The Demon Princess Was Defeated and Captured? Sorry, That’s the Role I’m Playing

Chapter 75

"Stop it. Physical age and mental age are two different matters. Don't be so argumentative."

Besides, the actual age part was a lie. In terms of physical age, she was not younger than her at all. It was an all-around overwhelming advantage.

Xiarette had always respected Princess Livra, but today, she drooped her stunning little face. Neither her expression nor her tone seemed like she was welcoming her. Rather, it was as if she was saying that Livra had come at a very bad time.

Even if she was displeased, the royal family had come; she couldn’t just stay silent.

"So... Princess Livra, what brings you here all the way to my estate in the outskirts so early in the morning? I should have told you that beneath this area is where the Demon Clan Princess Sheffy Harl is sealed. It’s very dangerous. If it’s not something particularly important, it’s not appropriate to approach, whether for everyone's convenience or for your own safety. You shouldn’t have come."

"Lord Xiarette seems to be speaking a lot more than usual today... Ah! That’s right! Now that you mention it, I remember. I rushed over to inform you both of something very troublesome!"

Indeed, Livra was quite the simpleton.

She had been nervous on the way here.

While chatting in the living room, she turned all cheerful and playful.

Then when she remembered her actual purpose, she became nervous again.

Was her brain working in layers, switching gears depending on luck?!

Miss Shaya, now with her hair turned black, was absentmindedly patting the large fluffy toy beside the seat, regaining the familiar sensation.

Xiarette, however, was attentively listening to the news brought by Livra. After all, Princess Livra was a member of the royal family and had come in such haste; what she had to say must not be trivial.

Livra brushed the long ink-black hair that had fallen over her chest behind her back, placed her hand on her gently heaving chest, and took a deep breath to ease her fatigue from the hurried trip.

Then, she slowly opened her emerald eyes and spoke of what she had heard earlier this morning.

"At dawn today, Prime Minister Firex hurried to Cormier Castle to meet with Father, saying he had an important proposal to report. I was strolling inside the castle and happened to hear the entire discussion outside the council hall."

"Firex again...? Uh... by the way, Your Highness, what were you doing wandering around the castle so early in the morning?"

"First of all, let me make it clear, I definitely wasn’t looking for a chance to sneak out and play! I really was just taking a walk!"

"..."

Forget it. There was nothing to say to this princess who always exposed herself without being questioned.

The key point was... Firex again.

Hearing that name, Xiarette was already annoyed. The last time he had gotten two of his front teeth knocked out, and he still wasn’t behaving?

"Yes, because it’s still related to the Demon Clan Princess, I thought... it would be better to inform you first."

Hmm?

Miss Shaya stopped patting the large fluffy toy in her hand, perked up her ears, turned to face Livra, and sat properly.

Something related to the Demon Clan Princess Sheffy? She definitely wanted to hear this!

Thus, Livra began recounting what she had seen and heard this morning.

"That dog from the Holy Theocracy, Firex... nothing good ever comes when he shows up at dawn. Just as I suspected! He said that the major merchants of the kingdom had a joint proposal that needed him to present it on their behalf. The proposal was actually to have the witch Sheffy participate in next week's arena match!"

"Absurd." Xiarette furrowed her brows, dismissing the idea with contempt. "Sheffy Harl is such an adorable... cough, such a hateful and terrifying existence. Just sealing her here has already drained all our efforts. To let her leave and participate in an arena match? Unless Firex no longer wishes to live, how could he make such a ridiculous proposal?"

"Right? Right...! That’s exactly why I came to tell you! The arena matches, after all, are entertainment-oriented commercial competitions. How could they involve someone whose existence concerns the very survival of the kingdom, just for the sake of spectacle?"

The arena matches were organized and funded by major merchants from across the kingdom, who scouted powerful fighters from all over to compete.

The stronger the participants, the more heated the competition would become.

With the allure of “powerful contestants,” there was no worry about lacking an audience, or lacking gold coins flowing in.

For example, in the previous match, the Fire Dragon Clan, one of the higher races, had participated. No one knew where the organizers found such a heavyweight participant, but precisely because of that, both the audience turnout and the venue's revenue had doubled.

Livra carefully recalled the situation from this morning and recounted it truthfully.

"Merchants chase profit... they don’t consider political factors. In their view, among all the experts that can be found in the kingdom right now, the one who can generate the most buzz is undoubtedly the imprisoned Demon Clan Princess. If she could be released under controlled conditions to fight one match, the entire Royal Capital might flock to the arena to watch. This is how the merchants put it in the proposal Firex submitted."

"Utterly ridiculous. If anything, it was those very merchants who, in the beginning, shamelessly went to the Demon Domain to conduct business without principles, which led the Demon Clan’s opinion of the Human Clan to plummet, eventually triggering the war. If there is no bottom line in the pursuit of profit... then they deserve to die!"

Bang!

"Lord Xiarette...?"

"Apologies."

Without realizing it, Xiarette had clenched her fist and slammed it down onto the corner of the solid stone table.

Cracks spread across the sturdy table from the impact.

Well then, Sheffy thought, now this plain table has some decoration. We don’t even need to spend money on remodeling, Xiarette, you really are a genius!

Xiarette knew exactly why she was angry.

Because this matter had already touched her bottom line and reverse scale.

Her reverse scale was Sheffy.

Suggesting that Sheffy participate in the match under controlled conditions to boost ticket sales for profit...? Wasn’t that treating her as a tool for making money?

Even someone as gentle in nature as Xiarette at this moment wished she could smash open the skulls of the merchants who had made this proposal!

However, Xiarette had yet to notice...

— Beside her, poor Sheffy’s eyes were sparkling with expectation...!

Xiarette temporarily composed herself, turned toward Livra, and continued speaking.

"Your Highness, the Kingdom of Aurus has never been swayed by merchants. I believe that such a proposal is not even worth considering before His Majesty. When weighing the dangers against the potential benefits, His Majesty will surely make the proper judgment."

"Yes... I know Father will definitely make the right decision. But the problem is... Firex said this isn’t just a proposal from the merchants of the Kingdom of Aurus, but also a joint initiative from the merchants of the Holy Theocracy of Coreia. That’s the reason I came here today..."

"Tch."

Upon hearing the words ‘Holy Theocracy,’ Xiarette couldn’t help but click her tongue, secretly cursing Firex for being a wretched old dog who just wouldn’t leave them alone.

Whenever something came up, he would drag out the Holy Theocracy behind him to pressure the King into compromise. Such vile scheming, utterly despicable.

Wait a moment...

A joint proposal from merchants of the Kingdom of Aurus and the Holy Theocracy of Coreia?

As Xiarette calmed down from her anger and carefully thought it over, she gradually reached a conclusion.

— This was impossible.

"Although merchants from the Kingdom and the Theocracy often communicate and cooperate... a joint proposal presented together to the King has not happened since the Human Kingdoms split several centuries ago. Even if there was cooperation, given how fragmented they are, how did they manage to reach a consensus in such a short amount of time...?"

"Lord Xiarette truly is sharp. This only proves that someone is acting as a mediator behind the scenes, manipulating events. I believe there’s only one person capable of moving so deftly between the merchants of both the Kingdom and the Theocracy."

"That person is Firex himself, isn’t it..."

"Yes. No doubt, this farce was directed and staged by him. While he claims it’s the merchants’ proposal, in reality, it’s him fueling the fire by 'encouraging the merchants to propose.' The one who most desires the Demon Clan Princess to participate in the match is not the merchants, but Firex. No... to be more precise, it’s the Holy Theocracy of Coreia behind Firex — it’s the Pope."

"Princess Livra’s analysis is quite thorough and accurate..."

"You flatter me."

Miss Shaya hugged her large fluffy toy, her eyelids twitching slightly, speechless.

Wow... these two simpletons were actually praising each other for being clever. Such a rare and precious sight!

However, their analysis was not wrong.

In matters like this, it was obvious that the one making the final decision was the ruler.

Even if merchants pursued profit, they wouldn’t dare gamble with national security without the tacit approval from the top, let alone directly present a proposal to the King. Merchants valued their lives too.

So, Miss Shaya snapped her fingers and casually offered her speculation.

"So the old Pope’s goal of having Sheffy Harl participate in the arena match might simply be to make her show herself. After all, ever since this witch was captured by the kingdom, she’s been imprisoned and hasn’t appeared in public~ The old Pope might be feeling uneasy."

"Shaya, have you deduced something?" Xiarette trusted her own clever little one very much. "Let Sheffy appear, and then what? What other plans might the Pope have?"

"How would I know! Do you think I’m some intelligence agency?! Hehe... but you, though. You get so worked up when it comes to that witch Sheffy. Could it be that you and Sheffy have some unspeakable private relationship, Sister Xiarette?"

"Huh...?! Don’t say such things! T-t-there’s a royal present, you can’t talk nonsense like that!"

"Hahaha, it’s fine, it’s fine~" Livra laughed happily, waving her hand as she spoke. "Haha, Miss Shaya is truly humorous! Suggesting that our kingdom’s Hero has some secret relationship with the Demon Clan Princess... hahaha! This is the funniest joke I’ve heard all year! Miss Shaya, you’re a genius!"

"Right? I think so too, I’m super smart!"

Livra stood up and high-fived Shaya to show their mutual understanding.

Then the two of them laughed at themselves and sat back down.

Only Xiarette in the middle twitched her brow furiously...

There were things she dared not say, dared not say.

After sitting down again, Livra sighed lightly. Despite her silliness, she did show a bit of concern befitting a princess of the realm.

"Every time it involves the Holy Theocracy, Father gets very troubled... and now it’s like this again. I really don’t know when this kind of passive situation will ever end. Oh right, Firex also said that the war between the Human Clan and the Demon Clan has dragged on for years, and due to repeated defeats, the morale of the Human Clan has greatly declined. He believes that if they could suppress the Demon Clan Princess’s power to its lowest and let the kingdom’s strong defeat her in the arena, it would surely boost the citizens’ morale. I think this idea is utterly ridiculous... If they really treat the Demon Clan Princess like this, wouldn’t the Demon Domain immediately send troops against us...?"

"It’s merely part of the Holy Theocracy’s plan. They still hope to provoke a localized conflict between the Demon Domain and the Kingdom of Aurus within controllable limits. That way, they can continue supplying resources to the kingdom, essentially holding it hostage, and profiting from it."

"That’s exactly why I’m so worried..."

"It doesn’t matter. Just reject it. In the end, the decision is still in your father’s hands. When you return, make sure to explain the pros and cons to him. If you compromise with the Holy Theocracy once, there’ll be a second time, and it will never end. When it needs to be cut off, it must be cut off."

"I understand... Thank you, Lord Xiarette. After hearing your words, my thoughts are much clearer now."

"Your Highness is too modest. The future of the kingdom will need you to shoulder it."

"Haah... I’m still far from ready! I’ll slowly learn from you and Miss Shaya!"

"Shaya?"

At this point,

Xiarette realized that Sheffy had been rather quiet today.

Normally, if it were something related to her, wouldn’t she have already been chattering away non-stop?

Shaya, resting her chin on one hand, was lost in thought. Noticing the sudden silence, she turned her head and saw both of them staring at her.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Uh... well, we just wanted to hear your opinion, Shaya. Usually you see things most clearly... right?"

"You want me to speak? Then I’ll speak!"

Shaya hopped down from the chair.

She raised the big fluffy ball in her hand high, really looking like a little strategist.

"My suggestion is — why not go along with their plan? Let her enter the competition! Let that witch Sheffy go fight in the arena!"

"Eh?!"

"Eh?!!!"

She dropped a bomb!

When Livra left, the whole princess was in a state of confusion.

Woo woo, Lord Xiarette said not to let the Demon Clan Princess compete.

But then Miss Shaya said to support the Demon Clan Princess participating.

They were both trustworthy and capable people, yet their opinions were so completely opposite. Whose advice should she follow?

Silly Livra almost forgot that she herself was the princess, and that she should be the one making the decision.

No, in fact, she knew.

Precisely because of that, she chose to leave for the time being.

She was too embarrassed to continue troubling the two of them, so she could only leave while pondering bitterly on her way back to the castle.

She had been muddled when she came, and was even more muddled when she left.

But she had no choice but to leave first.

After all, aside from this matter... there was something even more important waiting for her to handle outside the Royal Capital castle.

After seeing Livra off, Xiarette brought Sheffy back inside to change out of her pajamas.

While Sheffy was changing her dress, her little mouth kept chattering non-stop.

"As expected of Livra, the castle is so far from here, and that idiot didn’t even have a carriage — she ran all the way here on foot! And now she’s running back again. Those who know she’s a princess know she’s a princess; those who don’t might think she’s a horse."