The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 47

“The high priest’s words are absolute. He always…”

Kayden blinked a few times before speaking again, “He has always shown me the right path to take. So, it’s only natural for me to follow his words.”

Is he a human without any will of his own, just blindly obeying others? I thought to myself and chuckled.

Having never followed anyone’s orders so obediently in my life, I couldn’t understand Kayden’s attitude.

Worried that he might say something strange to the high priest, I spoke hastily, “I’m not in a romantic relationship with the crown prince.”

“Then, are you two friends?”

“Friends? Not even close.”

“I see.”

Not knowing what might reach the high priest’s ears, I made it clear that there was nothing between the crown prince and me.

Kayden seemed satisfied with my answer and didn’t ask any more questions.

***

With a goldfish poop following behind, I arrived at the crown prince’s palace.

I had to threaten Kayden before he finally stayed outside, allowing me to enter the drawing room alone.

The crown prince, who already seemed to understand the situation, greeted me with an odd smile the moment I entered.

I huffed and plopped down on the sofa.

“If you had given me a heads-up, Lady Bella, I could’ve prepared better desserts for you… For now, please enjoy these at least.”

The crown prince gestured toward the desserts on the table. Without hesitation, I grabbed a plate and began devouring the sweet treats.

By the time the sweetness started to tingle on my tongue, my mood had improved a little.

The crown prince watched me eat without touching the desserts himself.

“What are you looking at?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about how expressive you are, Lady Bella.”

He mumbled to himself that giving me food would be enough.

Though his comment irked me, I quickly forgot about it when the door opened and a fresh batch of desserts arrived.

“My subordinates reported this morning that Kayden was assigned as your escort knight by the temple,” said the crown prince with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

“Well, I’d call it a small pleasure to see the temple utterly miscalculate things this time. Considering all the trouble I’ve had with the temple, watching them waste their efforts like this isn’t so bad.”

Right. The high priest would faint on the spot if he found out he had assigned a precious imperial prince to guard a demon instead of a saintess.

I got straight to the point of why I was there. “It’s uncomfortable having him follow me around. Get rid of him.”

“Hmm. I don’t have that much influence over the temple.”

So, in the end, he was saying he couldn’t do it.

I glared at the crown prince. “Isn’t he your brother? Don’t humans value their family bonds? So, get him away from me before he annoys me enough to make him disappear.”

“Humans do value their family bonds, but in the case of the  imperial family, exceptions are common. Just think about it—if Kayden weren’t around, half of the assassination attempts on my life would’ve been avoided.”

The crown prince smiled and continued, “It’s not that I hate my brother, but that doesn’t mean I’m particularly fond of him either. If he bothers you that much, do as you wish. For the record, even His Majesty the Emperor isn’t particularly fond of Kayden.”

Apparently, his silver hair and the temple’s overwhelming support made the emperor uneasy.

Frustrated that the crown prince couldn’t help, I glared at him, and he pushed a plate of desserts toward me. Once I tasted the sweetness again, my breathing steadied.

Seeing me calm down, the crown prince asked, “Why do you dislike Kayden so much? If you think of him as a shadow and just ignore him…”

“First of all, I hate being followed. And—”

I paused briefly before continuing, “—He looks like Zachary. To an unsettling degree.”

“Kayden does? Hmm, I did think he resembled the portrait of the first emperor, but I didn’t realize the resemblance was that strong.”

The crown prince took a sip of his tea and spoke again, “How fascinating.”

“It’s not so surprising for a descendant to resemble their ancestor.”

Hearing my words, the crown prince visibly flinched.

Why did he react like that?

I looked at the crown prince with a questioning gaze. He licked his lips and spoke cautiously, “You didn’t know, Lady Bella. The current imperial family isn’t directly descended from the first emperor. To be precise, they are a collateral line.”

“How did a collateral line ascend to the throne?”

“The first emperor left no heirs. So, someone from a collateral line with silver hair became emperor.”

“Zachary never took an empress?”

“That is true, but more importantly…”

The crown prince licked his lips and spoke cautiously, “The first emperor—your contractor, Lady Bella—took his own life a year after ascending to the throne.”

…Took his own life?

Though I heard him clearly, I couldn’t believe my ears.

And when I fully understood what the crown prince had just said…

A flood of memories from the past overwhelmed me.

***

The Demon God had been sealed.

The fear that had gripped the entire continent subsided.

People celebrated humanity’s victory in their own ways.

Bang!

With a deafening sound, colorful fireworks lit up the sky.

I stood still, watching the sky. I couldn’t take my eyes off the fireworks—something I had never seen before.

Unlike the Demon Realm’s sky, this one was filled with countless stars, with fireworks painting pictures against this backdrop.

It was a beautiful sight, but strangely, I felt empty inside.

‘I… betrayed Father.’

Though I had never once considered the Demon God as my father, here I was, calling him that.

And as the price of sealing him, I…

Just then, I sensed someone approaching from behind. Without looking back, I spoke, recognizing the familiar presence in the air.

“Is that you, Fluffy?”

[How many times do I have to tell you? My name isn’t Fluffy, it’s Ni… Ah, forget it. I’ve never met a demon as hard-headed as you.]

A large wolf sat down beside me.

To the public, he was known as a divine beast.

I smiled faintly at the warmth emanating from beside me. We used to grab each other’s throats whenever we met, and now… How did we end up like this?

For a while, we watched the fireworks together.

[Why aren’t you at the banquet?] Fluffy asked me.

We were in a garden of an abandoned palace within the royal castle.

“I don’t like being around too many humans.”

[That’s a lie. Since when did you care about that?]

I shrugged. How could a demon like me have any place in a celebration of humanity’s victory? I briefly wondered how Fluffy would react if I said that, but I kept it to myself.

If I voiced that thought, I’d seem incredibly weak.

To change the subject, I asked Fluffy, “Where’s Daphne?”

[Well… I don’t like crowded places either.]

He just said I was lying, and now he’s making the same excuse.

I chuckled. Though it was true that Fluffy disliked crowds, things were different when it came to Daphne. He had always stayed by Daphne’s side, and now, seeing him here with me felt strange.

I offered advice to the wolf, who looked somehow forlorn. “If you like her that much, why not confess?”

[…Do you think I have a chance?]

“No? I just think it would be amusing to see you rejected and crying.” I grinned widely.

Fluffy’s face darkened at my words. [You really are a demon. How can you be so…]

“What, do you want me to give you false hope that a human like Daphne could be with a wolf like you? What, are you two going to hold hands and cuddle for life? Oh, wait, you don’t even have hands—you’ve only got paws.”

[Did you forget I’m a beastkin? That’s not an issue.]

“Beastkin?”

I blinked slowly.

“What’s that?”

[Didn’t they teach you history in the Demon Realm? How do you not know what beastkin are?]

Fluffy looked at me with disdain. I remained unfazed.

“History is learned to avoid repeating past regrets.”

[That’s true.]

“I’ll never regret anything in my life, so I don’t need to study history.”

[How does that make any sense? Besides, you don’t need to study—you’re the bearer of power.]

As Fluffy said, the new bearer of power inherits the memories of all the previous bearers. These memories are firsthand experiences, so there wasn’t much need to study history separately.

The only problem was that the sheer volume of memories was overwhelming. Each ruler chose to deal with them differently.

Some chose to erase the memories, while others kept them in separate storage.

In my case, I chose to store them. The memories were there, but unless I deliberately sought them out, I wouldn’t know them.

I gave Fluffy a brief explanation. “Think of the memories I’ve inherited as a library. All the memories are stored in books.”

[So?]

“If I don’t open the books, I know nothing.”

[So, just open them… Sigh, do you hate studying that much?]

“What’s the point of knowing my predecessors’ memories… Most of them are bad memories anyway.”

[That’s true. Most are probably about wars. I didn’t think of that.]

Fluffy sighed. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, [Daphne’s heart already belongs to someone else.]

“Who?”

Someone came to mind, but I shook my head.

Those two fought far too much to be considered lovers. Sure, sometimes those fights turned into something… physical that I didn’t care to know about, but…

No, it couldn’t be. How could two people who fought so fiercely every time they saw each other be in love?

[Ask Daphne yourself later… The important thing is, it’s not me.]

The wolf’s tail drooped sadly.