The hallway erupted instantly. One servant gasped. Another dropped papers everywhere. Somebody whispered: “I KNEW IT.”
I covered my face while Nina screamed loud enough to shake the lanterns overhead.
“OH MY GOD.”
Meanwhile my demon seemed deeply unimpressed by everyone’s reactions while absently pulling me slightly closer against his side again.
The younger brother eyed his brother. “There he goes again.”
“I am standing beside her.”
“You’re gripping her like someone might steal her.”
“That is because this kingdom lacks boundaries.”
One palace guard passing through the corridor stopped walking after noticing us. Then stared directly at my demon’s hand on my waist before whispering quietly toward another guard:
“He’s publicly attached now.”
The second guard was horrified. “The council is never surviving this.”
Neither, apparently, was the city. Because somewhere far below the palace another wave of cheering erupted from the streets outside.
Nina blinked toward the windows. “…Are they STILL out there?”
One servant nodded proudly. “The crowds have doubled.”
“DOUBLED?”
“There are food vendors now.”
I stared blankly into the distance.
“…Your kingdom made my relationship into a festival.”
“It’s actually very good for morale,” Anderson admitted tiredly while appearing again from the far corridor.
“That sentence made everything worse.”
Meanwhile the younger brother had started leaning lazily against Nina again while she stood between his arms without even noticing anymore. At this point both couples had apparently forgotten the concept of personal space entirely.
The younger brother stared at my demon thoughtfully. “You know what’s upsetting?”
“No,” my demon answered.
“You look happy.”
The entire hallway went quiet because he really did. Not in an obvious way, and not because he smiled all the time, but there was something softer about him now. The coldness around his edges kept fading whenever he looked at me, like the sharp, terrifying prince everyone feared only existed until his attention landed on me.
And judging by the silence spreading through the servants nearby, everyone else noticed too.
My demon frowned at the accusation. “I have always looked the same.”
One palace servant accidentally laughed out loud and then looked horrified remembering his own mistake. Too late. By that point even I was starting to laugh, quiet at first and thenharder after watching the poor man desperately try to recover from publicly insulting Hell royalty.
And then my demon stopped talking entirely. I noticed it because his attention shifted completely into me again. Not the hallway, not the servants, not the chaos around us. Just me laughing. The expression on his face softened so visibly that even Nina paused mid sentence and stared at him.
Oh.
