“That’s right, she’s the Demon King’s true body. This guy has been hiding inside the shadows all along. If Zhu Qiu hadn’t caught her, I might not have figured out a way to deal with her anytime soon.”
“Oh,” Xiaguang nodded, “so I ought to properly thank the princess.”
“Let’s skip the small talk and get straight to the point.”
Zhu Xiaxia brought over two new chairs and sat down opposite Xiao Hei.
“Xiaguang, have a seat. You explain the situation first.”
“Of course, Your Majesty the Queen. I’ll start from the beginning.”
Xiaguang sat down.
“My mother, Xia Li, lives in the easternmost district of the Dragon Kingdom. Because of the special geography, she took on the duty of guarding the Dragon Clan’s eastern border. Ever since I was born, for so many years, no one ever dared to intrude into the eastern region—until one day, my mother sensed the presence of a demon. She guessed that whoever carried that kind of aura coming here couldn’t be up to any good. So, to avoid affecting the normal lives of the other clan members, she decided to deal with this guy herself.”
Xiaguang pointed at Xiao Hei in the interrogation chair.
“But she didn’t expect that this person was the Demon King. She assumed it was just an ordinary demon, which led to a misjudgment. On top of that, since our family are Ice Dragons, we don’t have effective Light Element Magic to counter demons, and she unfortunately lost the battle. During that time, my mother used our mother-daughter telepathy to inform me that an enemy had invaded. But because the battle was nearly over, she didn’t clarify what kind of enemy it was before the communication ended.”
“I could only hide the situation and rush over in a hurry. But even knowing my mother couldn’t handle it, I still underestimated this guy’s strength. Finally, lacking effective means to fight back, I could only relay the message to you, Your Majesty, in the last second before I fell.”
At this moment, Xiaguang suddenly stood up from the chair and knelt before Zhu Xiaxia:
“Your Majesty the Queen, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have been so reckless, nor let my mother’s fate cloud my judgment with anger, causing the delay in information. As your personal maid, I am willing to accept any punishment.”
Seeing Xiaguang kneel, Zhu Xiaxia’s first reaction was to pull her up:
“Get up, Xiaguang. This isn’t your fault. If it were my mother, I’d be just as anxious. Don’t blame yourself.”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty the Queen.”
Xiaguang sat back down in the chair.
“You’re not at fault. The one truly at fault is this culprit right here.”
Zhu Xiaxia deliberately emphasized the word “culprit.”
“Demon King—oh no, Xiao Hei—Xiaguang has said everything that needs to be said. Now it’s your turn.”
The black-haired, purple-eyed little loli sitting in the interrogation chair looked disdainful and turned her head away:
“Tch, why should I talk?”
Good grief, this one had completely forgotten the inhuman torture Zhu Xiaxia had inflicted on her these past few days.
“Because you are an invader, who trespassed into the Dragon Kingdom without reason and injured my people. You must give me an explanation.”
“That’s your explanation. What does it have to do with me? I won’t say it. What can you do about it? If you’ve got the guts, kill me! Hmph!”
Hearing this, Xiaguang couldn’t hold back.
She gathered Ice Magic in her hand and stood up on her own:
“Your Majesty the Queen, I think this one is really stubborn.”
“Sit down. I have a clever plan.”
Zhu Xiaxia interrupted her before she could finish.
“Very well, Your Majesty the Queen.”
“When I bring this out, what do you think, Demon King?”
Zhu Xiaxia pulled a spoon from behind her and waved it in front of Xiao Hei.
“Tch, just a broken spoon. You think that’ll make me talk? Dream on!”
“Oh? Is that so?”
She looked at the disgusting goo the Demon King had spat all over the floor and carefully scooped up a spoonful.
This action immediately got the Demon King riled up:
“Hey! You stinking dragon bitch, you’re not going to shove that into my mouth, are you? I advise you to be kind. Huh? You’re serious? That’s disgusting!”
“Oh my, as expected of the Demon King, you guessed it.”
With that, Zhu Xiaxia brought the spoon toward Xiao Hei’s mouth.
“Stop!” the little loli shouted loudly.
“I’ll talk! I’ll say everything, okay? Just take that filthy spoon away!”
“If you’d done that earlier, why suffer?”
Zhu Xiaxia threw the spoon to the ground.
Xiao Hei took a moment to compose herself, then said:
“I am indeed the Demon King. Also, I’m not called Xiao Hei. Xiao Hei is a name that dragon whelp gave me.”
“Get to the point.”
Zhu Xiaxia reminded her.
“Hmph! This entire territory of your Dragon Clan originally belonged to us Demon Race. If it weren’t for me accidentally getting ingrown toenails and losing a battle tens of thousands of years ago, it wouldn’t have fallen into your hands! I’m just here to take back my own land. Is that wrong?”
Zhu Xiaxia doubted this:
“What proof do you have that this was once demon territory?”
“What other proof could there be? History books are the best proof!”
“But no history books record it. You could’ve at least made up a better lie.”
“…”
The little loli fell silent.
“Stop with the useless talk. Tell me, how did you revive? How many demon people are left in the world, and where are they hiding?”
Zhu Xiaxia was concerned for the safety of the world.
If the demon race revived en masse, the world would likely fall into chaos again.
“I never actually died. We’re demons, the embodiment of darkness, eternally unkillable. The reason you thought I was dead is because of the battle ten thousand years ago.”
“The battle ten thousand years ago?”
Zhu Xiaxia tried to recall any history books she’d read but couldn’t find that keyword.
“In that battle, the Dragon King of that era used an unbelievable skill. He opened a space rift and, using his powerful pressure, locked all of us in another space. That space had nothing—only endless darkness. We stubbornly survived there for over ten thousand years, waiting for the day the rift would be opened again, so we could restore the glory of the Demon Race!”
The little loli grew more excited as she spoke, even straining her bound hands red.
“Is everything you said true?”
“If I’m lying, may my whole family die!”
She was so agitated she nearly tipped over the interrogation chair.
“Then it must be true.”
Zhu Xiaxia nodded.
“So, since you’re out, that means the rift has been opened. But what about your people?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure if the rift was truly opened. Anyway, I ended up here for no reason. I wanted to find my people, to have them help me reclaim the Dragon Kingdom and conquer the world again. But in the end, because I lacked material resources over there, my magic power was scarce, and I ran into you people… and… now I’m like this.”
From Xiao Hei’s tone, you could tell she was very unwilling.
At this point, Zhu Xiaxia curled the corners of her mouth slightly.
Then, she said something the Demon King never expected.