Chapter 14

“…….”

I have nothing to say.

But I became a saint at the age of 12 and worked to death for ten years. From dawn to night! I can’t play and date while eating bad food. So it’s okay to play a little bit at times like this. It’s like, burnout or something like that.

But Jeremy’s eyes were so earnest that I eventually got up.

“Then shall we take a walk?”

“Good idea!”

Jeremy nodded his head as if thrilled.

All I had to do was take the ransom and learn a way in case I escaped. Nominally, it was called to walk around, but I was absorbed in memorizing the way out without being caught.

After changing into light clothes, I took Jeremy and walked through the hallway of the Demon Castle. But the demons inside the castle were afraid of me somehow.

I only looked at the wall to memorize the shape of the hallway, but the skeleton soldier hurried along, clattering his bones. The demon, who seemed to be three times bigger than me, avoided her in cold sweat. He looks as if he was ready to faint if he walked close to me.

Across the way, I saw a warbear carrying a three-headed dog. Cerberus! I felt curious, approached, and talked to him.

“What’s his name?”

“Th, that’s….”

The Warbear’s body was tense. I listened because I couldn’t hear his last words well. But the Warbear took another step back and shuddered. His appearance looks very scary, but does he actually have a phobia? I felt sorry for because of his trembling, so I gave up listening to the Cerberus’ name and turned around.

“Jeremy, everyone must be afraid of me.”

However, Jeremy’s reaction was not satisfactory.

“Lady Julia will be the queen of the Demon Realm…….”

“No, don’t say that.”

“You’re the guest of the devil, anyway. No wonder the soldiers are having a hard time.”

But Heath is nice and sweet. When Jeremy said so, he avoided answering with an even more sullen look.

But the structure of the demon castle was very complicated. The main building was in the form of a square surrounding the courtyard, and the surrounding spire and the passage leading to the annex were complicatedly intertwined. There was also a suspicious passage where there was no end in sight.

I picked up a stone and threw it down the aisle, but even after waiting for a long time, I couldn’t hear the sound of it touching the floor. An eerie wind blew in the aisle.

“Jeremy, where is this aisle connected?”

“Well, I don’t…… I don’t know.”

“Really?”

“It is said that the demon castle was carved from a huge magic stone a thousand years ago. The position of each passage changes according to the flow of mana. So we don’t know where this narrow passage leads.”

“……what?”

It was creepy to say that the castle changes at will. Doesn’t it mean that when I opened the door one day, it could be changed to a place I saw for the first time? Or I can go around in a maze that I can’t get out of.

Jeremy added with a grin as to whether he accepted my retort as a concern.

“Don’t worry, Lady Julia, the lord of this castle, can control all the corridors. You won’t get lost in the castle as long as the Demon King is there.”

“Ah, I see.”

I’m sure I can get out of here in time, taking off with the ransom. Jeremy’s explanation made me more nervous. In other words, doesn’t it mean that I may not be able to escape from the castle according to Heath? He’s nice and sweet, so he might let me go soon, but…….

I gave up wandering around Demon Fortress and was about to go back to my room, when Heath suddenly appeared in front of me. He was alone as if his business had finished early, and the irritating Grand Duke Keith was nowhere in sight.

“……Heath.”

“Julia, you look bored.”

“Huh? No, I’m not bored at all.”

Heath reached out to me. Unconsciously, I grabbed his hand that pulled me in. The wind touched my forehead against his hard chest. Heath gently swept my disheveled hair and said with a big, bright smile.

“Let’s get out, Julia.”

“Huh? Go out? Where?”

“I’ll show you around here.”

Of course, since I escaped from the temple and came to the Demon Realm, I have only been inside. Heath told me that he would show me the outside of the Demon Realm. I was, of course, delighted. If I go outside of the Demon Fortress, I may find a way to escape somehow.

“Good. I want to see outside, too.”

With that said, Heath took me to the courtyard of the Demon Castle.

In one corner of the spacious courtyard, there was a place where the soil floor was minced and only pillars were erected. Its owner, resembling a roofless barn, was Coco, a large-sized dark dragon.

Coco, who stretched its huge body on the dirt floor, came out and found Heath and raised his head.

Kyuu, kyuuu.

I don’t know what it means, but maybe it means nice to meet you. Coco wagged his huge tail.

“Coco, long time no see.”

Unlike his appearance, Coco, who has a gentle personality, nodded. Because he was so big, the wind messed my hair with just that small movement. Then Heath said, tickling Coco’s chin with his hand,

“The Demon realm is wide. Let’s ride Coco and go far away.”

“R-Really?”

I tried to hide my nervousness in my answer. My heart was pounding.

On the day I escaped from the temple, I was in no position to hide it, so I immediately got on Coco’s back, but…… It really wasn’t a good memory. The Dark Dragon’s back was smooth and had no saddle or reins. If I lost my balance in the barrel where the freezing wind blew, I felt like I would fall down.

Furthermore, I got motion sickness because of the tremendous shaking. Until I escaped from the temple and arrived at the Demon Fortress, I had no choice but to cling to Coco’s back and just pray that I would not fall.

I have to get back on Coco’s back again.….

Coco is a gentle and nice dragon, but there was a problem with the ride.

“Heath, is there any other way to get there without taking Coco…….”

I was about to ask that.

Perhaps on the way through the courtyard, Grand Duke Keith reappeared. They’re meeting a lot today. I gave him a hard stare before Grand Duke Keith glared at me. Then Grand Prince Keith avoided my eye first.

What, it’s nothing.

While I was enjoying the shallow triumph of winning the snowball fight, Grand Duke Keith came close to Heath to see if he had anything to say. Thinking of something to say to Grand Duke Keith, I changed my mind and told Heath.

“Heath, I think it would be cold to go out on Coco’s back. Is there anything to wear?”

“Yeah, wait a minute.”