The moment Asmodeus attacked he released all his frustration, knowing that Aki wasn't at fault and it would be pathetic of him to keep shouting and blaming her.
Asmodeus looked at her and saw the pretty face of the black-haired woman turning pale, and so he shook his head, lifting his lips bitterly, smiling at his childish temper.
'Well, thanks to that, I am only half as pissed... let's find her.'
His raven wings grew with a tinge of pain as they tore his back, and unfurled, beautiful, glossy feathers fluttered across the guest room, causing Aki and the other elves to gasp.
"Asmodeus...? You're truly him?!" Aki's pupils dilated as she staggered, watching all the women behind him discarding their human figures and transforming into devils.
The only reason he hid most of the features was to avoid Yumiko's homecoming being ruined. So It wasn't just his wings that he revealed but his horns and the black exoskeleton covering his arms and legs up to his elbows and thighs.
'She looks terrified, am I that ugly?'
"Ah... did you not believe it before? That I was the new Demon King?" A cold voice, yet filled with a sense of pride and another emotion. Aki thought this was his disappointment, not in himself but in her and the Inukami clan.
"D....D....Demon King?!" Many of the Inukami warriors began to back away, their bodies under pressure from the aura naturally released by the demons, especially Asmodeus and Velvet who acted no different from normal.
"The prophecy! Ah.... this cannot be.... what is going to happen...." Aki whispered while looking at the demons with glassy eyes, tears building up as she seemed to imagine the end of her clan.
Her body staggered, falling over a rock because of her current mental state, before a gentle gust of wind flew past her, and a thick, muscular arm lifted her body off the ground. The flutter and swish of huge black wings entered Aki's ears.
"Silly fox, why are you so dramatic?" A charming voice, with a slight chuckle, teasing the woman as if he wasn't seething with rage.
"Why...? Shouldn't you want to kill us all for this, for trying to marry your wife to another?"
Asmodeus didn't deny that it made him want to kill all the old, wrinkled elders.
However, he could still think rationally. Would this make Yumiko happy? These people were her last remaining family and did the elders even know about his and Yumiko's relationship in the first place?
'For all those old people knew, I could be the same as the other humans keeping beastkin slaves. However, I hate their guts if they do not force anything after this. I will merely ask for renumeration instead of massacre.'
"You should just think about how to help us meet and solve the issue. If they don't learn from their mistakes, then there will be consequences."
Aki's body trembled inside the arms of Asmodeus—she feared to match his eyes. Yet the aura flowing into her body from such a close range was enough to make her feel as if she was burning up from his immense heat, and she felt bewitched by his sweet scent.
She turned to several of her subordinates who were further away, their eyes unable to look away as their legs quivered in terror.
"Hurry, and bring the princess here. I don't believe there is a need to follow the elder's request anymore, lest we lose our entire tribe."
"I wonder where Yumi ran off to...?" He scanned the air near the ritual grounds; because of the strange barrier that protected this village, he struggled to sense the locations of his lovers, making this annoying. However, Aki began to point at likely places.
Yuina approached the two and held out her hand to Yuina, both women with blushing cheeks, while Asmodeus watched Yuina's movements. He didn't push her away or mention the incident. Yet when she noticed his gaze, she gave him a polite and elegant bow.
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"Brother Asmodeus, forgive me for my foolish actions. I swear to never partake in such a stupid matter again."
'I should probably hear her explain first, but for now, I am hungry.'
"Good, your apology is accepted. Now explain yourself and what the plan was for marrying Yumiko to another male. Though I will try not to wipe your entire race off the planet... I will do my best to be understood-Ahhh?!"
He let her stand as her face rose—he met her purple eyes with a cold and harsh stare until Yumiko pinched his waist and looked up at him with an angry pout.
"Don't be so angry. Didn't I just soothe your anger with my body?"
The fox girls gasped at the implication of that statement. Yuina looked embarrassed, and the last remaining fox woman looked curious about how she soothed him in the sky. Aki was quite the naïve and innocent woman, despite her actions, it seemed.
"Haha, fine, I won't kill anyone until I hear her explanation... you little devil, stop putting your hand inside my robe... do you want to be eaten again?"
"Mhm~ being eaten sounds good. Shall we go to my room? Tonight, I feel so happy!"
Asmodeus could only grimace and smirk while his demon eyes gazed at the two tiny lights of mana glowing inside her abdomen, the two precious treasures, as if sleeping in a hidden vault.
"As long as you take it easy, then it's fine."
After returning to her bedroom and allowing Yumiko to change her clothes and rest, Yuina began explaining everything, and Asmodeus soon understood her actions.
"Asmodeus, our tribe and clan are very weak right now... the entire fox population. Although Aki and I have trained most of our lives, we cannot face the might of the other clans... We are on the brink of losing our right as a great tribe because the damn Fenrir clan have an issue with us." Yuina spoke with disdain on the last part, clicking her tongue.
"They would crush us sooner if I didn't keep resisting. Their royal family wanted me to marry one of their useless abandoned heirs. We kept going fighting, but we were reaching the limit... Even Aki was almost...." A sense of sorrow and desperation flowed from Yuina's body, which caused Asmodeus to sigh.
'Though I would normally not care, this girl is to become my family... Family.... something I always adored. Then, could a brother really leave her to suffer? Even if Yumiko is happy, would she remain happy if this tribe vanished? Now that her souls seem to have fused...
I cannot treat them like others.'
"Tell me what I should do." Asmodeus shrugged, his arms lifting the sleepy Yumiko into his embrace and sitting on the edge of her bed with a bounce.
"You nee--"
"Princes!!!" A voice interrupted them before a messenger with an envelope stamped with the Fenrir clan marking rushed inside. "Urgent news from the Empress!"
Asmodeus watched Yuina's expression as she opened the black envelope, turning from ugly to disgusted, and finally, she looked full of despair. It seemed like she lost all will to live.
"Ah... they made their move—there is an imperial ball being held in two weeks, and they are asking me to dance with their shameful rejected heir!"