Chapter 435: The Underworld (XI)

The princess tapped Gray’s forearm one last time.

"Draw."

This time, Gray released her.

She immediately pulled away and turned around, one hand resting against her throat as she took several deep breaths.

Her crimson hair was covered in mud and bits of torn roots, her dress was stained, and there was a thin cut along her cheek.

Gray was hardly in better shape.

His coat was torn open in several places, blood ran down his side, and one of his ribs felt like it had been kicked into another country.

Crack...

Though... Gray’s body quickly regenerated.

It was so fast that even the Princess raised an eyebrow in complete surprise, not expecting an incubus like him to have such fast regeneration.

Just then, the domain slowly unmade itself.

The vines loosened first, and the soil stopped climbing.

The false sky peeled back in strips of crimson light until the market street returned underneath them, broken in a wide circle, merchants and guards staring from a safer distance.

At that moment, the princess wiped dirt from her cheek with the back of her hand, looked at the blood on it, then looked at Gray still half-kneeling in the wreckage.

Her three guards started forward.

She raised a hand without turning.

"Stay."

They stayed still after hearing their command.

Gray got up more slowly.

He found the rapier in the ground, wiped it once on what remained of his sleeve, and sheathed it like the fight had been a conversation that ran long.

The princess watched the motion longer than she needed to.

"...You fight like an idiot," she said.

"I get that a lot."

"That was not a compliment."

"I know."

She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them because the posture pulled at the cut on her shoulder.

Of course, her pride made her ignore the wince.

"Incubi do not fight like that."

Gray raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a manual?"

"There is a reputation." Her ruby eyes moved from his ruined hands to the sheath at his waist.

"Mind arts, sweet, sultry voices. Rooms that smell like perfume. You were supposed to smile, talk, and steal a breath. Instead, you bit the ground, threw away your sword, and put your arm under my jaw."

"It worked."

"It was a draw."

"That is what I said."

At those words, a few nearby demons started whispering to each other.

"Whoa... did the Crimson Moon Princess really draw against a mid-level incubus?"

"Isn’t she supposed to be an Early Monarch...?"

"Or is that incubus really that strong...?"

The princess’s mouth tightened upon hearing their whispers.

She took a step closer, lowering her voice so the street would not hear it cause she didn’t want more rumours to be spread.

"I have met incubi who could make a lesser noble forget their own name. I have met ones who never needed a blade because the person in front of them would do the fighting for them..." Her gaze sharpened.

"You did not even try that... oh... yeah. You’re from an isolated tribe, aren’t you? Only that could explain your fighting style..."

Gray shrugged, then regretted the shrug when his side protested.

"Who knows...? Besides, I wanted a real FIGHT, not a damn performance."

"That is what I cannot understand." She studied him as if the answer were hidden under the blood.

"Your body should not have lasted that long... It’s even stronger than maybe a demon with a berserk bloodline. Your swordsmanship is incredibly weird, yet lethal. Besides, the arrogance of a mid-level incubus does not drag a Crimson Moon princess into the mud and force the word draw out of her mouth."

"In that situation... they would try to seduce their opponent, and yet, you didn’t do anything like that!"

Silence sat between them again, crowded with staring demons and nervous guards.

"...Tsk."

The princess suddenly clicked her tongue.

"...I am hungry."

Gray blinked.

"That is a strange way to threaten someone."

"It is not a threat." She looked away, then back, chin high, her ears faintly red under the crimson hair.

"You made me use a Domain in the street, plus you made me look ridiculous in public! The least you can do is sit down and explain what you actually are while I eat to my heart’s content."

"...An interrogation under the pretext of a meal?" Gray raised an eyebrow.

"It is a meal." She paused.

"...But if you talk too much, it might become an interrogation."

Gray smiled despite the split lip.

"Do I get to choose the place at least?"

"No. You look like you would pick a stall that sells burnt meat." She turned around, then stopped and glanced over her shoulder.

"You will walk in front of me. If you try to disappear, I will assume you were hiding something worse than a sword."

"I am an incubus. I am always hiding something."

"That is exactly why I am asking."

One guard finally could not hold it.

"Princess, this is unnecessary. We can just remove him..."

"If I wanted him removed, he would already be removed." She did not look at the guard.

"He lasted against me, even forcing me to an actual draw. That makes him useful. Useful things get questioned or kept, not thrown away."

Gray started walking behind her.

The princess fell in a step behind him, close enough that her presence still pressed against his back.

"Name," she said.

"You asked that during the fight."

"You did not answer."

Gray wiped blood from his mouth with his thumb.

"...Emryn... no, never mind. The name’s Gray."

"Gray... huh?"

She tested the name once under her breath, as if checking whether it belonged to an incubus at all.

"...Them, Gray. After we eat, you will tell me why your body is built like a soldier’s and your species is not." Her eyes stayed on him.

"I dislike unfinished curiosities."

"And if I dislike answering?"

The princess smiled sharply, the same smile she had worn when the blood moon first rose.

"Then I will ask again. I am very good at asking until people regret being interesting."

She did not ask where he wanted to go.

She simply walked as if the city already belonged to her, and Gray, still bleeding, had no choice but to follow.

After passing through countless restaurants, Gray finally noticed a more... expensive-looking one.

The restaurant sat at the end of the quarter, black stone and gold trim, two crescent banners over a door that probably cost more than the Red Horn Inn.

A host in silk saw them coming and froze.

The princess walked directly past him.

"Private table. Not near the window. Not near anyone with ears."

"Y-yes, Princess. At once. We have..."

"The best one."

"Yes."

Gray opened his mouth.

"I can get a room first. I am not sitting in a place like this with half a coat and..."

"No."

She cut him off cleanly.

She did not even look at him when she said it, and instead, handed her outer coat to a servant without slowing down, mud and all, as if dirt on royal fabric was the restaurant’s problem now.

"You fought me in the street," she said.

"You can sit in a chair."

"I am bleeding on their floor."

"Then they will clean the floor. That is why this place is expensive."

A manager appeared, bowing so low his forehead nearly touched his own shoes. He led them through a quiet hall into a room of dark wood and low crimson light.

There was an exquisite-looking table with some decorations, and two chairs, clearly meant for a romantic dinner.

The guards took the door and did not sit.

Gray pulled a chair out.

The princess sat first in the other one, and pointed at the seat across from her.

"There."

Gray raised an eyebrow, but still sat where she pointed out.

A server arrived with a menu bound in black leather.

Gray tried to reach for it, but the princess took it first.

"We will have the aged blood-ox steak. The largest cut. Twice." She flipped a page without reading it properly.

"And the oldest bottle you are allowed to open for someone who is not a king."

The server swallowed.

"Princess, that vintage is..."

"I know what it is. Bring it."

Gray leaned forward.

"I can order for myself."

"You cannot." She closed the menu and handed it back.

"You would pick something cheap because you think it makes you look independent. I am not eating cheap food after using a Domain."

Gray looked at her blankly.

"...I was going to ask for water and a clean cloth."

The princess froze at his words before coughing slighly.

"...You can have those too. After the wine."

The server fled.

Gray sat back and looked at her over the empty table. She had washed none of the fight off yet.

There was still mud at her jaw and a thin cut on her shoulder that she refused to cover.

In this room, with gold plates and quiet air, she looked even more out of place than he did, and she seemed proud of that too.

’Either way... my plan worked.’

Gray smiled lightly.