Chapter Fourteen
‘Calm down… I need to calm down!’
Lisbeth looked at Angelina, who was trembling before her, and tried her best to compose herself. She needed to observe the situation carefully.
While Angelina had certainly caused Lisbeth much psychological trauma in the past, the harmless, trembling blonde girl currently posed no threat. Lisbeth desperately told herself not to be afraid.
As Lisbeth struggled to calm her inner turmoil, Angelina, still shivering, noticed the sudden silence.
She timidly asked, “Th-that… Lady Angelina, are you still there?”
‘Ah, damn it. If I don’t say something, she’ll realize.’
Lisbeth knew that if Angelina calmed down, her masquerade as a ghost would quickly be exposed. With that thought, Lisbeth quickly lowered her voice again, speaking slowly.
“What? You haven’t left yet? Do you truly wish to die here?”
“Ah! No, no, no, it’s not like that! It’s just… it’s just… did you just claim to be the Grand Marshal of Demons?”
‘Huh? Has she already discovered I’m an imposter?’
Upon hearing Angelina’s question, Lisbeth felt a cold sweat trickle down her back.
While there had been many Grand Marshals of Demons throughout history, there was no guarantee Angelina wouldn’t remember all their names. The thought sent a jolt of panic through her, and Lisbeth took a sharp breath before exclaiming, “What? Do you dare doubt my identity!?”
“Eh? No, no! It’s not! It’s not like that! I just… I’ve always admired the Grand Marshal of Demons, so…”
“Admired?”
Angelina’s reply momentarily stunned Lisbeth.
She then asked, her expression puzzled, “You greatly admire the Grand Marshal of Demons?”
“Yes, yes! That’s right! My father is the current Grand Marshal of Demons! B-but as his daughter, even though I’ve desperately trained to improve my strength, I’ve never been able to catch up to him.”
“So, in the end, he sent me away to this Demon Lord’s Castle. Every night, all I can do is come to this small garden to practice my martial arts…”
As Angelina spoke, her voice grew progressively softer.
Lisbeth, who knew Angelina’s future, smiled gently at that moment. She continued, “It’s alright. If it’s you, you will certainly become a force that shakes the battlefields of both races.”
“Eh? Lady Angelina, why has your tone changed?”
‘Ah, damn it.’
Having been moved by Angelina’s words, Lisbeth had unconsciously reverted to her usual speaking tone.
Realizing her mistake, Lisbeth quickly lowered her voice once more. “In any case, you have no need to be so self-deprecating. If your father sent you here, there must be a reason for it.”
“Is that so? Is it really so? W-w-woo… I thought Father just cast me aside because I was too weak…”
‘Hey, hey, the you two hundred years from now is a super gorilla, wielding a spear and capable of sending War Giants flying with a single strike.’
‘Too weak? Unless your father is blind, I highly doubt it!’
Although Angelina’s tear-streaked eyes were pitiful, Lisbeth, as the biggest victim of Angelina’s relentless pursuit on future battlefields, had enough confidence to declare, “Angelina, one day you will become incredibly powerful.”
“Therefore, you must have confidence in yourself now. I can stake my own integrity on this, so stop crying.”
“Mhm! I understand! Thank you, Lady Angelina! But I’m sorry, I initially thought you were a terrifying ghost, and I was wondering if you would curse me directly…”
‘Ah, what am I, this idiot, doing? If this continues, she won’t be afraid of me anymore!’
Watching Angelina rise from the ground, Lisbeth knew that if things continued this way, Angelina would surely ask to see her.
With that realization, Lisbeth once again lowered her voice, her tone imbued with a hint of anger. “I do not require the gratitude of a child like you. Begone at once, or I shall curse you here and now.”
“Eh, eh? But Lady Angelina was so gentle just now! And, and I still wanted to ask you about the Grand Marshal of Demons!”
“Silence! If you don’t leave, I will curse you immediately!”
As Lisbeth’s words fell, she immediately extended a finger, and faint green lights drifted towards Angelina.
The magic she used was merely a variation of the Flash spell, developed in the future to prevent the spell from being too monotonous. However, in this era where magic was primarily used for attack, Angelina undoubtedly perceived those drifting green lights as curses.
“W-w-w-waah! Lady Angelina, I was wrong!!! I’m leaving now!!”
Overwhelmed by surprise, Angelina failed to dodge the green lights.
The moment the lights touched her clothes, Angelina shrieked in terror and hastily stripped off her nightgown before fleeing. Watching her figure disappear in a panicked escape, Lisbeth finally let out a slow sigh of relief.
“Honestly, I was almost exposed. A gorilla is a gorilla, it seems; terrifying in any era.”
Having finally shaken off Angelina, Lisbeth could now proceed to the next secret passage leading to the treasury.
Little did she know that from this night onward, a new legend would spread throughout the Demon Lord’s Castle: that of a woman screaming and streaking naked through its halls in the dead of night…