029 Why Did You Run Away?

TSK 

Esper clicked her tongue as she stared daggers at the man sitting in front of her. Her purple eyes glowed with annoyance, remembering his smirk and demeanor when she released her aura. 

'Hmph!' she snorted inwardly as she bit her lip, getting even more frustrated at her helplessness. 

Although she might not like Aurelius, she can't do anything about it. Why? It's because of Lilith. 

"My husband, shall I begin?" Lilith asked as she sat beside him. The trio was now sitting in an opening that was near where they had stopped. 

Esper watched in annoyance as Lilith addressed Aurelius as husband. 'Dammit! I was too late and now master's only surviving daughter has fallen into the hands of a man!' 

Aurelius watched Esper's reaction from the corner of his eye; he knew that Esper didn't like that he was the decision-maker between him and Lilith. 

He then turned toward Lilith and nodded his head, making Lilith take a deep breath and say, "My full name is Lilith Velarix, one of the princesses of the Velarix kingdom of the demon continent. My mother is Lucy Velarix, the queen!" 

Lilith stopped as she looked up at Aurelius, looking for any reaction, but not only hers; Esper's eyes widened a little in surprise as there was no reaction from Aurelius; instead, he just nodded his head at her, as if this were the most mundane thing in the world. 

'Hah! Looks like his brains got fried after knowing that my master is a queen!' Esper commented inwardly with a smirk on her face. 'Well, he had no brains to begin with!' She continued mocking as her smirk widened. 

Aurelius, who was still nodding his head, stopped as he sensed Lilith stopping her explanation; he looked up with his head tilted and asked, "Why did you stop?" 

"Um," Lilith was a little stunned at this, "My mother is the queen?" She said again but with a question mark on her face. 

Although she didn't think that Aurelius would be surprised by this revelation, she was still a little disappointed by his total lack of reaction. 

CHUCKLE 

Aurelius, noticing the reaction of Lilith, chuckled at her and said, "Well, I have already expected this, so your words were a confirmation rather than surprise." 

"How?" 

The voice of disbelief echoed through the forest as Esper scowled at him, her face disfigured into one of surprise and disbelief as she questioned him. 

Aurelius's smile widened in amusement as he turned toward Esper, his deep blue eyes glinting as he said, "It's actually because of you, my dear." 

"Because of me?" Esper muttered as she narrowed her eyes, ignoring the "my dear" part. 

'When have I said that my master is a queen?' she questioned herself, recalling all the conversations they had had until now. 

Aurelius's smile widened further, and he shrugged his shoulders as he answered Esper. "Well, you are the one who said that Lilith's mother banned all the succubi from having husbands. No one can do that unless they are ruling that entire race." 

"Ohhh~," Esper exclaimed as she nodded her head in understanding while she recalled having said that. 

Aurelius then turned toward Lilith and asked, "So, what made you runaway?" 

"Umm," Lilith said as she recalled the events that led her to run away from the palace, "I think there was a coup in the palace." 

"You think...?" Aurelius asked as he frowned at Lilith, 'Why would she say I think? Does she not know clearly?' 

"Yes," Lilith confirmed as she nodded her head. "I was not informed of anything except that there is a coup going on... my personal maid helped me escape while she said that she would hold off the rebels." 

Aurelius's frown deepened the more he heard Lilith. 'That's odd,' he commented inwardly, trying to come up with a few theories. 

"So you are saying that you didn't know anything before it actually happened?" Aurelius asked, looking at Lilith. 

"N-No," Lilith said as she shook her head while pursing her lips, feeling bad that she couldn't be of much help to her lord. 

"It's okay," Aurelius said as he patted her shoulders; he stayed silent for a while before turning toward Esper and muttering, "Mind explaining who betrayed who?" 

"And why should I tell you?" Esper retorted, staring at Aurelius as if looking at a fool. 'Why should I answer him when he asks me to?' 

TSK 

"Woman, if you want Lilith to go back to that palace without any information and die because of betrayers, then stay silent and don't answer!" Aurelius clicked his tongue as he scrunched up his face. 

Esper became silent as she thought about what Aurelius had said. "..... It's the Incubi," she started while she fumbled with her fingers, still thinking about whether it was all right to tell him. 

'Well, he will die anyway, and Lilith has to know this eventually, so I guess it's okay.' She comforted herself inwardly, firmly believing that Lilith's mother would kill Aurelius the moment she saw him. 

"The Incubi?" Aurelius repeated, a little confused. 

Esper nodded her head in confirmation and continued, "Yes, the incubi are a race—" 

"Yes, yes, I know what Incubi are; tell me why they rebelled!" Aurelius interjected mockingly during her explanation. 

'This asshole!' Esper cursed inwardly as she glared at him with her eyes turning red with anger, 'How dare a mere plaything interrupt me!' Her pride and patience were being tested very much today, and at some point, she was going to snap! 

"Don't stare too much; you might fall in love with me!" Aurelius said bashfully as he covered his face with his hands. But his eyes peeked out of the gaps between his fingers, glancing at Esper once in a while. 

TWITCH 

Esper's mouth twitched heavily while her hands trembled with rage; she was holding everything she had to not just smack this annoying guy in the face. 

She curled her hands into fists while she took deep breaths, calming herself down. 'I should ignore this bastard!' she mumbled to herself as she glared at him, resolving to ignore the guy. She could see him peeking through the gaps in his fingers, which only annoyed her more. 

PHEW 

She let out a breath of air and turned toward Lilith and continued, "The Incubi, more specifically, your mother's concubines, rebelled against her!" 

Lilith frowned as she remembered the faces of her mother's concubines, which were a lot. 

"Which ones?" she asked, curious to know if her so-called father was also one of them. 

"All of them!" Esper replied solemnly. Hatred spewed out of her eyes while her chest heaved up and down as she recalled the day when the incubi had rebelled against the Succubi. 

Aurelius too stopped his antics and stared at Esper, waiting for her to continue. 'It looks like the kingdom is actually a queendom and succubi are the dominant race!' he mused, gathering all the information he could from what Esper had said. 

"All of them?" Lilith asked in disbelief, "Weren't those guys wimpy? What made them have the courage to rebel?" 

"Hah!" Esper scoffed at Lilith's words, but they weren't aimed at Lilith; they were aimed at herself. 

"We thought so as well, but..." she mumbled as she gnashed her teeth against each other. 

WHOOSH 

Purple aura flickered in and out of existence as she hatefully glared at the ground, remembering the moment when one of her incubi had tried to stab her in the back. 

"...But those guys were prepared. All of the Incubi united together and tried to overthrow your mother." 

Aurelius didn't utter a word and silently kept listening to Esper while also carefully observing her expressions. 

"...Why?" Lilith asked as her frown deepened; she couldn't understand why Incubi would even do that. 'What would they gain by doing that?' 

"They wanted to make all the succubi into slaves!" Esper replied as she gritted her teeth, but her answer only made Lilith more confused. 

"Aren't Incubi more in number than all the Succubi? If ever they succeeded, wouldn't they have to fight among themselves or, like before, share the Succubi among themselves?" 

Lilith asked out loud as she thought about the answer to her question. 

"Wait... the Incubi are more numerous than the Succubi?" Aurelius asked as he frowned, his eyes darting around the ground as the fog in his mind started to clear away. 

"Yes, I think there are 5 Incubi for every Succubi that there are; at least that was the case before I ran away," Lilith answered as she looked at Aurelius. 

"...And who is the one who led this rebellion?" Aurelius asked as he looked at Esper, which made her narrow her eyes at him and stare at him in silence for a few moments before she answered, "....One of master's concubines." 

"Hmmm," Aurelius hummed as a small smile bloomed on his face, 'I think I found a way to survive the meeting with mother-in-law!' He mumbled as his deep blue eyes glinted victoriously.