I Summoned the Demon King and Got a Dad - Chapter 21
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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21. The House of Helios Does Not Save the Grand Duchess (6)
First of all, black magic was magic that used mana rather than magical power.
The reason it was called black magic was because it was legally forbidden and morally criticized.
Fundamentally, it was completely different magic from the magical power of demons.
But fortunately, Elisia seemed to think he was not a demon, but rather a fallen mage of sorts.
“Wasn’t it?”
“No, you’re correct.”
And that was not a bad misunderstanding from Theodor’s perspective.
Theodor, who inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, brought paper and pen and began drafting a contract.
“But why did you come to the Duchy?”
He had clearly sent a letter of refusal to the Imperial Palace, so there was no reason for the princess to come all the way here.
It didn’t seem like she would really volunteer to be Shuria’s tutor either.
At Theodor’s question, Elisia hesitated before opening her mouth.
“You were the only man who ever rejected me.”
At her answer, Theodor burst into laughter.
What, was this some kind of ‘you’re the first to reject me’ problem?
“If the reason you rejected me was because of your deceased wife, then we could have a marriage of convenience with the condition that we don’t interfere with each other.”
…What did I just think?
He felt like his head had turned into a flower garden because of those two.
Feeling a strange sense of shame at having such thoughts, Theodor added conditions to the contract.
Looking at it coldly, he knew that marriage with Elisia would be beneficial in most situations.
But that didn’t mean he intended to modify the conditions and marry her.
The reason was simple.
Because he had promised Shuria not to marry anyone else.
“How about this?”
Elisia, who checked the contract Theodor handed over, nodded her head.
His conditions were simple.
As planned, she would serve as Shuria’s tutor and help with the Duchy’s affairs to some extent.
The duration would be until her divine power disappeared.
If Theodor intervened, her divine power would disappear immediately, but he intended to use her to completely erase Shuria’s magical power.
What Elisia took issue with was the last clause.
“Shuria inheriting the title won’t be easy.”
“My only blood relative will be Shuria.”
At Theodor’s confident words, Elisia shook her head.
“The problem isn’t bloodline. Even if you search through all the history books of the Empire, there’s no case of a woman inheriting a title.”
“Well, that won’t be a problem.”
A commoner becoming a Grand Duke was also a first in the Empire’s history.
Challenging impossible tasks wasn’t difficult for him the first time.
It wouldn’t be difficult the second time either.
And it wouldn’t be difficult the third time either. So it wasn’t particularly difficult for him.
At such confidence from Theodor, Elisia burst into loud laughter.
“I envy the confidence that allows you to say such things.”
From Elisia’s perspective, considering what Theodor had accomplished, saying such things was absolutely not an exaggeration.
He had risen to the position of Grand Duke by being recognized for his contribution to ending the war.
He had used black magic to save his daughter.
And he was even saying that using that black magic to eliminate divine power, something unheard of, was possible.
“Did you make a contract with the Demon Lord or something?”
It was a joke from Elisia’s perspective.
But for Theodor, it was just a reminder to be more careful.
“There’s no way something like a Demon Lord exists.”
Theodor tried to dismiss it by treating the Demon Lord as something that only appeared in legends or fairy tales.
But there was one thing he had overlooked.
“Most countries are trying to prevent rumors from spreading, but I didn’t expect even a Grand Duke to be unaware of that incident.”
Only then did Theodor’s first meeting with Shuria come to mind.
That first meeting where he had spectacularly kidnapped the princess while destroying the Royal Palace.
That was clearly a slip of the tongue.
“Pardon?”
At this point, it was better to pretend not to know until the end.
At Theodor’s question, Elisia’s expression became serious as she spoke.
“The Demon Lord exists, and he’s a very evil and wicked being.”
Well, he had kidnapped the princess.
And it was fitting to be called evil and wicked to that extent.
But wasn’t he not in a position to complain about being called a kidnapper?
Remembering the treatment Shuria had received in the kingdom, Theodor clicked his tongue low, thinking it was a bit unfair.
“Hearing the story, your sense of justice seems to be burning. Very much like the hero who ended the war.”
Elisia seemed to have misunderstood his actions a bit, but that wasn’t what was important.
Theodor, who had no energy to deny it, nodded as if to tell her to continue explaining.
Elisia continued her story.
“A few months ago, the Demon Lord appeared in the Cantabile Kingdom. Not content with kidnapping the kingdom’s princess, he summoned demonic beasts and turned the kingdom into ruins.”
“Pardon?”
???
Countless question marks appeared in Theodor’s mind.
For a moment, he thought it was a good thing.
Demonic beasts? He had never done such a thing.
Theodor was so flustered that for the first time since facing Elisia, his composure crumbled.
“The Demon Lord left behind a passage connecting the Demon Realm and Cantabile. Scholars called it a rift, and demonic beasts are crossing over through that gap.”
One might think demonic beasts were similar to animals, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Even in the Demon Realm, demonic beasts were troublesome.
If anything, they were similar to monsters that were thought to have existed in the Mortal Realm in the past.
They were of no help to the ecosystem and indiscriminately harmed demons and flora and fauna, so even the Demon Realm periodically subjugated demonic beasts.
But why were those things appearing in the Mortal Realm?
And what was this rift?
As Theodor calmly organized the situation, one hypothesis came to mind.
Is it that person again?
Shuria’s enemy and the one who summoned him to this world.
Reina, who had been Cantabile’s third queen.
Now he was starting to doubt whether she was even dead.
It didn’t make sense for someone capable of summoning him and creating passages between dimensions to be killed by a mere human.
“Being a hero with many responsibilities must be tough, don’t you think?”
At Elisia’s voice that reached him at that moment, Theodor simply nodded.
“That’s right.”
It seemed she thought his concerns were for heroic reasons.
Not knowing that the kidnapped princess was Shuria, and that he was the one who kidnapped her.
Originally, he didn’t care much about what happened to the Mortal Realm.
But if the Demon Realm was involved, that was a different story.
He didn’t know what structure this rift had or how it occurred.
But if humans could enter the Mortal Realm through the passage, that’s when problems would begin.
Since the structure itself was different from the Mortal Realm, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to survive, but mages who handled aura or used mana would be different.
It would be quite troublesome if they misunderstood that all these incidents were his doing and entered the Demon Realm.
From that point on, war would begin.
Sweeping away the humans wouldn’t have been difficult, but he had no hobby of creating unnecessary trouble.
I should quickly finish this contract and check on the situation in the Demon Realm.
“But why do you want to get rid of your divine power in this situation?”
With that level of divine power, she could provide some help in blocking the rifts.
No matter how much she disliked the Temple, wouldn’t it be right to help?
It was a moral thought unbelievable for a Demon Lord.
At Theodor’s words, Elisia let out a small laugh.
“I’m not a saint. I don’t want to sacrifice my life for others.”
Looking only at her shameless, confident attitude and self-assured personality, Elisia seemed like a precious Pink Princess who had been raised with care.
But what Theodor saw in her inner self looked nothing like that.
If she were truly a powerful Pink Princess and the Emperor cherished her, he wouldn’t have sent her away as a bride.
If the Imperial Court had known she possessed divine power, they would have surely revered her as a saint and made her help block the rifts.
And the Imperial Court would have taken all the credit for that achievement.
Why do all these princesses have so many complicated stories?
Even if he learned more, it wasn’t really his concern anyway.
Since it was better for emotions not to exist in relationships formed through contracts, Theodor decided not to ask further.
“I see.”
“That’s right.”
Indeed, that was the case.
The Emperor had fathered countless children, but only one among them was special—the Crown Prince.
Elisia was merely a doll of the Imperial Court.
She had been raised beautifully only to be sold under the pretext of marriage, but the Emperor did not love her.
Above Elisia were countless older sisters, all of whom had married as if being sold off for the Imperial Court.
She was the last remaining doll of the Imperial Court.
The most beautiful.
The most outstanding.
And therefore, a doll that had to be sold at the highest price.
Since she was fifteen, Elisia had never once doubted that fact.
However, she had never been without complaints either.
Her purpose had always been just one thing.
Elisia hesitated while watching Theodor’s expression, then opened her mouth.
“I want to experience true love like you do.”
…Judging by the flowery nonsense she’s spouting, she’s definitely a princess.
“I understand.”
Well, it wasn’t his concern anyway.
That’s why he gave that response, but.
It seemed Elisia interpreted it differently.
“I thought someone like you, who knows the power of love, would understand.”
“…Yes!”
Though it was a strange misunderstanding where nothing was correct.
Somehow the contract was established!
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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