The Immortal Queen Cannot Escape the Lies and Obsession of the Demon — Not That She Wants To - Chapter 18

“Hmm…?”

Feeling a slight chill and the wind rustling her bangs, Ariana sat up.

Though there were double-hung windows, they remained closed except during cleaning for ventilation, and of course, before bedtime. Now they were wide open, the incoming wind swaying the lace curtains.

There was only one lawless individual who would dare open Queen Ariana’s windows in the middle of the night.

But unlike usual, Rai was nowhere to be seen in the room, nor did he seem about to speak up suddenly from her blind spot.

Puzzled, she got out of bed.

Drawn as if by the fluttering curtains, she approached the window and finally spotted the shadow she had been looking for.

“Rai, is something wrong?”

“Hmm?”

Rai, sitting on the balcony railing with the moonlight at his back, had been waiting facing forward for Ariana to arrive.

As always, it was hard to tell what he was thinking. Partly because Ariana was naive about the world, and partly because Rai, being a demon, was difficult to fit into human frameworks.

Even so, she could vaguely sense an unusual atmosphere.

She had intended to thank him for the progress in the investigation as soon as she saw him, but decided to wait for him to speak first.

“Yeah, well…”

Normally talkative, he quietly extended his palm.

Even if she didn’t understand the meaning, there was no reason to refuse his hand. Though she knew it probably wasn’t an invitation to dance, somehow Ariana placed her right hand on his offered left.

“Ariana.”

“Yes?”

“Since you’re human, you can’t fly, right?”

The question was again abrupt and puzzling.

Asked something so obvious, Ariana tilted her head as she replied.

“Of course, I can’t fly—”

“—Liar.”

His voice, cutting her off like a verdict, vibrated in her eardrums like a song.

A shiver ran through her body. She thought her body had startled at the strange tone, but at the same time, she felt a discomfort in her very physique and looked down at her feet.

“Huh…?”

Without doing anything, her heels lifted, and she rose onto her tiptoes.

Then even her tiptoes couldn’t stay grounded, and Ariana’s body floated into the air. Looking down in confusion at Rai, whom she usually had to look up at, she was met with a beaming smile.

“See, you can fly just fine. A bit clumsy, though. First time?”

“R-R-Rai? Um, what in the world is this…!?”

Even as she spoke, Ariana’s body kept rising. Reflexively gripping Rai’s hand, he squeezed back, and she stopped in place.

“The wind feels nice tonight, so why not take a walk? Well, we won’t be walking. Take off your shoes if you don’t want to lose them. And hold onto your coat properly.”

“Wh-wh-whaaat…!?”

Declaring this unilaterally, Rai floated up from the railing as usual, and hand in hand, the two slowly ascended.

Thinking it would be a hassle to have new shoes made, she kicked them off onto the balcony. Her bare feet exposed to the night breeze, her nightgown dress billowing in the wind, combined with floating in midair, made her feel incredibly vulnerable.

She regretted not properly putting on her cardigan instead of just draping it over her shoulders, clutching it tightly against her chest with her left hand.

“You don’t have to be so stiff. Look.”

Fingers crept over the back of her right hand, which was gripping Rai’s left tightly. At the slight ticklish sensation, she opened her eyes, which she had shut, and found they had reached a height where they could overlook the castle.

Glancing involuntarily at the castle’s watchtower, she saw knights who seemed to be on night duty, enjoying themselves with card games and drinks. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have noticed them.

“Rai, I wish to leave quickly so I can pretend I didn’t see my subordinates slacking off…!”

“Ah… right, you’d have to scold them if you found out. Got it.”

Unlike Ariana, who could barely move, Rai glided smoothly as if swimming through the air.

Pulled by the hand, the castle grew distant, and as she gazed at the town below from an unfamiliar angle, the scenery flowing by, her heart, which had been pounding painfully fast from fear, began to mix with a hint of exhilaration.

“Calmed down? Then, I’ll loosen my grip a bit.”

“Ah, did it hurt?”

“Not at all. Ariana’s delicate, so you can grip as hard as you want, but you’ll have muscle pain tomorrow.”

“Ugh.”

She couldn’t deny it.

The sudden floating had tensed muscles she didn’t usually use, and it might not just be her right hand that would suffer.

“I won’t let go, so relax. Or don’t you trust me?”

“…No.”

Asked like that, she couldn’t help but feel reassured.

As her tension eased naturally, she realized just how stiff she had been. Enough to give her full-body muscle pain.

Whenever she became conscious of the sheer height, her body would instinctively shrink back, but each time, confirming Rai’s presence beside her with her eyes and her palm, she could relax and entrust herself to him.

“It feels like I’ve become a bird, even though it’s night.”

“Right now, Ariana, you’re not just a bird, you’re lighter than a petal.”

“So that’s why I’m floating so softly, as I am now.”

If Rai could say that increasing someone’s lifespan wasn’t much trouble, then making a flightless human fly might be easy for him too.

Starting to grasp the situation a little, Ariana voiced the words that surfaced in her heart.

“Rai’s power is truly amazing. It feels like you could make many dreams come true.”

“You think so?”

Before she knew it, they had moved so far that even the town below looked distant. Stopping in the sky above where they could see vast fields and forests, Rai turned to face her.

Their side-by-side positions shifted to facing each other; his left hand gripping her right tightened slightly, and his right arm wrapped around her back, pulling her close. The posture and distance were as if they were about to start dancing, combined with the strangeness of being in the sky, making Ariana gasp.

“But me, I don’t feel any dreams or hope in my own power.”