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“One candied fruit skewer can hardly satisfy me.”

The vicious look on Nine’s face made Leniah even more scared. Despite her fear, she mustered her courage to reply to him, even though she sounded like she was about to cry.

“B-But… but… that’s the last I have…”
“Gwahaha, then you will offer me yourself.”

Nine laughed maniacally as he reached out to Leniah. With no one in the room powerful enough to challenge him, he figured he would have fun with this little girl as a prelude to the main event today.

Anyway, the outcome of this encounter had been decided already, right?

“B̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲! Stop it!” Lilith snarled angrily, but did not dare to act recklessly because Lesiah was still being held hostage by him. Tears were already rolling down Lesiah’s cheeks as she could do nothing but watch on helplessly.

For Nine, this was the perfect time to do whatever he pleased.

“Don’t be scared, I’m not a bad person.”

Nine’s hand glided across Leniah’s face, leaving her frozen with fear.

Her reaction made Nine laugh delightfully. The sight of Leniah quivering like a frightened bunny was the most fulfilling reward for him.

“Hm?” Nine suddenly furrowed his brow.

He was planning to go to the extremes and do something unspeakable to Leniah in front of Lesiah, thinking that it would elicit a very interesting reaction from Lesiah.

However… For some reason, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his hand.

It was as if it had been unexpectedly stabbed deep into his bone marrow by a knife. The intensity of the pain caused him to suddenly break out in a cold sweat.

He found no visible wound nor did he detect any actions from his enemies. Even so, the sudden, intense pain nearly incapacitated him.

What was going on?

Could it be that there was a dragon lurking in the shadows and attacked him without him realizing it?

No, that was impossible. His cane was specially bestowed upon him by a powerful entity. It had the ability to detect enemies on its own, so he would have been able to anticipate and evade those attacks.

Right now, his cane was not giving any reaction.

In other words, it was not an enemy attack.

Nine suddenly noticed the black spots on his arms, which were bare because the pink princess dress did not have long sleeves. The spots were accompanied by a foul odor, and they were rapidly spreading on his body at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“This is…”

Nine’s face was grim under the white paper. Upon seeing that noticeable symptom, it was only natural that he would be able to figure out the cause.

That knowledge only served to further enrage him.

“You! How despicable and shameless! You poisoned the candied fruit skewer!!!”

Careless. He was too careless! He did not expect such a young child would set a trap for him! Damn! He was completely deceived by her appearance!

While Nine was yelling angrily, Leniah took a few steps back in fear. Her face was pale and with surprise, as she frantically waved her hands and shook her head.

“It’s not me! I didn’t put poison in the candied fruit skewer!”
“Still acting dumb?”

Nine’s anger continued to escalate.

The black spots on his limbs grew quickly, covering his torso in a matter of seconds. He tried doing everything he could to slow the poison.

This was not the kind of poison that an innocent little girl could obtain.

Now that he thought about it, this event was the ascension ceremony of this little girl who looked as harmless as a cute bunny. This meant that she would be the next to rule over this vast empire.

Could an ordinary harmless little girl become the empress?

The answer was of course, no.

This little girl in front of him was definitely not some cute mascot or worthless ornament if she had the power to convince her elder sister to willingly give up the throne to her.

Alas, even the loveliest rose was not without its thorns.

At least in terms of acting skills, this little girl had achieved a level of brilliance that would leave the world and the gods astounded.

“It’s true, I really didn’t poison it…” she sobbed.

Look. Just look. She could easily convince anyone that she was truly innocent!

The more Nine ruminated on the situation, the more he was horrified by this little girl named Leniah. His gaze hardened and his cane transformed into a sharp blade, aiming menacingly at Leniah’s delicate neck.

“Hand over the antidote!” he demanded sternly.

The severe pain caused by the poison became more and more excruciating. Nine was even starting to feel like he was losing his grip on life. His flesh that was covered by the black spots began to fall off, creating a horrifying sight of his body rotting away before his very eyes.

“I don’t know anything about poison or antidote…” Leniah continued sobbing.

Her “acting” became increasingly realistic, looking as though she was on the verge of fainting from fear at any moment.

“You asked for this!”

Nine moved his cane from Leniah’s neck to her arm.

Since he needed the antidote urgently, it would be a problem if Leniah had hidden the antidote in a place known only to her. Leniah must be kept alive for now, but that did not mean he could not take an arm or two from her.

Nine was about to make his move but a burst of wind stopped him.

Nine’s face contorted in distress under the white paper as he quickly teleported himself away with his cane.

BOOM!

With a loud explosion, a massive crater appeared where Nine had just been standing, surrounded by clouds of smoke and dust.

Nine reappeared somewhere not far away. Before he could do anything, he suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

He clutched his chest tightly. His face which was hidden under the paper turned as white as the paper itself.

He did not expect that using just a little bit of power would cause the poison to spread so rapidly, and directly into his heart.

If this continued, the deadly poison would cause his heart to rot if he used his power two more times.

“Looks like you’re having a hard time.”

Lilith emerged from the smoke with a smile on her face, accompanied by Lesiah, who had been freed from her bonds, and Leniah, who held her hand tightly.

For the first time since the ceremony started, Lilith found herself in a good mood as she gazed upon Nine, who was half kneeling on the ground and could hardly move.

She certainly knew where the poison came from. Of course, it was not Leniah who did it but…

She shifted her gaze to the severed hand that belonged to Greenie.

Green Emperor was a rare dragon species with poisonous blood. Due to his high cultivation realm, the toxicity of his blood was so potent that it would affect anyone who came into contact with it, and he was the only one who could neutralize the poison.

And his blood happened to be on the candied fruit skewer.

It probably got there when Nine severed Greenie’s arm. Then Leniah picked it up unknowingly, and offered it to him.

Hah! What a delightful coincidence! Karma would hit anyone who tried to bully a cute loli!

The sudden resolution of such a big crisis through this coincidence gave Lilith a somewhat surreal feeling.

In any case, this was for the good. Lilith did not want to deal with any more surprises and just wanted to bring this to a close as soon as possible.

There were no other surprises in store for her after this, right?

“You think that’s the end of it?” Nine suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs.
“No, it’s far from over!”

He stuck his cane into the ground, and a pillar of light shot up into the sky.

At the top of the pillar of light, a grand and awe-inspiring golden double doors slowly materialized, accompanied by a daunting aura that seemed to belong to a being which was not meant to exist in a world that was limited to only demigods.

“……”

Lilith gazed up at the sky emotionlessly, but she was already secretly cursing under her breath.

Nine looked like he was just sticking a random flag in the ground, so she did not expect it would lead to something as absurd as this!