Ronove and Decarabia themselves did not know, but they were thinking the same thing and came to the conclusion that it could not be true.
Decarabia tilted her head and took a step forward. It was her job as a dedicated maid to help Beryl clean up in the morning.
However, she soon caught Bled’s gaze and had to stop moving. That cold gaze meant only one thing.
Don’t follow me.
The two of them will go alone.
“...”
The moment he turned his head. The moment he looked at Beryl. Belled’s face was covered with a layer of gentleness as if he were someone else.
Gentleness?
Decarabia felt like she had seen the word that was most incompatible with Belled, the demon of the mind’s eye and the demon archduke who had unified the demon world by force.
Knock.
After the two left like that, Ronove and Decarabia’s gazes, who were left in the room, met again.
“...No way.”
Ronove still had a face that said, “No way.” But somehow, Decarabia felt that her thoughts were right.
Ronove seemed to have reached the rational conclusion that “a demon that has maintained peace for over 400 years cannot suddenly change,” but Decarabia did not.
Perhaps that was why she could read a different emotion in Belled’s eyes.
“...I’ll go.”
Decarabia turned away from Ronove. At times like this, there was one place in Vine where you could go to find answers.
Since you had received something like an exorcism anyway, there was no reason not to go.
Decarabia thought back to the path her master and her wife had taken and turned in the exact opposite direction. She instinctively knew that they should not meet.
“...Hmm.”
Ronove also hesitated and followed.
Thump.
Only then did the empty bedroom door close with a quiet ring.
It was the first time Beryl had looked into Belled’s office in such detail.
On one side of the bookshelf that filled the entire wall were books about the human world, and on the other side were books about the demon world.
And the bookshelf behind his desk in his office was filled with countless documents that were or were used for work.
[Military Force Management Records]
At a glance, it was clear that there were documents that other noble families would not show to outsiders.
Beryl quickly looked away. However, Belled told her,
“You can look at anything.”
Beryl laughed awkwardly at those words.
“Aren’t there things that I shouldn’t look at?”
Things about military forces, or secrets of Baine.
However, Beled shook his head without hesitation.
“If you remember whose secret you are, then you don’t need to worry about it.”
“That’s it.”
Can a demon trust a person so easily?
Come to think of it, many proverbs among humans tell you not to trust demons, but there may also be stories among demons that tell them not to trust humans.
But it doesn’t seem like they would trust humans easily.
Then what does this person believe in that he’s showing me his secrets so easily?
What if I betray and run away one day?
Of course, she had no intention of running away, and she couldn’t run away from demons with abilities beyond humans.
But you never know.
Beryl tilted her head slightly. Was it because he knew my past? Because he saw my past with his ‘mind’s eye’?
It felt good to have someone trust her, but Beryl felt her heart tighten because the trust seemed too deep.
She felt like this relationship would end if she didn’t return the favor. She didn’t know what to do with him.
She was used to the priests who tried to use her, and the two Dukes from her previous life who only tried to satisfy their twisted desires, so she couldn’t figure it out.
“Helbas.”
But Belled gestured to a bird pecking at something on the window as if this was his right to enjoy.
Beep!
Helbas, who flew in in response, soon transformed into a human.
“Did you call?”
“If there’s anything you’re curious about, I’ll explain.”
Helbas pointed to the bookshelf behind Beryl. That was where Beryl had been looking the most. A bookshelf filled with books about the devil.
“...Ah, thank you.”
Although she has been forced to do favors, she has rarely received them.
Beryl suddenly thought so. Is it okay for her to just receive it like this?
But she also thought that standing next to him would be a hindrance to his work.
This would also help him.
Beryl, who had finished thinking about it, began to look through the bookshelf in earnest.
The first thing that caught her eye was a single word.
“Hell Gate...”
“Are you curious about the Hell Gate?”
Helbas responded immediately. Beryl nodded. She had to open it herself.
“The Hell Gate is underground.”
However, Beryl couldn’t help but blink like an idiot at Helbas’s words.
“Underground... It’s underground here?”
Not in front of the altar where I had to perform the door-opening ceremony?
She had performed the door-opening ceremony in her past life, so she knew the location of the door well.
Depending on the offering made on the day of the door-opening ceremony, the door that would open a passage to either heaven or hell was in the center of the continent.
“Not the door-opening ceremony altar?”
Beryl asked again to confirm. Helbas nodded as if it was obvious.
“Yes. What’s there is just a kind of forward base, the real thing is underground here.”
Helbas frowned slightly.
“It’s gradually closing.”
Closing? Beryl unconsciously looked back at Belled.
“There are two gates of hell. In conclusion, if you open the gates of hell with the opening ceremony, both gates will react and open together.”
Belled nodded as if he was right.
“Ah...”
This was really new information. So if the gates of heaven open, will the gates of hell on this side also close?
Beryl, who was thinking that suddenly looked back at Belled.
“?”
Belled was looking at her with a slight tilt of his head. But didn’t he say he was concentrating?
“If you’re curious about the gates of hell, this record will be helpful.”
Helbas handed her a book.
[Our Land, Batium]
Our Land? Could it mean hell?
Beryl carefully began to flip through the book, which was so old that it seemed like it would fall apart if she handled it wrongly.
[Animals native to Batium are generally large due to the influence of magic... ]
It seemed to be a book that covered the environment beyond the door, as well as the flora and fauna in general. However, Beryl stopped looking at a sentence in the middle.
[...The meat is similar to beef in the human world.]
Beef. She wondered why that word caught her eye.
“...I’ve been eating a lot lately.”
It wasn’t that she ate a lot, but it seemed like she ate beef almost every meal. No, it seemed like she only ate beef.
Beryl carefully reviewed her previous meal since morning. The only difference was that the side dish next to the beef steak was a little different, but the fact that the staple food was beef had not changed.
For some reason, she felt a little hungry for beef in the morning. Beryl tilted her head slightly.
“Belled.”
Do demons like beef? Beryl, who was about to ask, closed her mouth. It was a question that was not very important to ask a working person...
“Yes.”
...But the answer was too fast. Beryl looked back at him again.
His work desk didn’t seem to have changed much since before.
“How about work?”
Beryl asked, dropping the question she had originally planned to ask. Belled raised his eyebrows at that. He responded a beat later.
“Ah.”
Then he lowered his gaze back to his desk. However, his pen moved slowly.
It seems he is not concentrating well.
I should take a quick look and leave. Beryl looked around. The Hell Gate that was said to be underground was on her mind.
If there was a map, I could go see it later... If
I asked Decarabia to take me there, would he take me there? Beryl tilted her head.
“Are you looking for a map?”
Belled’s voice was heard. Helbas had already brought a map from somewhere and was handing it to her.
“Oh, thank you.”
After receiving it, Beryl hesitated. Orobas and Yubar kept the maps of the mansion very strictly.
They usually made maps for the insiders to memorize, worrying that they would leak to outsiders, and then burned them.
But Bain just kept the map on his bookshelf?
“The Hell Gate is here.”
Even Helbas pointed to the bottom of the map that was spread out. Beryl’s gaze turned to the map.
The mansion map looked complicated at first glance. In short, it was a map that even showed secret passages.
“...Ah, it looks like there’s only the gates of hell underground.”
Beryl glanced at the location of the Hell Gate and turned her gaze. Fearing that a closer look might cause misunderstandings.
“You can enter and exit freely. There are rumors that magical power flows abundantly in the area, so there are people who visit frequently.”
Belled said while Helbas folded the map. Beryl looked back at him.
The desk he had been working on was no different than before. In short, he hadn’t done any work.
“I guess...”
It seems I’m interrupting him. Beryl stopped talking as she was about to say that.
Beled wasn’t at the desk. Where did he go?
“If you’re curious, you should go and look.”
Belled’s voice was heard right behind her.
Decarabia tilted her head and took a step forward. It was her job as a dedicated maid to help Beryl clean up in the morning.
However, she soon caught Bled’s gaze and had to stop moving. That cold gaze meant only one thing.
Don’t follow me.
The two of them will go alone.
“...”
The moment he turned his head. The moment he looked at Beryl. Belled’s face was covered with a layer of gentleness as if he were someone else.
Gentleness?
Decarabia felt like she had seen the word that was most incompatible with Belled, the demon of the mind’s eye and the demon archduke who had unified the demon world by force.
Knock.
After the two left like that, Ronove and Decarabia’s gazes, who were left in the room, met again.
“...No way.”
Ronove still had a face that said, “No way.” But somehow, Decarabia felt that her thoughts were right.
Ronove seemed to have reached the rational conclusion that “a demon that has maintained peace for over 400 years cannot suddenly change,” but Decarabia did not.
Perhaps that was why she could read a different emotion in Belled’s eyes.
“...I’ll go.”
Decarabia turned away from Ronove. At times like this, there was one place in Vine where you could go to find answers.
Since you had received something like an exorcism anyway, there was no reason not to go.
Decarabia thought back to the path her master and her wife had taken and turned in the exact opposite direction. She instinctively knew that they should not meet.
“...Hmm.”
Ronove also hesitated and followed.
Thump.
Only then did the empty bedroom door close with a quiet ring.
***
It was the first time Beryl had looked into Belled’s office in such detail.
On one side of the bookshelf that filled the entire wall were books about the human world, and on the other side were books about the demon world.
And the bookshelf behind his desk in his office was filled with countless documents that were or were used for work.
[Military Force Management Records]
At a glance, it was clear that there were documents that other noble families would not show to outsiders.
Beryl quickly looked away. However, Belled told her,
“You can look at anything.”
Beryl laughed awkwardly at those words.
“Aren’t there things that I shouldn’t look at?”
Things about military forces, or secrets of Baine.
However, Beled shook his head without hesitation.
“If you remember whose secret you are, then you don’t need to worry about it.”
“That’s it.”
Can a demon trust a person so easily?
Come to think of it, many proverbs among humans tell you not to trust demons, but there may also be stories among demons that tell them not to trust humans.
But it doesn’t seem like they would trust humans easily.
Then what does this person believe in that he’s showing me his secrets so easily?
What if I betray and run away one day?
Of course, she had no intention of running away, and she couldn’t run away from demons with abilities beyond humans.
But you never know.
Beryl tilted her head slightly. Was it because he knew my past? Because he saw my past with his ‘mind’s eye’?
It felt good to have someone trust her, but Beryl felt her heart tighten because the trust seemed too deep.
She felt like this relationship would end if she didn’t return the favor. She didn’t know what to do with him.
She was used to the priests who tried to use her, and the two Dukes from her previous life who only tried to satisfy their twisted desires, so she couldn’t figure it out.
“Helbas.”
But Belled gestured to a bird pecking at something on the window as if this was his right to enjoy.
Beep!
Helbas, who flew in in response, soon transformed into a human.
“Did you call?”
“If there’s anything you’re curious about, I’ll explain.”
Helbas pointed to the bookshelf behind Beryl. That was where Beryl had been looking the most. A bookshelf filled with books about the devil.
“...Ah, thank you.”
Although she has been forced to do favors, she has rarely received them.
Beryl suddenly thought so. Is it okay for her to just receive it like this?
But she also thought that standing next to him would be a hindrance to his work.
This would also help him.
Beryl, who had finished thinking about it, began to look through the bookshelf in earnest.
The first thing that caught her eye was a single word.
“Hell Gate...”
“Are you curious about the Hell Gate?”
Helbas responded immediately. Beryl nodded. She had to open it herself.
“The Hell Gate is underground.”
However, Beryl couldn’t help but blink like an idiot at Helbas’s words.
“Underground... It’s underground here?”
Not in front of the altar where I had to perform the door-opening ceremony?
She had performed the door-opening ceremony in her past life, so she knew the location of the door well.
Depending on the offering made on the day of the door-opening ceremony, the door that would open a passage to either heaven or hell was in the center of the continent.
“Not the door-opening ceremony altar?”
Beryl asked again to confirm. Helbas nodded as if it was obvious.
“Yes. What’s there is just a kind of forward base, the real thing is underground here.”
Helbas frowned slightly.
“It’s gradually closing.”
Closing? Beryl unconsciously looked back at Belled.
“There are two gates of hell. In conclusion, if you open the gates of hell with the opening ceremony, both gates will react and open together.”
Belled nodded as if he was right.
“Ah...”
This was really new information. So if the gates of heaven open, will the gates of hell on this side also close?
Beryl, who was thinking that suddenly looked back at Belled.
“?”
Belled was looking at her with a slight tilt of his head. But didn’t he say he was concentrating?
“If you’re curious about the gates of hell, this record will be helpful.”
Helbas handed her a book.
[Our Land, Batium]
Our Land? Could it mean hell?
Beryl carefully began to flip through the book, which was so old that it seemed like it would fall apart if she handled it wrongly.
[Animals native to Batium are generally large due to the influence of magic... ]
It seemed to be a book that covered the environment beyond the door, as well as the flora and fauna in general. However, Beryl stopped looking at a sentence in the middle.
[...The meat is similar to beef in the human world.]
Beef. She wondered why that word caught her eye.
“...I’ve been eating a lot lately.”
It wasn’t that she ate a lot, but it seemed like she ate beef almost every meal. No, it seemed like she only ate beef.
Beryl carefully reviewed her previous meal since morning. The only difference was that the side dish next to the beef steak was a little different, but the fact that the staple food was beef had not changed.
For some reason, she felt a little hungry for beef in the morning. Beryl tilted her head slightly.
“Belled.”
Do demons like beef? Beryl, who was about to ask, closed her mouth. It was a question that was not very important to ask a working person...
“Yes.”
...But the answer was too fast. Beryl looked back at him again.
His work desk didn’t seem to have changed much since before.
“How about work?”
Beryl asked, dropping the question she had originally planned to ask. Belled raised his eyebrows at that. He responded a beat later.
“Ah.”
Then he lowered his gaze back to his desk. However, his pen moved slowly.
It seems he is not concentrating well.
I should take a quick look and leave. Beryl looked around. The Hell Gate that was said to be underground was on her mind.
If there was a map, I could go see it later... If
I asked Decarabia to take me there, would he take me there? Beryl tilted her head.
“Are you looking for a map?”
Belled’s voice was heard. Helbas had already brought a map from somewhere and was handing it to her.
“Oh, thank you.”
After receiving it, Beryl hesitated. Orobas and Yubar kept the maps of the mansion very strictly.
They usually made maps for the insiders to memorize, worrying that they would leak to outsiders, and then burned them.
But Bain just kept the map on his bookshelf?
“The Hell Gate is here.”
Even Helbas pointed to the bottom of the map that was spread out. Beryl’s gaze turned to the map.
The mansion map looked complicated at first glance. In short, it was a map that even showed secret passages.
“...Ah, it looks like there’s only the gates of hell underground.”
Beryl glanced at the location of the Hell Gate and turned her gaze. Fearing that a closer look might cause misunderstandings.
“You can enter and exit freely. There are rumors that magical power flows abundantly in the area, so there are people who visit frequently.”
Belled said while Helbas folded the map. Beryl looked back at him.
The desk he had been working on was no different than before. In short, he hadn’t done any work.
“I guess...”
It seems I’m interrupting him. Beryl stopped talking as she was about to say that.
Beled wasn’t at the desk. Where did he go?
“If you’re curious, you should go and look.”
Belled’s voice was heard right behind her.
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