The Answer Is Up to You (10)

“If I kill you...!”

Immediately afterward, Parna said this and pointed her palm at the Demon King. She had no magic left; this was nothing but a bluff. She simply wanted to see how he would react when his life was in danger. Would he beg for his life pathetically? Or accept it without a word?

But the Demon King's reaction was quite different from what Parna had expected. He was smiling. He smiled sadly, as though accepting that this was simply how things had to be—that this was the way the world worked.

Beside him, Alice watched them with teary eyes, as if pleading, “Please, stop.”

“As long as I live, I will not let you harm Alice-sama or the Demon King-sama.”

Seeing Menou step forward to protect Alice and the Demon King, Parna felt as though fate were toying with her. She lowered her raised hand without a word and turned away.

“Menou... Thank you for siding with Alice. I am proud to have a subordinate like you.”

“You honor me... This is all thanks to Alice-sama and Kagami-dono.”

After exchanging those words with Menou, the Demon King happened to glance at Alice and Kagami. He saw Alice forcing the last remaining potion into Kagami's mouth and smiled. At the same time, he truly felt that if the beginning of the ideal he had sought had come at the cost of his own sacrifice, it was a small price to pay.

“But... we need to know the truth behind this situation. Estellera... what are you up to?”...