CHAPTER 46: DUCHESS CELESTE

After my father said my name, several murmurs and whispers begin.

’I figured it would be like this.’ There is no noble with my surname, so the only hypotheses that can arise are that my mother was a commoner or that my mother was of another race.

However, the repercussions and whispers went in a direction I did not expect. Initially, I thought they would judge me as having mixed blood, but their whispers are that my mother was a noble of another race.

"Father, do you think we can use this?" I whisper to my father, since most believe my mother was not human, perhaps we can use this to give me more freedom of action in certain aspects.

"It’s a possibility, especially because this way we can even make some families give up on going after certain ’things,’ after all, humans don’t like to research other races much."

"Although this has a bad point, since it gives me the reputation of having had a child with a woman of another race, but it’s acceptable since there aren’t many who can do anything about it, so how do you want to proceed, daughter?" He whispers to me as we descend from the place we were.

"Let them think what they want and don’t confirm anything...be vague but imply that my mother wasn’t human and let their imagination run wild." Know yourself and your enemy to have an advantage, if they don’t even know about me, the advantage is mine.

"Well, well, well, so it seems you’ve finally stopped hiding behind a curtain of mystery hohoho," a girl looks at me and starts talking. She is blonde with blue eyes, and her hairstyle looks like a drill, while her tone is arrogant.

"Good evening, Duchess Celeste." One of the people I least wanted to meet, Duchess Celeste Montclair, she can be called the nemesis of Kaelith. She is, for some strange reason, obsessed with being superior to Kaelith in everything since childhood.

However, she never crosses the line, which is why she has never been killed by Kaelith, although she is an annoying and arrogant girl.

’Her laugh is annoying.’ Seriously, who laughs ’hohoho’? I’ve never met anyone who laughs like that before, and all I can say is that it’s annoying, especially combined with her arrogant tone.

"I came here to see you, and I see you haven’t changed much. I thought you had softened, ’Pandora.’ I’m glad to know you’re going to the academy, things there have been very boring and irritating," she’s good at this, and arrogant but smart. Although she calls me Pandora with an arrogant tone, it’s still respectful, something difficult to achieve without much practice.

’I understand why Kaelith never killed her.’ Kaelith only killed following a pattern, mainly based on people who insulted the king demon’s appearance. This girl in front of me can combine arrogance and respect in a unique way.

"Yes, I will go to the academy in a few days, Duchess Celeste," I say to her respectfully, but with a cold and indifferent expression.

’If I’m not mistaken, her current level should be around 1500, it’s not a big deal, though I don’t know the max level.’ I just need to be careful not to do anything strange in front of her, and then she won’t discover anything.

"Well, finally something entertaining will happen then...although you seem to have gotten weaker, or maybe I’ve gotten too strong for you? Hohoho," no matter how respectful her tone is, it’s still full of annoying arrogance.

The desire to curse this girl with the drill-like hair is great. Although, looking closer, she’s quite beautiful, especially those big breasts.

’They’re as big as Elena’s...maybe even bigger...’ She has the second-largest chest I’ve seen, second only to Lilith’s busty figure.

"We’ll see that at the academy, Duchess Celeste."

"Call me just Celeste, Pandora. Now that I know your name, you don’t need to call me Duchess anymore, after all, we’re sworn rivals," Kaelith said she never swore anything, and this girl who suddenly clung to Kaelith’s heels and never let go.

"Sure, Celeste. Then tell me a little more about the academy, how are things going there?"At least I can get information from this girl, as Veritus went to talk to other nobles, so I’m free to do what I want.

"Nothing special, things get very boring without you to compete with. The heroes aren’t much, some show-offs will even reveal their unique abilities, which were supposed to be a secret."

"Honestly, only a small group of the heroes is really useful for something, but they’re still too weak. Plus, they think too highly of themselves, as if their family could save them from something in this world. In the end, they’re just arrogant people who don’t know their place."

I’m already starting to like this girl, she knows what’s up, although she’s also arrogant.

"And that damned bitch called Yuki Suzuki is the one I hate the most. That cursed bastard dared to insult me, that cheap copy thinks she’s something just because she has a bit of talent, so I cleaned the arena floor with her face. It was one of the few entertainments in the last few months, hohohoho."

"Pfff." I almost spit out the drink I’m having because of the urge to laugh. It’s official, I forgive Celeste for being arrogant this girl is already my favorite human. If it’s about arrogance, I’m already used to Violet, what’s one more arrogant girl in my life? In the end, it’s still bearable.

Although it was a total surprise that she really curses. It seems the nobles in this world are much more liberal than I thought. In manga, nobles usually don’t speak like that.

"But moving on to good stuff, I’m eager to fight you, Pandora. I’ll wipe the arena floor with your face, and this time I’ll win and force you to use magic in a fight."

"I’m looking forward to it, we’ll see how far you go."This girl isn’t all bad.

"...Tsk...I have to go, Pandora. See to it that you take care, maybe next time I see you, you’ll end up dead," she says as she waves goodbye.

"..." And that was a clear threat. I heard from Kaelith that this girl constantly sends assassins to try to kill her, and the excuse she used when Kaelith questioned her was:

[If you die to mere assassins, I would be very disappointed with the failure you’ve become, hohohoho.]

In addition, this girl also makes surprise attacks and poisoning attempts. She’s a bit insane, and the worst part is that Kaelith said she never felt any malice or murderous intent from her.

That’s exactly why she never killed her this girl will try to kill me in every way possible without having an ounce of evil or murderous intent, just to test me.

As for the poison thing, I don’t care much, over 90% of poisons are useless against me due to my adaptations, and since this girl’s goal is not to kill me, I doubt she’ll use special poisons.

The biggest problem are the surprise attacks that Celeste herself makes. I don’t think this girl is very strong, but Kaelith herself said I should be careful, so I shouldn’t underestimate her.

And the assassins, most of them are useless, since I only need to kill them. In fact, I’ve already killed some in the past nights. They invaded my room at night and were killed by my sharks when I woke up in the morning, there were at least 10 of them.

I didn’t even wake up because my body didn’t feel any danger. In other words, most of the things she’ll do against me won’t be real problems, only her surprise attacks will be.

Veritus said this is normal, and they got past the security because they’re weak, and the mansion’s security system only activates with real threats.

I soon stop eating the things on the table and go to Veritus, he’s talking to the Saint.

I notice how the Saint looks scared at me, and it’s amusing to see this bitch afraid. I have a hatred for her that was one of those responsible for my death, I will make her have a very painful end...or maybe an entertaining one for me.

"Grand Duchess Pandora, I-I’m glad to see you, but I’m a bit busy, so I have to go," she tries to leave.

"You can just call me Pandora, Saint Rosaline. I’d like to talk to you privately, would that be possible?" I speak calmly while watching Veritus give us space and leave.

"S-Sure, Pandora." I think calmly about how I can make this girl pay for my death. There has to be something I can do that will cause her lasting suffering.

"T-Then, tell me what the subject would be?" She speaks, trying her best to finish this and get away from me.

"I’d prefer to talk in a private room." I want to know how much she knows about the demon king, which is me. It’s obvious the kingdom knows about me, but the information Veritus has about it is somewhat scarce.

Most nobles don’t know much, the people who know the most are people from the church or the royal family, like the King, the Prince, the Pope, and the Saint.

So Saint Rosaline is the best to give me this kind of information, precisely because she is afraid of me, making her more likely to tell me everything she knows.

"I-I understand, Pandora. Then, let’s go this way." She starts walking, and the farther we get from the people, the more she trembles in fear, as if she’s afraid I’ll suddenly attack her from behind. We walk through the corridors of this place and soon arrive at a room.

"T-This is a reinforced guest room with spells to conceal conversations, s-so no one should be able to hear anything."