Demon Queen Wants to Paint

"Your Majesty, we have also prepared gifts for Her Highness," the overly cute, pink concubine said sweetly while her daughter, dressed in equally pink attire, nervously held a pink satchel tied with bright gold ribbon. 

That has to be poisoned right? Or cursed? Rosa eyed the satchel suspiciously.

"Put your gifts on the gift table along with the others," Alphegor said dismissively, and Rosa sighed with relief. 

"But, Your Majesty, we all worked so hard to pick the perfect present…" the concubine objected, but Alphegor silenced her with a bored wave of his hand.

"As did every other guest here. Your gifts will be opened later."

The pink demon girl gritted her teeth, and Rosa thought she would fling the satchel across the table. But the girl managed to collect herself and instead exited the hedge surrounded area to probably deposit the gift along with the others. Two other demon girls followed her, except for Deziara who was fidgeting from side to side, holding something behind her back.

"Father! I wish to g-give a gift to my s-sister now!" she spoke up and slowly edged closer to them. Alphegor appeared a bit annoyed, but didn't outright dismiss the child.

"And why is that?"

The question clearly caught the girl by surprise and she looked down at her shoes.

"I l-left a bad impression on my sister when we first met. I wanted to remedy that, Father," she stammered. Rosa had a suspicion that her mother was the one who put her up to this, but, on the other hand, she was just a child. There was no need for Rosa to make matters more difficult, she decided to act as an adult.

"I want to s-see my sister's gift," Rosa said, and Deziara's mother lit up with a victorious smile while the other concubines glared at her. Deziara also smiled and confidently walked up to Rosa, revealing a teddy bear from behind her back. It was a gentle sandy color with a giant pink ribbon around its neck and cute button eyes.

"Cute," Rosa said before she could stop herself and reached out towards the teddy. This place severely lacked cute things, so the teddy appeared out of place. But it also felt like such a normal, human gift. It reminded her of Earth. 

"Well… as long as Morrigan likes it," Alphegor sighed, clearly not agreeing with her sentiment. Deziara, on the other hand, blushed from the compliment and quickly retreated back to her mother. 

"Thank you," Rosa said, and Deziara nodded demurely.

I know you're probably only trying to get into Alphegor's good graces, but I still appreciate the gift. 

"Alright, with gifts out of the way. Let's begin the feast!" Alphegor announced, and all adults around the table picked up their wine glasses while the girls picked up their juice glasses. "May Morrigan live long and grow strong!"

Alphegor's voice was once again loud and booming, reverberating through the whole area. Cheers erupted from behind the hedge and Alphegor finished the drink in one swift swing. The concubines and girl just took a sip of their drinks, while Azrael and Lucius also finished their drinks albeit with less gusto than the King.

"Now, tell me, Princess. What would you like to eat?" Azrael moved his chair closer, and bent forward to be as close to Rosa as possible. His smile was radiant, almost blinding.

Gosh, haven't you ever heard of such a thing as privacy? Rosa tried not to admire his handsome features. Why do all demons have to be so good-looking?

"Back off, Azrael. I'll be the one to feed my daughter!" Alphegor growled, and began piling dish after dish on Rosa's tiny plate. Rosa helplessly stared as the pile grew larger and larger.

"Your Majesty," Lucius interjected before the pile could grow too large. "I don't think Princess will be able to eat so much."

"I'm just making sure she has plenty of options to choose from," Alphegor interjects and then pushes the towering plate closer to Rosa. "Go on, choose whatever you want."

Rosa took the small fork placed in front of her and then just stabbed it into the thing closest to her. She couldn't even quite look at what she had picked up, as all four women at the table were glaring at her, eyes filled with jealousy. When she put the food in her mouth, she recoiled – liver.

I hate liver!

"It seems His Majesty doesn't know Princess's tastes too well," Azrael laughed. Alphegor glared at him, and Rosa began wondering if she should eat the liver just to avoid the Demon King's rage. It wouldn't be directed at her, but she still didn't want anyone to suffer on her behalf.

She glanced at the liver again, hoping that maybe it would look more appetizing than she remembered. While it had some fancy glaze on it and was cut in a more pleasant round shape, at its core it was still liver. 

"I am sure that the Princess was just surprised by its great flavor. Just give her a moment and I'm sure she'll eat the leviathan liver without any issues," the blonde concubine with a short bob cut smiled pleasantly at Rosa.

Leviathan liver? Rosa resisted the urge to gag, and throw the thing on her fork into the bush.

"I am sure that is the case," Alphegor agreed and looked at her with hopeful eyes. Now she truly was with her back against a metaphorical wall. She swallowed and looked at the unappetizing piece on her fork. 

I don't want to eat this… 

She slowly brought the liver closer to her lips, imagining that it was just a tough piece of pork.

"What are you two talking about? It's her birthday! She should be eating desserts, not liver," Azrael exclaimed and put a dark chocolate cupcake in front of her.

Yes, my savior! I owe you one. 

Rosa grabbed the cupcake without any hesitation, abandoning the sad liver piece, and took a bite before anybody could object. The flavor was rich but not overly sweet – a perfect chocolate dessert.

"I suppose you're right in that regard," Alphegor begrudgingly admitted, and then snapped his fingers. A servant appeared right next to him the very next second, making Rosa flinch from the sudden event.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" the demon servant asked solemnly.

"Bring the birthday cake!" he ordered with a self-satisfied smirk.

Somehow I have a bad feeling about this.

The servant disappeared after a curt nod. For a moment everything seemed peaceful, but then she heard some low grumbling, like a heavy vehicle driving on a road.

"Let's go and see it," Alphegor said, picking Rosa up. The others around the table also followed, eyes full of curiosity. As they exited the hedged space, Rosa's jaw dropped open. On a giant platform with wheels, there stood a cake the size of a small house. Each layer was three times larger than Rosa, and each of the massive layers was decorated with utmost care. Everyone gaped at the giant marvel unable to comprehend the absurdity of its size. 

How do you even bake something of this size? There's no oven to fit this thing into. Did they just combine a bunch of smaller cakes into a huge one? Or perhaps only part of it is edible?

"Your Majesty, this cake…" Lucius pointed at it while desperately trying to keep his expression under control. 

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Alphegor laughed proudly. "Big enough so every citizen of the Demon Kingdom could have a slice."

Rosa saw how the Prime Minister was doing mathematics in his head as he looked at the cake from top to bottom, his expression hardening.

"I'm sorry to say this, Your Majesty, but even with a cake of this size, you wouldn't provide every citizen of the Demon Kingdom with a slice of cake."

That much was obvious – no cake, not even this monstrosity, could provide enough cake for a kingdom. Rosa had no idea how large the Demon Kingdom was, but it had to be at least as large as the country where had come from.

"But it should be more than enough to provide for all the guests, no?" Alphegor retorted and waved towards the crowds of demons packed into the castle yard. They cheered in response, equally horrified and awestruck by the giant birthday cake.

"Now, then, Morrigan. Why don't you do the honor of cutting the first slice?" The Demon King looked down at her, and at the same moment a servant appeared with a dull-looking knife in hand. Alphegor took it and then held the handle towards Rosa.

She nervously reached out to the knife, fully expecting to drop it to the ground, but Alphegor kept his hold on it and guided it towards the cake alongside Rosa. There was a warm feeling in her gut as they cut the cake together. It slid smoothly down the soft spongy desert, and they ended up with a small, neat square piece of rich looking red velvet cake. 

The crowd erupted into cheers again, and Rosa couldn't help but flush. All this fuss because of her birthday. 

Nobody on Earth ever cared much for my birthdays. Sure, my parents would set up a celebration when I was younger, and they'd buy me cake, but it was more out of obligation rather than actual care for me. And once I started showing interest in art, those celebrations ended.

Rosa shook her head – there was no guarantee that these parties would continue when she got older. Currently she was just a novelty – an oddly clever baby with a vast magical potential. Once Alphegor realized that she would not become his perfect demon heir, no doubt he would be just as disappointed as Rosa's mother had been.

"Hey, what's that?" Alphegor suddenly pointed towards the spot they had just sliced into, breaking Rosa out of her thoughts. Something red glinted deeper inside the cake, but it didn't match with the rest of it. The color was smoother, shinier. It reminded her of scales. 

Rosa looked quizzically up at Alphegor, and saw a mischievous glint in his eyes, his lips curling up in a restrained smile.

Oh, he must have hidden his gift inside the cake. I wonder what it is.

"Present?" Rosa asked him, and the crowd cheered at her guess.

"Young Princess is so smart!"

"She can already speak, it's amazing!"

"Truly the daughter of our Majestic King!"

The crowd kept praising her, and Alphegor hummed with satisfaction.

"Yes, a present from me to my dearest daughter!" Alphegor announced in his booming voice for everyone to hear. Multiple servants scurried over and began methodically cutting the cake, and placing the slices onto tray, thus slowly digging out the present underneath.

Rosa watched with bated breath as more and more of… something was revealed, but she couldn't understand what it was exactly. It was just red, shimmering and scaly. 

Perhaps it was just a container for the present. He probably wouldn't have wanted to ruin it with cream and icing. 

Slowly, more of the present emerged until finally two servants grabbed hold of a giant, red egg and put it in front of Rosa and Alphegor. 

"Egg?" Rosa asked. Certainly an unusual choice of container for a present, but it is pretty. 

"Not just any egg! This is the egg of a fire dragon," Alphegor announced proudly. There was a stunned silence for a moment, until Azrael began clapping, rousing the crowd from their stupor. Slowly, they joined into the cheers although it felt much more forced than before.

"Your Majesty, don't you think a dragon egg is a bit much?" Lucious whispered as he leaned closer to the King. "Couldn't it cause some repercussions from the dragons?"

"Hahaha! There's nothing to worry about! I'll make sure that no dragon dares to step foot into the Demon Kingdom!" Alphegor laughed like a madman while Rosa stared at the egg, pale as a sheet.

She didn't know much about dragons, but from the stories she read before coming to Doppelta and from the ones Faenor read for her, they weren't exactly friendly. Usually described as vicious beasts guarding hordes of gold, stealing princesses and burning down cities as if it were as natural as breathing.

He just wants that dragon to eat me as soon as it hatches!

"Is this the offspring of that dragon I killed?" Azrael mused loudly as he bent down to inspect the egg closely.

"Indeed, it is. And it'll be your task to make sure that the hatchling obeys Rosa," Alphegor announced with a smile, and now Azrael looked just as pale as Rosa, despite his dark skin color.

"Wait… me?" 

"Yes, you. You're the one who killed the dragon, so it only makes sense that you clean up after your own mess."

How did Azrael's punishment become my birthday gift? Rosa glared at the white-haired demon, who just sighed in exasperation.

"I knew you wouldn't just let that go. I just hoped that swearing an oath to the princess would have been enough to appease you."

"Clearly, you don't know me very well then, Azrael," Alphegor replied with a smirk, and then retreated back to the celebration table. Rosa just prayed that she wouldn't have to open any more presents.