Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Having successfully ditched Azrael's magic lessons, Rosa was now comfortably situated next to Faenor in the far corner of Demon Castle's library. As it was proper for every library within a castle, it was grand, spanning three floors and a space large enough to contain hundreds of thousands of books. All the bookshelves were neatly lined and dusted by maids on a regular basis. Meanwhile, the many librarians cared that no book would ever be out of place.

When they entered, the librarians had regarded Faenor with a bit of disdain, but upon noticing Rosa in his hands, their gazes had completely switched to her. They continued sneaking curious glances at her whenever the opportunity arose.

It should be fine. These are just librarians and maids. They are curious about the youngest Demon King's daughter. 

Rosa tried to calm herself. She knew that Alphegor would come the moment she shouted for him, but the fact that there were so many eyes on her again, made her uncomfortable. 

The people who sent me those cursed items couldn't be among them, right?

"Lady Morrigan?" Faenor broke her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" She blinked her eyes at him.

"I said we don't have to worry about being noisy here. The barriers in the library are completely soundproof. Unless somebody crosses the barrier you can be as loud as you want," the elf explained and pointed towards the gentle gray lines stretching around the little reading area Faenor had picked out. 

I'm so glad that Faenor always takes his time to explain things to me. Without him, I wouldn't know half the things I know now about this world.

"Wow!" Rosa clapped her hands, making loud noises on purpose.

"Yes. That way nobody needs to worry about bothering other library guests," Faenor smiled, then continued after a pause. "I wasn't sure that there would be sound barriers here in the Demon Kingdom, but I'm glad to see that demons have the bare minimum sense of courtesy."

Faenor doesn't like demons very much. Whenever nobody else is around, he doesn't bother hiding his thoughts anymore. Then again, I can't blame him. Alphegor did almost kill him.

"Let's take a look at the book," Faenor pulled the old book from his bag, and set it down on the table. He then put Rosa in his lap and opened the first page.

"Encyclopedia of Magic," He read the title, then flipped the page again. Rosa's heart beat as she eagerly watched the slightly faded letters. The book was obviously old and read many times before. 

"This is a compendium of magical gems both rare and common," Faenor begins. "It is by no means a full record of all magical gems, and I am sure that many remain hidden. However, I hope that even with the little bit of knowledge I was able to collect, will help to gain insight into various forms of magic that appear in our world. Arbane Inavaris."

I wonder if this Inavaris guy is a known scholar or one of those researchers everybody denies.

"Doctor Inavaris is well-known, but not exactly in a positive way. He was known as an eccentric obsessed with other worlds and researched gems only to find proof that other worlds existed," Faenor explained as if he could read Rosa's thoughts, and then looked her in the eyes. An uncomfortable knot formed at the bottom of her stomach.

Other worlds? Why did he look at me when he read that?

"There are many ways to classify gems but by far the most common way is by their magical potential. The scale goes from 1 to 10 with 1 including gems that can do simple magic like changing the color of hair and 10 including gems that can shape the very world around us. Very little is known about these more powerful gems, however it is without a doubt that they exist," Faenor read, and Rosa saw how he was observing her with the corner of his eye.

"Huh?" Rosa tilted her head, pretending to not have understood him.

"Is it still too difficult for you? That's alright, we can at least look at the drawings," Faenor suddenly smiled and turned the book a few pages ahead. There was a drawing of a white sort of rock there, it looked rather brittle and not very impressive.

I'm not a geologist, so I have no idea what this is. It looks like chalk or something similar to it.

"First entries probably won't be too interesting to look at, so let's skip ahead a little? How about we take a look at the gem that was gifted to you," the elf flipped ahead before Rosa could understand what he was doing and he stopped on a page where there was a perfectly drawn replica of Rosa's birthday present. One picture depicted it as mostly blueish-green, in another – it appeared purple, but in the largest one it was shown transitioning between the two colors.

"My gift?" Rosa pointed at it.

"Yes. It is called an alexandrite. On the magical potential scale it is rated as 8.5, a really powerful gem. Alexandrites contain the ability to change shape."

"Change shape?"

"Yes. With it you could become anything – an elf, a dwarf, a bird, even a melicheten," Faenor said solemnly, and Rosa paused at the unfamiliar word.

"What's me-me…?" she stuttered, unable to pronounce the word from the demonic language.

"Melicheten is the most numerous race on the surface. They have very short lives, they can't see in the dark or hear very well. They can't fly and their bodies are incredibly weak and susceptible to various illnesses. But despite all that, they are extremely adaptable and are masters of overcoming most difficult odds," Rosa's stomach churned as the description sounded familiar.

"Huh?" Rosa cocked her head, trying to feign ignorance.

"Yes, I am sure this race must sound very strange to you. But they look much like you and me. Only with round ears and soft skin. They are really quite unremarkable to look at," Faenor said with a smile.

Humans! He must be talking about humans. I've never heard anyone mention them before, but they do exist in this world as well.

"I'm sure in time, you'll learn to use your gem," Faenor said and closed the book shut. "But let's stop for today. I think I've read something more difficult than I'm supposed to." 

"Pretty," she forced herself to say in a cheery voice, but she got a feeling that Faenor somehow saw through her ruse.

But why would he suspect that I'm anything but a normal baby? Does it have something to do with the author of this book and his research about other worlds? Maybe I'm just overthinking it. Everything seems suspicious in this world. 

"Yes, we'll study this book a bit more seriously once you're ready," the elf said, and Rosa couldn't help but notice that he didn't say 'once you're older'.

***

As they exited the library, Rosa saw a familiar face approaching – Deziara with the same strict-looking, large breasted demoness that she was with the first time. Upon seeing Rosa, the girl furrowed her brows, and her expression turned to that of disgust once she looked at Faenor.

"Why are you always together with slaves?" the seven year old girl grumbled, and pointed an accusatory finger at the elf. "If you're my sister, you should have proper servants!"

"Princess Deziara, that is not for you to decide. It is the King's decision to make," the demoness reprimanded her, and gently nudged the girl towards the library. But she stomped her foot angrily on the ground.

"No! Nobody seems to care that there is only one slave with her! What if somebody attacks her?"

Well, there's actually two guards following me at all times, but they like to stay hidden. And I can't just explain that – it'd make me really suspicious.

"We must go to my father at once!" Deziara announced loudly, and began purposefully striding forward.

"Princess! We must get to your lesson," the demoness protested, running after the girl.

"No! This is more important than the lesson. I have lessons every day, but this issue has been unresolved for the longest time," Deziara looked at Faenor, then clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Follow, slave!"

With resigned sigh, the demoness followed Deziara and waved her hand at Faenor, indicating him to follow. Left with no other choice, the elf with Rosa in his arms, followed after the demon child.

Deziara went purposefully with her head held high in imitation of her royal father, and Rosa had to admit that she looked cute.

I bet you just wanted to get away from your lessons, but that's alright. Maybe you'll be less resentful of me if I can serve as your excuse to get away. Not like I had anything better to do anyway.

After a bit of turning through the corridors in a pattern unfamiliar to Rosa, they arrived at a set of double doors guarded by two bulky looking demons. Their stern gazes grew to that of confusion once they saw the demon child marching towards them.

"Let me through. I have urgent business with my father!" Deziara announced to them, waving her little hand as if trying to will them aside.

"Nobody is to disturb His Majesty while he works," one of the guards replied but didn't try to physically block the little princess.

"This is of utmost importance."

"Nobody is allowed inside."

The guard and Deziara stared at each other, neither one daring to blink, but the guard became increasingly more uncomfortable, his fingers flexing and relaxing his hold on the spear he held.

"What's this ruckus outside?" Alphegor's familiar voice resounded from behind the door.

"It's nothing, Your Majesty!" the guard replied, but Deziara stomped her foot and puffed out her cheeks.

"It is very important!" the girl said in a loud voice, no doubt hoping that Alphegor would hear her. Her efforts were rewarded, as the door swung open and the King emerged, looking annoyed.

"What's going on?"

Everybody but Rosa froze on the spot, and Faenor's hand began to tremble. Alphegor looked sternly over the scene, but his gaze softened once his eyes met with hers.

"Morrigan? What are you doing here?"

"F-Father, I have something important to discuss," Deziara spoke up, but her voice had lost all of its previous confidence.

"Oh, do tell," the King said, not removing his gaze from Rosa.

"Y-You see! My little sister is always together with s-slaves. Shouldn't she have proper guards and servants?"

Alphegor rubbed his chin for a moment, then looked at Rosa, a small grin playing on his lips. 

"You seem to be quite interested in your little sister, Deziara. Why is that?" 

"W-Well… I t-thought maybe we could get along. I-I don't get to play with my other sisters."

She doesn't? But we have twenty two sisters. Surely, at least one of them would be willing to play with her.

Alphegor's expression hardened, and he seemed to be deep in thought for a while. Then he walked up to Deziara looking down at the little girl with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Your mother didn't put you up to this, did she?" 

"W-Wha? No! Mother d-doesn't know I am here," Deziara stumbled over her words, and she looked like she was about to cry. 

There is no need to intimidate your child so much. She's about to burst into tears…

"Sister, no cry," Rosa protested, instantly drawing Alphegor's attention to herself. 

"Do you like your sister, Morrigan?"

Rosa restrained a frown. It's not like she liked Deziara. In fact, she was fully convinced that she was a spoiled brat. But the way Alphegor treated his other daughters was rather harsh.

"Yes," she said with as much conviction as she could muster. Wide smile appeared on Deziara's face while her teacher visibly frowned.

"Most excellent. Lady Asdeus, I trust you wouldn't mind teaching Morrigan together with Deziara?"

"Wha–? Teach Princess Morrigan?" The demoness looked at Rosa with confusion, her black curls falling over her shoulder.

"Yes, I would be most grateful if you started her studies a bit early," Alphegor turned his charm up to a ten, and the teacher almost melted into a puddle under his gaze.

So that's how he has twenty th- twenty four daughters. Skirt chaser!

"I– Of course, Your Majesty! It is no trouble at all."

"Wonderful!" Alphegor's expression turned back to normal, and he addressed Faenor. "You can entrust Morrigan to Lady Asdeus now. Dismissed."

Faenor didn't look too pleased with this decision, but nodded and handed Rosa over to Lady Asdeus. She took her somewhat awkwardly, her large chest squishing Rosa from both sides.

How did it end up like this? I'll get smothered to death at this rate.

"I trust you'll do everything to keep Morrigan and Deziara safe while they're under your watch," the King said with a sharp edge to his voice. Lady Asdeus flinched a little, then smiled.

"Yes, of course, Your Majesty! You have nothing to worry about."

Alphegor nodded and walked over to the woman, leaning close. The demoness blushed and wriggled nervously under his face.

I swear if you kiss her, I will fart on your face while you sleep.

But Alphegor gently rustled Rosa's hair instead and then moved away. He was almost back at his office, when a quiet cough resounded through the hall. Deziara was fidgeting on the spot, her cheeks bright pink, not daring to look him directly in the eyes. He chuckled and then went over to rustle her hair as well.

"Behave, girls," he said, and disappeared behind the heavy doors.

Nobody could describe the expression Deziara had at that moment. Her eyes were wide as saucers and sparkling in delight. Her lips were twisted in a goofy grin, and she held her cheeks with her hands, barely containing a delighted squeal.

"Did you see that, Lady Asdeus? Father patted me! He actually patted me," The girl jumped up and down in joy, waving her hands in the meanwhile.

Was Alphegor really so cold towards his other daughters that a simple pat on the head would warrant such a reaction? Maybe I should push him to pay at least a little bit more attention to them. They are just children after all. 

Rosa frowned, hoping that in the future he would be nicer towards her half-sisters. If he showed affection more equally towards them, then it would be less likely for them to get jealous of Rosa and try to murder her.