"...Something interesting?"

"Yeah. I was bored with the party."

With that, the man simply held out his hand.

Elysia hesitated for a moment. It was a little different from what she had imagined. If his goal was to spend the night, there would be no need to take her to such a passage. The room Elysia was in right now was a bedroom.

But on the other hand, if that wasn't his goal, was it a good thing? Maybe the noble had a secret collection that he didn't show to others. He might want to show it off to a commoner.

'...Maybe that's better.'

In the end, Elysia took the man's hand. She was tired of her poor life, she missed the days when she was royalty, and she felt like whatever happened, happened.

Whoosh!

"Kyaa?!"

But as soon as she took his hand, the man roughly pulled Elysia into his arms and dragged her into the secret door.

"Haa, haak...! Haak!!"

The friendly expression he had just a moment ago was gone, and Elysia could hear the man's chilling breathing in her ear. And gradually, she could feel mana. This was definitely not a normal situation.

'Wha, what is this! This man!'

Elysia struggled, but it was no use. The man's arms were as hard as if she were hitting a rock. They were definitely not the muscles of an ordinary human.

The man continued to drag Elysia through the secret passage. Just as Elysia was about to give up because she couldn't do anything with her strength, they reached a wider space.

It wasn't very bright, but small lamps around them served as light sources.

And there was already another man inside. He seemed to have been waiting for the man who brought Elysia, as he opened his arms upon seeing them.

"Welcome. You weren't caught, were you?"

"Ah, I wasn't caught! Can we do it now? I can't hold it in any longer!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll take care of everything later."

The man who brought Elysia threw her down as soon as they arrived.

Elysia couldn't understand the exact meaning of their words, but she felt that she had truly gotten into trouble. It would have been better if he just wanted to force himself on her, but it didn't seem like it would end there.

"Wha, what are you doing...!?"

Elysia was about to raise her voice but stopped.

She saw wings behind the man's back. His eyes were bloodshot, and even the whites of his eyes were dyed red.

Elysia knew exactly what to call such a being.

"...Devil..."

"Kuh, kuhuhuhu. Woman, it's been a long time since I've had someone as easy as you. Thank God. Though I don't believe in God. Kyahahaha!"

"Wha, what are you going to do?"

"You want to know? That might make it even more painful."

The man grinned, revealing his teeth. They didn't look much different from those of an ordinary human, but his gums seemed unusually red.

"My desire is 'bloodsucking'."

"De, desire?"

"You just have to stay still. It won't hurt that much. You'll just fall into a sleep you won't wake up from. Kuhuhu."

Bloodsucking? Sucking blood? Desire? What is that! Are all devils like this? Do they all try to suck people's blood? Like mosquitoes?

Elysia's head spun with panic.

Meanwhile, the man's mouth opened wide and approached Elysia's neck. Elysia squeezed her eyes shut.

──Thud.

At that moment, the man's movement stopped. He closed his open mouth and looked straight ahead.

From the secret passage where Elysia had been brought in, a sound could be heard in the distance.

The man spoke.

"Hey, Bart. Just now."

"...Yeah, I heard it too."

The man called Bart hardened his expression.

"Kagris, didn't you say we weren't caught?"

"Yeah. No one suspected anything on the way here. There was no reason to. There was no tail either. I checked everything."

Thud, thud.

Even as they talked, the sound was getting closer.

The sound of human footsteps. There was no mistaking it. This secret room wasn't used only by the two of them, but Bart was definitely the manager. Unless he had another appointment, there was no way someone else would come to this secret room.

In other words, somehow, this place had been discovered. Most likely by a human.

"...Then, could it be that guy from the rumors?"

"Maybe."

However, the two of them spoke as if they had a guess about who was approaching. Yet, their expressions didn't improve but became even more serious.

Kagris stepped away from Elysia and slowly stood up. He didn't have the luxury of sucking the woman's blood right now.

Elysia raised her upper body. She also looked towards the passage. The sound of footsteps was definitely getting closer.

And finally, the person who had been walking appeared.

"Is bloodsucking a desire befitting a high-ranking devil?"

The black-haired man tilted his head, saying such an out-of-place thing.

"I thought high-ranking devils had rather sophisticated desires, but I guess that's not always the case."

"...Who are you?"

Kagris asked Frondier, who had entered.

Without giving him a chance to answer, Bart continued.

"Are you the one who killed Olivier?"

"Yes. You're the manager after Olivier, right? It took me a long time to find you."

Frondier readily admitted it.

He was already quite famous among devils. Of course, it wasn't the name Frondier itself that was famous, but rather the rumor among devils that there was someone who killed devils.

Bart and Kagris exuded killing intent.

"You bastard, do you have any idea where you are? Do you think you can kill both of us alone?"

Bart and Kagris manifested their auras almost simultaneously. Seeing their surging mana, Elysia gulped.

'Th, this is bad.'

As expected, the power of high-ranking devils was tremendous. Elysia naturally became frightened and backed away.

Meanwhile, Frondier said,

"No, I have no intention of killing you."

"How dare you say that after killing Olivier!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to kill him either. Really."

Frondier shook his head as he spoke. As if a minor mistake from his childhood had been discovered, his languid eyes and a sigh mixed with a sense of helplessness. He suddenly asked as if he had just thought of something,

"But if bloodsucking is a desire, can you, like, control the person you sucked blood from as your subordinate or something? Or do you have the ability to transform into a bat? Or maybe you have a hard time with garlic?"

"...What nonsense are you talking about!"

"Hmm. I guess not."

A hint of disappointment appeared in Frondier's eyes. He slowly raised his hand.

"I won't kill you this time. I've been practicing hard. Controlling a power I've never used before wasn't easy at first."

"You insolent bastard!"

Kagris was the first to attack. He was already at the peak of impatience and anger at missing the opportunity to fulfill his bloodsucking desire right in front of him. Naturally, he rushed towards Frondier without fear.

Seeing that, Elysia shouted involuntarily,

"Fr, Frondier!"

The powerful aura emanating from the devil. Elysia thought Frondier would die on the spot without a doubt. He would just collapse with a thud, without any resistance

Thud.

But Kagris collapsed before he could even reach Frondier.

"Huh...?"

Elysia let out a sound. Bart, who was watching from behind, also widened his eyes.

Frondier silently approached the fallen Kagris. He laid him down, lifted his eyelids to look at his eyes, and checked his pulse.

"...Hmm."

Then, Frondier stood up. This time, he looked at Bart.

"That was a mistake. The next one is for real."