Ch.78The Demon King and Lilith (4)

# The Demon King and Lilith (4)

This is annoying.

Esmeralda clicked her tongue at the stress being inflicted upon her.

It was almost natural for Eirene and Millia to harbor murderous intent as they glared at Lilith with displeasure.

And then there was Tina, who was quietly eyeing the opportunity for plunder.

Yes, she knew it.

In a party that could explode like a time bomb at any moment, it would be dangerous if she didn’t keep her wits about her.

That’s why she tried to observe the situation as calmly and coolly as possible.

“The path is rough. Are you in pain? You can lean on me more.”

“Ah, y-yes…”

But fuck, this is too much.

Esmeralda was facing the hatred welling up deep in her chest.

Romance is forbidden in the hero’s party.

Above all, Lug’s reaction, so different from usual, was irritating.

‘Why isn’t that bastard sexually harassing her?’

When he would look at her with eyes clouded with all sorts of lust, licking her with his gaze.

Why was he treating only Lilith with such gentlemanly behavior?

‘What’s with this difference in attitude?’

It’s infuriating.

That attitude of treating only Lilith as precious.

Even though she didn’t like Lug, had nothing to do with him, wasn’t in any relationship with him, and only intended to use him, it still hurt.

Showing such a blatant difference in attitude made her feel slighted.

Esmeralda felt hurt without even considering everything she had done to Lug until now.

That’s right.

She had no conscience either.

“Let’s camp here for tonight. Lug, would you gather some firewood?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, then I should also—”

“No, Lilith, it would be better if you didn’t go into the forest since it’s dangerous. There might be wild animals or magical beasts in there.”

What about me?

Lug looked at Esmeralda with that thought, but she shook her head as if to say not to worry.

“I’ll go with Lug, so it’s fine.”

“Ah, then I should just—”

“There’s no need for three people to move around. So, Lilith, it would be better if you helped prepare the meal here, right?”

“…Understood.”

Esmeralda appropriately separated Lilith and Lug.

Now was the perfect opportunity.

If only the rest of the party members could reveal Lilith’s true identity while she kept Lug away…

‘Even without me, they should be able to win without Lug as an obstacle.’

It would be dangerous to attack Lilith with the unpredictable variable Lug behind them.

Especially since Lug was showing favor toward Lilith, who knows what impulsive actions he might take.

So it was better to separate them.

And by now, Eirene should have understood her plan.

Esmeralda turned around, intending to signal Eirene with her eyes.

‘…Huh? Why are they looking at me like that?’

But the atmosphere was strange.

Instead of the mutual understanding she had expected, she felt an unusual amount of hostility directed at her.

This was suspicion and killing intent.

Esmeralda realized she was receiving enough killing intent from her own party members to make her skin tingle.

‘No…’

Eirene was smiling, but clearly wary of her.

Millia was glaring at her, clearly displeased that she was taking Lug away.

Tina looked ready to dash into the forest and set traps at any moment.

‘Come on, guys, even if you can’t trust anyone else, you should trust me… And our enemy is right there…’

Esmeralda stood still for a while, unable to move due to the injustice of it all.

***

“Haah…”

“You’re sighing a lot, Hero.”

“…Lug, it must be nice to be so thoughtless.”

“That’s true. How comfortable it must be for me not to have to think much when there are so many capable people around me.”

“…”

Esmeralda was rendered speechless by his sincere answer.

She never thought she’d find herself envying such a response.

“That should be enough.”

“Shall we head back now?”

“It would be better if we caught some game on the way back.”

“Indeed, having meat would make for a more satisfying meal. I especially want to serve something delicious since Lilith is with us.”

Whether he was acting or if Lilith had truly become his fiancée in his heart.

Esmeralda was at a loss for words at Lug’s natural demeanor.

She just hoped this ordeal would pass quickly. Esmeralda caught two birds flying through the sky using her sword technique and said:

“Now that we’ve caught something, let’s really head back.”

By now, things should have been sorted out. With that certainty, Esmeralda retraced their steps and…

“What are you all doing here?!”

“Ah…”

“But since Esmeralda took Lug away…”

“W-we came to welcome you back. Welcome back.”

She found three conscienceless people who had been spying on her and Lug’s movements without doing anything.

***

A golden opportunity had flown away.

They should have exposed Lilith’s true identity while Lug was separated from her.

Before Lilith could salvage her tangled plans.

But the members of the hero’s party were all so fixated on Lug that they left Lilith alone.

Thanks to that, Lilith, whose mind had been in a flower garden, was able to collect herself and calmly analyze the current situation.

‘Now, what should I do from here?’

The plan had been twisted from the start.

She had intended to pass herself off as a long-lost family member, but Lug suddenly claimed she was his fiancée, complicating their relationship.

The point Eirene had brought up was something she had anticipated.

She had planned to explain that the Rust family, who had adopted her, had controlled the information, but the fiancée position itself had become problematic.

It made no sense to claim information control now when they were already an engaged couple with permission.

Moreover, since Lug now held the honorable position as a member of the hero’s party, it was difficult to excuse that the family was blocking information because they disapproved of the engagement.

Thinking this far, it might seem like Lug had ruined everything, but…

‘The hero’s party is rationally obsessed with Lug.’

A hypothesis she wouldn’t have considered normally.

But to Lilith, who was currently infatuated, it seemed quite plausible.

‘Honestly, with that level of obsession, it would be unreasonable to tell them not to like him.’

Severe case.

Lilith, afflicted with the disease of first love, couldn’t realize how crazy that sounded.

What made it worse was that it wasn’t entirely wrong.

If Esmeralda had seen this, she would have gone mad from frustration.

But Lilith had no way of knowing Esmeralda’s feelings.

‘It’s evident from how the hero tried to monopolize Captain Lug and the other party members tried to prevent it.’

In reality, Esmeralda was protecting Lug from the crazed party members, but it didn’t make much difference. At most, whether Esmeralda liked Lug or not.

Lilith simply thought Esmeralda liked Lug.

‘In this situation, it would have been difficult to extract Captain Lug even with familial bonds.’

Just look at how Millia launched a surprise attack. Honestly, Lilith had underestimated the hero’s party.

Who would have expected there to be a crazy woman who would use magic without caring about public perception?

Even demons don’t do that.

In that sense, it’s still dangerous now… but if she could just avoid Millia, it would be enough.

The rest of the party members seemed to care about public perception.

‘You calculated this far, didn’t you?’

At first, she wondered why he introduced her as his fiancée, but now she understood.

The hero’s party’s obsession with Lug is so strong that even familial bonds couldn’t overcome it.

So to break that obsession, a clear line needed to be drawn. Yes, a signal that they should give up because he has a fiancée.

Lilith got goosebumps at Lug’s strategy that she had thought this far.

‘Then Captain Lug’s grand plan was…!’

Unlike Lug, Lilith was somewhat intelligent, so she could figure out the most appropriate course of action in the current situation.

‘It was to show the hero’s party our lovey-dovey relationship so they would give up their futile love!’

That’s what her usual self would have thought.

Unfortunately, Lilith, afflicted with the disease of first love, still had her mind half in a flower garden.

***

After the party of idiots and fools returned, Lilith had perfectly prepared the meal while formulating her strategy during their absence.

In fact, she had timed it perfectly.

“I’m not sure if it will suit your taste… but please enjoy.”

Bubbling.

Looking at the unidentified red broth boiling like a depiction of purgatory, Esmeralda thought:

‘Do all these demon bastards only like this kind of food?’

It looks spicy at a glance. The demons’ taste buds must be ruined.

Esmeralda sighed as she ate the food Lilith had prepared.

It seemed she had no intention of poisoning them, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

She was already tired from nagging the other party members.

As long as it filled her stomach, what did it matter?

‘My tongue is tingling…’

It’s spicy, but not to the point of being inedible.

If that was her reaction, how would the others fare?

“Ughh…”

Eirene, perhaps because of her usual image or knowing it was food Lug liked, was diligently eating despite her suffering.

Her face was flushed red, and tears welled up in her eyes.

And the way she occasionally glanced at Lug to appeal with that expression was truly fox-like.

“Ugh, heek…”

Tina had tears trickling down after just one bite, with her tongue sticking out. She was too overwhelmed by the spiciness to care about appearances.

“…”

Millia remained expressionless, making it hard to tell what she was thinking.

If even Esmeralda couldn’t read her, there was a high chance she wasn’t thinking anything at all.

And as for the much-anticipated Lug…

“Wow, this is really delicious. If I marry Lilith, I’ll get to eat food like this from now on.”

High praise.

And he wasn’t just devouring the stew but also gulping down the broth.

“O-of course… I’ll cook delicious meals for you every day.”

Seeing Lilith’s face flush with genuine joy at Lug’s reaction, Esmeralda felt her already diminished appetite drop even further.

“…It seems dinner is over. Let’s clean up and get some sleep.”

Esmeralda muttered, continuously gulping down water.

The party members, except for Lug and Lilith, seemed too overwhelmed by the spiciness to say much.

Millia? Millia was quiet as usual, so she was an exception.

What could one expect from a socially maladjusted person?

“That’s right. Then I should sleep in the same tent as Lug.”

“What?”

“Is there something strange about a fiancée sleeping with her fiancé?”

“No, but…”

“Or are you suggesting you’d sleep with my fiancé right in front of me?”

“…”

Esmeralda’s pupils trembled.

Imagining the consequences of what Lilith had just said, she took a deep breath.

Unaware of Esmeralda’s feelings, Lilith spoke with a confident expression:

“I must sleep with my fiancé, no matter what.”

One of the unspoken rules of the hero’s party—setting up a separate tent for Lug to avoid competition—was about to be broken.