Although she believed that Leticia's heart wasn't completely devoid of feelings for her, hearing this 'rival' say such things still made Bai Ling inexplicably annoyed.
"That's not for Miss Elsa to worry about." Bai Ling replied coldly. "Give her a message from me—tell her my feelings haven't changed."
Leaving these words behind, Bai Ling walked out of the tent without looking back. Elsa instantly lost her lock on Bai Ling's presence.
The patrolling guards outside didn't react at all, as if they hadn't noticed a human walking out of the tent at all.
This made Elsa somewhat troubled. This Bai Ling's strength was really quite formidable.
She was indeed a weakling and couldn't tell what level Bai Ling was exactly, but those soldiers outside were all first-rate experts among the demon race. For Bai Ling to walk past their faces without eliciting any reaction—her strength was evident.
Elsa suspected that if this girl wanted to assassinate some demon, as long as it wasn't Leticia, the assassination target probably wouldn't know what killed them until they died.
Truly somewhat terrifying.
"Sigh, Miss Bai Ya, please follow me. Qianqian has been waiting for you for a long time." Sighing, Elsa stood up and walked to Bai Ya's side.
At this moment, the little girl was curiously observing Elsa. From the conversation just now, she had also figured out that this pretty sister seemed to like Sister Qianqian just like her own sister did.
However, this seemed quite normal. After all, Sister Qianqian was originally quite likeable.
So small, so cute, and a tsundere too. After spending time with her, it was natural to fall for her.
"Um, Sister Elsa, how long have you known Sister Qianqian?"
"Many years. I met Qianqian when I was seven years old. She wasn't like she is now back then." Elsa smiled as she answered, her eyes showing a nostalgic expression. She actually preferred the Leticia from that time.
The Leticia of that time wasn't as 'soft' as now. She was hard, both externally and internally, like a block of ice—cold, piercing, and incredibly solid.
Many years ago, Elsa was just an unremarkable noble girl. She was just a member of that great family with a thin sense of presence. Although she was a legitimate daughter, she still had two older brothers above her.
What awaited her was probably marrying some minor noble's child after coming of age, or entering a political marriage with some great noble's heir.
Elsa couldn't say she liked this future, but she wasn't that opposed to it either.
After all, all noble girls were like this. They were born to be tools for their families to consolidate power. If they had good magical talent, they would have some status. If their talent was poor, they could only let their parents manipulate them.
And Elsa belonged to the type with poor talent.
Her current strength could only be described as shameful. Even this shameful strength was something she had achieved by taking drugs. In a real fight, she was a complete weakling.
Under normal circumstances, the one who became Grand Duke definitely wouldn't be her, but should be her brother, or those siblings with decent talent.
Anyway, Elsa was the one with the least hope.
But she met Leticia, a new empress who urgently needed to find allies.
The Leticia who had just ascended to power undoubtedly faced a pile of messes. Her mother hardly managed anything, causing the great nobles under her to almost completely marginalize the Demon King.
Leticia was still young at that time, and those cunning old nobles really looked down on this tiny empress.
At that time, no one even listened when Leticia spoke.
Then Leticia began looking for helpers. After a series of political maneuvering and conspiracies, she finally reclaimed her power. Combined with her strength already being completely worthy of the Demon King title at that time, the nobles had no choice but to give up.
Having less power was better than dying.
And Elsa's family was a key target of Leticia's attention at that time. Their family had quite a bit of dirt on them. Through competitors' embellishment and Leticia's deliberate targeting, the previous Grand Duke was forced to commit suicide in apology.
The new Grand Duke was personally appointed by Leticia—Elsa, who had been completely unnoticed by anyone at the time.
This choice surprised everyone while also being within everyone's expectations. They had thought Leticia wouldn't easily let Elsa's family off, but they hadn't expected it to be this way of not letting them off.
A Grand Duke with almost no strength or foundation—this suited Leticia's interests very well. For Elsa to sit firmly in this position, she would necessarily have to maintain good relations with Leticia.
Of course, very few people knew that before that, Leticia had already had many exchanges with Elsa.
"After meeting once, we communicated through letters. She wrote about her vision for the demon race's future in her letters, and I pointed out the immature aspects of her ideas in my replies." Elsa smiled. That period was one of the few beautiful times in her childhood.
After learning that Leticia had personally appointed her as the new Grand Duke, she wasn't that surprised. After all, thinking about it, she seemed to be the only one who met Leticia's requirements.
"It sounds like Sister Elsa and Sister Qianqian have a very good relationship." Bai Ya said quietly.
This Elsa seemed like the childhood friend type character from those romance stories. This type of character looked very threatening, but their defeat rate was also quite high.
And her own sister was the type who descended from heaven, not only descending from heaven but also having so many buffs. Not only was she prettier than this Elsa, she had also been Sister Qianqian's opponent before. How could this lose?
In other romance novels, this would directly guarantee victory!
Childhood friends already couldn't beat those who descended from heaven, let alone one with so many stacked buffs.
Bai Ya believed her sister absolutely wouldn't lose to this Elsa. With such an overwhelming advantage, there was absolutely no possibility of losing.
"Sigh, let's not talk about this anymore." Elsa sighed deeply. The relationship between her and Leticia would perhaps stop at being good friends.
Leticia's rejection was so clear, leaving Elsa unable to see even a tiny possibility of turning things around.
She was clearly quite pretty, and her relationship with Leticia was also good, yet she lost so miserably.
Elsa wanted to cry.
"Sister Elsa?" Bai Ya carefully poked Elsa.
She seemed to see the black low pressure swirling around this girl. Could it be that she had touched Elsa's sore spot?
"It's nothing, just remembered some unpleasant things." Elsa showed a somewhat forced smile. "Let's go, I'll take you to find Qianqian."
"How are we going? By carriage?" Bai Ya asked with some curiosity.
On the way here, she had heard Emily talk about some basic situations of the demon race. Unlike the technological creations of the Human World, the demon race basically still used the ancient methods.
Things like carriages and nobles, at most adding some magical elements, but essentially unchanged.
"Ah, in a sense, it is indeed a carriage." Elsa beckoned to Bai Ya, indicating for her to follow.
When they reached where the 'carriage' was parked, Bai Ya widened her eyes. She had imagined countless times what the carriage would look like, but the carriage before her still exceeded her imagination.
Just looking at the four white horses pulling the carriage, one could see their extraordinariness at a glance. Those pure white wings and the smooth jade-like long horns on their foreheads made Bai Ya think of unicorns from fairy tales.
"Unicorns—I believe that's what you call them." Seeing the surprised expression on Bai Ya's face, Elsa chuckled. "Actually, they're not as magical as the legends say. In the end, they're just ordinary magical beasts."
"Let's stop being surprised here. Our Qianqian has been waiting for Miss Bai Ya for a long time. Get in the carriage first, then I'll give you a simple introduction to the demon race's basic situation."
Elsa clapped her hands and led Bai Ya into the carriage.
......
"Oh? Elsa has already picked up Little Ya?" Hearing Xue'er's report, Leticia was stunned. Bai Ling's speed was quite fast.
She had only sent Elsa over less than a day ago, and Bai Ling had already sent Bai Ya over. This speed was quite ridiculous.
"How did she get here?" Leticia was somewhat curious about how Bai Ling had brought Bai Ya through that heavily guarded passage.
After learning that Bai Ling had walked from one end of the passage to the other in front of everyone, Leticia fell silent.
She was thinking about whether she should strengthen the defenses at that place. Otherwise, if Bai Ling could sneak in without alerting anyone, who knew if others could use this method to sneak in someday.
"Miss Bai is, after all, a special case. I believe in the warriors guarding there. Their defense line is impregnable and will definitely not let any threatening enemies through." Xue'er felt Leticia didn't need to get so worked up. That Bai Ling couldn't be judged by common sense, so there was no need to strengthen an already perfect defense line because of one person.
"But thinking about that guy bringing people past so many people's noses, I still feel a bit nervous." Leticia shook her head vigorously. "Forget it, let's transfer another legion there... or maybe two?"
"Your Majesty, all legions currently have their own missions. Redeploying them would cause many problems." Xue'er said helplessly to Leticia.
Manpower was never enough. Even if they squeezed, there was a limit. Unfortunately, the demon race's current manpower was like Leticia's chest—no matter how you squeezed, nothing came out.
"Tch." Leticia snorted in displeasure.
Fortunately, she wasn't a ruler who did whatever came to mind. She would still listen to her ministers' advice.
And right now, Leticia wasn't in her Imperial Palace either. If Bai Ya saw the Demon King Palace, then even if this little girl was slow, she could guess what kind of person her Sister Qianqian really was.
So Leticia had searched through her properties for a long time and found a small villa located in the suburbs of Demon King City. The environment was beautiful, perfect for a quiet girl like herself to receive guests from afar.
Mm, quiet girl. Anyone who believed that would lose.
"Little Ya will arrive here around dinner time. Should I prepare a feast?"
"Of course, make it grand. We need to show Little Ya our hospitality." Leticia slapped the table righteously. "Prepare all our signature dishes, and don't leave out famous dishes from the Human World either."
This request made Xue'er's scalp tingle. "Your Majesty, let me ask first—how many people will be dining?"
"Me, Qila, Little Ya... um, and Elsa. Four people." Leticia calculated and gave a number that wasn't too many.
Xue'er looked at Leticia helplessly. Four people requiring so much food preparation—they definitely couldn't finish it all. And this time Miss Bai hadn't come along either.
Without that girl with the terrifying appetite as a foundation, preparing so much food would only cause extremely serious waste.
This made the naturally frugal Xue'er unable to bear watching. "Your Majesty, I think with your appetites, preparing less would be sufficient. You wouldn't want Miss Little Ya to get the impression that demon nobles are all extravagant, would you?"
Come to think of it, even after learning her sister was super rich, Little Ya remained much the same as before, at most just not looking at price tags when shopping.
And when encountering wasteful situations, this little girl would seriously point them out, which was quite adorable.
"Then let's prepare less. Pick things that look beautiful and taste suitable for human preferences."
"Yes, the kitchen is already working urgently to ensure that the travel-weary Miss Little Ya can have a hot meal." Xue'er replied. "Then I'll go check on the kitchen first."
"Mm, go ahead." Leticia nodded.
After Xue'er left, Leticia continued her previous work. She was currently in this villa's study, and earlier, she had spotted an interesting book on the bookshelf.
She had some impression of this book. It seemed to be a banned book that some people had secretly circulated many years ago, when she hadn't yet become empress.
Before she came to power, her mother—ah, no, it should be said the nobles—had already banned this book. All copies should have been burned.
She didn't know why there was still one left here.
After reading through it quickly, Leticia curled her lips. She had thought this book was well-written, but it turned out to be just venting emotions, thinking the Demon King was the source of tragedy.
This kind of book could indeed deceive people, but expecting the author to accomplish anything great was completely impossible.
"Mm? This last page..." The only thing that made Leticia puzzled was the handwriting on the last page of this book, written by a previous reader.
There wasn't much written, just pointing out the book's shortcomings, but that reader seemed to still agree with the book author's viewpoint, believing that the Demon King shouldn't exist in this era.
It was somewhat rare to find demons holding such views. Basically, everyone believed the Demon King's existence was a matter of course.
The Demon King position had been passed down for countless years, and no one had ever wanted to abolish this position.
Although sometimes noble power would suppress the Demon King, even the most powerful nobles from long ago never thought of replacing the Demon King or driving them from the throne.
This wasn't because those nobles were particularly loyal, but because they felt the Demon King had been passed down for so long, they couldn't let it end in their hands.
Anyway, it was just a mascot, so let them be.
"Who put this book here?" Leticia muttered to herself with some curiosity.
This villa originally wasn't property of the Demon King family, but was bought by those guys under Leticia who managed her various properties.
Leticia just sat at home, waiting for these best 'economists' among the demons to make her already abundant wealth grow more and more.
For example, this villa was bought while Leticia was hiding in the Human World.
As for its previous owner, um, Leticia didn't know.
Should she ask the person who bought this place about its basic situation, to see which treasonous bastard was tired of living?
Leticia didn't mind at all sending those rebellious subjects to hell to chat with the King of Hell about life.
But before that, she had a more important matter to attend to—welcoming her Little Ya.
A few hours later, when the carriage pulled by four unicorns landed in front of the villa's main gate, Xue'er was already waiting at the entrance with a smile.
"Sister Xue'er!" The little girl happily jumped down from the carriage and greeted Xue'er.
"Miss Xue'er, good evening." Following behind Bai Ya, Elsa carefully stepped down from the carriage while holding the handrail.
Her movements were so elegant compared to Bai Ya's, though unfortunately, no one here would appreciate her elegance.
"Miss Little Ya, Miss Elsa, good evening. My young lady has been waiting for your arrival for a long time." Xue'er bowed slightly, also replying very elegantly.
This made Bai Ya somewhat uncomfortable. She still preferred the more natural way of interacting from before.
This formal manner made Bai Ya feel somewhat unsuitable for herself.
"Um, I think Sister Xue'er and Sister Elsa can be more natural." She said quietly.
"Actually, I also think this is a bit pretentious." Elsa laughed heartily.
"The young lady said to let Miss Little Ya experience noble life, so..." Xue'er showed no expression change. She stepped aside and extended her hand. "Then, please come in, both young ladies."
Entering this villa that Leticia had carefully selected, Bai Ya's mouth never closed. She had imagined what Leticia's home would look like, but she had never imagined Leticia's home would be so big and beautiful.
So Sister Qianqian really was a noble young lady.
"So big, so beautiful. Is this Sister Qianqian's home?"
"No." Elsa shook her head.
"Eh?!"
"Although this is Letici... Qianqian's family property, normally she wouldn't come here." Elsa explained. "Choosing this place this time was probably to avoid having Little Ya targeted by some disgusting people."
Leticia's human guest, and a powerless girl at that—this would be a very noteworthy matter in the eyes of interested parties.
And choosing this place could at least avoid many people's attention.
Many people were watching the Demon King Palace, but far fewer would notice this place.
Leticia's whereabouts would almost never be known by anyone. As long as she didn't want people to know her whereabouts, others had no way of finding out.
To see through Leticia's stealth magic wasn't a simple matter.
Except for Bai Ling, Leticia was confident her stealth magic could fool anyone, regardless of race or strength.
"Sister Qianqian is very thoughtful."
"Actually, she's not thoughtful at all." Before Bai Ya finished speaking, a voice carrying some resentment came from another direction. "Long time no see, Little Ya. You've become even more radiant."
"Little Qi!" Bai Ya's eyes lit up. She was too familiar with this voice.
Looking around, it was indeed that familiar girl.
Qila wore a black princess dress, her long black hair tied in twin tails, giving a very cute feeling.
She held a black notebook in her hands, apparently having just finished a day's work.
Bai Ya didn't think much about it. The moment she saw Qila, she had already pounced toward the black-haired girl.
The girl instinctively wanted to dodge, but before she could move, Bai Ya had already hugged her.
"Little Qi is still as cute as six months ago." Nuzzling Qila's face, Bai Ya said very happily.
Qila had no idea what reaction she should have now. She could only look to Xue'er and Elsa for help, hoping these two reliable adults could assist her.
"Um..." Elsa was about to speak when Xue'er gently pulled her sleeve.
"Don't worry." Xue'er said quietly.
Bai Ya wouldn't do anything to Qila anyway. Just hugging and nuzzling faces—two cute girls, what was the problem?
It wasn't like anyone was losing out.
"Ah, this." Elsa felt like she was just an outsider who understood nothing and knew nothing.
And indeed, just as Xue'er said, after Bai Ya spent half a minute venting her longing for Qila that had built up over six months, she released Princess Highness, who looked like she had given up on life.
"Little Qi, Little Qi, where is Sister Qianqian?"
"I'm behind you, silly girl." Leticia appeared behind Bai Ya and lightly tapped the little girl's head. "You forgot about me as soon as you saw Qila, didn't you?"
"Ehehe, is Qila Little Qi's name?" Bai Ya giggled foolishly, then asked Leticia.
The demon race's real names definitely wouldn't be things like Su Qi or Su Qianqian. Bai Ya naturally knew this.
And the name that just came from Leticia's mouth should be Little Qi's real name.
Qila, Qila—what a nice-sounding name.
"That's right, Qila is Qila's name." Leticia smiled as she answered. "As for my name, Little Ya can try guessing. If you can guess it before your vacation ends, I can grant Little Ya one request."
"Sister Qianqian shouldn't underestimate me. I'm very smart!" Bai Ya confidently accepted the challenge.