Chapter 183
Upon arriving at the hotel, Pastel took the hand of Lord Demon, who was escorting her, and stepped out of the carriage.
Her Pink eyes glanced sideways.
"Lord Demon, what do you think true love is?"
How curious.
『Hmm? All of a sudden?』
Lord Demon gestured to a hotel official. The official drove the carriage away.
『I am not sure.』
"Don't just brush it off by saying you don't know."
Lord Demon rubbed his chin.
『Usually, they say love is believing in what is not by one's side.』
pink eyes widened.
Gasp, that's completely romantic.
A highly suspicious question arose at the point where such a romantic answer immediately came out without much thought.
Lord Demon might be cool and composed on the outside, but could he actually be living with girlishly romantic thoughts on the inside?
That makes him a perfect match with Pastel!
Lord Demon looked up at the sky with a slightly wistful gaze.
『God is unseen, not by your side, and does not prove himself. They say that when faith wavers and love for God fades, that is precisely the opportunity to prove true love.』
Eek.
It was a religious story.
Completely unromantic.
Lord Demon looked up at the sky for a while.
『But I am not sure.』
His steps headed toward the hotel.
Ah.
Pastel chased after him with short steps. She subtly gauged his reaction before grabbing onto Lord Demon's arm, clinging to it as if hanging.
"Not that kind of thing. Melissa read me a fairy tale, and a love potion appeared in it. Something like, just one sip and you're a slave of love!"
Pastel quickly thought of a plausible excuse.
"After reading it, as a popular person, I felt both wary and curious. How should I put it? I thought, if someone showed the sincerity to make a love potion, wouldn't it be okay to consider them as a partner at least once, ahaha!"
Oh?
Wasn't my last statement very criminal just now?
Lord Demon looked down strangely at the girl clinging to his arm.
Flinch.
Pastel hurriedly added.
"Of course it is! A love potion requires a truly, truly immense amount of hardship and effort! It is an unprecedented achievement in the world! It's on the level of actually executing the empty promise of plucking a star from the sky to give as a gift!"
A twinkling star, she says.
Woah.
"Of course, of course! The other person never asked to receive such a gift! It's a very slight nuisance, much like suddenly confessing in front of the subjects and the Founding emperor, but it also makes you feel like you should at least acknowledge their sincerity!"
Now that I say it, it sounds right.
If they showed that much sincerity, shouldn't you give them a lover stamp?
Pastel couldn't find a single flaw in her statement. Perfect logic.
There was the minor issue that a certain pink-haired girl had just been munching on cookies and begged the fairy for a love amulet as a pastime, but it didn't seem that important. Regardless of the process, wasn't the result, which radiated hardship and effort, what mattered?
Lord Demon furrowed his brow.
『That is indeed a huge nuisance. To think that someone who was already the crown prince would suddenly confess his unrequited love during the Founding Emperor's celebration, which everyone attended to enjoy themselves. If he was going to be rejected, he should have been rejected quietly, yet he was rejected in front of all the subjects. It is fortunate that your mother was brilliant; if she had been a naive person, she would have been pressured by the atmosphere and accepted the confession even without liking him. There is no greater nuisance than this.』
Oh dear.
I feel like I brought up the wrong example.
Lord Demon must have had considerable lingering resentment toward his past romantic rival, as he continued speaking without pause.
『At the time, that bastard apologized, saying he got ahead of himself, and we all accepted it, but thinking about it now, his intentions are suspicious. Didn't he attempt an exercise of power because he tested the waters and felt like he was going to lose?』
Lord Demon's brow furrowed deeper.
『I thought it wasn't the case given his not-so-bad personality, but seeing the things he has been doing recently since becoming Emperor, it seems entirely plausible.』
A tsking sound was heard.
『A bastard like that deserved to be rejected in the first place. Good riddance.』
Ahaha...
Pastel awkwardly avoided his gaze.
Lord Demon really must have liked mom.
My heart feels complex and subtle.
Lord Demon, who had been speaking, seemed to snap out of it and looked down.
『Pushing oneself onto someone while emphasizing sincerity is a very malicious intent. It is an intention to exert pressure by stimulating the other person's guilt because a straightforward approach wouldn't work. Do not even entertain such a coward.』
Oh no.
It was definitely perfect logic, but because I gave the wrong example, Lord Demon became biased toward the wrong stance.
Pastel groaned and struggled. Even when Pastel and Lord Demon arrived at the entirely rented hotel floor and Lord Demon left for meal preparation, she groaned and struggled.
It feels like something isn't going well.
Since the popular person Pastel is a professional at relationship counseling, she should be seducing Lord Demon as naturally as flowing water, but somehow nothing is working out properly.
Where did it go wrong?
The groaning Pastel rummaged through her belongings. A triangular broken mirror shard was pulled out. She lifted it up with all her might.
"Mirror Friend!"
The Mirror Friend sparkled.
This Mirror Friend is a Soulmate who has shared life-and-death struggles with her ever since her survival in the Grand Mansion!
It was more than sufficient to consult about the love that would become a major turning point in Pastel's life.
"Precious Mirror Friend! Tell me! What is the problem?"
Pastel looked into the mirror.
A pretty girl with pink hair and pink eyes came into view. The girl's eyes blinked, and her eyelashes fluttered.
Boasting about one's looks is unbecoming for a popular person, so she was holding back. But there didn't seem to be any problem at all.
Isn't it impossible for an appearance level to be higher than this?
She asked her Mirror Friend for the most likely reason, but it couldn't provide an answer at all.
Pastel put the mirror back in her arms and groaned and struggled again.
"Where did it go wrong?"
"Pastel?"
A blonde girl approached from one side of the hotel corridor. She was precariously carrying a bundle of documents stacked as high as her head in her arms.
Melissa, who was sticking her head out next to the bundle of documents to check the front, smiled.
"This is great. I had something I wanted to say."
"Huh? About what?"
"How about we bring Ellie back slowly? Once cooperation with the Demon World Corporation goes into full swing, there will be more document work, and it's too much for me to handle alone."
Melissa slightly lifted the bundle of documents to show her. It wobbled slightly, looking precarious.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Since the Hawks were also dealt with, there would be fewer occasions for Ellie to be torn between national interests and her friend.
"Got it! I was personally busy, so I couldn't pay attention to it! Thanks for telling me!"
"Of course."
Pastel took over half of the bundle of documents and walked together with her. magic lighting softly illuminated the hotel corridor.
"Melissa, what do you think the cause would be if I failed at romance? No, wait. If I failed at flirting!"
Melissa smiled neatly.
"Are things not going the way you want with the Archdemon?"
Ugh, caught immediately.
Pastel felt slightly embarrassed.
"I threw out flirting that would make anyone else's face turn bright red, but Lord Demon had no particular reaction."
"What kind of statement did you make?"
"Wait a second."
Pastel cleared her throat, ahem. She fluttered her eyelashes and glanced sideways at Melissa.
A seductive voice whispered.
"May I ask for an escort to the hotel, Sir?"
Melissa's mouth fell open slightly. Her face turned red, and the back of her hand covered her mouth.
"It is quite effective. You're pretty."
"Right! Right!"
Pastel is a popular person, after all!
"But it doesn't work on Lord Demon at all, so I'm baffled! What on earth is the problem?"
Melissa looked troubled by the awkward topic.
"Since everyone has different tastes, wouldn't there be some things that just can't be helped?"
It sounded like an ordinary statement, but there was a hidden nuance suggesting that giving up on such a problematic age gap would be more honorable for both of them.
It must be too troubling a topic for a noble young lady.
"Don't be like that. Give me some helpful advice. We're best friends, aren't we?"
Pastel stared at Melissa with a pleading look. Her pink eyes wavered pleadingly.
Melissa just smiled, looking troubled.
They walked down the corridor for a moment without conversation.
"Like an adult..."
"Huh?"
Melissa hesitated before opening her mouth.
"I think you need to act like an adult. If you want to be recognized as an equal partner, you have to act with dignity like an equal partner."
Oh?
"Objectively speaking, Pastel, you have a somewhat frivolous side when dealing with the people around you. I am very happy to have that version of you as a friend, but I don't know if the Archdemon feels the same."
Oh, really?
As if she had touched a nerve, Melissa began to bring up words she had only kept inside.
"I haven't asked until now because I was afraid it would be incredibly rude. Is it true that the Archdemon washes your clothes and bedding without any maids?"
"Is that right?"
At first, they did that because they lacked the money to even buy magic stones to eat. Now, they are just continuing to do so because that's how it has always been.
In fact, there was also a sense of doing it on purpose for the sake of information security. Just because one has risen to a high position, hiring subordinates who have access to one's private life immediately is not a good judgment.
The reason Mr. Penguin found it difficult to plant a spy around Governor-General Pastel and had to deliberately test the waters through frequent face-to-face meetings was probably thanks to this principle of minimizing subordinates.
Upon hearing the reason, Melissa smiled neatly. There was a nuance suggesting she understood the reason, but thought it was absolute nonsense.
"Then who washes your underwear?"
Eh.
Pastel's thoughts stopped.
Melissa took a deep breath. She was about to let out a long sigh, but perhaps realizing that it was an undignified action, she held it in and exhaled slowly.
Blue eyes quietly met hers.
It was a gaze devoid of any reprimand or scolding.
However, Pastel let out a single hiccup.
Her pink eyes spun around.
The girl's face turned bright red with a poof.
"Oh my!"
What have I been doing all this time...?!