Children of the Demon King's Castle

· Names [2] ·

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Looking at their anxious expressions, Eirene sighed inwardly. Honestly, she would love to change the topic in order to make them more comfortable, however, right now, she can't.

'... I really need to know their names.'

Names were something very basic, something that everyone should be given to when they were born, yet really important. It was necessary to know their names for Eirene since they would be living together from now on.

'But if they really didn't have names ....'

Eirene gulped. She felt somehow confused and was about to open her mouth, to confirm subtly whether they have names or not, however, before she could say so, she heard a soft voice from one of the children.

"... Selig."

It was the black-haired boy, who after being nervous for a while, finally said his name. Hearing that, Eirene felt relieved that her worries seemed somehow useless.

Thus Eirene calmly asked for confirmation. "So your name is Selig?"

She saw how Selig flinched hearing her nonchalant tone, but in the end, his body relaxed as his complexion became better. His voice also sounded more comfortable.

"... Yes, Selig Azrael Gracia."

However, after hearing those words, Eirene almost lost her composure. It wasn't because how pretty his name was, nor how he had a decent name despite being an offering, but rather, because of the two last names.

Azrael and Gracia.

One of the popular customs for commoners in this world was having their parents' first names attached to their own. Thus it wasn't hard for her to deduce that Azrael was his father's name while Gracia was his mother's. Sure, he might come from a noble family with 'Gracia' as his household name.

But no matter how crazy a blessing name would be, who in their right mind would use 'Azrael' which meant 'angel of death'? Moreover, Azrael was exactly the name of the runaway third Demon King's son. While Gracia was the name of Azrael's crush in his diary he left inside the castle.

Was this merely a coincidence?

Honestly, Eirene didn't thought that it was even possible to be friends when reading Azrael's diary. It was because Gracia was the God of Wind's Holy Maiden and born as a commoner, while Azrael was the Demon King's son and a half-demon.

The issue was not only because of the descrimination humans had to demons race, but also because of the relationship between the God of Wind and Demon Kings. From the past reports Eirene read, God of Wind was one of the Gods that despised the Demon Kings and take part in giving the curse.

—But if he was indeed the son of Azrael and Gracia, it would make sense why those Demon Kings looked after him carefully and why he only has demonic eyes as his demonic trait, it was because he was merely a quarter demon.

"... I see."

Thankfully, all those time spent for thinking was not more than a few seconds. Eirene didn't want to make the child more uncomfortable by her silence. However, the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that Selig was Azrael and Grace's son. Eirene can't help but felt weird.

... But anyway, she could thought more about it later and ask Damien and the other Demon Kings about Selig, so there was no rush to think everything right now.

She shifted her gaze to the other children and asked softly. "What about the others?"

This time, the red haired girl replied.

Eirene didn't know for sure, but it seemed like she had waited for her to finish talking with Selig and finally got the chance to introduce herself. As expected, when there was one who took the lead, the others would follow.

"... Nine Seven Six."

However, hearing the numbers she said, Eirene can't help but became confused.

"Nine Seven Six?"

The girl nodded stiffly. "That's what they called me ...."

They called her with numbers? What kind of enviroment did this girl live in before? A prison? A laboratory? A girl who was able to see fairies because of her dragon blood was living in such a dreadful enviroment? What was wrong with this world? Why can't they saw how much she worth?

Eirene felt her head throbbing due to irritation. Thankfully, looking at her expression, it seemed like the girl wasn't fond of her name too, which made Eirene calmed down a little. It seemed like she perfectly realized her name wasn't normal.

"I see."

Eirene didn't dwell on it too much though, trying to sound as calm as possible, as she looked into the rest of the children that still haven't spoke their names.

"The others?"

This time, the twins finally opened their mouths. They closed it again though, seemingly anxious as they kept glancing onto each others. However, after a few seconds, they opened their lips once again.

"Louie ... Louie Edgar Elvana."

"Um ... Louisa Daphne Elvana."

Eirene felt her body stiffen a little. She knew they were half elves due to their mana and did thought that there should be at least children that came from nobility. However, she didn't expect them to be from the Elvana family.

Elvana was the royal family's name in the Elfia Kingdom, one of the kingdoms surrounding the Demon King's territory. The hell with royal family's children being sent to the Demon King's castle? What happened with that kingdom?

'... Wait, if I remembered it correctly, a few years ago there was a rebellion led by the illegitimate prince ....'

From what Eirene read in the documentaries, the prince killed the emperor, the empress, other prince and princesses, and many more to claim the throne. No one could stop his cruelty and until this day, the new emperor still tyrannically control the Elfia Kingdom.

'... Could they be his illegitimate children? That was why they were treated so poorly and even became offerings to the Demon King?'

Eirene can't help but speculate inside her brain. However, the next second, she inwardly sighed, realizing that thinking too much about it won't gave an answer either. Also, honestly, they had lovely names, thus she wasn't sure about their situation. It was best to just postpone the thoughts for later.

"I see." Eirene once more replied calmly, then shifted her gaze onto the last male, the blue-haired demi-human boy.

Knowing that he should introduce himself, the other blue-haired boy braved himself to said softly, however, Eirene felt like in his voice, there seemed to be resignation, although she didn't understand why.

"... Samael Roselli."

—But hearing that name, she blinked.

There was another custom in this world that Eirene found while reading documentaries and history books. It would be 'two names'. People who have two names usually either slaves or raised inside the orphanages. However, since slavery have been banned hundred years ago, the boy in front of her should be in the latter category.

Orphanages in this world were operated by the temple, thus the name of the temple would be attached to the orphans they raised. In this boy's case, Roselli. It was the name of God of Water's temple.

However, Eirene honestly didn't understand.

The black-haired boy was able to postpone his death due to his demonic side, the red-haired girl was able to delay her demise due to her dragon blood which effect her mana stability, the twins were able to postpone their deaths due to their elves mana synchronize with their human mana, but this boy was different.

He was able to continue living due to a curse left by a witch. The question was, how did he even met a witch? History and documentaries wrote that they haven't shown themselves since almost a thousand years ago.

'...'

Well, whatever.

It wasn't like she would visit those cruel creatures, rather, she prefer not to met them at all in her lifetime. Looking at the curse left on the boy's body, they seemed to be as wicked as history stated.

The boy's curse was titled 'Child of Misfortune'.

'You will bring misfortune to the ones you met, bring disease to the ones you touch, bring death to the ones you love—only by their despair would you be able to become stronger.'

It was a heartless curse.

To a small kid who need parents guidance and friends to play with on his current age, that curse would be very horrible. How could that witch did something so terrible? Eirene really didn't understand, and probably would never understand.

Sighing inwardly, Eirene said while trying her best to stay calm. "I see, then it is my turn."

Yeah, there was no way she won't be introducing herself now that these children had already told her their names, right?

Thus, her lips raised a small smile. "My name is Eirene, call me whatever you like."

After saying it, she looked at the children in front of her. Honestly, at a glance, they seemed normal, with their surprised faces, Eirene didn't knew what they were surprised about though, they all seemed to get surprised easily, however, Eirene knew each of them were very exceptional on their own.

Honestly, to the point that she being the Demon King didn't seem that special anymore, and somehow, Eirene felt that having these children inside the castle may garner unnecessary attention.

'Like what Sir Damien said, the Gods might do something again, if not, the other high ranking creatures ....'

Again, Eirene sighed inwardly as she contemplated the next step to do.

'... I should put more barriers outside the castle.'

{ chapter end }