DSB 75

[Of course they wouldn’t know. I am human now.]

[I immediately recognized you!]

Karon, you were beside me when I possessed a human. Illa too, if not for Michael, wouldn’t have realized my identity until the end.

Even if one can see demonic energy, recognizing a demon is another matter. There are humans like Yutis and Edmund as well.

[All demons are raised hearing your story, Lord Lebel. We must recognize you!]

[Even if they grow up hearing my story, wouldn’t it be impossible to recognize me when they’ve never seen me? I hardly resemble what I was as a demon.]

[Anyone would know just by seeing those blood-red and translucent eyes!]

Ah, my eye color is the same as when I was a demon.

[Not everyone is like you.]

[Pathetic.]

Karon frowned, saying he couldn’t understand.

You’re the odd one. Even among his subordinates, Karon was known to be unusual. He had recognized Lebel at a glance, remembered his scent, and chased him all the way to the castle.

Since that same Karon confirmed by scent that he was a demon, then he was indeed one. Norman, like Lebel, had a human body but a demon’s soul.

There were stories that demons sometimes possessed dead human bodies and lived as humans.

He must be one of those.

What Lebel wanted to know was why a demon had disguised himself as a mage and stayed in the empire, inside the imperial palace. If he had already realized when he was court physician that Lebel’s body couldn’t be used for his purpose, then there would be no reason to come back to check again.

That meant his business lay in the North. Meeting him was only a way to gather information about the north. Moreover, Lebel recalled whom Norman had been watching first. He seemed more interested in Yutis than in Lebel.

Then he had turned his gaze to Lebel, who was standing beside Yutis. Was it because Lebel was so different from the fool he used to know? Did that make him curious? Or was it because, like Yutis, he thought that Lebel was also a human carrying demonic energy? Well, that could be learned in time.

“Haha, my apologies, Young Madam. I’ve addressed you as ‘Your Highness’ for so long that it stuck on my tongue. In any case, it’s an honor to meet you again!”

Norman took Lebel’s hand with apparent delight. Lebel frowned the sudden touch.

[How dare this rude creature!!]

Karon growled, telling him to release him. Norman didn’t care whether Karon barked or not. Then his eyes widened.

“What are you doing? Step back!”

Mahan pushed Norman away, breaking their contact, but Norman had already sensed it. Even as Mahan shoved him, Norman stared at Lebel.

Lebel saw Norman’s lips twitch as if he couldn’t hold back his pleasure. At the same time, Lebel felt Norman’s demonic energy measuring him.

So he recognized it after all. A frail body or not, a human vessel that could contain demonic energy was unusual.

“I am now the Young Madam of the north. Please maintain your distance.”

“Oh my, I’m making a lot of mistakes today.”

His body must have stirred that demon’s curiosity. Maybe he shouldn’t have come to see him. No, that’s wrong. If he was someone who had sought to meet Lebel, he would eventually have found out.

That demon had just confirmed it. The amount of demonic energy he hold is immense.

He had come to the North out of curiosity about Yutis, a human harboring demonic power, and now that he saw Lebel, whom he knew well, also bearing demonic energy, his interest had shifted. When he was serving as court physician, there had been no demonic energy in Lebel.

Lebel himself had once been interested in Yutis because he’s a human with demonic power.

‘It’s fortunate he hasn’t realized I’m a demon myself…’

The timing was good.

If Norman had felt Lebel’s energy at another time, he might have suspected the truth, but now, because of the heat cycle’s aftereffects, Lebel’s energy was faint while Yutis’s was strong in his body.

After the heat ended, Lebel had caught a cold and his body weakened further, so he had recovered by receiving Yutis’s demonic energy. That made it even harder for anyone to feel Lebel’s own.

From a demon’s perspective, whether it was Lebel’s or Yutis’s, the fact that humans carried demonic energy in their bodies was strange and fascinating. That was why he wore that kind of expression.

“Why did you insist on meeting me?”

“To speak with Your Highness, of course! His Majesty and the Crown Prince have both been very concerned. And wouldn’t it be good if we could help each other?”

“Help each other?”

“Yes! We don’t know much about the North, but Your Highness happens to be staying there, doesn’t that work out perfectly?”

Lebel didn’t even need to look to know Mahan must have been frowning at those words.

“The truth is, the reason I joined the delegation was because I have much to learn about the North. Since we’ll soon begin real exchanges, it would be wise to understand the demonic beasts too. But…”

Norman’s eyes turned toward Karon. Karon, among beasts, possessed a large amount of demonic energy. That must have caught Norman’s attention. His eyes gleamed with curiosity.

“This dog-shaped creature, is it a demonic beast?”

[Dog? A demonic beast that looks like a dog?! A lowly demon who wouldn’t even be worth a punch if I regained my true form!!]

Already holding a grudge against Norman, Karon barked when Norman made such a contemptuous remark.

“Oh my, how fierce.”

Norman curiously tilted his head. The other demonic beasts he had seen had all vaguely sensed Lebel’s identity and obeyed his command. If Karon were an ordinary beast, he would have submitted to Norman, who was a demon.

The problem was that Karon wasn’t ordinary.

[A demon weaker than me dares…!]

Karon growled, showing killing intent. But Norman looked down at him as if he posed no threat at all.

To his eyes, Karon was nothing more than a young cub. Just as Lebel appeared to be human.

“Of course he’s fierce, he’s a demonic beast.”

“Ah, that’s true. But it’s strange that such a beast follows Your Highness.”

“…There’s nothing I can tell you about demonic beasts. I don’t know much myself. He follows me only because I took care of him when he lost his parents and wandered.”

“Oh, what a shame.”

He probably knows more than Lebel does. He even came to the North with the delegation. If he’s interested in humans who carry demonic energy, he must have researched demonic beasts too.

A demon wouldn’t find studying beasts difficult.

“Ah, right. The servants told me that your poor health was due to the rut you went through with the young master, is that true?”

“Hm.”

When Lebel looked at Mahan, his gaze turned piercing.

That’s strange. Mahan had said the illness came from a cold. He hadn’t mentioned the rut.

Then was it really the servants who said it? The same servants who disliked the delegation’s visit wouldn’t have answered Norman’s questions so easily.

Lebel realized how Norman had obtained that information.

Magic.

“I’d prefer it if you refrained from personal questions.”

“Ah! Of course. It’s rude of me to bring up ruts. I was only worried. After all, rumors about the young master’s rut spread even in the empire.”

A blue vein appeared on Mahan’s forehead. Having endured Norman’s constant irritation until now, he seemed unable to hold back anymore.

Lebel thought for a moment. His curiosity about the North, his mention of the emperor and crown prince, he was clearly the one written about in the letter.

But saying it so openly here didn’t seem fitting. Using coded letters and urging secrecy had meant nothing to someone so direct. Subtlety didn’t suit him at all.

Which was fine for Lebel.

What should he do? Maybe it would be better to play along a bit, at least to gauge the empire’s and the demon’s intentions.

“It’s not unrelated.”

“Young Madam…?”

“Was it as the rumors said?”

“Oh, you mean the change in form? Well, about half right.”

He had changed in appearance, but not into the monstrous figure they spoke of.

“Most people were said to have run away in fear. Were you alright, Your Highness?”

“I came here to spend that rut with him. It would’ve been wrong to run away.”

“…His Majesty will be deeply moved by such devotion! So many in the empire were saying that Your Highness was killed by the young master after he turned into a monster since no letter had arrived…”

“Who are you calling a monster right now…!!”

At that moment, Karon bit the hem of Mahan’s pants and tugged. Mahan, startled, shut his mouth. Norman looked back and forth between Mahan and Lebel, curiosity filling his eyes, but Lebel only stared at him with an expressionless face.

“Ah, I see. So it was like that.”

Norman nodded to himself as if something had clicked.

[He dares to interpret Lord Lebel’s intentions on his own without even asking.]

Karon clicked his tongue and released Mahan’s pants. Lebel was often misunderstood. His natural blank face contributed, and he never bothered correcting others’ assumptions.

“In any case, it’s such a relief to be able to speak with Your Highness like this. His Majesty will be at ease now. And I heard Your Highness’s condition has improved, that you can sense and emit pheromones again.”

“After spending the rut with Yutis, I became able to feel pheromones. It was, well, intense.”

“I also heard you experienced your first heat with the young lord. How was that? Did he turn into a monster then?”

“No.”

“I see. So he must’ve kept his reason then.”

…That sounded strangely unpleasant to hear.

But Lebel smiled, encouraging him to misunderstand however he liked. Now he sees what he thinks of Yutis.

While Lebel thought that, Norman changed the subject.