Chapter 8: I need to have my license checked!

“Are you ready, Your Highness?”

Elda looked at the pale and listless Chloe with deep concern. That kind of exhausted, spent feeling that usually only appeared after a night of intense activity—she couldn’t understand why it would show on the thirteen-year-old princess who should still be pure and innocent.

Could it be that last night, convinced she couldn’t pass the trial, Her Highness had spent the entire night studying her own body structure just to figure out how to have children?

That wouldn’t do. Preparing in advance like that was understandable in principle, but it was still far too cowardly.

And why, if Her Highness had the mood to research such things, hadn’t she called her over? Realizing she had missed the chance to witness Her Highness’s personal handiwork, Elda suddenly felt she had wasted all those years as the princess’s close attendant.

“No, it can’t be like this…”

Professional integrity pulled Elda back from nearly forgetting the meaning of her existence as a maid. She bit her tongue. Missing that kind of thing was one thing—there would be plenty of time in the future. But if she didn’t handle the more important matter right now, there might not be any future at all.

She glanced toward the spectator seats, where the Demon King sat with her legs crossed, one hand supporting her chin, chatting animatedly with the other great lords.

Sensing Elda’s gaze, Yalith chose to look toward the arena, where her obedient daughter stood with puffed cheeks, glaring at her resentfully.

Oh? She really is cute.

“Chloe, choose your opponent. Demon beast, magic puppet, or the blood servants we’ve trained? Hehe, or… any of the audience members here. You can pick anyone.”

She curled her lips and smiled.

The moment those words fell, the entire arena erupted. The spectators who had been curiously waiting to see what kind of show would unfold today immediately began rubbing their hands in anticipation.

The demon race’s understanding of “cute” was very simple: either something that looked cute, or the sight of a weak little thing curling up on the ground after a gut punch, twitching and crying for mercy.

Clearly, the useless princess satisfied both aspects of the demon race’s definition of cute.

As long as the Demon King agreed, they wouldn’t mind bullying the weak—even a fair group beating would be fine.

Chloe stretched out her hand. Her finger trembled as she pointed at her biological mother, who looked full of expectation, then gritted her teeth and pointed upward.

“I want to duel you, Mom!”

The restless arena fell silent in an instant. The astonished spectators’ gazes toward Chloe gradually changed.

From curious onlookers enjoying the show, they slowly shifted to a serious, unsmiling solemnity.

Even Elda put away her other thoughts and stared in shock at the princess she had cared for over many years.

“Chloe, are you sure?”

Yalith simply looked at her calmly and asked softly. The Demon King’s oppressive aura, without even being deliberately released, made Chloe feel as if she couldn’t breathe.

“Of course.”

“So you want me to step on your back?”

“?”

“Never mind. You wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

Yalith licked her lips. The quiet arena grew noisy again, but this time the spectators’ gazes were sharper and more predatory than the pure laughter from before.

“You’re bullying me!”

Chloe knew she wasn’t stupid. Faced with this answer that treated her like an idiot, she immediately jumped up in anger. Yalith, however, stopped looking at her and turned to the side with a headache.

“Everyone, you see it too. I really have no confidence in my daughter, yet you insist on giving her a chance. Look… she even dares to say something so rebellious, afraid that I’ll kill her…”

After complaining to the great lords beside her, she glanced again at her furious daughter.

“Your elders here are all willing to give you a chance. So no matter who you choose, as long as you aren’t beaten down within the time limit, today’s trial will count as passed. But if you give up and choose me or them, Chloe, I guarantee that what I said to you yesterday will become reality today.”

“I…”

Chloe still wanted to struggle and say a few more words, but Elda quickly hugged her from the side and covered her mouth.

His Majesty the Demon King’s meaning was very clear: she simply wanted to give Her Highness some sense of crisis and make her take the right attitude.

Her Highness had said she wanted to challenge Her Majesty, but she was still young. Everyone would at most laugh at the suggestion and not take it seriously. Elda had never thought this silly loli princess had the brains for tactics. Achieving this effect now was already extremely rare—she couldn’t let Chloe continue speaking.

Even though the arena might very likely turn into some rather erotic scene with the princess as the main character, Elda successfully resisted the temptation.

“Alright, Your Highness. Just casually pick someone without much ability to deal with. The goal has already been achieved.”

“Damn it…”

Pressed by the maid’s low voice whispering comfort in her ear, Chloe had no choice but to abandon her plan to mess around.

She had wanted to show some spirit, but instead it only earned her roaring laughter. The gazes directed at her were all looking at an idiot. This was enough to show that her clansmen had completely written her off as a useless small fry.

It was too heartbreaking.

“Then I want to challenge…”

She considered opponents her strength could handle.

The demon race’s rank system was simple: from fifth to first—small fry, boss, cadre, leader, general, plus the special-class demons made up of great lords and the Demon King. Demons were also used to judging other races by these ranks.

Chloe knew that when her mother was her age, she had already reached the level of a demon cadre.

As the Demon King’s daughter, she didn’t necessarily need to reach that level, but she should at least be on par with the bosses in the clan.

Ideally, she should be at the same level as the other great lords’ children of the same age. Yalith had mentioned this yesterday—that because she couldn’t compare to those elders’ daughters, today’s trial to prove herself had been arranged.

The problem lay here, so it had to be solved from here.

Chloe steeled her heart and locked her gaze on the group of giggling girls sitting in the lower seats of the spectator area.

“Her!”

Everyone’s eyes turned over in confusion, wondering what kind of opponent the princess would choose for herself. When they saw the heirs of the various great lords sitting there in a neat row, their eyes immediately began glowing green.

Quack!

This was exactly what they wanted to see!

The scene of princesses tearing into each other was simply wonderful.

Without needing the great lords to speak or the Demon King to approve, the other spectators—who were themselves prominent figures in the demon race—immediately began cheering loudly.

The close friends she was pointing at were caught completely off guard by Chloe’s move of diverting disaster eastward. The quick-witted ones immediately left their seats. Since Chloe hadn’t named anyone specifically, dodging meant avoiding trouble.

It wasn’t that they feared Chloe’s strength. It was simply that Chloe was too weak.

Whether in swordsmanship, archery, or magic, she showed not a trace of Demon King Yalith’s shadow. If not for bloodline confirmation that she was the Demon King’s illegitimate daughter, they would have suspected she was just someone the Demon King had adopted.

Fighting an opponent of comparable strength and influence was fine regardless of win or loss. But fighting a maggot—if one accidentally got wriggled on, that would be humiliation.

Therefore, the tacit understanding among the princesses reached its peak at this moment. While each chose to leave their seats, they used magic to briefly freeze the Flame Demon Great Lord Rivet’s heir, Rita. The Flame Demon princess, looking utterly bewildered, was sent onto the arena floor, standing face to face with the grim-faced Chloe.

Chloe couldn’t understand how she had still managed to pick the strongest, least likely to hold back good sister to duel.

She would investigate thoroughly—it must be that her good friends had conspired to trap her!

Waaah!