Children of the Demon King's Castle

· Welcome [1] ·

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When she stood up so suddenly, most of the children visibly flinched. However, Eirene ignored it as she once again, snapped her right fingers loudly.

—And in a blink of an eye, they found themselves inside a dim room full of empty jars in different sizes.

But, this time, even if it only lasted for a few seconds, instead of looking afraid, all of them showed a curious gaze. They seemed to be attracted to the colorful, shiny, glowing and unique jars.

Eirene swifted her hand a bit and in one second, all of the handcuffs on their hands crumbled into dust in front of their feet. The children's eyes trembled as they moved their hands in disbelief, as if checking that the restrain they had really gone, then after a few seconds, they returned their gazes to the Demon King timidly with wariness yet confusion.

"Pick a jar you really like from there, after that, bring it to me."

However, the words that flew from her mouth were out of their expectations, making their eyes widened.

Her tone was calm as always, her eyes looked with disinterest, as if it was something insignificant. However, the weird order made the children more doubtful as they became dumbstruck for a while. Looking at their reactions, Eirene frowned a little.

"I believe I don't need to repeat my words twice?"

Despite the calm question, the small frown made them flinched and as most of them went pale, the children immediately scampered to the area Eirene was pointing. They searched for a jar as she commanded, however, because of the presence of the almighty Demon King, they seemed trying to pick it extremely fast in order not to displease her.

Though of course, Eirene thought differently.

"Eh, really? Finished already?"

Eirene raised one of her eyebrows, looking at the children with doubt. She told them to pick one they will really like, after all, those jars would be with them their entire life as they grew up, but still, it were only a few seconds ago when she told them to choose. There were around five racks too ....

'They should just pick it slowly to find the one they really loved.'

She can't help but sighed again, making the children flinched, and looking at their reactions, she bit her lower lip.

Even though she already tried to sound not intimidating, it seemed her efforts wasn't enough to make them more comfortable. However, Eirene wasn't someone who smile a lot, and even if she want to, in this situation, it was hard for her to smile.

Maybe, it may gave reassurance, if they were normal children.

But these children in front of her were different. They were children that must have grown up under tight supervision due to their mana, moreover, it seemed they also only receiving the necessary treatment to keep them alive, and used being the target of hostility by people around them.

'After all, even if they were important, their sole purpose of living is to be the Demon King's offering.'

That was why, would they be reassured and thankful if she smiled and saying sweet words to them, saying that she wouldn't eat them and everything?

No.

'It would probably gave an opposite effect.'

Eirene also didn't really want to honeyed her words, after all, that wasn't her style. She would rather show them from her actions that she didn't mean any harm.

'Well, if they're smart, they should have realize it soon.'

She ended her thoughts as she threw another question to the children holding jars in front of her.

"Is this really your decision?"

Silence.

For a few seconds, there wasn't any answer, however, suddenly, the child who kept a fierce expression since the beginning raised her voice.

"W-why?" Her voice was shaking, yet, the spark on her eyes lit brightly. 

Eirene complimented her inwardly. Despite being a girl, she was the only one who tried to converse with the Demon King, even if her eyes didn't dare to saw her, merely kept looking into the jar in her tiny hands, it was still admirable.

She raised her right hand and put it down to her head, feeling the warmth of the Demon King's hand, the child's body immediately flinched.

However, after seconds have passed, Eirene only patted her hair gently. Realizing that was all she did, the girl became confused and slowly braved herself to raise her head.

"Hmmm, what do you think the reason?"

Eirene could felt her lips raised slightly as words flew out of her mouth, making the girl and other children dumbstruck looking at her expression. However, Eirene quickly retract her hand and looked at the other children.

"Just take your time." She said softly with her usual calm expression. "The jar will be yours, so pick it wisely."

After that, Eirene turned one hundred eighty degrees, walked a bit then slumped her back in one of the racks near the door. With a slight movement of her fingers, a book dropped out of nowhere from the air into her hand.

Viewing her actions, the children seemed to understood that the Demon King will wait for their decision while reading quietly, thus they quickly went to look around for a jar that suit their taste, as what Eirene told them.

After fifteen minutes, all of the children came back together with their respective jars. Looking at the slightly childish yet colorful jars they picked, Eirene felt satisfied as she closed her book, dropped it, letting it disappear quickly, swallowed by the air, as she approached the children with light and echoing steps.

All of them still looked tense, however there were less fear on their eyes compared to when they first arrived. They were still scared, but Eirene didn't care anyway. Now that they have finished this, she should had just let them rest well.

"It have been hard for all of you, now, may you all find your peace."

—Thus with a snap of her fingers, the children quickly lost their consciousness.

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When the children woke up, all of them found themselves on the same large room, with three beds placed on the left side for the boys, while two beds on the right for the girls, facing each other. The beds were medium-sized and very comfortable, there were also thin blankets, albeit all in black colored.

However, what shocked them the most was their body that felt light and how their neck didn't felt suffocated anymore. The mana restriction collar had been taken off, and yet, they didn't get any symptoms.

That wasn't the only weird thing, they also found the jar they picked yesterday in front of their bed. Before, it was empty, but now, the jar was full.

It was filled with assorted cookies in various shapes and color.

{ chapter-one end }