Unexpectedly, yet somehow fittingly, Theresa and Ermangarde got along surprisingly well.
Then again, Theresa wasn’t like her brother Theresis, who wore a grumpy, resting Sarkaz face all day long.
Rising from a common Sarkaz bloodline, Theresa remained kind and down-to-earth even after becoming the Demon King, so hitting it off with the girlish Ermangarde was actually quite natural.
Unfortunately, as the Demon King, Theresa had a mountain of tasks to handle every day.
Her chat with Ermangarde lasted less than half an hour before it had to end.
“Indeed.
I will keep Mr.
Fremont’s token safe.
As for tomorrow’s meeting, would you be interested in sitting in, Ermangarde?”
“Ah…
let me ask first.
I won’t end up hearing something I shouldn’t and getting silenced forever, right?”
Even Theresa couldn’t keep her composure at Ermangarde’s “profound wisdom,” letting out a soft chuckle.
“Haha, of course not.
Lucifer has sat in on several meetings, and he’s perfectly fine, isn’t he?”
Sitting on the side, trying to play it cool and aloof, Lucifer suddenly looked up in confusion, his eyes full of bewilderment.
Wait.
How did he get caught in the crossfire out of nowhere?
“Alright, it was just a joke.
As long as Theresis and I are in Kazdel, you two are safe.”
“Does that mean if you two aren’t around…
Mmph!”
Before Ermangarde could even finish her sentence, a sudden Grasp of the Undying clamped down over her mouth.
“I just remembered I haven’t fed Warfarin at home yet.
I’ve got things to do, gotta go.” Lucifer didn’t know if Theresa was holding back her laughter, but he was definitely struggling to keep a straight face.
Dragging the physically silenced Ermangarde, he prepared to make his escape.
Theresa watched as Ermangarde was practically kidnapped out of her office by Lucifer, unable to help but laugh.
“My, Lucifer and Ermangarde are certainly lively.
What a shame, I wanted to chat a bit more.”
But with Kazdel’s affairs calling, Theresa could only put away the Lich Court’s token and return to her heavy workload.
It wasn’t until they were two corridors away from Theresa’s office that Lucifer finally let go of Ermangarde’s mouth.
“Phew…
What was that for?!
I almost suffocated!”
“I was suffocating just listening to your answers, girl.”
Lucifer complained as he pulled a tissue from his pocket to wipe off the drool Ermangarde had left on his palm.
He seriously wondered how Ermangarde had survived in Leithanien with her level of emotional and logical intelligence, especially being a Sarkaz.
Was Fremont shielding her too well, or did Leithanien have special treatment for Sarkaz and idiots?
If it was the latter, Lucifer wouldn’t mind smuggling himself over there to slack off too.
Lucifer let out a long sigh.
Regardless, his wonderful encounter with Ermangarde was coming to an end.
Even if only temporarily.
But after taking a few steps, Lucifer realized Ermangarde was still tailing him.
“What are you doing?”
In his confusion, Lucifer almost let slip his modern, silly slang.
“Uh…
going back with you?
The meeting doesn’t start until tomorrow, right?”
Ermangarde answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world, like an old married couple living together, completely throwing Lucifer off.
“Wait, seriously?
Isn’t it better for you to stay here?
It’s not like the palace lacks guest rooms.
Why are you coming to my house?”
“Ah, well…”
Ermangarde’s reaction and behavior made Lucifer seriously suspect that when Liches hid their phylacteries in pocket dimensions, they deposited their brains there as well.
It made no sense.
If they swapped genders, Lucifer would probably have been flamed online into depression by now.
“Well…
mostly because the Sanguinarch is here!
It feels super unsafe!”
Ermangarde shuddered at the mention of the Sanguinarch, as if speaking of a tiger.
“But Theresa is here too.
And as long as you don’t trigger the Sanguinarch’s pet peeves, he generally won’t bother targeting you.”
“That’s different!
Besides, your house is so huge, surely there’s room for one more person?”
Although Ermangarde got along well with Theresa, she really didn’t want to trouble her.
And for some reason, perhaps because Lucifer was the first person she got to know in Kazdel, Ermangarde instinctively felt that staying close to him would be better and safer.
“…”
Lucifer wanted to say: “What a toxic girl, seriously.”
But seeing Ermangarde’s pitiful expression, a light bulb went off in Lucifer’s head, and he got a new idea.
“Well, staying at my place isn’t out of the question, but everything comes with a price.”
“Gulp…
and what is the price?”
Under Ermangarde’s slightly fearful yet oddly expectant gaze, Lucifer slowly spoke, “I want your blood for rent.”
Ermangarde blinked her blue-red eyes and asked Lucifer in confusion:
“Blood…?
Do you Vampires actually drink the blood of other Sarkaz?”
“That shouldn’t be too surprising.
Some highly dysfunctional Sanguine families even feed on their own blood relatives.”
It was said that the Sanguinarch had personally slain his own elder brother, though whether he absorbed his brother’s blood remained unknown.
And putting the Scavengers aside, the blood of certain Sarkaz held far more collector’s value than flavor to today’s Vampires.
Ermangarde didn’t know much about Vampires to begin with, and she was completely hoodwinked by Lucifer’s bluff.
“Oh…
then go ahead…
please be gentle…”
With that, Ermangarde gently rolled back the black fabric wrapping her arm, extending her delicate arm to Lucifer, indicating he could take a bite now.
Yet her slightly fearful expression looked exceptionally cute at this moment.
But Lucifer had just consumed blood not long ago, and Ermangarde’s blood wasn’t exactly mouth-watering; his mind was perfectly clear.
“?”
“W-what’s wrong?
Isn’t this how you Vampires drink blood?”
From the common perspective, Vampires were indeed like this.
Ermangarde, however, didn’t know that Lucifer actually had a bit of a mental germaphobe streak in his daily life.
“Unless my blood pressure spikes so hard it sends my blood boiling to my head, I rarely drink blood straight from the source.
I’ve got the tools at home, so we can just draw it when the time comes.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
Ermangarde felt like she had learned another tidbit about Sanguines, or rather, some trivia about Lucifer.
Yet, upon learning that Lucifer wouldn’t actually bite her himself, Ermangarde felt a tiny sliver of disappointment deep down.
“There, there, I don’t blame you.
Run along and play.”
Faced with Lucifer’s child-patting routine, Ermangarde was…
furious!
No matter what, she was the most brilliant Lich of the modern era!
A mere Sanguine Prince shouldn’t push his luck!
So, on the way back to Lucifer’s place, Ermangarde didn’t say a single word to him for a whole five minutes.