you... come to the surface at a time like this?”
Cecily placed her sword away and asked the girl before her.
“Got hungry.”
Faye gave a very simple response after she finished eating that piece of bread.
“Hungry? Wait... how long have you been awake for?!”
Cecily managed to have a full view of her younger sister. Dark circles were clearly present under her eyes.
Cecily felt this to be something unimaginable... After all, the fourth princess was known for her idleness. Whenever she goes to sleep, it would be akin to going to hibernation. She would not wake back up unless she slept for a couple months straight.
Judging from how she looked, Cecily was certain that she had not slept for at least half a month.
“Exactly what have you been doing all this time?”
Cecily was not very familiar with her younger sister. Having insufficient interaction with her sister was one reason. As for the other reason, it was because the Demon Realm’s ruler strictly prohibits the fourth princess from interacting with anyone.
But, as her elder sister, Cecily felt that she needed to show concern for her sister’s health.
“Playing games.”
“Ga...mes?”
Cecily felt slightly shocked by that answer. There wasn’t any entertainment in this ice-cold castle. Even if one was to exit the castle and go to the Royal Capital, the only reliable source of entertainment would be going to the inns operated by the succubi.
Naturally, Cecily had no interest in those inns. Having been a sentinel for all these years, Cecily had nearly forgotten ‘entertainment’ and ‘games’ were words in demontongue.
“Mhmm.”
Faye nodded. She did not bother to elaborate on her answer. After tossing all the remaining food in the kitchen to a relatively clean carpet, she found a rope and intended to wrap up the carpet.
Judging from the way things look, she seemed to be planning to bring those foods with her to stay for an entire month in the castle’s tower.
Skillfully, Faye wrapped up the carpet of food. Then, she began to drag the rug out the kitchen with the rope.
“Is your body alright?”
Cecily asked when Faye brushed past her.
Even though the Chaos Demon were not as weak as humans, Faye does not look to be healthy at all.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Faye did not stop. She continued to drag the giant rug of food toward the stairs leading up to the tower.
Cecily stared at Faye’s back. She felt the urge to rush over to stop Faye.
Even though Cecily does not know the fourth princess well, she cannot, as a sentinel, watch on idlely without doing anything as Faye’s health deteriorates from playing ‘games.’
However, at this moment, a bat flew through a window in the corridor. The bat slowly over to Cecily. Scarlet blood enveloped the bat. When the blood scattered away, a sentinel was half-kneeling before Cecily.
The fourth princess had already disappeared into a corner of the corridor dragging along her rug of food. Cecily decided to give up the thought of chasing after Faye for the time being. She turned to look at the vampire kneeling before her.
“Pest, where’s the third prince?”
“...Still in Norland,” Pest replied with an extremely quiet voice. She was prepared to accept Cecily’s punishment.
Not only did she fail to bring back the target of her mission, she even encountered some accident on her way back that delayed her return to the Demon Realm by over a dozen days.
“Why?” Cecily remained very calm even after hearing this news, “He should know how dangerous Norland is for demons. Even with this, he’s still intending to stay there?”
“Indeed, His Highness Joshua was met with dangers in Norland... The Nation of the Holy Church had attempted to assassinate him,” Pest reported what she encountered in Norland without hiding anything.
“Nation of the Holy Church... attempted assassination? You provided him aid? Where is he now...?” At this moment, Cecily’s tone grew tense.
“Your Highness Cecily, I’ve only participated in the mission to defeat the Nation of the Holy Church. As for His Highness Joshua’s protection... they were provided by a bunch of mages and dwarves of Norland.”
When Pest’s words reached this point, a slightly bitter feeling emerged in her heart. That demon prince most definitely knew that he would encounter dangers in a human city. But, the important thing was that he was not afraid of those dangers at all.
“Human mages and dwarves protected a Chaos Demon... Were they hired by my younger brother?”
Cecily felt disbelief at what she’s hearing. She has been attempting to communicate with humans all these years. As such, she knew very well how difficult it was to obtain human allies.
While it was possible to quickly acquire human’s cooperation with money, this cooperation relationship was equally as easy to be destroyed.
“No, I believe they’ve done so voluntarily. His Highness Joshua did not pay them for their help.”
After saying those words, Pest couldn’t help but add in her heart...’If card packs are not considered as rewards for help...’
“Voluntarily?”
Cecily found that to be even more unbelievable. Humans and dwarves were actually willing to voluntarily protect a demon? Moreover, against the Nation of the Holy Church?
If she was in such a situation, she would be lucky if the mages of Norland does not join the Nation of the Holy Church. As for providing help, that would be completely out of question.
At this moment, a great number of questions emerged in Cecily’s heart. In the end, all her questions were condensed into a single question.
“Exactly what did Joshua do in the half year since he left the Demon Realm?”