Chapter 270
After fighting Moraf to assess the progress of the antagonist whom Mart Sevec was trying to turn into the protagonist of the demonic species, he went to his room to rest a bit, since his body was still exhausted from the titanic effort he had expended during the war between the Presial Kingdom and the Venrac Empire.
...
It was nighttime.
Mart opened his eyes; he could sense that someone was attacking Princess Alice.
"They want to exploit the Emperor’s weakness and provoke him at the same time. Who dares to attack my hostage?"
Mart could sense what was happening to the princess, because every strand of the Venrac Empire princess’s hair in his possession was bound—through a "cursed bond"—to the owner of that hair.
Mart stood up.
He rose silently, because Asfil was standing beside him.
Then he walked to the window and looked out at the night sky.
At that moment, he conjured the spherical demonic barrier containing the princess’s pink strands of hair and plucked out a single strand.
He opened his mouth and swallowed the strand of hair.
Then he began to whisper sinister incantations.
"You and I are the same"
"You and I suffer these evils"
"Curses reign"
"Blessings fail"
"A single being will always see the same thing"
"Cursed vision"
"A single being will always hear the same thing"
"Cursed hearing"
After murmuring those words, Mart’s eyes turned completely white, dark tears streamed down his cheeks, and dark blood also flowed from his ears.
...
A few minutes earlier.
In a spacious, luxurious room.
With a glass ceiling adorned with beautiful golden chandeliers.
The white marble floor was adorned with images of beautiful red roses.
There was a bed with soft golden and white silk sheets.
On the bed lay Princess Alice, tucked in up to her neck, her pale skin and dark circles under her eyes contrasting with her beautiful, captivating face.
The room’s double window opened, and a breeze swept in along with a reddish cloud that then swirled, and from the swirl emerged a delicate white hand.
On the hand were rings set with magical gems and a golden bracelet.
Then a beautiful foot appeared, adorned with a stunning black-heeled sandal.
And finally, a beautiful woman emerged in full—with long black hair and dark eyes, dressed in a long, dark-colored gown that hugged her exquisite figure.
She subtly moved her black-painted lips and said in a beautiful, mesmerizing voice:
"Princess Alice, wake up, I beg you."
The woman was Meristia Zazareth, "the sorceress of the mind and illusions," one of the founders of "Inquisiderian."
Princess Alice opened her eyes, sat up, and looked warily at the beautiful woman who had appeared before her.
Although it was evident from her expression that the princess was in a state of depression, that did not stop her from being cautious.
Above all, because the princess remembered how she had been trapped by that demon who ruined her life, turning her into a burden for her father and for the Empire itself.
"Who are you? Are you not afraid of imperial power? They will soon sense your presence—if they haven’t already."
The princess’s words did not seem to raise the slightest doubt in Meristia.
"Beautiful princess, I am not here with hostile intent, nor am I truly here—it is very difficult for anyone to perceive me."
"If you attack me..."
"Why would I? I am one of the Empire’s greatest allies, a powerful sorceress."
"I don’t know you—how could I believe you?"
"In the end, Princess, does that matter? I am human, not some disgusting, disposable demon. I am only here because, even though the Empire boasts of its victory over the Presial Kingdom, it was the Empire that lost."
"That’s nonsense."
At times, Princess Alice’s voice would become agitated, but Meristia’s enchanting and mesmerizing voice maintained its harmonious tone without a hint of disturbance.
"No, it isn’t. Because the one who allied himself with the traitorous prince—that heretic—was the very same demon who condemned you to be a burden on the Empire."
The princess’s pink lips trembled as she heard, from someone else’s mouth, that she was a "burden on the Empire."
"You may not know this, but it goes even further than that. That same demon who attacked you seems to have an even more powerful demon backing him. The best course of action would be to attack him, because his potential for growth is something any genius would envy."
The princess clutched the silk blankets lying between her delicate fingers and remained silent.
At that moment, unbeknownst to her, a strand of her pink hair turned reddish.
"Princess, that demon named Mephistopheles—backed by an even more powerful demon—is none other than the demon bearing the title of Marquis, who until recently inflicted the Empire’s first defeat. You are the reason your father, Emperor Venrac, has not attacked and destroyed that demonic marquisate."
"The treaty..."
The princess murmured faintly.
"A demon who allied himself with a human kingdom to indirectly attack the Empire. Do you think that treaty deserves to remain in effect? Besides, who are the demons, anyway, that we humans should have to keep our promises to them?"
The princess could not answer.
And even if she’d had the slightest bit of willpower, she wouldn’t have been able to, because at that moment, every word that came from Meristia’s beautiful mouth was imbued with a powerful, silent curse.
A curse capable of destroying every last shred of a person’s will, and that curse had an even greater effect on someone who was already vulnerable.
Tears streamed down the princess’s beautiful face, tears that fell onto the backs of her small hands.
"I’m sorry if my words seem harsh, but the future of the empire is in your hands—don’t forget that, Princess Alice..."
A red whirlwind surrounded the beautiful Meristia Zazareth, who flashed a subtle smile before disappearing.
Princess Alice looked up, and the window of her spacious room was closed once again.