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"No one could defy time... even Dad couldn\'t..."

"It’s okay. There are ways. Just trust me."

"..."

With a determined expression, Ruby grabbed Lulu who was shaking, and spoke firmly.

"...Sis, you don’t need to run away."

"Huh?"

"You are better than me. If I’m eliminated, you will be the Demon King, right...? But then why..."

"Well, that wasn\'t the problem."

Lulu knew that Ruby was being educated diligently by their parents to be the next Demon King.

And she knew that she didn’t have to run away.

But Ruby just smiled faintly at her.

"Actually, I don\'t want to be the Demon King either."

"...What?"

"Even if I become the Demon King tomorrow, I still will be under our parents\' influence for centuries, right? So let\'s hide our demon lineage and live happily in the future. Okay?"

"But... What if our parents are still around then?"

As Lulu asked with cold sweat, Ruby stroked her hair and answered.

"It’s okay. Haven\'t you heard about the commotion with the Hero lately? The Hero will overthrow our parents."

"...Huh."

"So don\'t worry too much, okay...? I will figure something out."

Then, Ruby helped Lulu up, comforting her as they held hands and walked down the corridor together.

...I have to protect Lulu no matter what.

In fact, Ruby didn\'t have much of a choice.

From the moment she was born, she had been groomed as the future Demon King, who would have ruled over humans for her entire life.

While Lulu was in agony due to the indoctrination and abuse, Ruby was gradually adapting, as it was due to her being a pure-blood demon with the blood of the Demon King flowing through her veins.

But regardless, she didn\'t really have the desire to become the Demon King.

She simply wanted to protect her precious sister, Lulu, and escape from their parents who abused them both.

Furthermore, the Hero was already beginning to invade the Demon King’s Castle.

In such a situation, the option of fleeing to a peaceful world in the future seemed incredibly appealing to Ruby.

"This is sealing magic... Hibernation magic... Life preservation and aging suspension magic too... No, sealing magic froze the body so it shouldn\'t matter...?"

Because of that, since the day when Lulu was almost beaten to death, Ruby began to immerse herself in mastering sealing magic.

Until the era of peace arrived, she had resolved to be sealed together with her sister.

- Crash...! Rumble...!!!

"Demon King!! Show yourself!!!"

But, before she could fully master the sealing magic, that day arrived.

"Sis...! What should we do?"

"..."

The Hero arrived at the Demon King\'s castle much earlier than expected. In Ruby\'s eyes, his power seemed incredibly strong, and even their parents seemed unlikely to win.

"...Lulu, let\'s go."

"Huh?"

"Let\'s leave, to the future."

If they stayed, they would surely be killed under the pretext of removing future threats. Even if they escaped, there would be nowhere for them to go in a world where humans had triumphed.

"Wh-where is this?"

"I found this place when exploring. I already cast various protection spells, so it should be safe."

Ruby barely managed to escape from the Demon King\'s Castle with Lulu, and they settled down in a small, secluded cave on the Southern Continent.

"So, see you in a thousand years, okay? Lulu?"

"Yeah... Sis..."

Even though she hadn\'t fully learned sealing magic yet, there was no other choice. If their sealing was delayed even a little, they would surely be pursued by the tracking party that detected them.

- Crackle...!

Ruby, willing to take the risk, for her and Lulu’s safety.

"T-The signal ends here...!"

"Damn it… we lost them again?"

Watching the pursuers futilely searching for their traces, Ruby, relieved, quietly closed her eyes, thinking that the sealing had succeeded.

If it continues like this... there shouldn\'t be any problem.

The seal, created by Ruby, who had talents as a demon king, successfully repelled intruders, and it seemed to continue like that from the last thought she had before falling asleep.

"I never thought such treasures would be hidden here..."

"How did you manage to find such a place?"

...?

Many years later, when the seal was about to be released, people wearing black robes invaded the cave, and Ruby regained her consciousness.

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"AAAAAHH!!!"

"Well, it\'s a shame. We can’t even approach the seal, let alone touch it. It must have been quite a powerful being."

"Still, it\'s fortunate that we can extract the magic using spells. We can even use it as a battery."

Lulu and Ruby\'s hell began at the hands of that mysterious group.

“With this, the Justiano family will rise again!”

"Marquis Hylin will become even stronger. It\'s all thanks to you."

"Haha, don\'t mention it."

"Still, we need to be cautious. This is the territory of the Starlight Duchy. Besides, there are rumors that the duchy is moving its residence to this area..."

Introduced as Count Justiano and Marquis Hylin, the nobles, and their entourage turned Lulu and Ruby into mere fuel tanks.

"Aaaah..."

"By the way, it\'s quite noisy."

"That\'s true."

Because she was relatively stronger, Ruby was able to resist effortlessly, but Lulu was the problem.

“Shall we use a soundproofing spell?”

“That would be great.”

Stop... just stop...

Realizing that draining Ruby\'s power was inefficient, those who noticed focused on extracting Lulu\'s demonic energy, continuing until she completely lost her powers as a demon.

I\'d rather they just took away my power....!!!

Watching from within the seal as her consciousness returned, Ruby shed tears of blood and screamed several times, but her voice reached no one.

"AAAAHH!!!"

"W-what is this...!"

"Ugh!?"

That was, until Lulu, who had been evaluated as having no useful value and had even her last remaining demon energy drawn out, went on a rampage to the point where even her seal was shattered.

"A-Anyone sav–!"

"Argh!!"

The cave became a mess, and everyone who survived fled. And no one ever returned to the cave again.

"Where... where is this? I, I am Lulu. And... um....."

No... Lulu!!

And it was the same for Lulu.

After the terrifying rampage, Lulu lost her memory and power.

She finally left the cave in confusion and Ruby never saw her again for a long time.

“... Ugh! Why, why is there a stone here?”

She completely lost her resistance against the ‘Stigma of Misfortune’ that their father had drawn out to bring out her power as a demon.

...

At first, she harbored a faint hope that Lulu would regain her memory and return to the cave, but she never came back after that day.

... Despicable.

From that day on, Ruby couldn\'t sense Lulu\'s energy anywhere in the world, and from that day on, her perspective shifted.

Humans are despicable and hateful.

The latent qualities of \'Demon King\' deep within her awakened as a result of that incident.

Of course, she didn\'t become the perfect Demon King overnight, but the fact that her thoughts, which had never considered becoming the Demon King, changed was important.

I hate humans...

They were monsters that cackled while extracting her and her sister\'s demonic energy for a long time, and they didn\'t even bat an eye at her sister\'s cries.

The growing hatred toward such monsters, combined with her awakening as the Demon King, gradually engulfed her.

Then... they should all… die.

And so, the new Demon King was born after a thousand years.

"Hehe, they won\'t find me here, right?"

"...?"

That would be the case if not for that chance of encounter.

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"...Huh?"

One day, while playing hide-and-seek in the forest near the mansion, a small and cute silver-haired boy accidentally entered the cave in the woods.

"W-what\'s this...?"

Since the seal was about to be released and the barrier had already been dismantled by the nobles, the boy was able to get in easily. The boy looked curious and began to approach Ruby, who was floating in the air.

"...Pretty."

The first words uttered by the boy, upon seeing Ruby floating in the air, were fitting for someone of his age.

- Get lost.

"Eep...!"

However, Ruby was not in a state to accept such words at the time.

Due to her awakening as the Demon King and her despair of losing her sister, she harbored a deep hatred for humans to the point of wanting to tear them apart on sight.

"Um… Excuse me… But you look tired....."

Yet, despite Ruby\'s cruel voice, Frey hesitated and asked.

True to his word, Ruby was on the verge of starving to death.

The sealing magic she used became weak towards the end because she didn’t master it properly.

And the nobles exploited that gap to drain her power.

Because of these variables, she regained her consciousness before the seal was broken, causing her to starve.

"M-Maybe... you need help..."

- I said get lost.

But Ruby simply responded with a glare full of killing intent. She had no intention of seeking help from the detestable humans.

While she harbored a desire for revenge against humans as the Demon King, she knew that the boy before her would likely just play with her like everyone else.

For Ruby, who had only learned from her parents and experienced the depravity of humans firsthand, it was an obvious outcome.

"Hiiiii..."

- Hmph.

That was why she looked like she knew it would happen, and the boy ran out of the cave with a frightened expression on his face.

Is he going to call other people? Then they\'ll just use me as an experiment again.

"Frey! Where did you go!?"

"M-Mommy..."

If they even try. I\'ll release all my stored power and self-destruct.

Ruby closed her eyes, she knew that even if the boy didn’t bring anyone, she would still die due to starvation.

But until dark night fell, there was no sign of people nearby.

...Is this the end?

While scoffing at the fact, Ruby closed her eyes with a slight hint of fear at the thought of her impending death.

Really... like this…

Even though she had awakened as the Demon King, she was still just a young girl.

…

She couldn\'t remain calm in the face of imminent death.

- Drip...

At that moment, a single tear flowed from Ruby\'s eyes as she pictured her sister, who used to play and smile with her when they were young.

"Um, hello."

- ...!?

The voice she heard in the morning echoed in the cave once again.

"...W-would you like to have dinner?"

Wearing a robe, the boy stood in front of her with a basket full of food. Judging from his demeanor, he seemed to have sneaked out of the mansion under the cover of night.

- I told you to get lost.

"B-But I feel like you’ll die if you don\'t eat..."

Although the boy was still very frightened by Ruby\'s voice filled to the brim with killing intent, he began to move forward step by step with trembling legs.

"Eek!"

- Heub...

As he continued to approach, trembling and terrified, the boy started pushing food into Ruby\'s mouth while she remained suspended in the air.

This is...

The first food he pushed into her mouth happened to be wheat bread, one of Ruby\'s least favorite foods in the world.

"H-how does it taste...?"

...

As Ruby, with the food in her mouth, wrinkled her nose in disdain, she responded with a slightly puzzled expression upon hearing his question.

- I can\'t chew, so how could I taste it?

"...Oh."

Upon hearing her reply, the young boy started to make a dumbfounded expression. Even to Ruby, he looked quite adorable.

"J-Just a moment."

- What are you up to now...

"Munch Munch..."

- Hey, you...?

Meanwhile, after being lost in thought for a moment, the boy suddenly removed the wheat bread from Ruby\'s mouth and closed his eyes as he started to chew on the bread.

- Heub...!?

"H-how about this...? Is it tasty...?"

After kindly chewing the food and putting it into her mouth, Frey asked a question filled with pure anticipation.

- What\'s your name?

"I-I\'m Frey."

- Alright, Frey. When the seal is broken, I\'ll kill you first.

"H-Hiiiiik...!"

And that’s how it all started.

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"T-T-T-Today I brought egg sandwiches..."

"T-Today it\'s potato soup... Oh, sorry. My mom said vegetable soup is healthy."

"Today... I prepared rye bread. I, I don\'t like this."

Since that day, Frey had come to the cave without fail every day.

"Today\'s salmon sandwich, Ruby. Huh? You don\'t like salmon?"

"Today\'s tomato stew. Our butler made it for us..."

At first, Frey only brought hard food without realizing it, but soon he began to bring soft or liquid foods, understanding Ruby\'s situation.

"Um, hey... that... is that a person...?"

"I-is it? Should we check it out... or not?"

"You, you guys! Go away!!"

"Y-Young Master? We’re sorry...!"

That wasn\'t all.

He also protected Ruby from the increasing number of visitors and at one point, he worked all day long to create a secret passage connecting this place and the secret hideout.

"Ruby...! There\'s dust in your hair again...!"

"Wait. I\'ll wash you."

"You don\'t want to? No! Mom said it\'s bad if you don\'t wash."

Furthermore, as the day of the seal\'s release approached, he even washed her with a bright smile.

- Leave, human.

- Even if you do well, it\'s useless. When the seal is broken, I\'ll kill you first.

- Touch my body and you will die painfully.

Initially, Ruby despised Frey and found him irritating.

Since he was human, she thought that there was certainly an ulterior motive behind his kindness. Therefore, she didn\'t even bother to ask him why he served her without reason.

There was no such thing as an innocent human. Surely he also noticed her usefulness to the nobles and was striving to gain her favor.

Do you think I didn\'t notice your motives?

So Ruby resolved to use him, likely a noble\'s child, to her advantage.

She would play along with his tricks, infiltrate the Empire, and build up power and influence. Then, she would destroy everything and seek revenge against humanity.

When the seal is broken, I\'ll use you.

She made such a promise with a venomous look in her eyes.

"..."

One day, Frey suddenly stopped coming to the cave.

I knew this would happen. Humans are like that.

Waiting for Frey to come for two days in a daze, Ruby eventually felt intense betrayal and muttered to herself.

- Growl...

But as her always-filled stomach churned, and dust settled on her head, Ruby\'s gaze began to waver.

What if something happened...

Unconsciously thinking such thoughts in that situation, Ruby began to shake her head vigorously.

Don\'t be ridiculous. There\'s no reason to worry about that boy…

- Crash...!

...?

But at that moment, she heard the sound of something being kicked outside the cave.

- Y-Young Master has been kidnapped...! Find him...!

- Damn it, where are the guards...!

- W-We need to inform the family head quickly...

Listening to the commotion, Ruby heard panicked voices from all directions.

"S-Sister Vener...? Why are you suddenly doing this...?"

"Haa, haa..."

And in the distance, Frey and a girl were visible, the girl panting heavily.

"Your family... has destroyed our innocent Hylin family."

"Huh?"

"I\'ve lost everything. Now, I\'m here... to seek revenge."

"Uuuu..."

As the girl called Vener spoke, pointing a sword at Frey\'s neck, Frey started to stutter in fear.

"I-I don\'t know what you\'re talking about... I didn\'t do anything wrong, sis..."

"Wait, I sense someone\'s presence."

Still pointing the sword at him, Vener\'s eyes turned cold as she glanced in Ruby\'s direction.

"Come to think of it, you used to come here often."

"N-No, I didn\'t... I swear!"

"Who\'s there? Speak up. I\'ll spare your life if you tell the truth."

Then, Vener began to interrogate Frey, choking him with her hand.

"...There\'s no one."

"Haaa?"

"T-There\'s... no one here... sis..."

Frey answered, his eyes filled with terror as his tears filled eyes gazed at her.

"Well then... things just got easier."

Hearing that, Vener stiffened her expression and raised her sword.

"D-Did my family do something wrong...?"

Frey, who was trembling at the sight of her, began to cry and speak to Vener, who was holding both of his wrists.

"Y-yes, that\'s right..."

"T-then... can you just end it with me alone?"

"... What?"

Hearing those words, Vener furrowed her eyebrows.

"C-Can you just... kill me alone...?"

"..."

"M-my... My sister... and my mom... don\'t hurt them... I\'ll die anyway... pl-please... heu... heuk..."

Despite his fears, Frey pleaded towards her with tears staining his cheeks and closed his eyes tightly.

- Rumble...

Watching him, Vener’s hand that held the sword began to shake uncontrollably.

...What\'s going on?

Meanwhile, Ruby, who had been watching the scene absentmindedly with an invisibility spell, felt her gaze fixed on Vener\'s trembling hand.

Is she a human?

Feeling like her entire understanding of the world was being shattered, Ruby\'s gaze was fixed on Vener\'s trembling hand.

- Zzzt...!

"Geuhhh!?"

Moments later, Vener collapsed to the ground in the cave, a spark suddenly piercing her chest.

...I-I’m not helping the boy.

"...?"

Just a family name of interest came up…

With that thought, Ruby quietly began to create a clone to step out of the seal.

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"What\'s... this?"

Frey had just experienced all the situations and inner thoughts in real time through the Fourth Ordeal.

"I never had memories like this..."

With a pallid face, he alternately glanced at young Vener, Ruby, and himself.

"...Is this real?"

- Rumble...

"This is all real...?"

His gaze gradually became filled with horror.