Ikemen ni Tenseishita kedo, Cheat ha Dekimasenshita

97.2 Absurd Change
 

“STEP ASIDE!”

“NO!”

Muriel’s eyes were closed, but even then her arms were spread in protective gestures and she refused to move. All for the sake of that bas*tard. In the end, I could only uselessly left my fist hanging in the air, unable to punch him unless she moved aside. After all, I couldn’t really hurt Muriel, could I?

“Leave it to me, Muriel.”

After saying that, Duke unsheathed his sword and slashed at me. Seeing this, I hurriedly used my ceremonial sword to stop it. However, since it was a ceremonial sword, it didn’t have enough length.

“D-Duke-sama! Y-you’re not allowed to draw your sword in the royal palace!”

Hearing this, I ended up smiling wryly. Only Muriel. She was the only one who could actually still think about such a thing in this kind of situation. Yet, Duke had the gall to click his tongue at Muriel in annoyance. However, that annoyed look was immediately replaced by a smile as he looked at Muriel, making it seemed like the annoyance was only an illusion.

“It’s okay, Muriel. I’ll finish this in no time.”

After that, Duke began to relentlessly slashed at me again. I could only curse inwardly since this bas*tard’s strength was at least on par with Vince. Still, while somehow parrying his slash, I tried to ask him what he had done.

“You’re a demon race. Are you the one who made Muriel forget about me?”

“Did you enjoy my surprise? Now, I’m going to kill you in front of your lover. Furthermore, by making her forget about you and mistook me, the demon king, as her fiance… heh, I wonder what she’d look like once she remembered the truth? How will her mind break, I wonder? A~h, I am really looking forward to that sight.”

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“You’ve got one really bad hobby there.”

“Because you keep wrecking my great plan, I had to concoct this special plan. This is an exclusive gift I carefully crafted you see. Just for you.”

I got cornered bit-by-bit with each slash, frustrating me.

Dammit, this situation isn’t good!

I let my magical power flow into my leg, and conjured an earth wall between us, causing Duke to look astonished for a moment. However, he soon regained his bearing and swung his left hand, destroying the earth wall with black mist.

What was that? That magical power was strange. It was clearly different from the darkness attribute that was commonly seen. Still, this wasn’t the time to worry about that!

The outside of the maze had become noisy. They might have noticed the commotion we caused here. Then again, considering the fact that her figure was gone from this place, perhaps it was Muriel who had called for the soldiers.

Hahaha, serve you right. Your plan to kill me in front of Muriel has been foiled by Muriel herself!

At this moment, perhaps he also noticed that his plan had been foiled because Duke’s expression turned annoyed, but I only smiled to myself. My dear fiancee wasn’t a mere frail and sheltered girl anymore.

Now, this was the chance for me! I gotta go. If I didn’t take this chance, those soldiers might have caught me. Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind was to go back inside the royal castle, and I really should do that. But… that was impossible. Considering the situation this morning, they might have already forgotten about me.

No, in fact, everyone might have already forgotten about me right now. Dammit!

Anyway, contemplation aside, I threw my sword to Duke and ran toward the other exit. I literally ran as fast as I could, not forgetting to conjure another earth wall behind me. Furthermore, I also conjured a few more earth walls to block the other entrance of the maze for extra measure.

Still, after a while, I couldn’t keep on as proven by my trembling body. What should I do now? What should I do to make them remember me?

“Nya~n.”

The cat’s cries resounded through the space and my surroundings immediately turned into mud.

The heck?!

My leg had sunk into the ground. Surprised, I looked up, and saw a black cat looking down on me from the top of the earth wall I conjured. And on his right foreleg, there was an ivy-like crest. Although it was slightly different from before, with some part of it having already faded away, I knew this crest intimately and the person the crest was etched on.

He was the bas*tard who tried to kill Muriel! Bates called it Trevor, but in truth, it was nothing more than mere shadow of Trevor. After all, he was a cat.

Anyhow, there was a more important thing right now. Like the fact that I would drown as it was if I didn’t do anything dammit. I looked around, but found no scaffolding I could use. So, I tried to harden the mud beneath my feet to create a scaffolding and used it to run.

However, the scaffolding I created behind me turned back into mud immediately. Hence, the situation became one in which I was being chased around by mud.

Dammit, my ability to solidify the mud can’t catch up! That damn little cat has more magical power than me!

By this point of time, the sun should have already set while I was running desperately dodging the mud trap, but the surrounding was strangely bright. Wait, did that damnable cat fu*cking led me to the dancing hall?!

Argh, fine, it can’t be helped. Let’s play along with that fu*cker.

The moment I went straight toward the dancing hall, the cat stopped chasing after me. So, he really was guiding me toward the dancing hall! D*amn cat.

Having no choice, I looked into the dancing hall, and saw Elliot was dancing. He was dancing, but that was not what shocked me. It was his partner. He was actually dancing with that pink-haired… girl.

That pink-haired girl was wearing white dress and was dancing happily with Elliot. What was strange was instead of this sour expression I thought Elliot’s face was going to sport, he was instead smiling gently at her.

… WAIT A MINUTE?! WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED WHILE I WAS GONE?!

Nevermind, I had to get in touch with my father now and tell him about this situation immediately. If it was my father, he should at least lend an ear to a stranger’s (my current self) warning.

With this certainty at heart, I casted my gaze around the venue, looking for my father who should have attended the after party. Fortunately, he was right along the wall near the terrace, and along with him was mother and Wendy.

I slipped through the eyes of the patrol guard and came closer to my father, but just when I was about to arrive at the distance where my voice could be heard by him, someone caught my shoulder.

“I see that you’ve been trying to get closer to Lord Goldberg since a while ago.”

It was Kevin, and he was glaring at me with vigilance.

“You’ve been making strange moves since a while ago, and even managed to slip through the patrol guard, but you ain’t gonna be able to trick my eyes. Now, tell me the reason why you want to get close to Lord Goldberg.”

When I turned to look at my father again, my father’s bodyguard, Rowell was also looking vigilantly at me. Thus, I was guided away from my father and his group.

Darn it, this isn’t the time for you, a pair of father and son, to do your job properly!!! Moreover… This is really going to make me cry now. All this harsh treatment is getting to my fragile heart.

“I have something to tell Lord Goldberg. I’ve to tell him that there’s someone from the demon race infiltrating the royal palace. He’s a guy with ultramarine hair, brown skin, and red eyes who came along with the black cat from six years ago. His name is Duke, and he claimed to be the fiance of Muriel Amber. That guy is the demon King,” I whispered as I pulled Kevin’s arm.

I had no idea whether he would trust me or not, but I knew that Kevin wouldn’t just ignore this piece of information.

“Now listen to me. That guy is strong. You… have to protect Fa— I mean, protect Marquis Goldberg and his family.”

“… What… are you talking about?!”

“That guy is the demon king! You’ve got to catch him!”

The one who shouted was Duke, who took Muriel along with him.

Like hell I’m the demon king, bi*tch. YOU ARE THE FU*CKING DEMON KING HERE!!!

However, his voice had already caused a ruckus in the dance venue. Although most people seemed to still have no idea who the demon king was, I couldn’t take the chance. So, I shook Kevin’s hands off immediately, and ran into the crowd of people. Incidentally, I also flipped the table along the way to shake off my pursuer.

Thus, among the sound of broken glass and place, the angry below of the nobles resounded in the venue. While this was going on, I took off the attire I used and snatched the vest of a waiter before storming out.

Honestly, I really wanted to leave the royal palace immediately, but I knew that such a feat was impossible since the patrol guard was placed in the important position of the palace.

Darn it. What should I do now?

I was slowly being cornered like a rat. I felt dizzy and nauseated. So, I walked with an unsteady gait toward the waiting room. However, before I reached there, I leaned my back on the wall, having reached a point where I had no idea where to go anymore.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my arm, and dragged me into the room. This person pointed a dagger at my neck, causing me to press my back against the wall.

Dammit, is it another demon race again?!

“Who are you? What are you doing here? Spit everything. Now.”

The person who pressed me against the wall and glared at me with a frigid cold look on his face was none other than… Frederick.