“So they’re called trolleys, and you’re like sure they’re safe?” My hesitation was pretty understandable, we were standing outside a big moving cage thing, I really didn’t want to just get on some strange contraption without being absolutely sure it was safe first.

“Yes, silly girl, I am certain it is safe,” she called me a silly girl, but honestly her tone felt a little more exasperated than her words would lead you to believe, “go ahead and step on already, they can’t wait all day for us.”

I bit my lip and groaned, “okay, if you insist,” slowly, I placed one foot on the platform, then when I felt ready I placed the other. 

"Come on, Eve, there's a line," Lilith pushed me into the trolley as several more demons piled on. She urged me towards the back, where we took a seat in the far corner, "keep your head low," she warned me with a whisper, "we would not want you being spotted by any unsavory types."

Unsavory types, like bandits? There were so many people, or demons, that it was hard to think anyone would actually try anything. Or maybe demons just didn't care about that sort of thing? Perhaps the church was right and demons were just a lawless society of barbarians and heathens. Regardless, I was human, so I suppose unsavory or not, being spotted would bring me trouble. 

We rode the trolley thing for a few minutes, and honestly I was impressed with its speed, and comfort. Where wagons would be bumpy, jumping and bouncing with every little rock or stick they ran over, the trolley was smooth and steady the whole way through. It felt as though we had covered a really big distance in a matter of no time at all before Eve grabbed my hand and guided me off the odd yet amazing vehicle. 

Once we stepped back on solid ground, I could feel my knees shaking just a little, the closest things I ever had to going that fast were riding horseback, and that time I fell off a mountain. Of course, this was surprisingly more comfortable than a horse and less scary than falling. Still, I guess I had to get accustomed to it, because after just a couple of steps my legs buckled in and I felt waaay too dizzy to walk.

"So humans really don't have trolleys?" Lilith questioned me as she helped me back to my feet.

"Nu'uh, notta single thing like them," I shook my head, only getting dizzier as a result, "the devices of demons are forbidden in the divine kingdoms, church says they 'challenge the goddess' divinity', whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Humans truly are simple, aren't they?" Normally I'd protest, but I was a bit too woozy to take offense. Lilith tugged on my sleeve, "it matters not, come, we have to get to the tailor. Sooner we have a better disguise for you, the better."

"Yea, lez go," I stumbled a little as I walked beside her, but soon enough I had regained my composure and we were walking full speed to the clothes shop. 

“Sooo pretty,” I pressed my nose to the glass of the display window, admiring a really fancy dress. 

“Hey, stop being weird and come on,” Lilith urged me to enter the store with her.

“Can I have that one?” I pleaded, putting on my cutest puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t be foolish, we’re trying to make you blend in, not stand out more,” she grabbed my arm and pulled.

“But, pretty dress," putting on a cutesy act was my best bet at getting what I wanted, or well I guess it would have been if I were actually cute in the first place.

She rolled her eyes and dragged me away from the window, and no matter what she says I was not kicking and screaming when she did. 

Inside the shop there were even more elegant dresses, pretty skirts and cute tops. My senses were practically overloaded by the sheer amount of cute options for clothes. I wanted them all! But something told me that demons didn't accept human currency, so I would be relying greatly on the generosity of my traveling companion.

"Alright, let's find you something good to wear," 

"Already did," I spun around, "all of it."

"Be reasonable!" She brought me over to a rack, "look, this stuffs on clearance, pick out something from here."

"Clearance?" I tilted my head, "wuz that?"

"Cheap stuff," oh wow, how very generous Miss Demon Queen! "You can pick out a few outfits from this, if you need to try anything on let me know."

"Okie," it wasn't my money so I guess I should be grateful she was buying me anything at all, still that dress in the window was just so pretty… Resigned to accept what I could get, I started rummaging through the clothes that hung on the rack. "Hmmm, it's pretty simple, but I guess this is cute," I pulled a dress down and held it up to my body, "what'd ya think Lilith?"

"That works, but are you sure it will fit you?"

Callin me fat? "Hmph I might be a little muscly, but my frames pretty slender, ya know?"

"Wouldn't know, you been wearing that oversized cloak since we met," she shrugged.

Oh yeah, I guess my clothes were a bit big on me. I know it wasn't the most practical thing for a champion, but I always preferred having loose fit clothes to hide my body. Of course if I had worn armor it would have been a different story, but I found relying on protection invocations was a better idea than armor that could potentially weigh me down, so that didn't matter anyway. "So… should I try it on? Like is that allowed?"

"Yeah, we just have to use a changing room," she pointed to a sign hung over a door. 

"Wuzit say?" 

"Oh, yeah, you can't read aaeonic script, can you?"

"Nope," why would I know how to read demon?

"Perhaps I can teach you sometime," yeah good luck with that girl, I don't think those squiggles are ever gonna make sense to me. "Come to think of it, you probably don't speak Cainic either, do you?"

"Ehhhh, not really," again, why would I?

"Hmm, this journey is going to be harder than I thought," she frowned, "I suppose I can try and teach you, but for now I will have to do all the talking."

"Yeah, that'd be for the best." My original plan was to go no further into demon territory than I needed. I had gone the long way around to get to the castle, going through the other divine kingdoms first, but it at least let me avoid demon villages along the way. Actually conversing with demons beyond witty battle banter was not exactly something I expected to do, let alone make friends with one. 

Anyways, I grabbed a couple more things off the rack and once I had a good amount Lilith asked a worker to unlock the changing room for me. 

"Don't step outside without your hood, okay?"

I'm not a child, I know that, "okie," seriously though, kinda hurt how stupid she seemed to think I was. Once I was inside that private little room I stripped away my crusty old clothes and hesitated a moment, holding the dress in my hands and staring. “how do I put this on?” After several minutes of examining the garment, I located a strange little track on the back of it that had a little metal thing I could pull on to unbind it. Once it was opened up enough I stepped inside it and pulled it up, re-fastening the little metal track thing. 

"So…so…" I stared into the mirror with wide shiny eyes, "cuuuute!" The dress might have been a little plain compared to the one in the window, but it was still a dress and that's what mattered most. It was a leafy green color with brown accents, not my first pick in colors but very practical if we were going to be traveling through forests in our pursuit of the demon kings heart. "Hmm, kinda short innit?" The pleated skirt barely went past my upper thighs, I honestly didn't know they made dresses this short. Maybe it was just demon fashion? "Hey Lilith," I poked my head out the door to get her attention.

"Gah, get back in there Eve!" She shoved my head back through the door, "your hood!"

Oh… yeah, I really didn't want to put that gross things on over my dress, "umm, could you maybe find me a new one?"

"Tch, yeah that's probably for the best," she answered from the other side of the door, "just wait here."

"Okie!" She left and I just twirled around in the changing room admiring my cute little dress while I waited.

"Here, take this one," she knocked on the door then slipped a cowl through as I cracked it open.

I threw it on and experienced bliss a second time, "Kibby Ears!" The hood had cute little pointed ears atop it, "eeeeee, so cute!" I jumped in Joy and learned pretty quickly I'd haveta refrain from jumping in public if I was gonna be wearing that dress. "Heeee, well that's embarrassing," I patted my dress back down and grinned. Properly disguised I stepped out of the room to show Lilith, "so whatcha think?"

She nodded, "yeah cute."

Beaming I leaned in a little, "ooooh, you're saying I'm cute?"

"The outfit is cute, you're obnoxious," guh, so blunt, so mean, but like also she just made me wanna make her like me even more now. I'm not a masochist, I swear!

"So, um… do demon girls normally wear dresses this short?"

She looked me up and down, "honestly, I don't know," shrugging her shoulders she added, "I spent most of my time in the castle, I'm not exactly curren’t with the trends."

What an unhelpful answer, though fair, I guess. Well if I wanted to know then I guessed I'd just have to actually pay attention to the people around me. Ewww… I'll be honest, I didn't want to have to acknowledge there were people around me. I felt a lot safer living in my own little bubble of solitude, keeping distance as much as I could. Guess that was a lot easier in the human kingdom where I largely stayed in small villages. "Well it's whatever I guess, it's cute so I want it!"

Lilith giggled, "well that's all that really matters right? We're already dressing contrary to the norm, might as well ignore social convention while we're at it."

"I have no idea what that means," Lilith's vocabulary was a tad beyond my own.

"I'm saying if it makes you happy, don't worry about what other people think."

"Yeah!" I mean sometimes that was easier said than done, but also, I was going to be a girl eventually anyways, so might as well get used to girls clothes now. 

Looking at me again with all the scrutiny of a captain making sure her soldiers were dressed to code, she mumbled, "it’s missing something…"

"Huh, wuz up?"

"Hold on," she zipped away without another word, only to reappear beside me a moment later, "try these on," she handed me another piece of clothing.

"What's this?"

"Socks," yep, they were socks alright, but like super long socks.

"Why are they so long?" 

"They'll help keep your legs warm, which will be important if you're wearing such a short dress," she had a point, my legs would probably get cold out in the woods like that, "also they look cute," she added with a whisper.

With no further questions, I thanked her, changed back into my gross boy clothes, and we headed over to a counter to pay for everything we had picked out. In addition to the dress, cowl and socks, I also grabbed a pair of arm coverings that matched the pattern of the socks. After everything was paid for we stepped outside.

“Eeeee, Lilith thank you, thank you, thank you!” I wanted to hug her, buuuut her posture kinda warded me off, so instead I just danced a little as I repeated ‘thank you’ over and over.

“Calm down, Eve, you’re going to make a scene,” she patted my shoulders, “you really don’t have to thank me.”

“But you bought me something, why wouldn’t I thank you?”

“It’s just,” she turned her head away from me, but I was pretty certain I had seen her blushing, “you needed new clothes anyways, and it made you happy, so it’s really no big deal.”

“Well, it’s a big deal to me,” I huffed. Bending forward I tried to get a good look at her face, but she turned away from me again. “You’re a lot nicer than you let on.”

“No I’m not,” she sighed, “trust me, I’m not.” The big mighty demon k..queen, a softy at heart? She could deny it all she wanted to, but I was convinced there was a big ol’ loving heart beating in that chest of hers.  

“Oh,” with fresh clothes on, I had noticed my own ickiness for the first time in a while, and honestly it made my skin crawl, “is there like a pond or something nearby?”

“That question seems a little out of pocket,” she stared at me, wearing her confusion on her face, “why?”

“I wanna bathe so I don’t get all my new clothes stinky, ya know?”

Grabbing my hand, she sighed again, and began to lead me down the street, “do you humans really bathe outdoors like that?”

“I’m a champion, I live outdoors,” like duh, right?

“There should be a bathhouse nearby, we can go there.” 

“A what house?” Demons have houses for their baths? They really were strange people.

“Most residents have personal baths for hygienic bathing, so typically bathhouses are more of a recreational thing, still we can rent a private bath and you can clean yourself off.”

“Why don’t we just use the bath in the castle?” they had to have one, it was a castle afterall. 

“Can’t go back.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know the alarm code, it’ll be too much of a hassle,” again she just keeps using words that I have no idea what they mean. But, whatever that meant, it sounded like it would be inconvenient. “Honestly, I don’t understand how you never set the alarm off in the first place… did I never turn it on?” She continued to mumble to herself.

After pushing our way past crowds of well dressed demonfolk, we arrived at a ritzy looking building with a big golden statue of a kibby taking a bath in front of it.

“Aaww, cuuuuute,” we walked up a small set of stone steps and walked right up to a pair of magical doors that opened when we stood in front of them. Demon magic was so odd, they wasted their magical energies on the strangest of things, but like also… it was pretty cool. I may have stepped in and out of the magical self opening doors a couple of times before Lilith snatched me by the hand and pulled me back inside.

We walked past a glass wall filled with a bunch of cute fishies swimming inside it, I had wondered if they let you bathe with the fish, but Lilith informed me they did not. Still they were super pretty, and I wanted to spend more time gawking at them. Sadly Lilith dragged me away.

“You are like a little child,” she grumbled, “come on, let’s get you a bath.

“hmph, but I wanna play with the fisihes.”

“Act your age, Eve,” she sounded like my mom, metaphorically of course, I didn’t have a mom, but if I did she would have sounded like her. 

 It was really weird not being able to understand a single word of conversation around me, especially when Lilith was talking with the receptionist, but then again I guess I didn’t have to understand. As long as I had Lilith with me, I’d be fine, I didn’t really like talking to people anyways, though something told me she felt the same way as me in that regard. It felt so crowded in the city, every building we walked in had at least a dozen or so people in it, which might not seem like a lot, but I had been to villages that only had a population around that same number. Even our walk through the bath house had us passing more people than I’d ever seen gathered in a single building, outside of maybe the grand royal capital of the human kingdom, and the border city in the Dawn-Elf kingdom. I really had hoped the rest of the demon kingdom would be less packed.

Anyways, we stepped inside a small metal room, and panic sat in as the doors magically closed behind us. Was this a trap? Was she going to skin me and eat me alive? Had I foolishly fallen for her mind games all along? Whoa, nope, okay that was weird, I thought as the small little room we occupied began to rise. “Is this some strange levitation magic?”

“Huh? No it’s a lift silly,” she said as though it were common knowledge.

“Lift what?”

“Lift, like, it lifts us, to the proper floor,” lifts us to the proper floor? How many floors did one building need to require such a weird thing? “Okay, this is our stop,” she said as a small bell chimed and the doors magically opened for us again.

I could feel my heart in my throat as I stepped off that lift room thing, and needed a minute to breath. I never wanted to ride something like that again. When I had recovered, Lilith led me down a hall to a fancy looking door where she slid a strange card she had gotten from the receptionist, unlocking a big metal lock with a little beeping sound. 

Following her inside the room I could feel my eyes grow three sizes as I took in the swanky decor. She had said it was just a bathhouse, but the room we were in looked like an overly fancy, and somewhat girly, inn, complete with a fuzzy heart shaped bed and dim pink and purple lighting. “What is this place? Didn’t ya say this was just a bath?”

“It was the only private room they had available. This bath house doubles as a hotel for… well that’s not important, hurry up and get undressed so we don’t gotta stay here too long.”

I didn’t really know what a hotel was, but regardless I was eager to get that bath. Lilith led me to some kinda indoor outhouse so I could undress in private. Like a lizzar shedding its old grossey skin, I peeled away my blood and sweat soaked boy clothes and wrapped a towel around my waist, eager to get into the bath as soon as possible.   

“Huh, whaa?” Lilith turned her face away, her cheeks flushed, “why aren’t you covering yourself?”

I was confused for a moment, but then realized she was referring to my chest, “well, I don’t got boobies yet, so like, does it really matter?”

“Yes it matters, have some humility Eve!” I was so distracted by her reaction, I had almost missed the fact that she was also wrapped up in a towel.

“Ummm, Lilith, why are you naked?”

“I paid for this room, so I will also be taking a bath too.”

“Okay, but like, together?”

Her face radiated immense heat, as though it were conjuring a fire spell, and her lips quivered, “we…we…. we only get an hour, so… we have to… we have to be efficient, okay?” 

“Okie, fine with me,” I just shrugged, “so where's the bath?”

Without turning her head, she simply pointed to a wooden sliding door, her face still redder than freshly spilled blood. Hmmm, maybe that’s a little bit of a morbid similly.. Eh.

The bath water smelled sooo nice, like I didn’t even know water could smell like that, I genuinely felt cleaner just standing next to the bath.

"Hurry up and get in, Eve," she really was wasting no time, couldn't even give me a moment to savor that feeling, "and umm, please don't look, okay?"

I shrugged, "yeah sure, I mean like isn't like you got anything I've never seen, but sure." Actually, I was kind of curious, did demons have the same anatomy as humans? Unlike all the other races out there, you never really heard of human/demon couples due to us being bitter enemies, so I didn't even know if like we were compatible as species in that sorta way. Of course, I wasn't gonna look, but the thought of 'does she have a cloaca or is she just like me?’ was one that wouldn’t leave my mind. But I guess it's like incredibly rude to speculate on another persons private parts… that is why they're called private after all…

Moooving on… I dipped my toes into the water, expecting a cold surprise, and to my delight it was like really warm! I guess I shoulda known considering the room was also kinda humid, but like in a nice relaxing sorta way, but still, I always thought cold baths were just the standard. How much magical energy did the demons even use to heat up the water? Did demons just have this much magic to spare? Doors that opened by themselves, rooms that raised up several floors, hot water? The church of Abelia was conservative with magic use outside of combat and medicine, and honestly now I just wonder how the divine Kingdoms have gotten by without it. 

Well, whatever, that’s not important. I submerged myself in the magic hot water bath and holy crap it was so amazing! The moment my body was under the water I could feel all the aches, strains, and tears in my muscles just start to relax for the first time in ages. I honestly had stopped noticing how much pain my body was in, until the pain was gone. Years of sleeping on the cold hard floor, bathing in frigid rivers, and constantly fighting battle after battle had left my body a knotted up mess. Even the water was magic, the Demon Kingdom was amazing! I wanted to drift to sleep in those floral fragrant waters, and let all my worries just drift away.

“How is it? Is the temperature suitable for you? There aren’t too many salts are there?”

“It is incredible,” I sighed, “hurry up and get in, you don’t know what you’re missin!”

“I have bathed before you know?” She chuckled as she stepped in the bath beside me. 

We sat with our backs turned away from each other, and relished in the aromatic healing waters. This must have been what it felt like to be a royal, it was nice enough to almost make me consider a different wish. Just kidding, I wanna be a girl and nothing is changing that! Still, it was probably the most pleasant time I had in a long time. Honestly, I had almost forgotten the whole reason we were there, and nearly neglected to actually clean myself, till Lilith reminded me. I scrubbed away the filth and grime, humming a little tune, letting the salts and soaps in the bath do their work. “Cleany, clean, cleaaaan~” I sang, as tears began to drip down my cheeks.

“Eve, are you alright?” Lilith asked, her back still turned away.

“Oh, huh, yeah, I didn’t think you could hear me… Just um… crying is all.”

“Well don’t do that,” she was so blunt, “I mean, sorry, what I mean is that, well is there something wrong?”

I sniffled and thought about it for a second, cleaning my body reminded me how much I hated it… “yeah, actually I had been kinda ignoring it till now, but I was just thinking. My body doesn’t exactly look girly, so won’t I just draw more attention to us? Like cause I’ll just be a boy in a dress, ya know?”

“You aren’t just a boy in a dress though, Eve,” I mean, I am, that’s kinda the whole point in making the Goddess grant our wish, but I didn’t argue, “you’re thinking too hard about it, most people aren’t going to notice, trust me.”

I wanted to trust her, but like there was no way no one would notice me being built like a soldier, stomping around in a girly little dress. Okay, I guess that's not completely true. I wasn't that muscular at all, but it felt like I was a giant lumbering mass of meat compared to the girly body I wanted. Arguing was of course not going to solve anything, and I just decided to accept her words, even if I didn’t believe them.

After a long awkward silence Lilith finally spoke up, "we should get out now," my fingers were getting pretty pruney, but also the water was just too nice and warm. She must have known what I was thinking because she repeated herself, "we don't have a lot of time, I really don't want to be charged for a second hour."

I groaned a big long "oooookaaaaaayyy," puffing hot air out my nose as I stood up. Without thinking I turned around just as she was also rising, and saw her body just full out on display in front of me, "huh, so demons are just like humans."

Ten minutes later I emerged from the room, my body fresh and clean, and my cheek red and sore. The feeling of putting on my new clothes after washing away all the grossey gross grime of adventuring was nearly immaculate. I could properly enjoy my outfit, the first ever outfit I would actually say I loved. And goddess did I enjoy the hells out of it. The socks Lilith picked out were a really cute, and they went super good with the matching pair of arm socks, or like, arm coverings… warmers? They were adorable. I'd have stayed in the changing room and stared at my reflection for longer if Lilith hadn't started yelling at me to hurry up. Once I was properly dressed, I joined her in the hall.

"You look cute, Eve, that dress really suits you," I couldn't believe my ears, the demon queen was actually complimenting me. I of course didn't overreact at all. "You can let go of me, Eve!"

"Aw but you just made me really happy," I squeezed her in my strong embrace, "and besides you're actually really huggable." I was pretty sure I was hugging her right, I had never hugged anyone before, but I am pretty sure that was how you were supposed to hug. Eh, but for whatever reason she didn't seem to like it.

"Let's go, we have a few more stops to make before we can leave the city," she slipped out of my arms like a well oiled snek slithering out of your hands. 

"Where we goin now?" Our first two stops were super fun for me, so obviously our next stop would be too.

Or not, "A library?"

"Yes, it is a building that contains books that the public may access for free as a means to help spread knowledge and information," she explained as we walked into a big white marble building.

"Yeah I know what a library is, we have them in the Divine kingdoms too," though admittedly I haven't exactly been to them too often. I only ever stopped in when I wanted a new smut novel to read. That's smut by The Church of Abelia's standards, so like not anything too risque! Just you know, cute girls that kissed and held hands kinda stories. Anyways… "So why are we here?"

"I need to look something up on the V-space," she had said it so matter-o-factly that I was honestly embarrassed to ask what she was talking about. I did still ask, but like, I felt dumb, "V-space, a digital network that allows communication and an exchange of information between worlds, with limits of course," and just like that she lost me… again. 

"Brain hurty, no like big words," I am not stupid, but like if it wasn't a topic I was interested in learning, then I didn't have the attention span to learn about it. 

"Just be a good girl and sit beside me, I won't take long," she instructed as she sat at a long table with several small tablets on it. She tapped and poked a tablet and it lit up, words and pictures flashing on it, like we were looking at some kinda glass moving book. I had already realized this, but demon magic was frickin amazing. I sat in the chair next to her and watched as she made the little tablet thing bring up all sorts of different things. True to her word, she wasn't long, after maybe a couple minutes she grinned and clicked her tongue, "found you," then tapped away on the screen again, nodded, and then stood up.

"That's it?"

"That's it," she affirmed.

"So what is this thing?" I poked the device and she swatted my hand.

"It's a tablet computer, don't touch it, they're very expensive."

"I'm not gonna break it," I whined, "and besides, aren't you rich?"

"Just because I have money doesn't mean I want to spend money," fair point, but also kinda made her sound like a cheapskate. "I've booked a train to Elkado, we'll be riding out of the city early tomorrow morning."

"A what to where?"

"A train, it is like the trolley but bigger and faster," she answered, "as to where, Elkado is the next major city, and is where the people who stole my fathers heart were last spotted."

"You figured out all that from just tapping on a little tablet thing?" This girl could probably solve a murder by sticking her thumb in a peach. 

"Yes, honestly it was easy. My uncle is not one to keep a low profile." Oh so this really was a family issue. Guess it was inevitable that I’d be getting mixed up in some royal drama. 

“Wait, I thought you said your servants took the heart?”

“And brought it to my Uncle,” she sighed, “they felt he would be a better fit as king than I.”

“Well I mean they are right though,” I joked.

“Excuse me?”

“Cause you’d make a better Queen, obviously!” I was trying to affirm her gender, but guess she didn’t get it.

“Oh,” she paused with a cute little smile, “thank you,” she waved her hand and began walking away, “come along, Eve.”

“Oookie!” I followed her like an obedient little pubby, and just saying that makes me feel I had lost all the dignity I once held. Who am I kidding, I never had dignity to start with.

Back on the streets my stomach began to grumble and whine, “I hungy,” I whined along with it.

“Again, didn’t we eat already?” 

“That was hours ago, I wan lunch,” I huffed.

“Hours ago? Has it really been that long?” she pursed her lips and sighed, “very well, I suppose we can stop by a cafe or something.”

We pressed our way through the busy city streets, all the while I kept my head low and my hood lower, while Lilith kept her eyes out for a place to eat. While she was searching for food, I had my eyes on something else. I thought it was my imagination at first, just a trick my mind was playing due to hunger, but I could have sworn someone was following us. Every twist and turn we took down the city streets, there they were, a specter, a shadow, an ominous presence tailing us the whole way. It was most certainly not my imagination. I clenched my fist, ready to summon my sword at a moment's notice. I had thought I was the only one who noticed, till Lilith whispered to me, “steel yourself, Eve,” as she turned down an alley. 

We spun on our heels, prepared to fight as the dark figure turned the corner after us. They came closer, muttering something with each step. I couldn’t understand them, but I could tell that whatever it was they were saying, it was a different language each time they repeated themself. “I know what you are,” they said in kamen, and my heart leapt into my throat. They know I am a human, they’re gonna attack, I gotta fight for my life! “I know what you are,” they repeated, “you’re one of those femboy streamers from the V-space!”

“Huh, I uh.. I dunno what any of those words mean.”

Lilith stepped between the two of us, her posture guarded, and spoke, “hehe, you got me!” she said in the cutest most playful voice I had ever heard, “Sparkle Queen Lily, in the flesh~”

“I knew it!” the stalker exclaimed with an amount of enthusiasm that still baffled me, “I’m such a huge fan Queen Lily! Your streams are just so fun to watch!”

“Lilith, what the hell are they talkin bout?”

She ignored me and just struck a pose, “I am always happy to meet a loyal subject,” she was being waaay too cute, “what can I do to serve you?”

“Can I get a picture with you?” he groveled at her feet, “it would make me so sooooo happy!”

She giggled and crouched down, patting his head, “anything to make my subjects happy,” I was so incredibly lost in this whole encounter, it was as if I was watching a complete stranger possess Liliths body and talk complete gibberish in front of me. He took out a weird little rectangle thing and they both posed together, “say ‘sparkle’,” Lilith exclaimed before a light flashed from the little device.

“Thank you so, so much Queen Lily!” I don’t know what had just happened, but he was super freaking happy about it.

“My pleasure, and remember, never stop sparkling!” with those words, she bid him away, and he skipped off giddily like a child that just was given a bunch of sweet rolls. 

“Can, can you explain what the hells that was?”

Her tone posture and expression returning to normal, she turned to me and shrugged, “just a fan of mine, honestly I am not surprised they recognized me.”

“So like, a fan of yours, like… what?” I knew she was royalty, but something told me that was not how people normally acted around nobility. 

“It would be a little hard to explain without showing you, but to sum it up, I used to do live chatting sessions on the V-space where I would show off my different cute outfits and talk to people under a pseudonym,” yea I didn’t know what most of that meant. 

“So that guy doesn’t know you’re actually the demon kin… queen?”

“Nope, he simply knows me as the v-streamer ‘queen’ of fashion, a character and nothing more,” she sighed, “anyways, let’s hurry up and get some food, your stomach’s growling is going to draw even more attention than we need.” Something told me I wasn’t gonna be the one directing peoples attention to us. 

As we left the alley behind, I was certain that the feeling of being followed would have passed now that her ‘fan’ was gone, but instead it lingered. I could not shake the paranoia that some dark shadow was close behind, watching us with hungry eyes.