"I like your chocolate," she said with a completely neutral voice. "Give me more of them."

…What the fuck?

There were countless other ways she could've started this conversation. Like a casual "hi" or even a polite "hello, handsome guy."

But no, she went straight for the point and worse, it was the kind of line that could be very easily misunderstood.

Especially when you're standing in the middle of a crowd full of young adults, already half-driven by hormones and questionable life choices.

I could already see a few demons frowning at me and I didn't even need to use my brain to imagine what came next.

A bunch of useless bastards were definitely going to show up, screaming something like, "How dare you try to seduce our princess?!" or some other self-righteous crap.

Hell, even some humans were giving me looks filled with jealousy, annoyance and weirdly enough, a few expressions that almost looked… proud?

As for dragons, yeah, their numbers among the students were so small you could count them on one hand and even those few were far too arrogant to bother caring about anyone else.

You see, dragons suffered from that little "disease" that made their childbirth rate ridiculously low. They liked to claim it was because of their superior genes, something about purity and divine lineage or whatever nonsense they came up with.

Yeah, right. More like a bunch of impotent bastards hiding behind a shield of arrogance.

Still, I couldn't care less about those impotent lizards.

Instead, I turned my attention back to the real source of trouble, Arza.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked, frowning. "And did no one ever teach you how to ask for something?"

Yeah. Perfect.

I mean, the first time, I gave her the chocolate without question, mostly because I was too damn weak to argue and it was kind of my fault.

But this time, I had options and I knew she wouldn't attack me anyway.

Arza, for all her emotionless heart, wasn't the type to lash out over words. She never killed without a reason, unless someone struck first or the situation forced her hand.

She was… a reasonable person.

"I am Arza Ashen Noctharion," she said, her tone as flat as a board. "Can I have the chocolate now?"

See? That's exactly what I was talking about.

She didn't pick up on any hidden insult or, more accurately… She didn't care even if someone threw one straight at her face.

But that didn't mean she wasn't smart, she was a lot sharper than she let on.

"See, Arza, the world doesn't work like that," I said, patient but firm. "You want something, you give something."

I mean, sure, the chocolate wasn't exactly expensive but nowhere in any book was it written that I should hand it out for free.

I had to put in a lot of effort for those damn things.

Three days of ordering servants around just to track down the exact brand I was sure she would like.

Three days of torment, all for a box of sugar and cocoa.

Not that I was short on them or anything.

I had millions stashed away in my cloak and a few hundred thousand more in my storage rings.

I mean, come on, they were one of the easiest ways to manipulate one of the strongest forces in existence.

So, of course I would have prepared accordingly.

"What do you want in exchange?" She cut straight to the point again.

The smile on my face deepened.

Now this is why I like smart people. You don't have to waste time explaining everything from scratch.

"Well… let me think," I said, pretending to mull it over.

I could've asked for a dozen different things, favors, information or even power but I already knew what I wanted.

After a minute, I looked her straight in the eyes.

"Be my bodyguard."

Yeah, kind of a dumb request if you ask most people but there were plenty of reasons behind that simple choice.

It's not like I needed protection, I could defend myself just fine.

But having the cherished daughter of the Demon King himself as my protector? Yeah, that would be pretty damn convenient.

More importantly, if I could somehow make her care for me — which was almost impossible — she would become one of the most valuable cards in my hand.

And if, by some miracle of the cosmic idiots who love irony, she actually fell in love with me… well, that would make things even easier to manipulate.

Yeah, I know, it's a jerk move.

But survival comes before sentiment.

I can live with guilt.

What's the point of morality if I'm not even alive to feel it?

And for all that to happen, the first step was simple:

keep her close.

So, her being my bodyguard was pretty useful for me.

She just stared at me for a few moments.

I had no idea what was going through that pretty little head of hers but I could take a damn good guess.

She was probably weighing the offer and the price.

I mean, for her, getting this brand of chocolate from somewhere else would've been easy. There were plenty of ways to buy it from the Human Empire, even from the Demon Realm.

But here's the twist… I bought the whole damn company that made this particular chocolate and then I made sure it stopped selling to anyone else.

So now, Arza could never get this particular brand of chocolate from anywhere else and yet, for some reason, she couldn't just forget about it.

I mean, there were plenty of other chocolate options out there but knowing her personality… yeah, that wasn't happening.

She was the type to be weirdly obsessive about the things she liked, especially chocolate and getting any in this academy was basically impossible, even if her mother was the principal.

For her, getting normal chocolate was already hard enough, let alone this one, which was manufactured in the Human Empire… and owned by me.

Which meant, quite simply, I was her only supplier.

"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"What I mean," I said with a smile, "is that I'll provide you with ten chocolates every day. In return, you'll stay close to me here at the academy and protect me."

I raised a brow, pulling one chocolate from my storage ring.

"You know how hard it is to get chocolate here, especially this one. This is my own brand," I added, voice low and smooth. "And I can guarantee a steady supply, exclusively for you."

I could see her gaze tracking the chocolate like a predator.

"So, how about it?" I extended the bar of chocolate toward her, a smile tugging at my lips. "Wanna be my bodyguard?"

—

Arza looked at the boy smiling brightly as he extended a single bar of chocolate toward her.

But her attention wasn't on him, it was on the chocolate.

She had always received everything she ever wanted. This was the first time someone had asked her for something in return but she didn't feel bad.

She didn't feel anything at all.

According to the books she had read, this was called a trade.

She thought about his offer.

Being a bodyguard in exchange for chocolate.

It was simple, maybe too simple, but for her, it solved one of her biggest problems.

Chocolate.

Back home, her maid had always handled her supplies, buying and storing them neatly in her storage ring but her mother had seized that ring and the maid hadn't followed her here.

So now, she had no way to get more.

But this boy… this boy said he would provide her chocolate, in return for her staying by his side, and occasionally protecting him.

The offer was too tempting to ignore.

Especially because it meant she could have this chocolate, the one she actually liked.

And for some reason she couldn't explain, her instinct told her to trust the boy as if every word that left his mouth was the truth. But that very feeling made her suspicious of him.

It was as if something deep inside her wanted to trust him… and another part wanted to doubt him even more.

The contradiction amused her.

Then, there was that familiar scent coming from the boy.

The scent of death.

She didn't know his name, not yet, but she decided she would stay close to him for a while.

To observe him, of course and definitely not just for the chocolates.

She extended her hand toward the chocolate he offered and took it softly, without a sound.

"I accept."

—

In the meantime, someone watched their little exchange with quiet amusement from some distance away.

Rael Von Ashborn, huh?

I wonder what kind of scream you'll make when…

A smile stretched across the being's face as he barely controlled his laugh.

"We'll meet again soon," he whispered, "And I hope you don't break too quickly."

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