Chapter 84. We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This
“You know, the first time we met, you mentioned telling me about the background between our schools. Never got around to it, did you,” Rhys said.
She shrugged languorously, something sensual about the motion. “You didn’t press me for answers. I conveniently neglected to bring it back up.”
“Where were you? Why didn’t Ernesto mention you?”
“I was there to keep an eye on Ernesto… or to get me out of the way,” she murmured, vicious light shimmering in her eyes. She yawned, propping her head on her hand. “I didn’t like the thin excuse to push me out of the negotiations, so I decided to lounge instead of try to watch Ernesto.”
“Ah. Do you know about the curses…?” Rhys asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows about the curses. The administration is looking the other way for now. I’m simply there to provide testimonial when they do eventually decide to hammer him for breaking the Alliance’s curse embargo… not as if they’ll listen to me, anyways.”
Rhys squinted. “Why not?”
“Have you noticed I’m not human?” she asked dryly.
“I have, but… is that bad?”
“No, no, of course not. No one associates non-human mages like monsters and spirits with the demon lord. Who would do that? It would be insane to group all non-humans under the demon king’s banner when many of us actively fought against him.” She made eye contact the whole time, sarcasm thick in her voice.
“Ah,” Rhys said, nodding. He was familiar with that particular line of thought. “The Alliance is very human-centric, then?”
“You could say that,” she said dryly. A moment passed, and she shrugged again, no less luxurious than the first one. “Not without reason, of course. A good number of non-humans did fight on the demon king’s side. But we didn’t all choose the demon king.”