NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 7 – New Room
Rosa woke up from a sharp pang of pain in her shoulder which slowly subsided into a gentle ache. When she finally gathered herself enough to open her eyes, she found herself cradled in Alphegor's embrace.
"You're awake," he exclaimed, relief washing over his face. His features seemed strained – a furrow in his brow, pursed lips forced into a bare smile, slightly scrunched nose and forehead. "Thank the Darkness that you're alright…"
Alphegor brought Rosa close and held her so gently as to not put any strain on her injured shoulder. It felt warm and comforting. Safe.
He saved me as soon as I called for help. Did he hear me or did he notice the ruckus caused by the intruder?
As she remembered their murderous eyes, she instinctively clung onto Alphegor's clothes. She smelled a light stench of blood coming from him, and almost recoiled.
No, he protected me. I am safe with him.
"Rest, child. I shall not leave your side," Alphegor said, and Rosa relaxed. She was so exhausted both physically and mentally, so she allowed his comforting warmth and closeness to lull her back to sleep.
***
When Rosa woke up, she was surprised to find herself in a completely unfamiliar room. She sat up to look at the surroundings. Alphegor was sleeping right next to her on the left while on the right there was net installed by the bedposts.
Beyond it she saw a huge room – at least four of her nurseries could easily fit inside it. The bed alone was so large it probably wouldn't even fit inside Rosa's apartment. The bedsheets were made out of black silk with tasteful golden and red accents. Dark blue curtains were tied to bed meticulously engraved wooden poles.
Two wooden dividers, one with a dark dragon motif on it and one with a mountain landscape, separated the bed from the rest of the room. The art style on them was rather simplistic but tasteful, choosing to remain more as a background element rather than something that caught your attention. Beyond the dividers Rosa could see that one side of the room appeared more like a study with a desk, bookshelves and some sort of a weird, round apparatus in the corner. The other side of the room was more obscured, she could only peek at a part of a coffee table and what she thought to be a couch.
This must be Alphegor's private room. Why has he suddenly brought me here? Was it because of the attack?
Rosa looked at the sleeping demon. His face was contorted in a scowl, and his body appeared tense. His upper torso was completely naked, showing well-defined muscles and perfectly smooth skin.
If evil, why hot?
But she shouldn't be complaining. Some of his genes no doubt had passed to her, so that meant she should be at least somewhat attractive. Or at least more attractive than she had been before.
The silence in the room stretched on and Rosa's mind flashed back to the horrid eyes of the murderer. His laugh echoed in her ears, and she moved her hand to touch where the dagger had struck her shoulder. There was a small bit of pain coming from it when she pressed down, but no more than from a regular bruise. She pushed her shirt to the side and saw that her skin had a reddish line on it with a bit of blue around it.
I must have been healed with magic. I couldn't have healed so quickly myself. Or could I? I'm not human anymore, so I suppose I can't rule out that possibility.
Rosa shook her head at this unpleasant thought. Her body might have been that of a demon, but her soul was definitely human. She had to find a way to her human body before somebody murders her in this world. No doubt this would not be the last attempt on her life.
Why did I have to become Demon King's daughter? If I were to be reborn in another world, couldn't I be a farmer's daughter? Or better yet – an artist's daughter.
Rosa sighed, and her body began trembling despite the room being warm. She didn't want to accept the unpleasant reality she was living in. She did not want assassins preying on her life or the envious gazes of her half-sisters or demon concubines. She just wanted to go back home – to the little apartment where she kept her painting supplies.
Suddenly Alphegor next to Rosa stirred, making her flinch in surprise. His eyes fluttered open, and his scowl softened.
"You woke up before me, Morrigan? How are you feeling?" he asked as he got up to a sitting position. He moved Rosa's shirt aside, just like she had before and grimaced when he saw the ugly mark. "Those healer's didn't do a good enough job. I should cut off their heads."
"No!" Rosa protested before she even realized what she was doing. The demon looked at her in shock while she stared back at him wide-eyed.
Keep calm, keep calm! It's not like you said any difficult words! While eight month old baby talking is certainly not normal, a simple word like 'no' shouldn't get you into trouble.
"W-Was that your first word?" a wide grin appeared on Alphegor's face and he lifted Rosa up. "Say that again."
Rosa pondered for a second whether she should, cold sweat forming on her body.
"No…" she said with much less confidence, hoping that her repeating the same word won't make her seem too advanced.
If he figured out that I'm actually a human, then I have no doubt that my head would fly off my shoulders. Demons hate humans after all.
"Amazing! Despite being so small, you're already saying your first word. Not a single one of your twenty three sisters could do that," Alphegor said, his proud smile revealing longer than normal canines.
I have twenty three sisters? I didn't see that many girls at that 'family gathering'.
Rosa grimaced, unable to hide her disappointment. Seemed like demon men were much like some human men – unable to keep their hands to themselves.
"Why do you suddenly look so disappointed?"
"No," Rosa babbled in response and turned her head to the side.
"Heh, cheeky little one, aren't you?" he chuckled and then moved out of the bed with Rosa in his arms.
Thank God, you're wearing underpants. I would have screamed if you weren't.
Alphegor walked past the large divider, and Rosa could take a proper look at the room. The right side was indeed a resting area with a couch, coffee table and a small wine cabinet. What she hadn't noticed before was that next to the large, round apparatus on the left side of the room, there was a large window. It was the first window she has seen since first coming to this world.
Rosa outstretched her hands towards it, and fidgeting, wanting to look outside.
"Want to take a look outside? I suppose there were no windows in your room. I hoped that it would keep assassin's at bay, but it seems like it was naive to believe that mere lack of windows could achieve that," Alphegor spoke, his expression turning cold. A shiver ran through Rosa's spine when he said the word 'assassins', and she was about to move closer to him. Then she realized that he was still only in his underpants and abandoned the idea.
Alphegor went up to the window which was currently covered with curtains, and slowly pulled them apart. Rosa was eager to finally see the sun for the first time in eight months, but when the curtains were finally open, all she felt was disappointment.
"Take a good look, Morrigan. This is the Underworld, Demon Kingdom – the strongest kingdom in the whole world. None other can match our might!" he announced proudly and pointed towards the dark, dreary scenery outside.
There was no sky, there was no sun, there were no lush forests, green fields of grass or bright, blue seas. There was stone, darkness, deep endless ravines and fields of lava and fire. Instead of a vibrant garden with bright flowers, there was a murky garden with gray foliage and occasional thorny bush. Shimmering river water was replaced with a river of lava that destroyed everything in its path. The endless sky was absent, and the dark cave ceiling tapped everything inside like a cage. Rosa felt like a part of her had just been crushed.
"It must be a lot to take in at once, but I'm sure you'll learn more about your kingdom as you grow older. For now you need to focus on healing," Alphegor said, but Rosa could barely hear him.
I truly am in hell. There is no sunlight, no life, not even a gust of wind. It is only darkness and death and suffering.
***
Since that day, all of Rosa's baby things except for her crib were moved to Alphegor's room. Much to her chagrin, Rosa had to sleep next to Alphegor every night and she was constantly watched by somebody. Mostly by Alphegor himself.
The demon was reluctant to ever leave Rosa alone, even under the watchful eye of Gunna, and quite honestly she herself felt nervous whenever he was not around. While Rosa liked Gunna and she enjoyed when Faenor read books to her, she was constantly haunted by the visions of the murderous intruder. She looked at every corner, constantly looking out for any moving shadows.
"It's alright, Lady Morrigan. You are safe," Gunna soothed her during mealtime. But Rosa kept glancing behind the nanny to make sure nobody unknown was lurking behind her.
"To think that somebody would try to murder a child," Faenor appeared disgusted by the notion. He was waiting on the couch as the nanny fed Rosa. "It must be something only demons are able to do."
"Shush, Faenor! You'll get us into trouble."
"His Majesty," Faenor spat out the words as if they were poison," is currently away from the castle, and the guards don't really care what slaves talk about as long as we don't confront them directly."
"Still – Lady Morrigan can hear you," the nanny glanced at Rosa a bit nervously, but she just cocked her head to the side and poked the floor, feigning interest in its wooden pattern.
"Lady Morrigan is a baby. A smart baby, but a baby nonetheless," Faenor said and pulled out a colorful book with a rainbow on the front cover.
You expect me to smile at that don't you?
Although currently Rosa was in no mood for stories, she forced herself to smile. It's better than she acted like nothing had happened – after all a real baby certainly wouldn't have understood anything.
If I were an actual baby, I'd already be dead. Rosa shuddered as she tried to show her nervousness on her face.
"See! She's just as eager for story time as always," Faenor said and picked Rosa up, setting her down on his knee as he always did.
"It would be nice if Lady Morrigan weren't affected. But even so, there will be more attempts on her life."
"Barbaric. If she'd been born an elf princess, nobody would ever even dare to think of killing her. Or any child for that matter."
"If she were a dwarf princess, then dwarves from all over the world would come to the capital to pay homage to her. And anyone lucky enough to see her would be blessed for life."
But I was born a demon princess, so instead of praise and worship, I get contempt, malice and countless assassination attempts.
Faenor began reading the colorful picture book, but Rosa couldn't find it in herself to enjoy it. The children's books had fulfilled their purpose at that point – to teach Rosa the demon language. Her baby body was developing, she could walk, she could talk (to an extent) and she could even blend into shadows in case of an emergency.
In all honesty, Rosa still had no idea how she managed to step into shadows and become a part of them. The whole experience was so jarring and unpleasant that she preferred not to think about it at all. But whether she liked it or not – without this power she most certainly would be dead.
