“… …”

“A few days ago when you didn’t care for me, seemingly didn’t acknowledge my existence even though I’m just beside you, I felt very lost. When you suddenly kissed me last night, saying I was the only one you trust, I felt very embarrassed but also very glad. Even right now, sleeping beside you, feeling your warmth, I know it’s similar to what I am expecting, for you, I was probably just another convenient woman… but I was still …… very happy. ”

Ruka unconsciously reached out to stroke the side of Cian’s face and looks at him with unblinking eyes. Her expression appears to be timid as well as brave.

Her eyes are filled with cautious expectation. For Cian, Ruka has always made him laugh. When he sees her, he will want to bully her and pinch her cheeks. However, at this moment, Cian’s heart moves abruptly like never before.

“If possible, master, my beloved master… I will do anything you wanted, I will be obedient, just don’ throw me away… don’t leave me. Let me stay by your side forever, even if it’s only a lowly slave, let me stay with you…”

Separating herself from Cian…

Too horrible. Just thinking about those words made her feel miserable…

She might as well as die than be abandoned by him!

Cian stared at Ruka and his eyes flashed dozens of complicated emotions.

What had it felt like the first time he saw her?

It was a quite a long time now, a bit unclear now. But at the very beginning, all he wanted was someone he could use. Someone he could slave away without doing anything and be suspected…

Beauty…? Body? He doesn’t care anything like that. For him, she was just a tool, a tool he can use. And even now, nothing changed. Ruka was still a tool he could conveniently use, throw and make a scapegoat of.

He doesn’t have any feelings for her. He can even kill her without hesitation if necessary.

And he doesn’t believe this girl is that dumb to not notice that. She should have realized her own value to him. And the thing he had been doing up until now, was only taking advantage of her. Showing carrots to the horse instead of a stick so that she would not think of rebelling against him.

Embracing her? Kissing her? Showing affection? All of them were done to ease the stress, anxiety, and homesickness he was feeling. To quench his thirst for flesh, she was nothing but a stress reliever for him.

Cian was confident that if Ruka dies at this very moment, he wouldn’t mull over it for even a minute before planning again to take another woman to take her place. Realizing this at all, Cian can’t help but smile wryly—how was he any different from the original Aanuel then…?

Wasn’t he more of a scum than him…?

Hiding in a mask of human skin but was instead full of evil and wickedness. I guess Night hadn’t made any mistakes in choosing a body for him…

However, unlike the real demon prince Aanuel, Cian was still a human. He might have come from a long lineage of a demonic family, his heart would still soften. That is why, sometimes, he found him surprisingly not acting at all.

He suddenly felt a protective impulse rise inside of him.

He didn’t know where this impulse came from. It definitely wasn’t from his finely-tuned brain and its calculations and schemes. It hadn’t happened before for other people but it was a very strong urge.

His little slave, cannot be belittled by others, cannot be reduced to such a state.

Therefore, he sometimes instilled in her mind that apart from him, she should show a prideful and strong attitude towards other people. No matter whether the other party was a prince, a princess or a queen, she should hold her abundant chest high and not show any kind of weakness and let other people trample her.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Therefore, although he was surprised himself, sometimes he would just let himself be carried away by the flow and showed too much affections towards the girl.

He was certain that he didn’t have any kind of feeling for this poor girl but still, it should be like a feeling towards a certain lovable pet you owned. That’s right, at this moment, Cian found out that the way he looks at the girl in front of him was not a mere ‘tool’ anymore but that of a ‘pet’—a fitting promotion is it not?

Cian withdraw his left hand from the insides of Ruka’s clothes, causing the anxious girl to stiffen and placed his hand on her already beet red face and said, “What are you worrying like an idiot…? As long as you devote your life to me and would never betray me, I would never give up on you. As I had said before, your life is mine, you hadn’t believed that?”

“… …?! Mas, ter?!” She looks at Cian’s eyes. His gaze caused Ruka’s mind to tremble. It was filled with affection and kindness, and it instantly caused tears to begin to stream down her face.

“Don’t cry, you’re getting ugly. As long as you serve this prince properly and sincerely, this prince will also give you the love and affection you wanted…” said Cian shamelessly while tousling her hair. He was smiling, and the love in his eyes seemed to grow even stronger.

All of a sudden, her heart fluttered.

Each sentence he spoke caused the Ruka’s heart to pound. By the time he finished, her heart surged with waves of sweetness, turning her mind blank. And yet, she had no choice but to suppress them, because no matter what Cian said to her, he was still her master and she was still a slave.

Even still, amidst the rain, the sun started peeking through the clouds, showing its beauty.

“No matter what you wanted, as long as this prince can give it, you, my most loyal person and trusted woman, I will give it to you…! However, of course, if you wanted me to kill those who had assaulted you, I can’t promise you yet. Those assholes had some good backgrounds, I can’t touch them easily, especially my big brother…”

“No, no… master, I won’t need anything else…” Hearing Cian’s words, Ruka immediately panic. She knows who knows those scumbags were that although Cian was the second prince, he can’t easily kill them with his current status.

Forget about his blood brother, although no one would do anything to him even if he killed her half-brother or that bastard, his status would certainly suffer a great hit. Ruka wasn’t a dumb and stupid woman who doesn’t know anything. Right now, the Empire was at war and so, creating this kind of disturbance right now was a foolish thing to do!

Thus, Ruka didn’t hold any hope for justice…

Even still, she couldn’t help but feel sweet from Cian’s words. Those are enough for her. She wouldn’t just stay in the past—at this very moment, her master was her everything. As long as she can serve her master well, she wouldn’t care about the past!

However, Cian’s next words blew her out of proportion. “…However, since they dared to touch you, my very own woman, sooner or later, they would plunge to the deepest part of hell!”

“Mas, Master!!?” Ruka stared at Cian in shock. Her mind spinning with disbelief. Her heart was in complete chaos, and she had no idea what to say.

He, he would really kill… them?

“You’ll just have to trust me,” Cian said, his eyes glittering coldly. Killing intent flashed across his eyes, almost causing Ruka’s blood to turn solid. “There is someone responsible for every grievance, for every debt, there is a debtor, we had no past grudges, but they dared to touch you, my woman, my person, then they must not blame me for taking their lives…!”

“… …”

Cian placed his hand on her face, slowly leaned his head and kisses her forehead once, then says, “I might not be able to do it for the moment but you don’t need to worry. I had already taken them down on my list-of-lives to reap. So the justice you wanted, I had remembered it,”

Ruka began to breathe deeply, and various expressions flashed across her face. Her eyes flickered with gratitude, happiness, anxiety, and yet, she couldn’t take the risk of refusing Cian’s words, only tears silently rolled down her cheeks, drenching the soft mattress of the bed.

After the warm lips left her forehead, Ruka becomes stupefied. Cian seems to want to continue to kiss her, but when he sees the silly expression in her eyes, instead he laughs. He pulls back and keeps a small distance from her,

“I’m still a little sleepy…” He really did appear to be very tired. When they were talking about matters of heart, he had been slightly more alert, but as he held her like this and inhaled her scent, he started feeling drowsy again. “Sleep with me for a little while?”

Such a gentle, tender voice that did not conceal in the least the affection and gentleness he was showing to her. She answered him with an “mm.” Her emotions had just been through a rollercoaster ride, and with him suddenly being so stirringly sentimental, she was utterly unable to withstand all of this.

“Yes, master…” Ruka smiled happily, giving her beautiful face even more radiant.

Very obediently, she raised her hand, slipped under his blankets and hugs his neck, slightly pushing his head towards her bosom. As an obedient slave of her beloved master, she would coax him to sleep with full of love and affection. She now had erased the brutal demon impression in her mind and was replaced by a gentle, ideal prince in her heart.

Her one and only beloved master…!

The transformation of two completely different character that was like an angel and a demon was extremely fast, faster than someone flipping the pages of a book.

As for Cian, he very naturally pulled her entire body into his embrace. After a while, however, he discovered to his helplessness, that he was no longer tired. And since he was not tired, his dizziness went away as if swept by the wind.

Oh well, Cian can only sigh—Might as well eat something.