Rules? Business? What is she talking about?

Can’t kill unless in self-defense? Then how did…

Look, the devil is sweating profusely again!

S-shut up!

Hey, devil! What aren’t you telling us? You better come clean. We’ll find out eventually, anyway.

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

Defendant, behave yourself! Everyone else as well. This is a court of law, not a theater!

But judge… you’re eating sweets and drinking tea right now.

A-hem! My throat is parched from dealing with all of you.

The cold is getting worse. The devil is confined to bed with the child. I sense people approaching the house. Young. Old. Weak. Hungry.

There must be twenty of them.

They’re searching for clean water and food, which leads them to Amelia’s hut. They can see smoke rising from the chimney. One of them, a silver-haired man, knocks on the door.

“There’s nothing for you here.”

“Please, we’re refugees from River Slate. We need food and shelter! We have women and children.”

“That’s none of my problems. Cough! Cough!”

The man knocks on the door several more times until Amelia gets annoyed and opens it. He widens his eyes in shock when he sees her face.

“There’s nothing here besides death. Do you still want to come in, hmm?”

The man runs away in fear. He believes the plague reaches here as well. But the group is weak, so they have no choice but to make camp near the hut. In the evening, children complain about the cold and how hungry they are. Some of them grow resentful of the ‘red demon’ in the hut.

That’s good, right?

For the devil, yes.

Will she just watch them die, hating her? She’s not culpable in that case, yeah? What’s your opinion in this situation, judge?

Hmm… if a person has the ability to save lives and knowingly refuses, then they are partly responsible.

Then…

The devil gets up from bed and peers out the window at the camp. She checks the food she has in stock and then at her red skin.

“Huh… What a waste of a good product. Wish I had a mirror.”

She grows taller and her skin turns pale. She moves her facial features around to appear more human. Long brown hair grows out of her head. She now looks like a woman in her early twenties. An ugly one, but still…

That face! No! No! It can’t be!

Do you recognize her, Knight Julius?

No, it can’t be her…

She’s a shapeshifter, so she ought to have a few faces people recognize. Heck, maybe that one granny who sold you a spoiled cookie a decade ago may be her.

Or she could be your wife for all you know.

Ha! Don’t even joke about it.

That person is… That person is… Then that means the child must be…

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

What’s this now? Another Duke Ambrose situation?

Who’s the kid?

Knight Julius June was one of the men who led the subjugation.

Oh, I know him! The youngest member of the thirteen saints, right?

Six. The devil murdered half of them.

Hard to believe that manaless girl did all that.

Amelia wraps herself and the child in thick clothes and sneaks out through the cellar. She then walks to the camp and pretends to be another refugee.

She brings some fruits and vegetables with her and makes soup to warm the people up. Then she spins yarns about how the red demon in the hut is cursed and it’s the source of the illness. The men don’t buy her story at first, but then she says the red demon hordes mountains of food in its hut and that captures their attention.

Clever girl. Saving them and taking advantage of their desperation.

Day after day, she keeps spinning her tale, growing the refugees’ hatred for the demon. Three days later, they finally break into the hut.

“The demon isn’t here!”

“Look, the cellar is full of food!”

“Mommy, can I sleep in here? It’s so nice and warm.”

The refugees cram into the hut and survive through the winter. Whenever the food runs low, a ‘huntsman’ would come by and bring them deer and wolf meat while telling them to be vigilant against the red demon. By spring, the villagers hate the demon with a religious fervor.

That’s my girl! You see that! Amelia saved all these people! She’s a good girl, you hear!? Sweet and kind and only gathers hatred for survival!

D-don’t be a fool, you old fart! Look at my face! This is the face of the person who murdered your wife in cold blood. You can’t explain it away with a simple misunderstanding, can you?!

T-that is…

Now I really want to know what happens next. Can’t we skip forward to her later years?

No, the truth must be revealed in its entirety. Be patient and watch the events unfold.

In spring, more refugees arrive, and they build houses and plant crops. They construct a village in the clearing by the creek. As the people go to work, the children are attracted to the disguised Amelia thanks to her ‘funny-looking face’ and stories. She makes sure the ‘red demon’ is the villain in all of her stories.

The child is now three years old. He has fluffy platinum hair and blue eyes. He can walk and waggle his tongue like nobody’s business.

The boy… seems familiar somehow… And that settlement… west of River Slate, near a creek…

By the way, what’s the kid’s name? Does anyone catch it?

I… don’t think he has one yet.

His name… His name is…

One day the boy runs to Amelia with snot leaking down his nose. She stops cooking and kneels down to wipe his face.

“Mama! Mama!”

“I’m not your mama. And what do you want, brat?”

“Mama, what’s my name?”

“What?”

“My name! All the kids have one. I want one too!”

“Why do you need a stinking thing like that?”

“Mama!”

“Stop screaming, you’re giving me a headache! If you want a name, just come up with one yourself!”

“But... but the other kids say their mama and papa named them. I don’t have a papa, so you should give me a name. Give me a name, mama! Give me. Give me!”

“Fine! If that’ll shut you up. Let’s see… how about… er… what month is this?”

“June?”

“Then your name is June.”

“Yuck! That sounds like a girl’s name! Give me a cool name! Like a hero, or a wizard, or a dragon, or a—”

“Julius! There, done. Happy?!”

“Juu-lias… Ju-ly…”

Julius June… My name.

S-sir knight? T-then that means…

Oh, boy. Does anybody have popcorn?

M-mama?!

I’m not your mama.

Mama?!

I’m not your mama!

Mama! Mama, it’s really you!

I’m not your mother, you stinking brat!

I have a grandson?!

I have a grandfather?!

I have a grandson!

Grandfather!

Two of the most powerful men in the world run into each other’s embrace as the devil bangs her head on the podium.

Kill me… Somebody kill me now…