Chapter 12

On most days, the Devil of Agartha was an idle king, but that didn’t mean he had no affairs to oversee. Whenever he was in his study, what awaited him was an endless pile of reports, not only from the leaders of the races under him but also from those beings secretly roaming the continent, who send news of the outside world to him from time to time.

It was late when Draven returned to his chamber.

On the way back, Erlos informed him, “Sire, I have handed over that jade pendant to Elder Leeora. She said that she will bring the human girl to her clan residence tomorrow, therefore I had that human girl continue staying in the guest room for the meantime.”

“Did I ask you?” came Draven’s bland response as he continued walking along the hallway with long strides.

Erlos wanted to roll his eyes, long used to his bad-tempered master. He was sure his master was interested in that human girl, otherwise, he wouldn’t go as far as waste precious magic to leave Agartha and cross such a distance. Sadly, his master was someone who was no good with words and couldn’t just thank him….

Erlos frowned as he tried to keep up with Draven’s long strides. After teleporting twice today, his body was drained of energy and his muscles ached. Normally, he would only be catching his breath while running behind his master, but after their adventure earlier, the elf was so exhausted he wanted to immediately retire to his own quarters.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t. As long as Draven was awake and moving about, it was Erlos’ job to blindly follow him everywhere.

“Sire, walk slowly, walk slowly! Why are you always in a rush? If you want, you can transfer the both of us towards…ahem… on another thought, I retract my statement. My body is already so exhausted another teleport will make me pass out—oh wait, this direction is wrong. Are we not heading to your sleeping chamber, Sire?”

Instead of replying to him, Draven took another turn, entering another hallway that led further to his own chamber. Erlos felt bewildered.

“S-sire, why are we going this way? Are you in the mood for a midnight stroll? The garden is on the other side.” Erlos could not help but whine, “Sire, you should get another companion for something like this and not trouble this poor, overworked servant of yours—”

“You should keep your legs working. I don’t want you to turn into a sloth,” Draven replied while continuing to walk with large strides. The pitiful young elf tried to match his pace as best as he could.

‘Sloth? Being your servant has made me the most active person ever on this entire continent.’

It took Erlos several seconds to realize that at the end of the familiar hallway was the guest room where that human girl was staying. The elf servant hid a grin, but his pointed ears twitched as his imagination soared.

Draven slowed down the more he neared that particular chamber, his expression pensive, looking as if he was trying but failing to focus his senses.

‘Why can’t I sense her presence, as if she is not in the palace at all?’

This was one of the reasons why he decided to keep that strange female creature, instead of throwing her into the human villages.

Since that female arrived at the palace, she was the only one whose presence Draven could not sense. From time to time, he would spread his power to sense each and every person’s presence and their activities inside the palace. Without even seeing them, he knew exactly their situation—all but this particular human girl who seemed not human at all.

Physical strength beyond what any human was capable of.

An ability to wield magic and use a shape-shifting spell.

A strange state that allows her to escape his senses.

…and a power that could summon him.

Draven stopped in front of the door of the guest room and looked at it, but no matter what, he still could not sense her presence. He asked the servants present outside, “Is that creature inside?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Erlos caught up to him at that point. “Is the human girl asleep now?” He then turned towards Draven. “Sire, should we wake her up?”

The servant explained. “I believe she is still awake. The High Elder left mere minutes ago, and the young lady just had her meal and medicine.”

Draven left without saying a word, leaving Erlos scratching his ears before following behind him once more.

The devil king only had one question in his mind.

‘What is stopping me from reaching her?’

Draven returned to his bed-chamber and he was greeted with a hoot by the wise bird waiting for his arrival. Draven went towards the window where Midnight, his snowy white owl was perched on the window sill, his big round eyes blinking at his master. Seeing his master pet the bird, Erlos went to prepare his bath.

After hearing a satisfied hoot, Draven looked at the dark sky. “I can’t sense her presence at all. Isn’t it strange?”

The owl nodded, wisdom clear in its big eyes.

Draven continued, “You know what you have to do.”

The owl nodded again lightly and spread his wings, as if excusing himself from the presence of the King. The owl flew away the moment Erlos returned from the side chamber. “Sire, your bath is ready.”

“Go retire for the night.”

Relieved that he could finally go rest in his own quarters, the elf servant bowed. “May you have a pleasant sleep, Sire.”

It didn’t surprise Erlos as whenever something troubled his master, he always preferred to stay alone.

Once Erlos left, Draven took his time taking off his clothes as he walked towards the side chamber. First his black boots, then his gloves and his long form-fitting tailcoat. His strong fingers unbuttoned his brown waistcoat and beige dress shirt, and by the time he entered the side chamber, he was clad in nothing but slim black trousers.

Messy black hair barely covering his ears, a symmetrical, angular face with defined lips, his broad shoulders led to a wide chest with chiselled muscles, before narrowing to a toned abdomen. A runic tattoo of a black dragon covered the left side of his chest, further enhancing his dangerous looks.

Coupled with his cold and serious face, the handsome manly appearance of the Devil of Agartha was nothing short of wicked, the type of rugged beauty that could rouse desires and corrupt even the pure.

However, the fear of his powers easily clouded the people’s judgment of him and no one dared evaluate his looks. Not only that, the temptation of his body was a sight that no female had the privilege to see.

After fully undressing, Draven stepped inside the pool of heated water waiting for him and sat with his eyes closed. Slowly, he let go of himself, allowing his body to sink deeper until his face completely went under the surface of the water and he held his breath. But all of the sudden, his calm was shattered by an unexpected memory.

‘That female creature—?’

It was his encounter with that strange human girl in the morning. Back then, that tiny thing was covered in blue-gold scales like a reptile, her eyes were completely pitch black as if darkness itself had swallowed them whole, but she quickly turned back into her original human form and escaped under her bed.

But there was a small detail he missed.

‘Her eyes…Her eyes…They are…?’