Valen waited for Argen outside the bedroom.
His sharp gaze scanned her from head to toe, then his brow furrowed slightly as if dissatisfied.
Argen had to be dragged back into the bedroom and surrender her body to his hands.
Her tousled hair was neatly parted and perfectly styled, and her clothes, which had been haphazardly thrown on, were astonishingly tidied up.
Valen’s attentiveness didn’t end there.
Even as they sat side by side at the banquet hall eating breakfast, he remained constantly focused on Argen.
He could tell instantly whether she needed water or a napkin, just by her breathing.
Not only that, he personally cut her meat, wiped bread crumbs from the corners of her mouth with his hand, and even checked how many times she chewed her food, offering advice.
“Chew at least five more times.
With your body size, your stomach must be smaller than a palm.
How do you expect to digest it?” he would say.
His meticulous care for Argen, delivered with a dry, matter-of-fact demeanour, felt neither fussy nor forced.
Consequently, Argen felt no resistance whatsoever, accepting all of Valen’s attentions without question.
The three Elders seated before them suddenly found themselves witnessing this entire scene right before their eyes, barely managing to eat their breakfast.
The moment Argen finished all her meals and set down her water cup, Valen rose as if his business was done.
“Where are you going?”
“The training grounds.” He replied curtly and left the banquet hall without a second thought.
The Elders stared blankly at his receding back.
“What did I just witness?” Zephyr rubbed his eyes vigorously with his palms.
As if rubbing alone wouldn’t make the afterimage fade, he suddenly raised his hand.
“Bring me some fresh water!”
“Thirsty?”
“No.
I need to wash out my eyeballs.”
“Like that will erase what’s etched into your brain.
Don’t play games with drinking water.”
Only after hearing Nadol’s rebuke did Zephyr abandon his attempt to remove his own eyeballs.
“Looks like that bastard has finally lost his mind.” As soon as Nadol spoke, Finn and Zephyr chimed in in unison, as if they’d been waiting for it.
“He said all demons are disgusting…”
“He was acting like some baby princess’s attendant, wasn’t he?”
“Does that bastard see Lord Argen as a newborn infant…?”
“He was practically ready to sit her on his lap and feed her.” Nadol shuddered, running his hand up his own forearm.
Seeing Valen show affection to someone else felt like witnessing some unknown, alien thing.
It was even terrifying.
Everyone had realised something, but they were too afraid to voice it, keeping it bottled up under their tongues.
Yet, in the end, Nadol broke the taboo and dragged the truth everyone had been desperately ignoring out into the open.
“…It seems No Name has developed feelings for Lord Argen.”
“Ah!
No!!” Finn fell from his chair, screaming.
He tore at his hair as if a calamity more wretched than any tragedy in the world had struck.
Argen herself, the subject of it all, remained impassive.
Argen had sensed it vaguely too.
Even if she grumbled about it, his attitude toward her had changed noticeably—how could she not know?
Finn crawled under the table and wrapped his arms around Argen’s legs.
Transparent tears welled up in his glassy red eyes.
“I won’t accept it.”
“It’s unfortunate for you, but your acceptance won’t affect that person’s heart in the slightest.”
“But… what if that bastard decides to stay in the Demon Realm?”
“Don’t worry, Finn.
That won’t happen.
That person is someone who cherishes his younger brother and his hometown dearly.”
Nadol rubbed his eyes as if expecting this moment.
“Finn, I understand you don’t want to believe it, but it’s best to accept it.
I… fully anticipated things turning out this way.
It’s even mentioned in ‘I’ll Never Like You, You Piece of Shit’.
The one who pushes away fiercely is always the one who falls in love first.
It’s an unwritten law.”
“You bastard!
Then you should have stopped it!”
“How can you stop what your heart desires?
Let’s just look at the bright side.
Thanks to this, Argen and No Name are sleeping together more often, so they might have a baby sooner than we expected.”
“Nadol’s right about that.”
Because whenever No Name sees Argen, he gets hard day or night.
Argen patted Finn’s head as if comforting him, and Finn wiped his tears on Argen’s thigh.
“Alright… We’re turning crisis into opportunity, right?” (Finn)
“Crisis?
That’s going too far.
If No Name heard that, he’d be upset.” (Argen)
“Upset?
What upset?
Does No Name look like the type to feel such fluttering emotions?
He’d probably just pull out all my teeth.”
“Finn.”
“Got it.
I’ll stop throwing childish tantrums.”
The chaotic atmosphere was gradually settling.
Argen suddenly sensed the surrounding silence.
Turning her head, she saw all the other demons in the banquet hall staring intently at her.
Some had even turned their bodies, appearing to have joined the conversation moments ago.
When their eyes met Argen’s, they all flinched in surprise and straightened up.
Only the meaningless clatter of empty dishes, now devoid of food, filled the banquet hall.
Their ears were still tuned to Argen’s table.
Valen seemed unaware, but rumours that he was head over heels for Argen were spreading like wildfire throughout the Demon King’s Castle.
The atmosphere within the Demon King’s Castle was highly charged.
This was because Argen and the Elders had accepted Valen’s suggestion: instead of granting vacation, they promised to provide the demon race with an event offering a much-needed respite.
A ten-day fireworks festival would soon commence.
Being a large-scale festival that all demons anticipated, everyone set aside their daily work and poured their passion into preparations.
As a result, everywhere one looked overflowed with entertainment, food, sights, and places to build memories and romance.
It had been suspended for a while due to war and was now being revived after a full twenty years.
The fun-loving demon race couldn’t possibly wait for a fireworks festival that rivalled a national event.
However, those working at the Demon King’s Castle had given up on even dreaming of attending, overwhelmed by the immense workload piled high.
Then, an announcement dropped: although the situation in the demon realm was still unstable, making vacation requests difficult, they would make arrangements to allow participation in the festival.
Even if they could only enjoy the festival for a day and a half, who cared!
Moreover, during the festival period, finding lodging was harder than plucking stars from the sky due to the swarming demon crowds, yet they even offered to provide accommodations.
It was only a matter of time before the demons, whose spirits had been half-broken, became fired up with enthusiasm.
And rumours spread that it was Valen who had come up with this reward.
“That guy, you know.
He’s all thumbs with us, but turns into a docile lamb in front of Lord Argen.
His support is incredible.”
“They say he helped her tremendously with her vacation request troubles.
He just can’t stand seeing his wife struggle, I guess.”
Whenever Argen and Valen walked side by side down the corridor, the servants would all stop what they were doing and stare at them.
Their eyes sparkled with a certain kind of anticipation.
“What are you staring at?
Got nothing better to do?” Valen retorted coldly, and the servants hastily resumed their half-hearted sweeping and wiping of clean surfaces.
Argen understood exactly what those demons wanted to see.
“Oops.”
She put on an awkwardly clumsy fall that made her look utterly flustered.
While all the servants stared at her with expressions that screamed, ‘What are you doing, Lord Argen?’, only Valen, oblivious, hurriedly caught her.
“Do you really need to wear a skirt?
Lately, you keep tripping over it.”
“……I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re always sitting and working, so your legs have lost strength.
For now, just stay put when we move around.”
The servants wore expressions of satisfaction, as if they’d just watched a long-awaited famous opera.
After work, they’d likely wash away their fatigue by chatting animatedly amongst themselves.
The reason Argen had done this was because she’d been feeling guilty about not approving their vacation requests.
She hoped the demons could at least enjoy something like this and lift their spirits.