2.25.

"Welcome back Your Highness.. what's wrong?" Shiro noticed the oddity in her actions.

Evelyn wanted to blow up. She should've expected that they would want to meet this mage she proclaimed as her 'savior' ever since she told them about. It was her fault that it happened; their actions were merely out of impatience.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Did you want to meet your childhood friend? Well, you were delaying it so much that Aaron went to arrange a meeting for us directly. Sorry about that," Shiro said apologetically.

"What did you talk about? Where's Risa and Aaron?"

"Risa went to train with Aaron."

"And? As for what you talked to him about?"

"We asked him about his past and stuff. He's actually a demon, come to find, but a really friendly one."

"I-I see.."

'He actually opened up to that extent..'

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Nothing.. what else did he talk about? His past, that's it?"

"He talked about you.. more like, now we know why you're head over heels for him.." Shiro said carefully, watching for Evelyn's reaction. He didn't know why she was in a bad mood having just come back.

"That.. ugh.. I want to hit him even though I can't!"

"Mn.." Shiro nodded, reminding himself to not get in the way of Sequencee's complex relationship. He prayed for his well-being in his heart.

"Takashi, stop trying to coerce him to take revenge."

"Hm? What?"

"He's a demon. If he tries to go against the Sovereign, he'll die."

"Same goes for us too, right?"

"..."

"Okay, I think I get it. We'll make sure to protect him when it comes to that time. For now at least, we should work together with him to strengthen ourselves."

'This.. isn't the point.'

Evelyn didn't know how to get her point through. She didn't know how much they knew about Sequencee nor did she know if it was alright to let them know that the demon war thing might not happen. If she told them that the demons had no intentions of attacking, would he believe her? Would the human race believe her?

'Actually.. could Schwii's words be trusted?'

Thinking up till this point, it didn't seem like the succubus was wrong. Yet on the same train of thought, Evelyn had a sense that she was lying. Her [Activated Trait: Colours of Favorability] had shown that Schwii didn't mean harm. The colour of blue towards her intensified as they got to know each other better.

'She trusts me.'

Was there any point in telling the hero about Schwii's concern? No. It's likely that the more people know about it, the chances of Sequencee coming to learn about their plans would increase. What Evelyn needed to do here was to nudge Sequencee in the direction of forgiveness bit by bit– over the years that they will be together.

'If what Schwii says is correct, the heroes won't need to be dispatched to the front lines.'

There was a need to use Schwii as her information broker to gauge the situation at the demon's frontier. Evelyn though it was an inconsiderate way of thinking about their relationship but Sequencee's involvement tied in to many political and societal effects of the two great races.

===

"You! Idiot! I! Told! You! So! Many! Times! Not! To! Meet! Them!"

"Schwii.. nobody died.."

Each word she said came included with a slap to the shoulder. The little succubus fummed, bouncing on his bed.

Sequencee had no choice but to listen to Iona's suggestion and allow Schwii to do as she wished. Her concern for him was genuine, he felt guilty having betrayed her. Nevertheless, Sequencee expected the backlash to be scary, not cute.

Schwii blabbered on and on about what might've happened. How Sequencee should've at least contacted Iona for safety or how he should've just declined. To think that he had shook hands with the hero and decided to turn against the demon race? Ridiculous!

"You don't know when they'll stab you behind your back!"

"If it comes down to it we'll just run, right?"

"And where should we run to exactly? The demon nation isn't as kind of a place as you think it is!"

"Hm.."

Schwii grabbed Sequencee's hair and pulled at it. Mysteriously enough, though it wasn't visible due to the illusion, it felt weird to be feeling Sequencee's horn with her fingers. It was rougher, larger than her own, with a jagged scale-like tooth sticking out of it. If she wasn't careful, she could cut herself.

"Sequencee, revoke your spell. I want to see your horns."

"Okay."

The illusion faded, revealing the black protrusion. The purple tissue within was exposed at the cross section, the horns were long enough that she could wrap her hands around the base. Schwii felt a hard to describe pain in her heart, knowing he had to go through this just to survive.

If she could, she wanted to bring him back home but.. she wasn't sure if Sequencee would be able to survive there. As someone brought up as a commoner, there was a lot he didn't understand as a high demon.

She touched the exposed tissue lightly, Sequencee squirted his eyes in pain.

"S-Sorry.." Schwii said, startled.

"It's okay."

Schwii silently caressed the black scales.

"You don't have wings, do you?" She asked.

"I don't know. Do demon lords have wings?"

"I think father has them."

".. Is that so?"

"Would you like to see mine?"

Sequencee tilted his head to look at Schwii. From her eyes, it didn't seem like she had any lecherous intentions.

"If.. you're fine with it.."

'I wonder if there is some cultural meaning to exposing one's appendages like horns and wings..'

Schwii got off the bed and stood in front of Sequencee. Today as well she was wearing a lewd nightgown which showed off her lithe figure. She shyly glanced at him, looking away every so often out of embarrassment. She fidgeted her finger near her thighs, preparing herself mentally to show Sequencee her true form. Sequencee found it hard to look at her directly, more so when she was acting so bashful.

"Sequencee."

He peeked.

She looked at him with her back angled at a diagonal. Small raven black succubi wing protruded out from her back flank, a succubi tail with a sharp heart-shape pointed stinger, cute horns curled upwards from the base located about an inch above her pointy ears, two revealing fangs peeking from between her lips.

Sequencee heard himself swallow.

Schwii's face and ears burned. One hand held the elbow of another as she made a turn. She wasn't naked, yet it felt like she was exposing her all in front of him. Exhilarating, embarrassing. A sense of shame in thrill which caused her to tremble in delight. She felt her body heat up, the urge to eat him began to surface, causing her thoughts to grow fuzzy.

"Iona," Sequencee called.

"Milady, it's time," she appeared as if out of thin air.

"Mn? Why.." before Schwii could resist, Iona took her lips. She went limp in her arms.

Iona signaled to Sequencee with her eyes, he gave a nod. With Schwii in her arms, Iona pulled her out of his room. Sequencee heaved a deep sigh.

'She's so damn lewd..'

Sequencee held his head and peered towards the half open door.

'But no. Not yet..'

He can't settle down with her. Not when his revenge remained unfulfilled.