Within a grand meeting room, a very, very handsome boy and a woman sat face to face. Both of them had a polite and pleasant smile on their faces… but only they knew what was really going on behind those smiles.

Yeah, that's exactly how a third person might have described the scene.

But I knew better. I knew what was running through my head, obviously and I also knew what was running through hers.

Still, why the fuck did she drag me here like that?

I couldn't help but curse, staring at my clothes drenched in that slimy, dripping mess.

I felt filthy… but I didn't react because I had to stay composed.

I mean, sure, I was the one who said that wasn't a proper place to talk and yeah, I did suggest we go somewhere else…

…but the way she decided to do it didn't sit right with me.

After our little "chat" in the open space where I landed, she summoned her pet monster, the same frog abomination from the entrance test.

That breed was a family signature passed down the Maltherion family long before the Demon Realm was even founded… when they were just a tribe.

And the beast was still used after its formation, a nice and friendly family heirloom passed to every Maltherion matriarch for traumatizing students in orientation ceremony.

But I knew there was more to it.

According to Noah's lore book, the one he oh-so-generously provided when I created the game, this particular monster wasn't just some random mob.

Nope. It was a beast of one of the Kings back when they still roamed the world.

Honestly, I knew jack shit about these so-called "Kings." Noah never explained them properly and they never even appeared in the novel directly except some traces like this monster.

But one thing I did know, this frog abomination had to be connected to that goat freak from the Forest of Unmasked. Both of them had that lovely little ability to teleport things using their stomachs.

Which meant the Goat Monster was probably related to the Kings too and that the whole twisted forest had something to do with them.

Hell, I would bet my right arm Ashavar himself knew something about it and that was probably why he assigned her family as Noxvalen's guardians.

Or maybe there was some other reason altogether.

But that wasn't even the problem.

The real problem was how she dragged me after our little conversation.

She could have asked me nicely to follow her but no… she had to ask that damn thing to swallow me whole.

And unlike before, when it teleported straight to the orientation hall, this time it just… kept jumping with me in its stomach until we finally arrived here.

And only then did it decide to spit me out.

I mean, seriously, this had to be deliberate and I knew exactly why.

That woman wanted me to feel anxious and nervous… she wanted me to lose my composure.

All of this, all this slimy and disgusting nonsense was her cheap way of testing me.

Well guess what, lady, I don't break that easy and one day… I swear, I'll pay this back.

I looked at her as the same calm smile was plastered on her face… making her seem unreadable.

People always say understanding a woman is difficult… but that's only because they keep looking for the wrong thing.

A great philosopher once said, if you think you can't understand someone, if you think you can't read their thoughts, then give them something to think about… That way, you will always know where their mind will go next.

Naturally, I never bothered to remember the name of the philosopher. I care more about the teaching than the usual bravado of quoting some ancient philosopher for bragging or sounding wise.

His name was something… Crimson?

Or maybe something else entirely.

But who cares.

So, the point was simple. I needed something.

Something that would make her think but more importantly, make her think about something that would work to my advantage.

And I already knew that "something."

But if I said it out loud… there was about a fifty percent chance she would try to kill me or at least, that used to be the case before that bastard Ashavar decided to name me his successor.

Now, I knew for a fact she couldn't kill me. At least, not immediately and definitely not directly.

The reason was simple.

She was the mother of another successor, Arza.

And if she killed me here, in her own office of all places, it would mean a lot of things… None of them were good for her.

It would make her look cowardly, pathetic and worse, it would drag Arza's name through the mud.

And even if Arza herself didn't care about any of this political nonsense,

Morvana definitely did.

This woman would rather die than let her trump card's reputation be stained.

So, I didn't have to worry about dying for now but that didn't mean I could afford to make her my enemy.

She had countless other ways to kill me without ever getting her hands dirty and from the way the Demon King phrased that oh-so-gracious "succession,"

she would know exactly what I knew… that Ashavar had no intention of interfering in the academy.

So, I had to take my steps carefully.

But the word carefully just didn't sit well with me.

I mean, if she did become my enemy… that would be her loss and not mine.

Worst case, I could always disappear into the Forest of Unmasked for a few years.

Sure, it was dangerous, full of horrors beyond reason, but at least the monsters there were reasonable unlike the whimsical living beings outside it.

Still, that was my last resort. I had four other plans lined up in case "Operation Morvana" went sideways and the Forest of Unmasked was only if everything else failed.

It had been approximately a minute or two since we got here and finally, the plan I had been piecing together from the moment I saw Morvana today, was fully formed.

I took a deep breath and well, I didn't even need to smile because at this point it was my default setting now. My resting face was basically always smiling.

"So, Ms. Morvana… I would like to negotiate my death with you."

Yeah. That's how you start a negotiation, by taking full control before the other person even realises they have lost it.

It's the same trick I pulled with Astravore… except this time, the stakes were a little different.

"What do you mean?" Morvana raised an eyebrow,

that same calm smile was still on her face but I could see it.

The faint shift behind her eyes. Her brain was starting to move.

Perfect.

This was the first step.

Make her curious.

Once curiosity takes the bait, logic follows right behind it… and that's when you start pulling the strings.

"What I mean is very simple, Ms. Morvana…" I took a small deliberate pause, just enough to make her blink. "Make me your son-in-law."

As soon as the words left my mouth, an immense wave of aura exploded around us, so heavy it felt like even time itself had stopped or maybe that was just my imagination because I could see the dust… floating midair.

Ah, yes.

Here it comes… the motherly show of love.

Here we go again.

With those thoughts my smile deepened because the moment to strike was here.

—

Meanwhile, somewhere else within Noxvalen Academy, the students had already scattered to their accommodations, still reeling from the Demon King's shocking announcement.

In one of the upper dorms of the second-year division, a handsome boy with snow-white hair and crimson eyes sat leisurely on a luxurious couch, a soft smile curving his lips.

Around him, several students sat stiffly with their heads lowered and the air heavy with unspoken fear.

Father selected a human as his successor?

Why?

He was Varek Ashen Noctharion, twentieth son of the Demon King Ashavar and a second-year student of Noxvalen.

He just couldn't understand the reasoning behind such an absurd decision.

"How interesting," he murmured, and that smile of his deepened just for a moment.

The students around him trembled.

"Hey, Rio," Varek said casually, his tone light. "You're a human, aren't you? You must know something about him, don't you?"

The boy he addressed sat at the far end of the group, his clothes torn and his face marked with fading bruises.

"Y–yes, Your Highness," Rio stammered, immediately standing up.

"Good."

Varek's smile didn't waver, if anything, it grew a bit softer, kinder and infinitely more terrifying.

"Tell me everything you know about him."

He leaned back into the couch, crossing one leg over the other.

"And in the meantime…" his crimson eyes shone with quiet amusement, "someone send him a small present from me."

The students around him trembled, each of them knowing what it means to catch Varek's attention.

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