“So this is what the Empire is like.”
Xing Yue lay on the bed, propping her chin on her hands, her fair little feet dangling in the air. “Power is everything. Sounds kind of harsh.”
Beside her, Emily sat against the headboard, holding a closed book. Hearing Xing Yue’s words, she didn’t deny them.
“Yeah. The environment and atmosphere of the Empire… is indeed extremely extreme.” Her voice was soft, as if recalling something.
“The strong can dominate almost everything, while the weak have almost no room to survive.”
“But—”
Xing Yue stopped swinging her feet, tilted her head to look at her, curious about what she would say next.
During this time, besides learning magic with Emily every day, her favorite thing was to listen to her talk about the outside world before bed. Emily was a bit reserved at first, but after being asked many times, she gradually opened up.
She was soft-natured by nature, and since Xing Yue was genuinely good to her, she answered every question.
Because Emily was a native of the Empire, Xing Yue had heard more about the Empire’s stories. It had to be said, Emily was also a great storyteller.
The places Xing Yue had never seen, the customs she had never heard of, the history she had never known—all became vivid in Emily’s words.
Emily paused, sighed softly, and said, “But if you’re too strong, that’s also no good.”
Xing Yue blinked. “Why?”
Emily was silent for a moment. She turned her head, her gaze falling on the window, but her eyes seemed to cross thousands of miles, looking at a very distant country.
“Because…” Her voice grew even softer.
“They’ll treat you like a monster. No one will want to be your friend, no one will want to get close to you. Everyone will look at you with that kind of expression… As if, in their eyes… you’re not even a ‘person.’”
Xing Yue didn’t speak, just quietly watched her.
Emily continued, her voice carrying an indescribable emotion.
“I remember once the Academy organized an activity. Everyone formed teams to participate, but I was the only one left out. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go, it was that they… didn’t want to be on my team. The teacher asked me what was wrong. I said nothing, and then I completed all the projects by myself. In the end, I got first place. But no one applauded me. Even the teacher thought I was a freak. Until that person appeared…”
As she said this, she subconsciously reached out and touched the inconspicuous ring on her right index finger.
Tenderness flowed in her eyes, but soon they dimmed again.
Xing Yue had seen Emily use that ring a few times. It was ordinary, even a bit worn, but like Doraemon’s pocket, it could produce all sorts of things.
Xing Yue withdrew her gaze and looked at her profile. Suddenly, a strange feeling rose in her heart.
She probably guessed who that person was.
The person who, when Emily was treated as a monster by the whole world, still willingly approached her, protected her, and treated her as a “person”… It must be Wei Anna.
After her observations these past few days, Xing Yue had sensed that the relationship between Little Pink Hair and the Holy Maiden seemed to have changed.
The two of them clung to each other all day long, definitely shifting from pure friendship and comradery to a deeper, mutual appreciation.
Xing Yue felt she had seen through everything. She smiled and spoke softly, “I get it. That person is your white moonlight, right?”
Emily was stunned, and then a blush quickly spread across her cheeks. “Y-your Highness, what are you saying…”
“Haha, you’re blushing, you’re blushing~” Xing Yue rested her chin on her hand, looking at her with teasing eyes, but didn’t call her out.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you. What’s there to be shy about?”
Emily was taken aback and turned to look at her. Xing Yue wasn’t looking at her.
She turned over, lay on her back, and looked at the crystal lamp on the ceiling emitting a faint light, suddenly recalling something from long ago.
“Though it’s different from you two star-crossed lovers, I also had a white moonlight back then.”
“Huh?” Emily blinked, then seemed to think of something. Her pupils shook, and she took a tactical breath. After hearing this gossip, would she still live to see tomorrow? But… She was really curious after all!
Little Pink Hair quietly pricked up her ears, listening as Xing Yue continued, “When I was in school, there was a particularly strict teacher. One day I forgot to bring my textbook. I was scared to death, afraid the teacher would find out and scold me.” Xing Yue looked at the ceiling, a smile unconsciously curving her lips as she spoke.
“Then my deskmate, a girl with a high ponytail, simply pushed her textbook to the middle and shared it with me. At that moment, she was my angel. Ah… but then—”
Xing Yue’s expression fell. “But later the teacher found out, thought we were puppy love for huddling together in class, and after class, directly moved our seats apart. After that, we never spoke again.”
Emily was silent for a moment, then nodded seriously. “That really is terrible.”
Xing Yue was amused by her earnest expression. “Yeah, it is.” As she laughed, she suddenly noticed Emily looking at her with a strange expression. “What’s wrong?”
Emily hesitated, then asked softly, “By the way, Princess Xing Yue… have you also experienced studying at an Academy?”
Xing Yue’s smile froze on her face. Damn. She slipped up.
Her current identity was a Demon Princess who had just been “born” not long ago! Where did she have a student era? Where did she have a deskmate? Where did she forget a textbook? Xing Yue’s mind raced.
“Cough— Well… I mean… we Demons have our own preschool class!”
Emily blinked. “Preschool… class?”
“Yes! It’s a place for young monsters to get an elementary education!” Xing Yue bluffed with a straight face.
“Teaching basic etiquette, literacy, and cultivating future pillars of the Demon Race!”
Emily blinked. Blinked again. Then her eyes grew wider and wider.
“The… the Demon Race also has an education system?!”
Xing Yue looked at her shocked, speechless expression and felt a little guilty inside.
But she still nodded.
“Yeah, is that strange? It can’t be that only your human race is progressing with the times.”
Emily didn’t answer. A storm was raging in her mind.
The Demon Race also has an education system… That is to say, those monsters are also taught, nurtured, and shaped from a young age? No wonder over the years, aside from dungeons, there were rarely any monsters causing trouble outside.
So… The monsters had all become intelligent!
Emily’s face slowly turned pale. Thinking about it, it did seem true.
In the past, her impression of the Demon Race was just a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters acting on instinct. But now, after these few days in the Demon King Castle, she could clearly feel the existence of order.
So Xing Yue’s mention of an education system, Emily had no choice but to believe it. Emily suddenly felt that the more she learned from Princess Xing Yue these past few days, the more she felt—the future of humanity is dark indeed.
Night had grown deep. Emily lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep for a long time. She turned her head and glanced beside her.
Xing Yue was already asleep, wrapped in another blanket, breathing evenly, a slight smile on her face, dreaming some happy dream.
Emily silently withdrew her gaze and looked out the window at the pitch-black night sky. Scenes from these past few days in the Demon King Castle flashed through her mind.
The monsters brushing past her in the corridors, the greedy stares in the cafeteria, the predatory looks that weren’t even concealed in Princess Xing Yue’s presence—the way they looked at her was like she was a walking piece of pink pork belly.
Even the two goat-headed demons who followed Princess Xing Yue every day treated her almost like an “emergency food.”
Only Princess Xing Yue was different.
She looked at her and Sister Wei Anna with eyes that saw “people.” She brought her books to read, cared about whether she had enough to eat and sleep well.
Only Princess Xing Yue… in this Demon King Castle full of monsters, truly treated them as “people.”
This feeling… so familiar. Just like that Hero.
In the human world, she was treated as a monster. In the monster world, she was treated as food.
But he and she both treated her as an equal being—a person.
She closed her eyes and sighed softly.
Perhaps it sounds harsh, but it was the truth—Princess Xing Yue here, just like her in the Empire, was an outlier.