“Ahwoo…”
The battle had ended. The silver-haired little loli rolled around on the bed, letting out an adorable sound.
The blanket in front of her had apparently been turned into a pillow. It was balled up into a strange shape and clutched tightly in the petite loli’s arms as she happily ground her little fangs against it.
“Hehe, delicious, clean blood…”
“Your drool’s flowing out, you know.”
“What…?”
The silver-haired little loli was named Sophia, the Vampire Princess and one of the former Seven Demon Kings. Upon hearing the voice, the sleepy loli opened her weary eyes and realized that Setra was sitting at the bedside, watching speechlessly as she gnawed on her own hand.
Sophia flicked on the light. Outside the window, the Blood Moon gazed quietly at the two of them in the room.
Memories flooded back, startling the little loli.
“Eh?!”
“Did I just… kick the bucket?”
“Yes. Such a shame.”
“What does ‘shame’ even mean? Do you want me dead that badly? Damn it, I’ll drain every last drop of your blood! I’ll show you what I’m made of!”
“Sure, sure~” Setra pressed down on Sophia’s head with one hand. Since the latter had only just woken up and the exhaustion from the battle hadn’t fully faded, Setra suppressed her effortlessly.
I’d been sleeping so peacefully, and now she comes to rile me up!
Where is this place, anyway? The infirmary? It doesn’t look anything like the Royal Palace… Though it’s been ages since I last slept there.
She lifted one leg, wrapped in white stockings, and plopped it right onto Setra’s lap. The latter shot her a glare, looking like she might toss Sophia right out the window on the spot.
“Hmph! You dare disdain the foot of the Blood Clan Queen? Back in the day, I’d have made you lick it!”
“Then I’ll chop it off and feed it to the cats.”
“Don’t feed it to the cats even if you chop it off!”
“…You’re more worried about the cats? Whatever, whatever…”
Once Setra mentioned that name, Sophia’s expression turned solemn. She stopped making a fuss, sat up properly on the bed, and composed herself as she stared at the door.
“Lady Dragon Consort wishes to see you. You should get up quickly.”
“Got it…”
Knock knock knock—
“May I come in?”
A gentle female voice came from outside the door. Setra hurried forward to open it, then bowed slightly toward the entrance.
“Please, Lady Dragon Consort.”
The silver-haired Dragon Girl stepped into the room. She glanced at the nearly naked Sophia, then at Setra’s odd expression, and seemed to understand something.
“You two, did you…?”
Before Xuefei could finish, Setra cut her off forcefully. “I have zero interest in doing that sort of thing with this idiot. Not until her IQ and EQ reach a level I can tolerate.”
“Hey—!” Sophia raised her voice in grievance but held her tongue in Xuefei’s presence.
“Fine, I guess I jumped to conclusions about your progress. As expected of Leia… Never mind.” Xuefei shook her head vigorously and asked with genuine concern, “How are your injuries, Sophia?”
“They’re improving, but a full recovery—returning to my queenly self—will take quite some time.” Setra shrugged. At Xuefei’s gesture, she joined her at the small table in the city’s medical facility.
“Thank you… for Lady Dragon Consort’s concern…” Sophia turned her head away. She tried to stand and pay her respects to Xuefei, but her limbs were too weak, and she flopped right back onto the bed.
“Just stay put on the bed, you poor thing.” Xuefei propped her chin on her hand. Her gentle expression was so disarming that Sophia could scarcely believe her eyes.
In her imagination, the Dragon Consort should have been a brutal, imposing brute who stayed in dragon form at all times. So why did this leg-crossed girl on the chair seem inexplicably cute?
Sophia tried to picture her as a massive demon, but the image refused to overlap with the young woman before her.
“Still, you were the Blood Clan Queen once. It shouldn’t take more than a few days to make a full recovery.”
“Thank you for your concern, Lady Dragon Consort…”
“But that’s not why I came here.” Xuefei’s tone shifted. “Sophia, could you tell me about the origin of that seal inside you?”
“I…”
Sophia opened her mouth, then clamped it shut again, hesitating as if swallowing a boulder.
She wanted to brush off the secret buried in her heart with some evasive excuse, as if fooling someone else. But this was the Dragon Consort—the foremost figure under the Dragon King. Lying to her would likely end in only one way: being devoured.
Even Setra glanced worriedly at Sophia, equal parts curious and concerned.
“I… made a deal with the Winter Queen…”
“Is that so?”
As expected.
Xuefei’s gaze sharpened.
Not because one person’s actions had been unforeseen, but because the behavior of both left everything inscrutable.
The Winter Queen—that woman? Connected to the gods? Even possibly their accomplice?! But during the first playthrough, she had tried to wipe out the entire Hero Party for the sake of the Demon Race!
And Sophia… had actually made a deal with her?
“I… that day… I went to the Elf Kingdom to investigate. Then I was secretly brought to a room, and she asked if I needed power or something like that, and then…”
Before Sophia could finish speaking in her humble tone, Xuefei had already pieced together the full story. She said coldly, “You know this crime is treason.”
“…”
Setra’s entire body trembled, her mind and even her soul plunging into an icy abyss.
Sophia’s crime was one she could not stay calm about, no matter what.
Treason.
That was something the Demon Race—and the Evil Dragon herself—could never tolerate. No matter if Dark Filth had been coerced, lured with promises, tricked, or deceived into it, making such a deal behind the Evil Dragon’s back and without informing the leaders of other nations meant facing severe punishment. The lightest of these offenses still condemned one to a century or more in a lightless dungeon.
“Dragon Consort, I realized my mistake long ago. I…”
Setra suddenly rose from her chair and dropped to her knees with a thud. Under Sophia’s astonished gaze, she pleaded bitterly, “As the General appointed to oversee Sophia, I came to clearly recognize her loyalty and integrity as a member of the Demon Race. Dragon Consort, I beg you… give her a chance to make amends.”
A faint smile tugged at Xuefei’s lips.
“There’s no need to be so tense. Of course I know Sophia isn’t that kind of person. There must be more to the story—or perhaps you were taken advantage of.”
“That’s still treason…”
Sophia bowed her head in remorse.
To bear such a charge, lose her throne, and have her power stripped away—nothing could be more agonizing than those three things combined. If they had all happened at once, even Xuefei could scarcely imagine the torment Sophia must have endured to hold on until now.
Was it Setra who had helped her through it?
Xuefei cleared her throat with feigned sternness.
“Of course, Dark Filth is an indivisible whole. Don’t we always judge each matter on its own merits? So, I’ll give you a chance to make amends. Tell me everything—clearly. The Winter Queen’s deal, and all the details.”
Xuefei felt like she had turned into the big bad villain of some story, but her intentions were plain to see.
“Thank you, Dragon Consort. I am endlessly grateful.” Setra echoed Sophia’s thanks and knelt again, bowing her head. It was still too embarrassing for Xuefei, so she didn’t tell Setra to rise.
“May I ask, Dragon Consort, what sort of details?”
Xuefei replied, “All.”
