The Demon King’s Conspiracy?

“What kind of joke is this.
It’s only been one day.”

Allen soaked in the bath,
the negative emotions she had been suppressing sparking like embers,
turning her into an explosive powder keg as her anger erupted.

Why is it so slow.

There are still more than seven hundred days before I can leave this hellhole.

I’ve clearly tried so hard to numb myself.

Looking at the body reflected in the water that did not belong to her,
Allen felt despair.

The muscles she had forged through desperate daily training during her time in Gryffindor,
all for the sake of revenge,
had now turned into slender, pale arms.

With this.
How could she possibly survive.

Maybe even self-defense would be difficult.

Allen thought this in her mind,
and for reasons she did not understand,
whenever she was in a corner where no one noticed,
her thoughts would always spiral out of control.

The more she thought about it,
the more ridiculous it felt.

Why had she possessed such determination just over ten days ago.

Such reckless courage.

To the point of thinking about escaping at all costs,
even violating her own faith
and committing the sin of deception.

“Why did I think about drugging someone.

Why did I choose to deceive others.”

Committing fraud.

This was completely different from what she had read in the Bible.

At her core,
Allen was an extremely pure person.

She followed her faith,
and obeyed everything written in the scriptures without exception.

When facing bloodthirsty bandits,
she could kill them without blinking an eye.

But for her comrades and friends,
she would willingly walk through fire and water.

Because of this,
she had chosen to become a sacrificial substitute for her older brothers.

And yet,
she had done something so unforgivable.

The more she thought about it,
the more absurd it became.

Allen suddenly burst into laughter like a madwoman.

With every laugh,
she felt a sharp ache in her heart.

Her glasses were covered with moisture like a mirror,
reflecting the lights around the bath in shimmering flashes.

Was she still the same person she used to be.

The questioning voice deep in her heart accused her relentlessly,
bringing with it an indescribable pain.

This was the truest version of Allen.

Abandoned.
Lost.
Finding a goal.
Then losing herself again.

The silver-haired girl reflected in the water
was definitely not her.

Staring at the girl in the water,
a nameless rage suddenly surged within Allen.

“Ah.”

As if possessed,
she clenched her fist and smashed it toward the reflection.

“Ah ha.
Now I can’t see it anymore.”

The image in the water shattered along with the ripples.

But not long after,
the ripples gradually calmed,
and the reflection reappeared before Allen once again.

What appeared before her was a surprised expression.

The Leah in the water seemed to be mocking her.

In the next instant,
that mocking face returned to a look of surprise.

Right now,
what else can I do besides deceiving myself.

Beating my reflection in the water to deceive myself.

How laughable is that.

Probably because of her earlier frenzy,
the hair she had tied up had come loose,
soaked by the water.

She decided to just keep soaking like this.

Don’t look at it.

She tightly hugged her knees with both arms.

What will become of me in the future.

Where will I go.

Allen pondered.

After soaking for a long time,
there was still no answer.

Allen shook her head,
and simply stopped thinking about herself.

The bathhouse was located in a rear building of the Demon Castle manor.

It was a magnificent oval structure formed from stacked stone pillars.

Carved entirely from quartz stone,
its surface was covered in relief sculptures.

Although Allen could not recognize them at all,
she could tell from the images
that they depicted a continuous story.

They were likely works from the early days of the Demon Castle’s construction.

Above the entire structure,
there was nothing at all.

It had no roof,
yet it possessed the ability to repel rain as if it had one.

This was because the upper structure was fitted with transparent magic crystal panels,
apparently meant to allow people to see the starry sky outside.

Leaning against a quartz pillar,
Allen slumped onto a stone bench.

“So beautiful.”

She gazed at the starry sky above,
feeling deeply confused,
and murmured unconsciously.

Due to the limitations of her eyesight,
Allen could only see the pitch-black night sky.

The massive moon emitted its own unique color of light,
but her weakened vision swallowed the glow,
making it look like a huge silver plate.

The stars were the same,
like firefly lights being devoured by endless darkness.

Yet they were accompanied by a faintly glowing Milky Way.

It carried a special kind of beauty.

The warm, gentle water enveloped her entire body.

It felt extremely comfortable,
washing away the exhaustion of the day.

Allen liked this warmth very much,
and without realizing it,
her eyelids began to droop.

“Eh.
Just a little nap.
Just a little.”

She thought she would get up right away,
that closing her eyes briefly would be fine.

And like that,
she drifted into a hazy sleep.

In her dream,
Allen continued the same dull and tedious days,
just like earlier that day.

Lilith still treated her coldly as always,
wearing the same perpetually unhappy expression.

Luna, as usual,
wore her unchanged carefree smile.

Everything seemed normal.

Days passed one after another,
and before she knew it,
two years had gone by.

By then,
Luna had learned how to cook
and no longer needed her.

The contract with Lilith had also ended.

Yet the dream version of herself felt no excitement at all.

Only deep confusion.

After two years without any heavy labor,
she had grown weak like a domesticated animal,
with no ability to protect herself.

And then,
she was forcibly kicked out of the Demon Castle by Lilith.

“I won’t care about you anymore.”

After leaving the Demon Castle,
due to two years of comfortable living inside
and legs unaccustomed to hardship,
her fighting instincts were gradually worn away by time.

She died in the great forest outside the Demon Castle.

It seemed she was torn apart by a massive shadow wolf,
accompanied by the sound of chewing flesh.

“Ah.”

Allen jolted awake.

Her entire body turned ice-cold in an instant,
as if she were standing in a snowy field.

If she had not been in the bath,
she would have been drenched in cold sweat.

The scenes from the dream flooded into Allen’s mind one after another.

The more she thought about it,
the more terrifying it became.

If she waited until the contract ended,
she probably wouldn’t even be able to walk out of the forest.

Would the Demon King really bother arranging someone
to escort a useless person like her out.

Absolutely impossible.

Allen was forced to face this reality.

Lilith had clearly thought it through.

She must be waiting until I’m useless.

Then feeding me to the beasts outside.

That cruel and vicious Demon King.

Almost certain of it,
Allen thought.

Tears spilled uncontrollably from her eyes.

She wants me dead.

Liar.

The Demon King really is not a good person.

Allen felt both furious and aggrieved.

It was as if a massive boulder pressed against her chest,
making it hard to breathe.

Believing in demons only leads to destruction.

The doctrine stated it clearly.

If I commit suicide,
I could still die with honor.

Allen felt her thoughts descend into terrifying chaos.

It’s over.

It’s all over.

…

“Absolutely not.

I will absolutely not let you succeed.”

As if a blazing fury ignited within her,
her exhausted body suddenly felt a surge of energy.

Allen slowly stood up
and glanced at the quartz pillar.

On the vine-covered quartz surface,
the current time was reflected.

It was already ten o’clock.

She had slept for four hours.

In the bath.

It was very late.

Using her currently restricted body,
Allen forced herself to move faster.

She rushed to the side of the bath,
grabbed the showerhead,
and began rinsing her body.

She rubbed floral soap onto her skin
and scrubbed with all her strength.

Her movements were large and forceful,
yet extremely quick.

After thoroughly washing her hair,
she used a nearby heating crystal to dry it.

With smooth, practiced motions,
she changed into her nightdress,
organized her dirty clothes,
and prepared to return quickly to her room at the top of the Demon Castle.

She pushed open the massive bathroom door with force.

“Clatter.”

The magic crystal lamp slipped from her hand
and fell to the ground.

Outside the bathhouse,
everything was pitch-black.

Although Allen had mentally prepared herself due to her eyesight,
she hadn’t expected it to be like this.

Along the corridor connecting to the manor,
not a single illumination crystal was lit.

Only then did she remember.

Since Lilith currently had no research to conduct,
all magic crystal lamps were turned off punctually at eight o’clock.

She had fallen asleep in the bath.

For a full four hours.

The fallen magic crystal lamp on the ground
emitted a warm orange glow.

Yet that light was completely swallowed by the darkness.

It illuminated nothing ahead.

Before her was absolute blackness,
like a void where nothing could be seen.

“Gulp.”

Allen swallowed hard.

Her eyes grew moist.

“I absolutely.
Absolutely won’t let you succeed.”

Taking a deep breath,
Allen lifted the oil lamp
and ran toward the manor.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t afraid.

It was because she feared that after such a long period of change,
she would lose the courage to move forward altogether.

She was also afraid that the courage she had finally gathered
would vanish again.

She ran quickly.

Even when her ankles ached faintly,
she refused to stop.

Her scalp tingled.

So tired.

So tired.

Just slow down a little.

Just a little.

Allen gradually slowed her pace.

What’s ahead.

She couldn’t see.

Relying on memory,
she turned corner after corner.

She couldn’t see anything.

To distract herself,
Allen softly hummed the Gryffindor school song.

Although it had gone out of tune due to fear,
it did not stop her from moving forward.

Her humming echoed through the empty corridor,
reflecting repeatedly,
gradually becoming eerie.

Like a ghost whispering complaints.

Vaguely,
the sound slowly transformed into a word.

—Ya.
—Len.

“Clatter.”

The barely functional magic crystal lamp fell to the ground again.

Immediately after,
another sound followed.

“Tap.”

Allen’s legs completely gave out.

They could no longer support even this light body.

It was as if a string inside her mind snapped.

“I’m not.

Sob.

I’m not.”

She weakly tried to argue like a madwoman.

Her voice trembled so badly
that she could not speak at all.

Only faint sobbing remained.

Just like the wine cellar back then.

Allen was afraid of the dark.