The two-faced Crown Prince of the strongest Empire and the Villainous firstborn lady of Von Belial Archdukedom smirk at each other before saying the words that lead the world to its doom...
"Let's make a deal"
...
"My Prince, I don't think I've seen a glimpse of the youngest Imperial Shadow lately, where is he?"
Grizel asked in curiosity when one of her sources of amusement is missing, though his existence seems insignificant, his trembling figure was cute to be kept around, teasing him is like a kind of newly discovered enjoyment for this sadistic Princess.
"Are you talking about Nine?"
The Imperial Shadows are using numbers as their code names, from Zero to Nine, there are 10 shadows in total, while Zero is the codename used by the leader, Nine is the youngest or the most junior of the group.
"Yes, our cute errand boy"
She replied casually as Rex recalled the last time he met with Nine, it was after he ordered him to deliver Grizel's tailored dresses right before the engagement party, Nine came back from her mansion with a pale blue face as if being chased by a scary ghost, or maybe something scarier than that.
At the time, the nonchalant Rex has no idea what happened to that poor errand boy because he didn't fully know the real identity of his fiancee and all her shady doings yet.
He only realized after exchanging the Azure cursed Heirloom rings at the party, due to the effect of the curse, they shared their memories and thoughts for a brief moment before it was being cut off and controlled by Athena, but it was enough to uncover the veil of the devil.
Rex could see from Grizel's most recent memory right before the party, that unfortunate Nine came at the worst timing... again.
It was when Grizel is having a nice talk with Emma who tried to defame her using a petty trick to her engagement dress, the bloody scene seems to trigger Nine's past trauma of Grizel, which is the incident at the dark guild where he witnessed the evil side of Grizel when she eats the guild master alive to take over the whole guild.
Well, no wonder the young Imperial Shadow got traumatized by Grizel once again as if consumed by his nightmare for the second time.
The Princess was casually greeting him while drilling one of her high heels, piercing through Emma's head skull while forcefully keeping her alive using the high spell of healing magic, the blood spilled all over the place making the nasty iron-like smell reeks in every corner of the Princess's room, it was nothing but brutality unbefitting to her beautiful appearance, and all of that unnecessary torture was only to make Emma suffered the pain repeatedly.
"Nine... Hmmm, He took the farthest and longest espionage mission right after our engagement party"
That naive young man is running away by taking the mission far~ far~ away from this devil.
"Ooh, where to?"
Grizel asked with a smile, but that makes Rex chills even more, should he begin to prepare a funeral?
"Sherwood Empire"
Rex replied without any hesitation, no, it's not like he is selling out his loyal subordinate to the devil due to fear, no, he isn't.
Of course, that's not the case, he just knew it's useless to resist and put a defense for Nine in front of his scary fiancee, regardless of his answer, Grizel would know eventually if she wanted to, even if Nine is hiding to the end of the world, the information networks of Tartarus are something that shouldn't be underestimated.
"Hoo, Sherwood Empire. I see..."
"So, how should I discipline this unfaithful dog?"
Gulp!
Rex gulped as he shivered lightly hearing this fearsome girl murmured by herself, whatever it is, he doesn't even want to imagine it.
"Hhmm?"
He raised his eyebrows at her calmness, she doesn't seem to have the slightest concern when he mentioned that neighboring Empire.
"Don't you worry about the Wrath and the Sloth?"
He asked mentioning 2 of the 3 remaining pieces of her '7 Sins' puzzle who are currently living in that Empire as he continues to speak.
"According to that suspicious novel in your memory, the internal dispute of Sherwood Empire is about to start, and those two..."
Rex stopped his words as the tip of Grizel's lip curled upward hearing his unnecessary concerns about the future members of Tartarus.
Yup, unnecessary concern.
No matter what happened to them, they will be saved by Grizel eventually, it's not even strange to assume that their movements have been secretly watched by Tartarus from the shadow to assure their safety in case of future changes due to Angela Samael's intervention in this novel world, their survival is more or less guaranteed.
The one who needs the most of his concerns right now is that pitiful runaway puppy, Nine, trying to escape from the devil means digging his own grave.
'I wish he comes back alive'
Rex prayed inwardly, almost giving up on one of his Imperial Shadows, because he knew that being targeted by his fiancee means nothing but misfortune.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Author's Corner:
Hewoo readers~ I prepared this side story before taking my hiatus as my apologies for not updating, but I think it would be fun to have some of these side stories once in a while because I can't bring every single detail to the main story, it will be crowded.
I would like to hear your opinion on this and don't hesitate to request what side story do you want to read next, for example a short backstory of a certain character, or their POV, or maybe a question, because this chapter is to answer those readers who are asking about the pitiful *cough* I mean the lovely Nine, and it will help this amateur author greatly in filling some plot holes ◝(⑅•ᴗ•⑅)◜..°♡
Anyway, I'll be back when I'm done with my business here, see you in the next update ❤️
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
