The Guidebook for Villainesses

When Nicholas heard that the saintess was into the performance of the slaves, he laughed and said that he knew it.

Nicholas thought that just suddenly shoving in a handsome male slave to the saintess was too much of a brazen move, so he put in the addition of music that Lafort was proud of. Listening to music was saintess-like and an elegant hobby, so it would be okay even if the performer was an enchanting slave–he had his reasons after all.

“Serve her strong liquor. She seems to be on good terms with her friends so pay more attention to her friends than to her. And also, prepare a lot of gifts…”

Nicholas was already itching to get his hands on the saintess whom even the Emperor could not control. In Nicholas' view, the power held by the saintess in the Tarragon Empire was enough to compete with the Emperor’s successor.

“Hmm, Your Highness.”

Nicholas was contemplating what kind of play he should introduce to that cute young saintess with a cold impression next time. Suddenly, an associate from Sias approached and said to him.

“Will it be okay? We are not even sure of his identity.”

“Who cares if we aren’t sure? As long as he seduces the saintess, I can give him whatever he wants.”

“I’m saying this because we don’t know what he wants. I also feel uneasy about him being brought by a black sorcerer.”

“You’re from Sias, so this might seem unfamiliar to you, but this kind of thing is common in Lafort, so don’t worry.”

“Is that so?”

“A black sorcerer is a human too. If we stay in a good relationship and listen to each other’s wishes, then there would be no better friends than them.”

“Okay. I was worried for nothing.”

“Don’t worry, no one knows that we have joined hands with the black sorcerers.”

After saying so, Nicholas put his hands on his bulging stomach and smiled a satisfied smile.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Eunice and Ximena had such fun. They acted like a fish in the water, saying that they had found a playground they liked after a long time. They requested dance music from the performers and danced in a group with the nobles from the East. They also started gambling once they got drunk.

By the time the sweet and strong liquor Nicholas had ordered ran out, the Eastern nobles played with Eunice by putting fruit skewers on their heads and calling each other by their fruit names.

By the end of the banquet, the sun was already rising. Lara put her two sleeping friends in the carriage first and was last to leave the banquet hall.

“Saintess.”

A slave called her. He was the red-haired slave who had the best performance with just a string instrument.

“I want to know your name.”

The slave smiled with a slight wrinkle on the bridge of his nose. His bright red hair seemed to smell like wine. He probably drank a lot so his eyes were wet. If Eunice was sober, she would probably gulp out loud.

Lara did not answer him at all. She did not even laugh off or scold the arrogant slave for not knowing his place. She just stared at him. Then, she slightly moved her small lips and said indifferently.

“Lara.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

As soon as Lara found the demon who was mixed in with the performers in Nicholas’ banquet hall, she felt like her heart was freezing cold. Though he acted like a slave playing an instrument, he was certainly a demon, and she could tell at just a glance. Unlike Valac, that demon revealed his existence right away, he did not disguise himself using another person's body, like Valac with Prince Sidhar. Moreover, he was very beautiful and enchanting.

Valac was occupying Prince Sidhar's body, and Lara had never met Lilith, so Lara did not know of Valac’s or Lilith’s appearance. But even if she knew their real faces, she did not think they would be more beautiful than this demon in front of her.

If that face was made to seduce humans, he deserved to be praised. Because it was a really successful result.

‘His performance was great too.’

Lara was well aware that she was not well versed in the arts. But be that as it may, his performance was so heart-moving even to her. Whenever the demon’s fingers brilliantly moved, she felt a thrilling pleasure through her eardrums.

As Eunice stared so hard at the demon’s face, Ximena even joked that it would be too extreme if she suddenly changed her taste from a Crown Prince to a slave.

The East consisted of three countries with the separate union leadership that encompassed them. And now, they have joined hands with a demon. Just as she was wondering which of them had teamed up with the black sorcerers and became a pawn of the demon, he appeared right in front of her eyes.

Lara clenched her cold hands in the moving carriage. After revealing the identity of the demon and dealing with him, she must choose a leader who would unify the three countries.

“Eunice, wake up!”

While Lara was immersed in her thoughts, the carriage had arrived in front of Isadora’s hotel. Ximena barely managed to get sober and tried waking Eunice up, who was lying on the carriage chair… violently.

“We’ve arrived. Get up!”

“Hngh, Acerus…”

“This bish!”

“F**k off, you scumbag…”

Ximena burst out laughing after listening to Eunice’s sleep talk, saying that she did not know if Eunice mumbled Acerus’ name because she could not forget the Crown Prince or if she was saying it out of frustration for his clinginess.

After dropping them off at the hotel, Lara said to the coachman who was about to move the carriage towards the temple.

“Please bring me to the Crown Prince’s castle.”

The coachman looked at Lara’s cold, frozen face and quickly drove the carriage. Since it was early, there were not many people on the streets so it did not take long to reach Acerus’ castle. Lara rushed through the knights bowing their heads at her and slammed the door to Valac’s room open.

“Oi.”

“Argh!”

Valac had just gotten up and was sitting in front of a mirror. He was in the middle of shaving his beard with a sharp razor when he accidentally slit his cheek. Valac quickly pressed his face with a towel to stop his wound from bleeding.

“Knock before you come in!”

“What was that?”

“Please…come in.”

Valac’s wound healed quickly. He put his face close to the mirror. After making sure that the scar had disappeared without a trace, he hesitated to get up and glanced at Lara.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly the giant of fire appeared on her shoulder. It was stretching out with its short arms.

“Urgh! Can you not let it come out? I already swore obedience…”

“How can I believe in a demon?”

“Even though I’m a demon… I don’t break an oath.”

“Then, show me your skills. Maybe one day I will believe you.”

Lara rushed into Valac’s room and sat casually on the sofa. Then she asked Valac, who moved on the very edge of the room to avoid the giant of fire.

“Red hair, pretty face, good instrumentalist, and good at seducing people. Seeing how he wields the Eastern Union, he seems cunning but cautious and he also seems used to pretending to be human.”

“Pardon?”

“His eyes are the color of wine in light.”

Since Valac was quick-witted, he quickly understood what Lara was saying.

“Did you meet a demon? Is a demon here? Where is he? When did he come?”

“Answer my question. I will ask you first, then, I will go back to the temple and ask God. If you don’t answer me properly, I will burn you down for real this time.”

“I mean, why don’t you just ask God then? Why do you keep torturing me?”

“Answer me.”

Lara did not accept Valac’s grumbling. After seeing her raise her voice and the giant of fire bursting in flames, Valac pressed his body against the wall and answered with a sullen face.

“I won’t know who he is if you just say it like that… Demons like to seduce and play with humans. So he could change his hair color by magic, the same goes for his face. You said he’s a good instrumentalist and seems used to pretending to be human.”

“You know him?”

Lara asked quietly.

Thousands of demon names came out of Valac’s mouth. One demon could not move out of the demon realm because he was busy with hell’s work, one demon would not be able to pretend to be human because of his strong self-esteem, Valac also said that it would be difficult for one particular demon to come to the human realm because he was particularly weak.

Then, at one point, Valac looked straight at Lara and muttered.

“Paimon.”

“What?”

“It’s Paimon. But… You said to me before, a symbol of a skull covering its eyes was found on the Eastern Border.”

“So?”

“It’s the symbol of Vassago!”

“Is he strong?”

“Is that even a question…”

Valac looked terrified. He felt great pride in his own strength after absorbing Lilith’s power. But now, he screamed impatiently as if he was about to run away at any moment.

“They are candidates for the next demon lord! Even with ten Liliths, it’ll still be difficult to fight against them!”

Candidates for demon lord?

After listening to Valac, Lara’s eyes narrowed. As Lara knew, the person who would become the next demon lord was Demian, but the fact that there was another candidate meant that there was competition among the demons.

This had never happened in her previous life. The future she twisted reached hell and changed the behaviors of the demons. The reason the present was so different from Lara’s past future was probably because she became the real saintess and found God’s name.

“Is it possible for them to descend at will?”

“Someone must have offered sacrifices to them. They must have offered something extraordinary, something that an average human could not have imagined! The black sorcerers are crazy people, they would have done anything to increase the value of their sacrifices.”

For example, observing the fake saintess for a long time to see if she was real or not.

“What demons like are not just some ordinary humans. We like very special people or things with stories.”

If those two were put together, will it become a human with a special story?

Lara murmured with a sneer.

“I must be very expensive.”

There were two demons. The name of the demon that came from Lafort with Nicholas was ‘Paimon,’ and the name of the demon that Demian was tracking in the East was ‘Vassago.’