“Demon Lord! Demon Lord!”
Pastel pounded on the Demon Lord’s bedroom door with a pillow. The forceful knocks echoed through the hallway.
“Demon Lord! Deemoonnn!”
Please comfort Pastel, who is shaking in fear from a real assassination threat!
There was movement inside. The doorknob turned, and a gentle scarlet light filled the corridor. The Demon appeared, dressed loosely in a shirt.
“What is it at this hour, cough!”
The pillow that was knocking accidentally hit the Demon.
Gasp.
Pastel’s eyes widened.
Thinking ‘now or never’ to hit the Demon, Pastel mistakenly swung the pillow again.
Whack!
“Wha?!”
The Demon, caught off guard, quickly blocked with his arm.
“What is this?”
Pastel, belatedly shocked, dropped the pillow.
“Ahhh! I’m sorry! Mistake! Mistake! Totally a mistake!”
“It seems you knew, yet still threw another hit.”
Oh?
Did I?
“I think it was my Pillow Friend that hit you!”
Pastel glared at the naughty Pillow Friend.
“You bad friend! I’ll scold you instead!”
Soft punches hit the pillow.
“Whap! Whap!”
The reason for not hitting hard is that hitting friends is a terrible thing to do. Pastel is kind, so they wouldn’t engage in bad deeds.
An universally relatable reason!
The red eyes looked on suspiciously.
Pastel earnestly scolded the Pillow Friend and wiped away some cold sweat unnecessarily.
“Phew, what a hassle having a bad friend.”
But isn’t it the fate of popular folks to be picky about friends?
Well, it can’t be helped.
Pastel hugged the white pillow tightly. The pink eyes looked up at the Demon Lord yearningly.
“Demon Lord.”
I just went through something big.
I can’t sleep alone tonight at all.
“sniffle”
Sobbing.
The Demon looked down somewhat peculiarly.
“Even pretending to have a story, your recent actions give me no curiosity at all. Want a snack? I anticipated this and made some chocolate chips.”
He gestured towards the table. On it were untouched chocolate chip cookies piled in a dish.
“No way! I’m seriously in a tough spot! How can you treat this so lightly! I’m so disappointed! So disappointed!”
But since the chocolate chips are innocent, Pastel dashed in and popped one into their mouth.
The delicious chocolate chip melted in an instant. It looked just like a regular chocolate chip cookie, so Pastel had no idea when the gem was mixed into the dough.
“Wow! Demon Lord, your skill at using gem powder like sugar keeps getting better!”
“Though it feels like hiding vegetables from someone who hates them.”
“No way!”
The Demon’s finger pointed at the chocolate chips.
“By the way, that chocolate chip contains that chicory extract you hate.”
“No way?!”
The trembling pink eyes stared at the half-eaten chocolate chip.
A golden-brown surface dotted with chocolate.
But it was a traitor joined with chicory~!
“Ahhh!”
Pastel trembled.
Betrayal!
Betrayal…!
“You naughty traitor! I’ll eat you for revenge!”
Pastel diligently stuffed the chocolate chips into their mouth. The wicked traitors disappeared one by one inside, puffing up Pastel’s cheeks.
Munch munch.
Munch mu…
Suddenly, the munching stopped. The pink eyes went wide and the complexion paled.
Oh dear.
Could it be…?!
“What’s wrong?”
Pastel faced their life’s biggest crisis.
Because…
They ate too much and got thirsty.
So Pastel chugged the glass of water next to them.
Gulp gulp.
“Ahhhh!”
Refreshing!
They popped the last remaining traitor into their mouth. Pastel sputtered while rolling their pink eyes.
But wait, why was I here again?
It feels like there was a serious, sleepless issue.
Oh yeah, that’s right!
Something did happen!
Pastel whipped to face the Demon.
“Demon Lord! I really had a serious issue!”
“I see.”
The Demon, who gave a casual response, shook off the cookie crumbs that fell on the white pillow and skillfully folded it into a handkerchief.
Neat~!
Wow.
Doesn’t look like it needs washing!
The white pillow was lifted.
“The Pillow Friend is super clean! You’re a bad friend, but you’re fluffy and soft, so I’ll restore your honor! We’ll still be friends from now on!”
Pastel hugged and nuzzled the Pillow Friend.
Nuzzling.
Nuzzling.
Then, Pastel suddenly realized and froze. The pink eyes rolled briefly. They jerked their head toward the Demon.
“This is not it!”
Pointing at themselves.
“I was threatened with assassination! Mr. Penguin prepared to turn me into Pastel Salad at any moment, and only just gave up now!”
Waaaah!
Pastel Salad…!
Please make the sauce with mayonnaise!
“Hm?”
One eyebrow of the Demon raised.
“Was it not a fabricated document?”
“That’s what I’m saying! The mastermind was Mr. Penguin!”
Waaaah!
With a sullen face, Pastel jumped onto the Demon Lord’s bed. The bed shook, and the blanket flew up. They rolled themselves up in the blanket like a cocoon.
“Waaaah!”
Pastel wriggled around on the bed.
“Waaaah!”
The Demon approached in disbelief.
“I never knew that Redmond was so vile. If you want, I can tell the king and set it straight. I still have enough influence for that.”
“Please don’t!”
Pastel shook their cocoon body and shook their head.
“I think if it were Mr. Penguin, he’d definitely prepare that much! An insidious method to eliminate suspicious pink hair, a way to ruin the marriage broker, measures to split the United Kingdom, and if need be, a justification for war for the Empire—truly a killing two birds with one stone!”
Such funds for espionage should be used for things like this!
No matter how the Emperor looked at it, there were risks in leaving the United Kingdom alone, and he couldn’t focus all attention domestically either.
He has sent Governor Pastel as a contingency plan. If the United Kingdom became a major problem, they could use Pastel as a scapegoat to initiate a war and crush them right away.
If it were Craft Family, it would be completely plausible for the marriage broker to assassinate out of vengeance.
There was, after all, a reason why the Emperor greeted Pastel with a bright face and a friendly attitude when they first met. Besides the reasons why Pastel had forced a friendly attitude with political schemes, there were other ulterior motives at play.
Knowing that assisting the United Kingdom posed risks, he couldn’t help but concentrate on controlling the dangerous domestic nobility, and now there’s an excellent justification that had come looking for him.
No wonder! No wonder it was strange!
I wondered why the Emperor so readily bestowed the title of Governor!
At that time, while having to get rid of Pastel with political schemes, it made sense that he would want to restore the Craft Family, who had a very low chance of being related to the Demon King prophecy, as a joker card.
Even though he had to care for Pastel, giving the title of Governor from the first meeting felt excessive!
No wonder! No wonder!
The Emperor should have been like a serpent in central politics, and yet, they kept making overly revealing statements about how much Pastel resembled their mother, making it awkward to imagine!
Bestowing such an immediate and hasty position of Governor!
Considering that a thoughtful pink-haired Craft member might feel uneasy and cautious, to create a plausible justification, calling in mom was the perfect move!
Leading suspicion elsewhere while instilling fear, and slightly paralyzing the clever, yet still young intellect was just a bonus!
He was simply drawn to having the same fondness as their mother, thus giving such a high position and trust immediately~!
There’s absolutely no ulterior motive here~!
Rather than thinking deeply about such ulterior motives, why not panic about how long the Emperor can have a secondary wife~!
“Ahhhh!”
There are ulterior motives!
Remember, the time when I swayed the Emperor with political schemes and got on his nerves, he probably still plans to use the Pastel detonation button if necessary!
You’re obviously trying to scare me into accepting the secondary wife position and guide me toward the Demon Realm to comfortably use me as a fuse!
I’m a total loyal subject!
But as a loyal subject, I should follow national decisions without question…!
“Waaaah!”
Mr. Penguin declared the withdrawal of the assassination plot using the marriage broker, but surely the Emperor has equivalent plans in store!
There will definitely be more fuses prepared!
This is absolutely absolutely clear…!
“Waaaah!”
Pastel rolled around the bed, cocooned in the blanket.
“R-right.”
The Demon, still deceived by the Emperor’s words all this time, rubbed his chin in bafflement.
As he sat on the edge of the bed, he held the rolled-up Pastel and stopped the wriggling. Now, as he rolled it toward himself, the blanket began to unravel.
Before long, Pastel found themselves nestled in the Demon’s arms.
Oh?
A hand was patting Pastel’s back.
“Rest easy. Even if my powers are sealed, whoever comes, I can still save you and help you escape.”
Pastel spread their arms wide and hugged the Demon tightly. They lifted their head and gazed into the red eyes.
“Can’t you just punish them instead of saving me?”
Ruffling ruffling?
The Demon laughed softly.
“That would be impossible.”
“Ugh! Demon Lord, don’t!”
Pastel extended their words while being tightly embraced.
It smelled like soap.
“So that’s why I like it.”
Their voice trailed quietly.
“Hm? What did you say?”
Pastel pushed themselves away to sit up properly. Turning their head while fixing their pink hair.
“Nothing at all! You can’t even punish me, how disappointing!”
The pink eyes glared.
“See? That’s why I get scolded by my mom!”
So disappointing.
“Well, how about that.”
The Demon Lord found it amusing.
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