“Freyna, give up. The Master and I are truly in love.”
Avira’s tone was resolute. This time, it didn’t seem like she was under any control at all.
She seemed more like someone who had decided to be dominated by the Demon King, firmly betraying humanity of her own free will.
In truth, Avira was quite angry too.
She had predicted this situation before the Knight Order arrived. Since the Holy Church dared to come to the Demon Race’s territory proactively, they must have ulterior motives. If this wasn’t handled well, the Holy Church and the Demon Race would go to war ahead of schedule. That would mean giving up several years of “development time,” and the Demon Race would likely fail and be slaughtered to the last.
Avira couldn’t accept such an outcome.
She had thought of the Holy Church’s ambitions, so she had joined forces with the Demon King, Molly, and Catherine to put on a little play.
A hostage.
Avira had turned herself into a hostage. Because of the Saintess’s presence, the Holy Church couldn’t declare war on the Demon King outright, yet they had to stabilize the volatile situation—so they could only make nice with the Demon Race.
In the meantime, the Demon Race could negotiate with the humans and demand all sorts of benefits.
But this time, someone hadn’t followed the script.
She knew Freyna.
Before the time regression, Avira had spent some time with Freyna at the Holy Church. That was the Freyna in Avira’s eyes.
She was one of the few who had treated Avira with genuine sincerity—a classic big-sister figure.
If Freyna learned that Avira had nearly died in the wilderness after being betrayed by the Hero, she might very well be the first to turn against the Holy Church.
But those were events from later on. Avira had thought she and Freyna didn’t have much of a connection in the first place.
So, she hadn’t told the Demon King about it.
She hadn’t expected Freyna to get so furious over her safety that she was willing to sacrifice the Holy Church’s interests!
Her request for a private meeting had been anticipated, but what followed was completely beyond Avira’s expectations.
And Ophitia had outright rejected all the benefits.
She seemed ready to sacrifice the entire Demon Race as long as Avira stayed by her side.
What an idiot~!
So, Avira had no choice but to break the impasse herself and offer an explanation.
The “controlled puppet” image she had tried to build vanished into thin air, leaving only Freyna’s wide eyes filled with shock.
After hearing Avira’s words, Freyna stopped being angry. She ignored the Demon King and looked at the blindfolded Avira with a touch of heartache as she said,
“The person you said you were waiting for before… that was the Demon King?”
“…”
Ophitia was stunned. She wanted to demand what Freyna meant by that.
But before she could speak, Avira nodded and said, “Yes, Lady Demon King is the one I’ve been waiting for.”
In reality, Avira had no idea what she was talking about. If it was true, it must have been from before?
But Avira didn’t know what had happened before the plot began.
She only knew that Freyna had been very protective of her at the school—a fact she’d learned after meeting her at the Holy Church.
“You’re lying.”
Freyna shot back. She still wasn’t sure if Avira was saying this because she was being controlled.
After all, love between humans and demons was taboo, whether for her or the demons.
“Avira, I will definitely save you.”
With that, Freyna left with the Black Eagle Knight Order, followed closely by Molly and Catherine.
This left Avira and Ophitia, along with the rest of the demons, standing there awkwardly.
The situation was a bit awkward now.
Rumors had been circulating among the demons that she and Ophitia weren’t truly in love—that a controlled human had been forced to fall for the Demon King.
Many demons thought it wasn’t a bad thing, but since it wasn’t real love, was a wedding even necessary?
After watching Freyna leave, Ophitia finally turned around and looked at Avira with eyes full of regret.
“I’m sorry. I messed up again.”
Suddenly, Avira found herself feeling the same way.
She had been angry at first, but seeing Ophitia’s remorseful expression made her anger evaporate instantly.
“It’s fine, Master. It’s okay to be a little willful. Our goal has already been achieved anyway. We can get it all back, and they even left behind treasure this time. It’s a sure win for us.”
With the blindfold still on, Avira had no idea where Ophitia was. She reached out blindly and found her tail.
The tail shivered shyly upon being touched, then instinctively wrapped around her waist.
The Moon Mark began to heat up again. Avira suspected she was under mental control, but after so long without the Dominator’s Seal activating, she couldn’t help but wonder if Ophitia had somehow made that magic ineffective. But that was impossible—the Dominator’s Seal would remain attached to the soul forever unless deliberately removed over several days.
Ophitia removed her blindfold.
The sensation of seeing the light again felt wonderful. Avira’s crimson eyes narrowed slightly, only to find Ophitia’s face full of regret.
“I could have done better.”
“Master, you’re not thinking Freyna could steal me away, are you? That’s the only reason you’d be this worried,” Avira said as she stepped in front of her and wiped the tears from her face. Clearly, she had been rattled.
“Who knows what happened between you two before. I don’t want to be cast aside.”
“How could I ever cast aside my Master? Haven’t I already accepted the Dominator’s Seal?”
“…That doesn’t count.”
“If Master wants to dominate me, then go right ahead. Don’t be so sad—I’m already yours. Isn’t it normal to play with your own belongings however you like?”
“I don’t want to just ‘play’ with you.”
“Come on, cheer up, Master. Tomorrow’s the wedding.”
Avira stroked Ophitia’s dragon horns.
She realized that, starting from earlier, her feelings had been completely sincere. Ophitia could tell too.
She suspected her subconscious might have been altered, but that wasn’t something to worry about right now.
Ophitia sank back into deep self-doubt.
There were always some people in the world who liked to blame themselves for mistakes.
Ophitia hadn’t been like this originally. She was supposed to be more aggressive, more greedy.
The reason for such a huge change was simply that she had gone through certain events that left her with massive psychological trauma.
What Avira needed to do now was survive, stay rational, and live until the end.
The Demon King was truly pitiful.
So, giving her a little charity wouldn’t hurt.
Safely giving birth to the child and completing the wedding—that was her biggest goal right now.
If anyone tried to stop her, she’d make them understand what a true nightmare was.
“Don’t worry, Master. We’ll be just fine~”
“But what about the rumors? Was I really too harsh on you? I shouldn’t have done that… What about our wedding? All the bad things are piling up…”
Avira smiled gently. “Don’t worry, Tia. I’ll figure something out. This wedding will definitely be a success.”
At that moment, Berika and Selin, standing behind them, had witnessed the entire intimate exchange between the Demon King and the Saintess.
They found the rumors even more unbelievable now.
—Was their love really forced?
