Chapter 18: Clouds Rising —(1)

“Alright then. I won’t force the matter.”

Since Vi was responding in such a distracted way, it probably meant that her relationship with her family was not very good.

That was not difficult to guess.

Normally speaking, if a child became the emperor, then wouldn’t the father naturally become the retired emperor?

That would be supreme power and honor.

Yet on the day Vi ascended the throne, her father did not appear.

Only her silly little sister came, hopping around with a bouquet of flowers, happily presenting it to her older sister as a congratulatory gift.

“Are you angry?”

“Do I look like someone who loses her temper easily?”

“Not really…”

“If you really want to see him, I can arrange a time. But whether he’s willing to meet me… I don’t know.”

“It’s fine. Even if we don’t meet, it’s fine.”

“Mm.”

Vi clearly did not want to talk about this topic any further.

Their mother had died early.

Their father had raised the two sisters alone.

If someone claimed their father did not love them at all, that would definitely not be true.

Otherwise, he would have abandoned them long ago.

She could barely remember her mother’s face anymore.

There were many things she could not remember.

But this was one thing she did not want to forget.

“Sorry. I brought up something painful for you.”

“It’s fine. Some things have to be dealt with eventually.”

Her wife was still as gentle as ever.

Demon King Daphne Weier had no idea what kind of good fortune she must have accumulated in her previous life to meet someone as gentle as Sephine.

“Wife, can you give me a hug?”

“I haven’t taken off my apron yet, and my clothes still smell like cooking oil. Hurry up and eat. After you finish eating, I’ll wash the dishes and then go take a bath.”

“Okay!”

“Sit here obediently. If you feel cold, go warm yourself by the fireplace.”

“Alright.”

The Demon King obediently moved over to the fireplace so Sephine could clean the table more easily.

Sephine was very skilled at housework.

Just like how she handled complicated political affairs.

If she didn’t have real ability, Seilin would have been pushed out of power long ago.

Although in court Sephine’s words were often obeyed without question, the ministers were not truly respecting her.

They simply feared the royal authority of Daphne Weier.

Everyone in the court knew that Sephine was the Demon King’s favorite.

Those ministers might not have the best morals, nor were they necessarily outstanding in ability.

But anyone who managed to become a cabinet member possessed at least the most basic political skill.

They knew how to read the situation.

They knew how to follow the wind.

If Sephine ever lost the protection of the Demon King, her words would immediately lose much of their weight.

Sephine losing the Demon King’s protection was possible.

But extremely unlikely.

Unless Daphne Weier died and a new Demon King took the throne, perhaps then Seilin might fall from favor.

“What?”

The next Demon King might be Sephine’s child?

That would make things even worse.

Because of this, no one dared oppose Sephine—the largest “mountain” in the entire court.

Even the Demon King herself sometimes had to read Sephine’s mood before acting.

Of course, Daphne Weier Sephalu had heard the ministers whispering behind her back.

They said the true ruler of the Kingdom was actually Sephine.

But their intentions were painfully obvious.

They always said such things only when the Demon King was present.

However, they were missing one extremely important piece of information.

For the Demon King, the order of importance was very simple:

Sephine > Kingdom > Everything else.

If Sephine ever asked her to give up the throne…

She would agree without hesitation.

“Do you want some dessert?”

Sephine suddenly noticed the flour and cream inside a paper bag.

She suddenly had the urge to make some small pastries.

The moment she thought of it, she immediately forgot about everything else.

“Yes! The pastries you make are the best, wife!”

To be honest, the Demon King did not particularly like sweets.

Many people had offered her all kinds of luxurious desserts before.

But after just one bite, she usually could not stand them.

Only the pastries made personally by Sephine were different.

After one bite, she would always want another.

Only Sephine’s desserts had a true sweetness.

Every other dessert—even those filled with sugar—only tasted bitter to her.

“Then I’ll make more,” Sephine said.

“Later you can let your sister take some back with her. Maybe your father might like them too.”

“He hates sweets.”

“Oh… is that so?”

Sephine paused slightly.

“Then never mind. I’ll just prepare some for your sister instead, if she comes.”

“Little girls usually love sweet things, right?”

“She does like sweets,” Vi replied.

“When we were younger, she would often share them with me.”

“But I didn’t like them.”

“That’s exactly why,” Sephine said with a smile.

“I’ll prepare some for her.”

“But that girl Lifaliya said such rude things to you before. Why do you still like her so much?”

“Hehe.”

Sephine laughed lightly while beating eggs into flour with practiced speed.

“That’s because she’s just like you.”

“A child.”

“I’m not a child.”

Vi pointed proudly at her Demon Horns.

“See this? I’m the Demon King with demon horns.”

The horns of a Demon King were different from those of ordinary Demon Race members.

The Demon King’s horns were straighter and sharper.

More like the horns of a goat.

Ordinary demons, however, had horns shaped more like those of sheep.

“Alright, alright.”

Sephine smiled helplessly.

“Then Your Majesty the Demon King should stop running around like a child and go back to doing your adult responsibilities.”

“No.”

Vi shook her head stubbornly.

“I’m the King. I can do whatever I want.”

“It’s precisely because you’re the King that you can’t do whatever you want.”

The Demon King mischievously reached out and pinched the soft flesh at Sephine’s waist again.

This time, however, Sephine only gave her a slightly playful glare and did not react much.

The Demon King could flirt and joke around freely here in Sephine’s home.

But when she went to find her sister—

Things were not so fortunate.

Seilin had searched the entire Imperial Palace.

Yet she could not find any trace of the Demon King.

This made her extremely anxious.

The most important thing was—

She could not find Sephine either.

“Damn it!”

“I wanted to let Sister Sephine taste these strawberries.”

“She would definitely like them.”

Just then—

Someone blocked the path ahead.

“Um… excuse me.”

The road ahead had become crowded.

Seilin tried to squeeze through the crowd but found herself completely blocked.

“Excuse me, big sister,” she asked a slightly older woman nearby.

“What happened up ahead?”

“You don’t know?”

The woman looked shocked.

“They say someone hanged himself on the street lamp!”

“It was horrible.”

“The whole body was pierced straight through by the lamp.”

The Magic Kingdom was called the Magic Kingdom because it had originally been founded by magicians using magical devices.

Street lamps were one of the simplest types of magical devices.

To allow magic power to flow through them, the tops of the lamps were shaped like sharp spikes.

They were extremely dangerous.

But since they were very tall, accidents almost never happened.

“Hey, look!”

“Doesn’t the person hanging there look familiar?”

“Yeah… wait… who was that again?”

Seilin followed the direction they were pointing.

The moment she saw the figure—

Her heart trembled.

The man who had been pierced through by the street lamp…

Wasn’t that Astrid?