TMD - Chapter 6 < Do you know what happened at night? (1) >

The wedding was literally prepared in a hurry.

It was so fast and informal that it was considered too fast for a marriage between a Duke of a country and a Saintess.

“It’s all the Saintess’s will.”

“We’ve been tormented by demons for a long time. Think of the history of the conflicts and wars they’ve caused!”

“This wedding is like a memorial to those who were sacrificed.”

“So how can we hold it so grandly?”

The priests went around saying that. This was the Saintess’s noble will for those who were sacrificed.

“Well, you said it wouldn’t be long before the demons appeared.”

“As expected of a Saintess. She thought dealing with the demons was the priority.”

People praised the Saintess’s will.

Of course, Saintess Beryl had never said such a thing, but no one disbelieved the priests’ words.

Because people thought that the temple was the only one that could save humans from the hands of demons.

“Getting married so quickly?”

However, when I heard the wedding date set by the temple, I felt like I could see right through them.

Perhaps the quick-witted families or the families who knew the situation, like Yubar and Orobas, would have figured it out.

What if the Saintess was really marrying a demon? What if Vine really was a demon family?

It would be impossible to truly bless them marrying, so they would have simplified it like this.

That was no different in the past two lives. That’s why I wasn’t surprised. I just pretended to be surprised.

“Yes. But we will prepare without any shortcomings.”

Ronove said confidently.

Really... would that be the case?

However, I was actually anxious. It was a wedding between humans prepared by demons.

...How could it not be awkward?

No matter how much I pretended not to know, the priests would all attend the wedding.

What if the priests noticed something strange in the demons’ behavior? No, what if there was something strange in the wedding preparations?

For example, the blood-stained tapestry hanging at the end of my room a while ago.

‘That’s the Duke... the spoils of war that His Highness brought!’

I had to try not to point out that bloody trophies were not usually hung on the walls.

And even if they were still guests, what noble family would hang bloody trophies in the room their bride would be using?

But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

“There’s a problem, no problem, there’s a problem... I guess there’s no problem with this event.”

I thought he was a gardener, but he was a demon lying in the garden, looking at a flower... No, he was a person.

"I don't think it's as ripe as a person."

“What did you say?”

"No, I mean it's not as ripe as you think."

The kind of weird slip of the tongue that a chef practicing pasta would make. I had tried hard to ignore such things.

No matter how few guests came here...

“Whew.”

I didn’t know pretending not to know would be this hard.

I slipped through the crowd of strange people and stayed in the garden for a while.

The gardener reading flowers wasn’t out at night, so I was alone in the garden at this hour.

“There’s a distinction between day and night here, too.”

I had been here for a day now. The Duke was nowhere to be seen...

But in the meantime, I discovered something strange.

There was day and night here, too. Although the sun and moon did not rise, the demons would turn on the lights around the mansion at a certain time, and then turn them off all at once at a certain time.

In other words, the time when the lights were on was daytime.

The lights were so brightly lit throughout the Duke’s residence that you could see where people lived.

You might think that monsters would flock there, but if you think about it another way, doesn’t having many lights on mean there were a lot of people?

I thought that monsters would avoid them too.

Thanks to that, the lights that were so brightly lit sometimes obscured even the stars.

That was the demons’ ‘daytime’ on this land. It was as if they were going against the darkness that God had given...

“It’s a made-up day.”

I muttered. Since it was nighttime, the only lights that were on were around the mansion.

Were all the lights here turned on by magic? It was when I touched the shining jewel with my fingertips.

“Do you find the light strange?”

Suddenly, someone spoke up.

When I turned around, I saw someone wearing a helmet. It was dark, so I couldn’t see the color of the hair very well, but there was something that was particularly shining.

Green eyes.

“Ah.”

It was the knight who had guarded the carriage.

I smiled happily at the familiar face.

The demon named Naberus introduced himself as a servant and carried a cleaver, scaring people, and other demons did all sorts of strange things.

At least, the fact that he was a familiar face meant that there was nothing to be surprised about when he did strange things for the first time.

“Because there is only darkness. Amazingly, they make daylight.”

“Making daylight...”

The knight came a little closer to me.

“That light is collected moonlight. It is the light collected during the night that is released during the daytime.”

“Ah.”

My gaze turned to the sky once again. The bright moon was visible between the twinkling stars.

“How strange.”

I tilted my head slightly as I said this.

I thought demons liked darkness and night, but if they were to deliberately make daylight.

Was that not the case?

“Does the Saintess like bright places better?”

The knight asked again. I turned to him. And then paused. The hair that was revealed after taking off the helmet was not silver, but black.

...Wasn’t it originally silver?

“Hair color.”

The knight answered.

“I dye it often.”

Well, it seems that demons have various abilities, so there might be some who change their hair color with their abilities.

“I see. Thank you yesterday.” 

Yesterday, right? Even if you divide the night and day by turning the lights on and off, I still haven’t gotten used to it.

“I was just doing what I had to do.”

The knight said with a nod.

“And aren’t you the bride of the Duke of Vine? If we were attacked, it would be a disgrace to the temple.”

“That’s true.”

It seemed like he didn’t like public speaking.

“Is it because you’re scared that you’re shivering?”

The knight suddenly asked.

Did he see me shivering yesterday, or...

Ah.

Only then did I realize that I was still shivering.

“It’s a little chilly... so.”

It wasn’t the kind of weather where you could feel the cold. But perhaps because it was a completely dark land, a strange chill, and chills always seemed to follow me.

“Aren’t you scared?”

I shook my head at that. It was as if my heart was being stabbed.

It would be troublesome if it was discovered that I knew he was a demon.

“People who come from places where there is daytime are often afraid of the night. It’s all dark.”

Fortunately, however, the knight didn’t seem to mean that.

“That’s not it.”

Still, I shook my head. Perhaps it was because I was nervous, but the answer came out without me knowing.

If you asked me whether I liked the night or the day, I would say I liked the night.

“People say that the night brings out useless imaginations and is embarrassing,” the knight said. 

However, I shook my head repeatedly. I could tell him that for sure.

I actually hated the light more. In the temple, which was filled with light, there was not even a little darkness to hide my pain or sadness.

That’s why I was always under surveillance under the light, and I never had time to myself.

Compared to that place, this place... 

I smiled warmly.

“I’m not embarrassed. Why would I sleep when it’s dark?”

It must be because of the comfort and warmth that darkness gives.

I looked back at the knight. 

“It’s not all bad when darkness makes you imagine. Sometimes it helps you hide what you want to hide.”

I only saw the priests who called themselves justice because they had divinity and protected the light.

The same goes for humans.

They thought that the monsters born in the darkness were different from them. They hated and feared the monsters that lived in the darkness.

That’s why they wanted them to remain in this realm of the night, pretending to praise and look up to the Vinegars even more. They wanted them to stop those disgusting monsters because they would give them the position of heroes.

They never imagined that those who punished those monsters were the devils themselves.

“That’s why I don’t hate them.”

The knight tilted his head in surprise at those words.

I only saw those who blatantly revealed their dirty desires in the light, those who used others to go to heaven.

It seemed better to see the demons who knew how to hide.

“That’s why I chose this place.”

The knight suddenly asked.

“Not because you’re like a devil?”

I felt my breath catch in my throat for a moment. But I shook my head.

The words I had said earlier were not lies, but I had come to survive.

However, it was also true that I had come here because this was a devil family. Still, I had to deny it.

“They told me to choose a devil family, and all you were given was three photos and information about the family. I can’t know a devil family with just that.”

My brown eyes met with his green ones as I turned around.

***

Belled stared at her with clear eyes. He saw her end in his mind’s eye again. Her first and second lives, where she had clearly met death in the form of a marriage with Orobas and Yubar. And, the end of this life that was still invisible.

In the meantime, Beryl continued.

“...You can’t know a devil family with just that. And I’m the one who leads them to the devil, not the one who can immediately recognize the devil.”

Then I should have killed her. Beryl said so seriously.

No. You would have known.

But those words almost made the knight, Belled, laugh.

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