Rise of the Lustful Evil Monarch (Re)

Third Person's POV

Finally, after a few more fluttering breaths, her heaving chest began to settle beneath her modest maid's dress.

After composing herself, she answered his unspoken question with a clearer tone,

"When you left with that lady… your companions waited for a few hours. But after you didn't return, the blond-haired young lord took them with him."

Ethan's brows furrowed again.

"Where did they go?" he asked, his voice now sharp with concern.

She hesitated for a moment, but remembering something, she started walking toward the door and signaled him to follow.

They stepped outside together, and she pointed toward the sloping path that led downhill, toward the town below, nestled between the ridges.

Realization dawned on Ethan, and he nodded in thanks and turned to leave when a hesitant voice called out behind him.

"A-Are you leaving… young lord?"

He paused on hearing the cute stammer and looked over his shoulder with a grin and a teasing tone.

"Why? Do you want me to stay with you?"

The girl's eyes widened as if he had cast a spell over her, and she started flailing her arms in embarrassment and stammered furiously,

"N-No! I-I didn't mean that! I was just curious…"

Her voice trailed off as she looked down with her face glowing crimson.

Her brown furry ears twitched furiously, and her tail swished from side to side as if caught in a storm of emotion.

Seeing such an amusing scene, Ethan couldn't help but let out a low chuckle.

An impish light flashed in his eyes, and he leaned down close to her ear, his breath warm against her sensitive skin.

"Don't worry, little girl… I will come back. And next time, it'll just be me. Alone."

His voice was quiet, but the promise it carried sent a shiver down her entire frame.

She didn't quite understand the emotion and meaning behind his words, though her heart seemed to be racing in an inexplicable emotion of joy and excitement which she couldn't describe.

As she battled to comprehend what she was feeling, he turned and without waiting for her reply, he walked away with a confident and effortless stride, leaving only the echo of his footsteps and the lingering warmth of his words behind him.

The girl stood rooted in place, her hands clenched by her sides, her chest rising quickly.

As she watched him disappear into the distance, a strange thrill rose through her, fluttering in her stomach.

Her tail flicked high behind her, almost glowing with energy.

But far above and unnoticed by either of them, an invisible presence floated like mist, watching.

It was her, the veiled and ghostly white-robed figure, the same mysterious one who had spied on Nyx and Ethan earlier.

As she drifted silently in the air, her body one with the light while staring down at the scene below with an unreadable expression, she muttered to herself in a voice little more than a breath of air.

"Well… he is indeed a charmer. But that was expected."

Her tone was laced with something between disdain and weariness.

"Men are all the same in the end. Never satisfied. Always searching… always driven by that cursed thirst for greater domination, desire, greed..."

Her words drifted away like dust and faded into the wind as she followed silently behind Ethan, with her body still cloaked from all perception.

As she floated like a ghost, her presence remained unseen… but ever-watchful.

Ethan walked through the gradually descending path into the heart of the town, his steps steady and unhurried.

As he followed the direction the fox maid had pointed him toward earlier, it guided him down lanes teeming with an eclectic and chaotic mix of life.

All around him were demons, some tall and cloaked in shadow, others dragging long tails and hissing with forked tongues.

Looking at them, he could tell they were rare snake demons, which he had only read about in books.

He could also see beastmen strolling about, with their fur bristling in the breeze, some with horns curling from their skulls, and others with feline eyes that watched everything like predators.

Here and there, he also spotted vampire kin in elegant robes passing with an eerie grace as their crimson eyes gleamed with cold amusement, while a pack of werewolves loitered near a tavern gate and growled lowly at one another in conversation.

Ethan moved through them without faltering, and his gaze was calm while his aura was restrained but unmistakable.

He was a stranger to none of this, and though many glanced at him in passing, none dared block his path.

As the town began to thin, giving way to the first shadows of the forest beyond, he noticed a scattering of smaller inns nestled along the edge.

They were places that blended easily into the tree line and were built more for function than display.

When he neared them, he saw their weathered wooden signboards swinging in the wind and creaking softly with age and wear.

One sign in particular caught his eye.

It bore the simple, and almost whimsical, name: Prancing Rabbit.

Below the name, he saw an etched rabbit that seemed to be dancing under fading blue paint, the sign hanging crooked from rusted chains.

Curious about it and having a feeling that this was his destination, he pushed open the door, and what he saw inside was entirely what he had expected.

Victor, Lucien, and Virelle sat at a long, corner table.

Beside them were Velcy and the blonde demon girl Lucy.

Victor was speaking animatedly as he laughed and gestured as though recounting an absurd story, while a black-haired woman beside Lucien nodded faintly at his words.

Due to her back towards him, he couldn't see her face, but the atmosphere at the table was not as light as his laughter suggested.

Virelle and the girls were unusually silent.

Their expressions were tense as their gazes kept drifting toward the entrance, as if waiting for someone, and the moment Ethan stepped in, their heads turned instantly.