The show during the audience (part 5)

Charlotte lowered her head and trembled, hugging her stomach as she recalled the traumatic experience causing both the first prince and the rest of the audience hall to go silent.

Medea remained in his spot without showing any sort of emotions.

When he told Charlotte that answering some of the questions of the first prince would be easy for her, he meant speaking the truth without worrying about a slip-up, not that it would be mentally easy or pleasant to recall the events to provide said answers.

"How big was the group that captured you?"

The second prince looked to the side, asking in a low voice, sounding as if hearing the relation made him realize at least a tiny bit of the weight of his deed.

"I am not sure if it was all of them, but when they came to finish us off, there were nine of them."

Charlotte shivered and revealed.

"Nine... were they spread out or came into the building as a group? How did you manage to escape?"

The first prince furrowed his brows and asked – he was trying to make it sound better, but it still came out as if he was trying to direct the pale-blond-haired teenager's answer a certain way.

"I didn't escape. I was saved. Mister Medea showed up and... it was... terrifying..."

Charlotte shook her head, correcting the mistaken assumption the first prince had, and cowered, getting pale at the memory of her rescue.

"...huh...?"

The first prince let out a not-very-flattering sound and blinked a few times.

"You mean that someone named Medea led the rescue group? How did they manage to evade going into a standstill with the kidnappers? Why did the kidnappers not continue to hold you hostage?"

Shaking off the confusion and acting like a predator sensing a weakness in the prey, the first prince became more aggressive with the questions.

It might have looked as if he was trying to catch the teenager off guard to make them slip up and reveal some incriminating detail about themselves, but for the moment, someone would lose the precognition of Noah being the dutiful and dependable royal prince...

|He tries a bit too hard to distract the aristocrats.|

Medea thought to himself.

"...?"

Something brushed against the black-haired man's side, making him slowly glance that way.

There could only be one person responsible for it, and indeed, a single glance was enough to confirm that it was Zorivia moving her leg so her calf would touch Medea's side.

The young blond-haired woman was used to being ignored and overlooked by others, but it seemed that when she was so close to Medea, her need for attention and physical contact was reignited.

Of course, it could be that Zorivia was getting anxious about Medea because his name was mentioned and the truth was about to be revealed, but in her expression, there was more loneliness and longing than worry.

If they weren't in an AUDIENCE HALL FULL OF IMPORTANT ARISTOCRATS AND THE ROYAL FAMILY, Medea would respond immediately, but unfortunately, he was forced to stay still...

"...~!"

...and only discreetly brushed his bent arm against Zorivia's calf to provide as much reassurance as he could give the situation – which had an immediate effect on the blond-haired girl claiming down and brightening up.

|My dummy~|

Medea thought, feeling his heart was about to melt...

...but it wasn't the time for that...

"N-no... the leader of the kidnappers was enjoying seeing me scared and tried to make me cry in despair; when he was closing in again, that's when Mister Medea showed up. Before I realized he was even there, he already killed three of them; the next thing I knew, two more were dead... there was so much blood everywhere... Mister Medea... he saved me... but... he... he's like a demon... Despite being saved, I was certain that I would be slaughtered next..."

Charlotte's face turned from pale to greenish as she looked away, desperately trying not to glance back at the black-haired man now that her real feelings were forcibly revealed because of the truth potion.

"...wh-wha...?"

The first prince was taken aback, for real this time, and stared dumbfounded at the pale-blond-haired teenager.

"Who is that whole Mister Medea...? He does sound familiar..."

Noah asked while straightening his back and muttering the latter part more to himself than a part of the question towards Charlotte.

"This is Medea.... He... he is my personal assistant..."

"?!?!"

Zorivia raised her hand timidly and spoke up in a shaky voice for the first time, gathering the attention all on her own in the audience hall.

As she spoke, she moved her raised hand and pointed at the silently kneeling black-haired man who kept still despite the dozens of eyes focused on him.

"Him...?"

The first prince asked in bewilderment, clearly not impressed with the stance the so-called Demona was taking.

"You. Stand up."

"..."

The first prince demanded, waving his hand towards the black-haired man, but Medea didn't make even the slightest movement.

"Are you deaf?!"

"...P-prince Noah...!"

The angered prince raised his voice which made the troubled Zorivia raise her hands and timidly call out to him.

The situation was just getting worse and worse for the first prince~ How much respect did he lose in the span of the last minutes?

"Haa... Young man. You are the one my child just told us about?"

"!!!"

The king sighed at his eldest son's mishap and spoke to the black-haired man while Noah froze up, realizing that he basically tried to overturn the rule that commoners can't speak in the presence of the king without the monarch's direct permission.

"Yes, your majesty."

On the other hand, Medea lowered his head even more and answered in his usual serious voice.

"What do you think about being called a demon?"

The monarch smirked, and his sense of humor earned a few chuckles from the few aristocrats trying a bit too hard.

"Your majesty, if I may be this forward – I am quite used to this; not too long ago, there was a group that used to call me a black-haired demon. What I'm feeling bad about is that His Highness the second prince felt threatened by my appearance and that I wasn't fast enough to save the brave girl who sacrificed herself."

Medea said clearly, making his voice sound somber, gaining a few sympathetic gazes amongst the majority of hesitant or suspicious ones.

Even Ava seemed to be torn between how she should act.