The moment the parties had separated to complete their quests, his party cornered him as soon as they could, with Tracy asking, "Okay, what's the deal?"
Luke raised an eyebrow, causing her to scowl, and Grace quickly stepped up before Tracy could explode. "Is the princess really thinking about a celebration?"
"I shouldn't say anything since the princess wants it to be a surprise," Luke said, which was basically the same as him admitting to it.
Chris narrowed his eyes. "Did something happen between the two of you?"
Bobby elbowed him as he said, "You shouldn't speak."
"I'm just saying," Chris said as he rubbed the spot where he had been elbowed. "It's strange that she would suddenly want to throw a celebration after nearly two years. If we had a celebration last year, I would understand
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Tracy asked after Luke explained.Unimpressed, he raised an eyebrow at her. He wouldn't be having this discussion in the first place if he were certain about his next course of action. Turning his attention to the other two, he noticed how they both had serious expressions on their faces. Hopefully, they would be able to come up with a plan before the rest of the party returned."I want to tell the others," Grace said quietly after several moments of silence.Tracy exploded. "Are you serious? Do you know how dangerous it will be to tell them? There's no going back. We might have to kill them if they decide to go against us. Are you prepared to do that?"With each word, Grace wilted in on herself. It wasn't that she didn't think of it. She just wanted everyone to work together. They woul
All eyes turned to Bobby, and Luke saw that he had Tracy in a chokehold. He wasn't sure how that happened since he had been preoccupied with Theodore, but now they were at a standstill. Sure, he could take Theodore out and go after the other two. However, he couldn't be sure he could prevent Tracy from being injured, given her current position."We only want answers." Bobby turned to face Luke and asked, "Luke, tell us. Did you form the party just to use us?"The attention shifted to Luke as everyone waited to hear his answer. His eyes scanned each person to gauge their response. Bobby and Chris didn't appear to harbor any ill intent towards him, but that could change depending on his answer. Theodore obviously wanted to pound him into the dirt, and Luke doubted anything he said would make him change his mind.Grace was staring at him anxiously, with Vi
"In all seriousness, I can see why you kept quiet about all this," Bobby said. "I still find it hard to wrap my head around everything, but I'm on your side. What do you want us to do?"It was as if a heavy weight had been lifted from Luke's chest. He had kept it from them for so long that he didn't really think things could be resolved so peacefully. Well, as peacefully as it could be considering that Theodore was still looking like he was out for blood. He wouldn't be forced to eliminate them. Maybe he did have a chance to get the other parties on his side.Luke immediately shooed those thoughts away. He was getting ahead of himself. Just because his party seemed to be on his side, that didn't mean the other parties would follow suit. They didn't know each other well enough for them to simply accept what he had to say. Even though he worked with a few of them, he didn't believe for a s
"Luke, I missed you so much," Princess Sweeney said as she collided into him.Luke had seriously underestimated the time the parties would be away from the castle. He had been under the belief that they would be away from the castle until the princess finished her preparations for the celebration and had time to meet with the demons. They were barely gone for more than a few days, and the castle was clearly not ready for the celebration."I really missed you," she continued as she rubbed her face against his chest, much to his disgust. "Days apart are simply too much."His so called allies had already ditched him without an ounce of worry or pity other than Grace. Well, they did promise to speak with 'Kayla' without tipping anyone off and to figure out a way to reach out to the demons under his control. Luke hoped they would be able to meet soon
"Did you miss me?" Sariel asked as he smiled and waved at Luke.Despite his appearance being completely different from before, Luke couldn't mistake the angel for one of the natives. Long, dark brown hair instead of blonde and dark brown eyes instead of blue couldn't hide the weird aura around him. Of course, it might just be because Luke was a demon king who could sense these kinds of things.After all, no one else had seemed to notice the angel's presence. It was almost as if they couldn't see him or thought he was just a regular human. Sariel also chose a very opportune time to finally make his appearance after their last encounter. Luke was by himself, as everyone else had been roped into doing their part to prepare for the celebration.Crossing his arms, Luke asked, "What do you need?""You seem pretty calm despit
Luke was beginning to wonder if something significant had changed when he used the pen outside of the changes he made. He certainly didn't expect to be cornered by Jessica Morris the moment he stepped foot out of the castle. It hadn't been easy to persuade the princess to let him go. She had been extremely clingy and wanted him to stay in her room.Luckily, he was able to ditch her, but he was expected to return as soon as possible. Was Jessica waiting the whole time, or did she find out when he would leave the castle? If it was the former, it was quite a foolish decision to make. Her family would have let her do it unless there was no other option, and he highly doubted that this was their last option to get in contact with him.If it was the latter, then the family's influence must have grown while he wasn't looking. He couldn't recall them having people in the castle. Whatever the cas
Luke wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. How did they find out what he was planning? Did one of his party members slip and spill the beans? He didn't think they were purposely doing it, but it was possible that they hadn't been careful when discussing it. Grace, Tracy, and Violet would have known better, but the other three might not have."I suppose there's no pretending otherwise. What do you want? Do you intend to spill the beans to the princess? It isn't like any of you. It would only do more harm than good," Luke said as his eyes studied the duo for their reactions.Laurel huffed. "Of course not. I want to be in on it, and the Morris family is also interested in working together."At the last part, Samuel glared at her before turning his attention to Luke. "If you truly plan to overthrow the current ruling family and take over&n
After that encounter, there were no other surprises, though Luke didn't let his guard down and kept his eyes out for anything out of the ordinary. There was simply too much on the line for him to let anything else slip past him. The closer the day of the celebration approached, the more on edge he and the others were. Of course, their nervousness could be attributed to how excited they were about the event.It would be outrageous for anyone not in the know to assume they were concerned about the attack on the capital and that they were essentially traitors. The only way Luke could see it happening was if the person already had reasons to believe they were capable of doing that. They were in the clear, but that didn't mean they could be careless.Sariel had come through and located Zona. Luke had sent Tracy, with Laurel joining her. Laurel had said she didn't mind going as Tracy's backup,