"Esther-sama, what are we doing here?" Elizabeth asks as I enter the castle through a secret passage. Ever since Evelyn was sent off to actually participate in the war, I've been feeling anxious.

My entire current routine has changed. First, I stopped drinking sugary coffee in the morning like I used to, and I started having blood served to me. It seems the little bites I used to take from Evelyn are now genuinely missed. A single drop of her blood was better than an entire cup of anyone else's.

Normally, I always used to drink extremely sweet coffee in the morning. However, after marrying Evelyn, I got used to taking little bites out of her. Just as my mother said would happen, Evelyn's blood is flavorful and has replaced the coffee routine, which doesn't cut it anymore.

And without the coffee, the only thing that replaced it was cups of blood, preferably fresh. Usually, a servant comes and cuts their wrist right in front of me, pouring the drink into a cup for me, and that helps me deal with the daily craving.

Second is the anxiety. I'm furious with her. I hate what she did to me, but she's still the only person who is like me, the only one who sees the truth of the world, and the only one who makes me feel these feelings.

So I still want to watch over her. I want the chance to see her, even if from afar. That's why I'm here to "borrow" a relic from the castle. It's just not the one I'm supposed to take.

The Demon King said I could take any relic from the vault as a gift. However, the one I want isn't in the regular vault, but in the Demon King's personal vault, where I shouldn't be messing around.

But he owes me, so he can't complain. And the relic I want is his spying relic, which allows you to see over absurd distances, making it possible to watch a person even if you're far away from them. You can't interact and there's no sound, but you can watch.

Asking to have something similar built is impossible, since it's a high-level relic that takes years to make.

"Stay here, Elizabeth. If you enter with me, you'll be executed." She doesn't have that permission.

"Okay... I'll be waiting anxiously..." she says, stopping. I continue down the rest of the secret passage, going through several pathways until I stop in the area above the ceiling of the Demon King's vault.

I puncture a hole in the floor. I need this relic, but I don't know where the Demon King is, so I'm impulsively going to take it without him knowing.

'I don't want anything else... just that... He won't care, since I'm more valuable than some relic...' I see his immense vault, a black vault brimming with magic. Fortunately, I know the combination.

I start pulling the lock with magic while undoing the more than 39 magical locks on the vault. Soon, I pull the door open, quickly entering the vault and closing it behind me, sealing myself inside.

"Haaa... Only you, Evelyn, could make me break rules like this..." I didn't want to do this, but I'm doing it because I need to guarantee my wife's safety.

If anyone messes with her, insults her, hurts her, or plans things against her, I'll know exactly who it was, and I'll remember their face. Ah yes, I'll definitely remember their face.

Even if the relic doesn't show sound and only has images, I can still read the body language and tones of what's happening.

'Now, where is it?' I start wandering, looking for the relic, until suddenly I see someone, and the person sees me too. It's a small girl, about 140 centimeters tall. She has long blood-red hair and vibrant purple eyes. Her skin is slightly purplish and pale, with small breasts.

She's extremely cute and has two pairs of black horns. Her legs are short, and her face is slightly rounded, giving off an air of cuteness she shouldn't have. The little girl is climbing onto an armor suit I recognize well.

"Demon King..."

"Esther..."

We both speak at the same time, before his face turns white and his eyes widen. I look at the immense armor and then at the small girl.

"You... are a girl?" I ask, incredulous. It's unrecognizable. Although his power seems less destructive outside the armor because it's not concealed, it's obvious that she is the Demon King. But if she hid her power, no one would ever notice.

"...What are you doing in MY treasure vault?" she asks in a high-pitched, irritated voice, which has nothing to do with the strong, deep voice he normally has.

"I... came to get the observation relic... the one that lets you see someone from very far away... Why did you... not... tell me? Have you always been a girl?" I ask, confused. I had never seen him without his armor.

"...Yes... Tsk... I'm a girl." She climbs out of the armor completely, and I see her naked in front of me. She's very... childlike. Yes, she is undoubtedly very childlike in appearance. Her body is small, with small curves and small breasts. There's nothing erotic or interesting about her.

"You're looking at me as if I'm a brat without any feminine charms. I hate that. Do you want me to kill you?" Her tone now also seems very different from the one I know from my father.

"...Can I... take the relic? I only came here for it... You said I could take any relic I wanted. I judged that this one was within what was permitted..."

"You now know my secret. What makes you think I'll let you leave here?" she asks with a disturbing look, but I see the nervousness. She definitely didn't want to be discovered. And only three people besides her know the combination to enter this vault, so she must have never imagined being discovered.

"You'll let me leave because I'm useful, because you know I won't tell anyone, and because you know I won't blackmail you." Trying to blackmail the Demon King is madness.

"...If I find out rumors about me being a girl are spreading, you'd better have a good defense, or your head will roll on the floor faster than the time it takes me to get out of this armor." She starts getting back into the armor, which is much larger than her.

Soon, the upper part appears, and I see the imposing figure of the Demon King once more—nothing like that brat who seems to have forgotten to grow.

'The Demon King is a girl... a... girl... So that's why all the candidates for the throne were created through magical pregnancy...' I look at the Demon King, who stares back at me.

"Is this... a relic then? May I ask why you hide your appearance, 'Father'? It's something I don't understand." I ask politely, not wanting to start a fight. I came here for an objective, and everything else is irrelevant. After all, one day I'll have enough power to kill the Demon King.

"...My youthful, small appearance doesn't strike fear into enemies. My voice doesn't have the imposing quality needed to command. And such a fragile appearance could make others attack me, thinking I'm weak."

"The armor doesn't give me power. It only serves to complement the appearance I've always idealized..." Without saying it directly, he just admitted that he doesn't like his gender, that he has a complex about his size and voice, and that he doesn't believe in how respected he is.

'Who would have thought... He is she, and she has so many conflicted feelings...' I look at her as if she's pathetic for thinking that. She notices the look but ignores it.

"I am your father, and that's all. Nothing more, understand?"

"Of course, Father. May I take the relic?"

"...Do it. And if you invade my vault again, you'll receive an appropriate punishment." He starts to leave.

"Why were you out of your armor?" I ask without looking at 'him' as he passes by me.

"...My vault is the only place where I can get out of the armor. Inside this armor, it's stuffy, kind of tight, and since I'm always naked, it chafes my skin, so it gets dirty with blood inside, and I need to clean it and my body because of the smell."

"So sometimes I need to get out of it and relax while it's cleaned by magic, and the only place for that is this vault, where no one can enter or see from the outside without the unlocking method..."

"Father, if you need help... I wouldn't mind helping in exchange for benefits," I say, hearing the vault door open.

"...I'll think about your proposal." He's more rational than I expected. I hear the sound of him leaving as I go back to searching for what I came for.

'This is useful to know. So our father, the person who could be called the strongest man in the world, is just a brat hiding inside a suit of armor...' I didn't expect this.

It's strangely clever. This way, the Demon King only needs to hide his power and go around using his appearance, and no one would notice. Because there are no records or people who know about this in general, and if there are people who know, at least they've never spoken about it.

I stop thinking about it and start searching for the relic. Since the place is huge and full of things, I try to be quick until I find a small golden box. I open it and see the relic protected by beautiful purple padding.

[The Perverse Observer's Eye] A relic in the form of a golden monocle. It allows the user to see a marked target from a distance of up to 1 million kilometers, provided the target is not within a dense Hikishin zone or a magic-protected area. Being simple and discreet, it can be used without being discovered, functioning like a normal monocle in everyone's view.

"Hmm, great. It was easy to find, and the Demon King is letting me keep and use it..." I feel foolish for doing such a thing just to watch Evelyn, but I feel it's necessary. So instead of using it all the time, I'll use it at certain intervals, since I shouldn't waste time just watching her.

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