SIRIUS and Raven were the only demons Marialite had ever seen—as far as she knew.
If they hadn’t personally told her about their race, she never would have known it from their extremely human appearance. While Sirius had horns, he could magic them away at will, and Raven’s body didn’t seem to differ from a human’s in any way. That was why she had assumed that all demons had a human-like appearance.
However, she soon found out that she was very, very wrong.
“Ah. You must be Lady Marialite—the saint who came to the aid of His Highness. What an honor to finally meet you in person.”
It would be an understatement to say the townspeople were absolutely terrified of the flock of demonic soldiers crowding the streets.
The demons had a range of appearances—they had the faces of animals such as goats, wolves, and boars…and their bodies were stacked with unbelievable masses of hard, bulky muscle. And throngs of them were standing in the middle of a small, quiet town.
“The demons have finally come to invade us!” People screamed, running into their houses and watching in terror through their windows. Although, if that was true, hiding away in their houses would’ve been futile. Luckily, these demons had no desire to invade.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name’s Marialite Harty,” she greeted in return. “We were expecting you.”
“Hiya!” Raven waved, clutching a burlap sack full of supplies. “It’s been so long!”
“Sir Raven,” a soldier bowed. “You were reported to have been killed by the Rebellion back at home. When we heard that you were safe and well with His Highness, it was like a dream.”
“Seriously?!” Raven’s jaw dropped. “But, I was giving regular reports to His Majesty…”
The soldiers stared fixedly at Raven with emotional smiles on their faces. Some of them even had tears in their eyes.
“H-Hey, stop that,” Raven snapped. “You’re embarrassing me.” His tone of voice was sharp, but somehow, he didn’t actually seem all too bothered by the attention.
Despite their difference in appearance, the way the demons were smiling and blushing together was no different from how humans would react in the same situation.
Marialite was simply watching on in silence so as not to deter from the heartfelt moment, but she then noticed that several of the soldiers were staring at her.
“Is something the matter?” she asked them directly.
“N-No, it’s nothing!” one soldier with a boar’s head answered. Despite their lack of expression, she could tell they were panicking. “I humbly apologize if we made you feel uncomfortable in any capacity!”
The soldiers surrounding them nodded in agreement and swiftly dropped to their knees. Marialite flinched a little in shock.
“Please,” she said, flustered. “You haven’t done anything to offend me, so there’s no need for all that.”
“B-But—”
“Oh, don’t worry, guys,” Raven chipped in. “Lady Marialite is pretty different from the other saints we know. She won’t threaten to turn you into ashes just because you stared at her.”
Something about what he just said didn’t sit right with Marialite.
“Why would I…?” she trailed off, confused. A strained smile flashed over Raven’s face as he opened his mouth to explain, but…
“In our homeland, saints are revered beings,” Sirius suddenly supplied, appearing at Marialite’s side. “They are to be treated with the same respect as the imperial family.”
Today, he’d left his deep scarlet horns on full display. The sunlight made them shine and glisten so brilliantly that they almost looked like rubies.
When they noticed him appear, the horde of soldiers dropped to their knees in unison. One wolf-like soldier at the front spoke on behalf of them all.
“Prince Sirius,” he addressed him. “Thank goodness you’re safe.”
“Raise your head; I’m not worthy. I left our land and abandoned my duties for such a long time.”
“Don’t say that, Your Highness,” the wolf soldier shook his head. “We have all eagerly awaited your return, soldiers and common people alike.”
There was a certain warmth to his subdued tone. He’d probably missed Sirius just as much as Raven had—or perhaps even more so. Marialite peered deeply into Sirius’ face as he averted his gaze, an embarrassed flush tinting his cheeks.
“You can do this,” Marialite assured him. “The whole country’s counting on you.”
“…I know. I’m just not used to this anymore.”
“I’m sure you’ll get right back into the swing of things. Sirius, y—” she cut herself off. “Oh… Sorry, I just realized. I can’t keep on calling you by your name so casually, can I?”
She hadn’t really thought about it since finding out his true identity, and neither had Raven nor Sirius himself asked her to stop. However, it would be ridiculous to talk to a prince the same way she would talk to a friend.
Straightening her back and giving Sirius a serious look, she then bowed her head.
“Please forgive my discourtesy, Your Highness.”
The moment she said it, she heard a faint gasp from Raven.
Slowly, she raised her head to peek up at Sirius. His mouth was set in a cold, hard line, and his fixated jade-green eyes seemed to lose their shine. He was completely frozen.
I don’t think he’s angry, but…he doesn’t look pleased, either.
“Your Highness?” she fretted. “What’s wrong? Your Highness?”
But no matter how much she called out to him, he remained silent. She waved a hand in front of his eyes, but he remained deadly still, completely unresponsive.
“Your Highness?” she called out again—several times—and finally, Sirius broke out of his trance-like state.
“Could you please stop calling me that?” he pleaded.
“Oh, my. Forgive me. Do you have a special title?” Marialite asked with a look of realization.
“No, no. I just… I want you to call me by my name. Like you always do,” he clarified.
“I couldn’t possibly do that. You’re a prince!” she reiterated.
“I understand, but…” Sirius wavered with a pained look on his face. “‘Your Highness’ is far too much. Couldn’t you make it Lord Sirius at most? Don’t even think of calling me Prince Sirius, either.”
He looked so desperately sad that Marialite began to regret not asking directly before she said anything. It seemed that he wasn’t fond of the people he was close to calling him by such a detached title. And—now that she thought about it—while the soldiers called him ‘Your Highness,’ Raven always called him ‘Lord Sirius,’ even though he was also of a lower standing than him.
“Okay,” she nodded. “From now on, I’ll call you Lord Sirius.”
“…All right. Thank you, Lady Marialite.”
“On that note, you don’t need to call me ‘Lady’ or anything like that,” she added. It’d been bugging her for a while; it felt strange for royalty to be addressing her with such respect.
“I’m really looking forward to showing you my homeland, Lady Marialite!” he beamed, completely ignoring her complaint.
…Evidently, he has no intention of changing that habit.
“No one will think anything of it, so don’t worry,” Raven consoled her in a murmur. “Remember what Lord Sirius said? To our people, saints are revered like royalty.”
“Oh, that’s true,” she agreed.
“…So much so, that you could call him anything you liked,” he added in a whisper, low enough that she wouldn’t hear.
He then walked over to a goat-like soldier nearby and thrust the sack he was carrying into their arms.
“Ugh, this thing is super heavy. Would you mind taking it? Thanks,” he smiled.
“Sir Raven… Could I ask what’s in here?” they questioned, eyeing the heavy sack in their arms dubiously.
“It’s full of apples that Marialite grew with her powers. They were all just about ripe, and it felt like a waste to just leave them behind. So, we harvested ’em all for you guys to snack on during the journey home!” he announced proudly.
The soldier, on the other hand, froze in place—just as Sirius had a few moments ago.
“Uh. What’s wrong?” Raven asked with a prod.
“H-How could you just throw something so precious at me?! What if I’d dropped it?!” the soldier answered, their tone hysteric. “Fruit grown by a saint’s holy hand… My goodness…!”
The goat-headed soldier was on the verge of tears, as well as several soldiers around them. They exclaimed and gasped as news of the holy fruit gradually traveled further through the crowd.
“Oh dear,” Marialite remarked worriedly, watching as pandemonium erupted before her eyes.
That was when she clapped her hands to her cheeks and gasped. She had an idea.
“In that case, how about I just grow some more?”
“What do you mean, Marialite?” Raven asked, tilting his head to one side.
“Well, if these apples are thought to be precious…” she hummed. “I can carry on making them until there’s so many, they lose their value!”
“That sure is some logic…” Raven quipped with a half-hearted laugh.
Marialite didn’t seem to understand that the low number wasn’t what gave the apples their worth.
The goat-like soldier’s eyelashes were still wet, their tears heavy with newfound responsibility. As they carefully clutched the sack to their chest, Sirius made sure to pat their shoulder and assure them, “None of that was your fault.”