I return to the settlement, to Convergence, and eat with the goblins since it’s already mealtime. After that, I work on enlarging and reinforcing another cave until dinnertime comes.

  After dinner, I spend some pleasant time chatting with the goblins, my stomach full and the warmth of the main bonfire filling the cave.

  Finally, I head to sleep. I wake up early, grab a quick bite, and get back to working on my cave.

  It’s not something I particularly feel like doing, but we need to prepare them to house the new buildings we’ll make when Ronan returns.

  I’m in the middle of that when he contacts me.

  My lady, he says, would you care to come to the capital as the Demon King?

  I’m so surprised to hear him that I lose my concentration. My stone control spell is suddenly released. The section of ceiling I was manipulating collapses. Luckily, I’m not directly underneath and the rest of the cave doesn’t follow.

  Before answering Ronan, I take a few moments to cast a healing spell on myself to ease the bruising and the cut on my hip from the rock that hit me there.

  Ronan, what the hell are you talking about?

  He has to notice—he just has to—that I’m pissed. What a mess he’s caused by dropping something like that out of nowhere.

  Just to be safe, I abandon the cavern and stay in the entrance tunnel, in case it keeps collapsing.

  That, my lady. Count Bloodwynne wants to be the next demon king and I told him he cannot because there already is one. He wants me to introduce you.

  I let out a couple of curses out loud that the necromancer can’t possibly be aware of. A couple of goblins come over to see if I’m all right. I’m not sure if it’s because of the noise from the small cave-in or the swearing.

  “Relax, it’s nothing. I’ll fix that later,” I tell them while pointing into the cave. “You can go.”

  Without waiting for them to leave, I turn my attention back to my conversation with Ronan, who’s asking me “My lady?” because I’m not answering him.

  Look, Ronan, you can’t just drop bombs like that and expect nothing to happen. For starters, the section of ceiling I was working on collapsed.

  Bombs, my lady?

  I sigh. I need patience.

  Like telling a noble with dark magic—who could easily be an enemy—that I’m the Demon King, and risking him turning me in to get me executed. Fuck. But I’m not even one...! I explode. I’m only the supposed future demon king.

  My lady, yes you are. Besides, I did not tell him it was you.

  His voice sounds offended. This is just too much.

  But you did tell me to go meet him.

  Of course, but covered with a cloak, a hood and a mask, and riding one of the large ice golems, so you will appear larger.

  I’m picturing him looking at me like what he’s saying is totally obvious and I’m being somewhat obtuse, like I have brain fog making it hard to understand.

  I keep arming myself with patience. Difficult, because part of the ceiling collapsed on me, but I know it’s necessary.

  Ronan is very intelligent, much more than me. There has to be some reason I’m not seeing.

  Great, all that’s missing is for that obtuse thing to be true.

  Give me the details, I ask him, but first explain why you think I need to go.

  They are rediscovering runic magic. When Benedict said he wanted to be the next demon king, I considered killing them all. And raising the ones conducting the experiments so they would continue carrying them out and I could ask them any questions that might come up. But if I do that, even though they will have to obey me, they will not do so willingly. My undead are my friends for a reason: I do not want slaves. It is one thing to raise a criminal to interrogate him and then return him to the grave, and another to keep him as one of my own.

  What the hell is he talking about? When has Ronan interrogated a criminal? Better not ask. For now, I’ve got enough on my plate with the count aka the Black Death.

  Are you telling me that some dark god cultists are figuring out how to recover rune magic? I ask him.

  Yes.

  But isn’t it supposed to be true that no one’s been able to in centuries?

  They may have received some help they were not supposed to receive.

  I roll my eyes. Is this for real?

  With Ronan, I don’t know what to expect anymore. It’s like having a friend who gets into more trouble than you and has even more insane things happen to him—and I’m from another world.

  The worst part is that, considering Convergence’s security, knowing runic magic would be a really interesting scientific-magical development.

  Alright.

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  Alright, he repeats, and I notice the excitement in his voice.

  Did he maybe assume I was going to refuse?

  Ronan, you’re not trying to guide me down the path of becoming the Demon King, are you? I ask him suspiciously.

  It’s not that I don’t trust him, but a dark god acolyte’s ideas about the best future for our settlement don’t necessarily have to align with mine.

  Of course not, my lady. I serve you and you choose who you want to become. Besides, I repeat that you already are the Demon King.

  I sigh. There he goes with that again. My contract says very clearly it’s future. Ronan has his peculiar way of seeing the world.

  Give me the details on how we do this.

  You would need to come to the capital. Do you have any excuse to use the academy’s teleporter? Perhaps they will let you since you are the prince’s fiancée.

  Hmm, I don’t know. But there’s no need to use that. Actually, I think Vincent might have stayed at the academy to be with me, instead of going with Theodore and the others to the Marquess Dravenholt’s manor. If that’s the case, I don’t think it’ll be too hard for me to get him to invite me to spend a few days with him at the palace.

  Actually, now that I think about it, maybe I should’ve said goodbye to the poor guy the next morning, before leaving for the village. He was by my side in the infirmary and I, between the thing with his brother, the thing with Sol and the dark magic, and the thing with the pregnant females giving birth, I think I’ve been somewhat inconsiderate toward my poor fiancé.

  Oh, is this because he’s my fiancé now? that strange thought hits me. I wouldn’t want to have started picking up the habit of blowing off my fiancés because of what happened with Marco.

  I shake my head— seriously, sometimes I think weird things—and focus on what Ronan’s telling me:

  Great, my lady. Then come today, and at night you can slip away into the public gardens of the capital. I will go there with Benedict.

  Ronan, I want to talk to the queen about getting that bodyguard removed. It’s ridiculous that I have one and the princes don’t. But until I do, he’s going to follow me and post himself at my door.

  No problem. You go out onto the balcony of whatever area of the palace they lodge you in. I will send the golem with a bird to fetch you.

  You’re going to fly me out?

  Of course.

  Because the palace guards are blind... I say sarcastically.

  My lady, you would be surprised how rarely people look up at the sky above. The guards are watching the horizon. Besides, it is nighttime, and the golem is covered by your black cloak.

  He’s got me there. Is that seriously his plan?

  Well, if I get caught, I’ll make up whatever excuse a spoiled noblewoman could come up with. I highly doubt it would cross their minds that I intended to go meet the leader of a dark god worshipper cult.

  The golem will bring you the hooded cloak and the mask. I will ask the goblins to add some shoulder pads, so you will look more imposing. And do not speak.

  He keeps giving me details. After finishing our conversation, I’d love to sit down for a bit to digest this, but I have a cave that, if I don’t check it by casting stone control, might completely collapse. So I take a couple of steps in and cast my spell. There doesn’t seem to be too much structural damage. I get to work and repair the mess and, while I’m at it, finish getting it ready to house one of the settlement’s new buildings.

  After that, I go see the totem.

  “I have to leave now. Ronan needs me.”

  “Does it have to do with the dark cloak?” he asks curiously.

  “Yes.”

  He nods.

  “Through one of his vassal soldiers, he gave orders to the goblins to prepare it, and also to ask one of the golems and two of the zombie sparrows to take it to the capital.”

  Right, at this distance he needs intermediaries to communicate with his creatures. And I imagine he wants an extra bird as a safety measure, since one alone could already move the golem when it levitates.

  I return to Clearhaven on a skeleton deer and from there to the portal. Once at the academy, my problem is going to be locating Vincent—I don’t know if he’s still around or if he’s already left. And if he’s gone, how do I contact him? Do I go to Solstar and pay a messenger to send him a bird?

  Because I’ve been away at the village for a night and more than a day. The ball was Monday and today is Wednesday. It’s very likely he’s already left if he ended up deciding to go with Theodore. Let’s try my luck.

  Hmm… he said training didn’t have to be boring. I head to the gym and, yes, there he is with his sword in a sweaty shirt clinging to the muscles of his shoulders, chest, and back.

  Uh. Ideas are occurring to me. Beatrice’s bad influence seems to be whispering in my ear what she and her tongue would do right now with those shoulders.

  I clear my throat.

  Vincent, who’s hitting a practice dummy, doesn’t hear me. I wait for him to get tired and then I call out to him.

  “Hello,” I say.

  He turns and sees me.

  “Bianca.” His golden eyes and features light up.

  If this were still actually the otome game, I’d be looking for his affection bar right now, to delight in that 100% you get with the marriage proposal, with the certainty that such a magnificent specimen of a man is all mine. He, however, just from seeing how worked up I’m getting from watching him, probably doesn’t need anything. My face must be a poem screaming “in love.”

  Luckily, he’s a total gentleman. He would never take advantage of me and this body’s stupid hormones.

  “How are you?” he asks me.

  He grabs a towel to wipe the sweat from his face and approaches me.

  “I thought you’d stayed, but when I couldn’t find you, I started thinking maybe you’d ended up going to your house or to Theodore’s.”

  “No, I was just busy. I went to train at Clearhaven.”

  “That remote village where professors go to train you, from what you told me.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You’re very cruel, Bianca. We’re engaged. Take me with you—I stayed here to be by your side. Plus, the night before you’re in the infirmary and the next morning you disappear. How do you think I felt?”

  Uh, I don’t know about him, but me right now? Super guilty.

  Poor thing!

  I’ve never seen the prince so vulnerable. I imagine that, since he loves me, he’s showing me that part of himself he hides from others.

  “I’m sorry!” I hurry to assure him as I grab his hands. They’re calloused from the sword. And warm, very hot. “I really didn’t mean to worry you. I was totally inconsiderate. If you want, to make it up to you, I’ll go with you to the palace for a few days, and you can show me your favorite places.”

  Uh, did that sound weird? It’s just that I saw the opportunity and, guilty or not, I went for it.

  He looks somewhat surprised and then smiles. He takes advantage of the fact that I’m holding his hands to pull me closer and kiss me.

  Mmm, here I really can’t refuse anything he asks me. And I imagine he can’t refuse me either.

  “That will be perfect, thank you so much,” he tells me as he separates his lips from mine but not his forehead, which he brings closer and rests against mine. “My mother asked me to before she left, but I didn’t want to tell you anything because you’d already said you were planning to train. So when I tell her, she’s going to be pleased.”

  Really? Spending time with the queen wasn’t in my plans. Or was it? Because I need to ask her to remove the bodyguard.

  Before my mind can start rambling about staying in this world forever and about how she’d be my mother-in-law, Vincent kisses me again.

  Everything blurs.

  For a few minutes, it’s just him and me, the warmth of his breath and his embrace. And, of course, these damn hormones of mine.

  Catrina, who walks into the gym and doesn’t hold back from making a comment about the two of us in a loud voice, pulls me out of my heaven.

  We immediately separate and I, somewhat embarrassed, apologize.

  “I’d like to leave as soon as possible,” I tell Vincent as we exit the gym. “If you want, I’ll go change and grab some clothes and we can meet in a couple of hours at the teleporter.”

  I’m giving him time to wash up and get rid of the sweat. I don’t need to, because I took a bath as soon as I got back from Clearhaven, since I definitely reeked of smoke from the goblin cave.