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“No, please, Lady Tilea, please keep your head up.”
“No, I’ll keep my head down until I have your forgiveness. What I’ve done is that bad, after all.”
“I-, I forgive you, Lady Tilea. I forgive you, okay? S-, so please, keep your head up. I-, I don’t know what they’ll do to me……”

Edim answers in a panic.

Fufu, she’s not a vampire, after all. She is a human being. She treats a normal person like me in a normal manner. In fact, she’s a person of character for standing up for me.

“Thank you for forgiving me, Edim. This place is where you belong.”
“S-, sniff, sniffs, La-, Lady Tilea. Am I-, am I really allowed to be here? I-, I love you so much, Lady Tilea, I don——”
“Of course, of course you are! You have my seal of approval, and I won’t let anyone say otherwise. I will surely protect your place here.”
“UWAAAAAAHHH, LA-, LADY TILEAA!!”

Edim sobs and hugs me. I hugged her tightly in response.

There, there. When she’s like this, Edim really looks nothing more than a girl her age. I won’t hesitate anymore. I will definitely protect her.

After hugging her for a while, Edim told me about her current predicament. Apparently, because of me, Edim is about to be thrown out of this place. Moreover, I heard that Dryas is leading the way in implementing this. Furthermore, Orty is being rash or getting out of hand or something……

“Hic, hic, La-, Lady Tilea. I-, I can’t possibly do it in-, in a week. Sniff, sniff.”
“I understand. Don’t cry so much. I’ll do something about it. If they still insist on it, I’ll give Dryas and the others a lesson, a real one this time.”

♢♦♢♦♢

——Pratoline’s Perspective

“S-, sniff, sniffs, La-, Lady Tilea. Am I-, am I really allowed to be here? I-, I love you so much, Lady Tilea, I don——”
“Of course, of course you are! You have my seal of approval, and I won’t let anyone say otherwise. I will surely protect your place here.”

Tilea hugged the poor vampire.

This happened just as I was about to send the elite unit in.

That idiot… Goodness, that good-natured, little idiot… Does she know the risk of the act of protecting a vampire, a demon, is?

But, well, I suppose even telling her would be useless. She must have made up her mind.

Come to think of it, the first day I met Tilea at the Loyalist Committee for the Extermination of Demons, she was somewhat restless. She was blowing tea and floundering.

In hindsight, Tilea must have been desperately trying to protect her friend.

“We’re leaving.”
“Are you sure, My Lady?”
“Yes, we will monitor her for a while, but you and your team shall leave.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”

The elite troops in black were withdrawn. Each one of them was an army in their own right. They blended into the night, disappearing in no time at all.

Phew. How heedless can you be, Tilea? Why must you talk about vampires and demons in your own shop, what would you do if someone was listening in?

Next time I see her, I’ll have to thoroughly reprimand her so that she doesn’t leak any information.

But still, that vampire, or rather, Edim, was it? I know for I have lived in a world of power and intrigue: She is not lying. She was truly afraid of losing her place. She was truly afraid that Tilea would hate her.

It was not an act. I could say that for sure.

Fufu, and to think a smile would escape me. Demons and humans are inherently incompatible. However, what do I find here if not a deep bond of trust between Tilea and Edim?

Oh Tilea, I really never get tired of watching you.

You have declared that you will continue to protect the demon, even though I, a member of The Loyalist Committee for the Extermination of Demons, am right here, listening.

Tilea, you have committed so many crimes that it is ridiculous to even count them. And that makes me an accessory in your crime for knowing about it and doing nothing about it. You owe me a great debt of gratitude for tarnishing my unblemished career.

Subversion of the state, aiding and abetting a demon, and leaking confidential information…….

That’s three grave sins punishable by death that’s right off the top of my head.

If the other members of the Loyalist Committee for the Extermination of Demons knew about this, they would be furious, demanding justice be put in place.

However,

Punishing them in the name of justice?

That would be absurd. Why, a demon and a human having such a close relationship, is it not marvelous?!

This is a world where conflict is a constant even amongst humans, where people pull strings behind scenes, kick each other down, and fight ugly battles. A world filled with people trying to gain the upper hand with blackmail and many other methods.

In such a world, seeing two people reaffirming their sheer trust for one another is a rarity amongst rarity. And I, Pratoline, shall not allow anyone to defile such a beautiful sight!

Pratoline looked around cautiously and then returned home. Her steps were light.

The world is ugly.

Betrayal, jealousy, slander……

There are those who try to pull others down and get the upper hand. There are those who cheat, betray, and drown themselves in pleasure. There are those who love to fight and constantly seek to hurt others.

There are times when my heart itches to destroy a world as ugly as this.

But……

Sometimes the world, whimsically, shows me beautiful things.

“Fufu, truly a troublesome person, that one.”

And that is why, I cannot bring myself to hate this world.