Torture the hero, why has the Demon King's castle collapsed again?

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—Anyone who tries to defeat Ota will only make him stronger!

King Ota possesses the same level of "perseverance" as the brave Mino!

Chapter 410 The murderer of Cuiyin! It's you!

Seeing that the demons present had fallen silent, Swell paused for a moment before continuing:

"Furthermore, this is probably the final ultimatum issued to us by that human king: if we continue to cause trouble in the human capital, then don't blame him for being impolite to Lady Astrid!"

"The appearance of the plague angel in the capital has indeed crossed the line for the human kingdom."

"This is probably really our last operation in the human capital. Now, Lady Astrid is the greatest 'hostage' of the human kingdom."

If we dare to invade the capital again, Lady Astrid will likely bear the brunt of humanity's greatest malice and wrath in our place.

"It's all my fault." Freer lowered his wings in remorse.

"Don't blame yourself, Lord Freer. We've been dealing with humans too frequently; eventually, we'll expose our weaknesses," Swell reassured him.

"Besides, we also have Mino the Warrior as a hostage on our side. To that king, Mino's importance far outweighs that of Lady Astrid..."

"However, in order to ensure the safety of Lady Astrid, we also need to reduce our actions against humans, which is why that king conveyed the message so publicly."

Swell couldn't help but feel a little troubled: at least in the short term, dancing in a human minefield could lead to irreversible consequences.

Even though they all understood that Astrid would suffer endless torment if she fell into human hands, it was still unacceptable for any demon to coldly watch her be subjected to such fury.

"As long as you are alive, there is hope."

At the long table, Klettina gave instructions: "There's no need to rush into encroaching on humanity. We just need to wait patiently, and we'll eventually find an opportunity."

"But let's not forget that when we were victorious, it was Astrid who carried the burden for us."

"Let this shame be etched into the memory of every demon."

"Then, in the most decisive way, vent it out—"

After giving Freer a long look, Kleidina knew that no amount of comfort could compare to providing a target for struggle and catharsis.

Fortunately, there happens to be such a target in the Demon King's Castle.

"I understand, Your Honor."

Freer raised his head, his eyes flashing with the darkest flames:

"Bearing Astrid's will, I will make that hero sink into the deepest despair—!"

……

……

……

Three months later.

The capital city, the imperial palace.

Inside the study, Otto and Astrid were arguing fiercely.

Astrid: "Three times!"

Ottoman: "No, at least ten times!"

"No! I can't handle that often! Four times!"

"At least ten times!"

"No! Waaaaah, this is my last limit... six times!"

"Okay, deal."

"Huh?" Astrid froze in her seat.

To the side, Tus, who had caught a glimpse of the hidden light in his prince's eyes, rubbed his forehead, knowing that the great scholar Astrid had been fooled again. Prince Ota's original bottom line was probably only four or five times.

Astrid, the great scholar, excels in knowledge and wisdom, but when it comes to scheming, she is far inferior to His Highness the Prince.

Sitting in her chair, Astrid was already regretting her decision to accept the position of "Royal Gate" without thinking it through.

Becoming the royal gatekeeper of the kingdom means that one's personal safety has reached the same level as that of the kingdom's ruler: In recent times, the royal palace has not only lavishly built a huge teleportation magic array in the library and the inner perimeter of the palace, connecting the palace and the library like a master bedroom and a guest bedroom, just to shorten that short ten-minute journey.

They also stationed almost half of the Paladin Order inside the library, and now only elite-level Paladins can serve as book rental staff at the front desk.

Even the food, lodging, and travel schedule during this period must be approved by the secretariat headed by Prince Ota!

Astrid was unaware that most of these decisions were made by the human prince before her, and instead assumed that this was the standard treatment afforded to those holding the throne.

But no matter what, limiting even the number of days you can stay at home is just too much!

She glared angrily at the prince in front of the table. After such intensive desensitization, she had finally overcome her fear of human kings somewhat...

Otta seems to think so.

"Huh?!" Astrid immediately buried her head in fear.

“Scholar Astrid, I’m doing this for your own good—” Otto’s helpless voice came through:

“Your safety is important, but at the same time, we also need to respect your privacy… If you stay in your room writing fanfiction for weeks at a time and don’t go out to report regularly, we might not be able to detect anything amiss until the smell of a rotting corpse comes from if you were ever murdered.”

"I'm a corruption demon, I won't rot..." Astrid thought to herself.

But seeing Ota's "majestic" gaze, she shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.

Otto explained:

"Meeting at the palace six times in a month is already a very lenient frequency. Besides, we also need to rely on your wisdom to solve some of the kingdom's problems."

"Ugh... I understand."

Astrid quickly accepted her situation and reluctantly raised her head: "So, what brings you here today, Your Highness?"

She glanced at Ota, then at Tus, and suddenly noticed that their expressions had become serious.

"Well, I think you, Scholar Astrid, know this all too well."

Otto nodded, his eyes deep: "What I want to mention is about three months ago, on the night of the concert..."

"—The assassin who personally murdered the songstress Cuiyin!"

"I am guilty!!!"

Astrid raised her hands with a mournful face.

She knew it all along; she'd already given away every secret, even the fact that her underwear was green!

"Lady Astrid, you...you're here again?" Otta's expression vanished instantly, and she said, both amused and exasperated:

"I know you had the idea of ​​going on stage and destroying Suine's machine, but it wasn't you who did it! It couldn't have been Suine that exploded just because you snapped your fingers, could it?!"

"So you knew all along!" Astrid grew even more terrified.

Unexpectedly, Ota discovered her actions, which she had tried to conceal as much as possible! What Astrid didn't know was that when the swords and demonic energy clashed, Ota's subconscious concern was for Astrid's safety, who was closest to him. Naturally, he saw her actions but didn't think much of it: "But there are many people in the square who are frightened and acting strangely. Does that mean everyone is a murderer?"

"You've misunderstood!" Ota could only quickly explain:

"What I want to say is that the one who destroyed the Emerald Sound was not Hero Shana, you, the Fourth Demon, or anyone else present at the time! — It was another demon!"

"Eh?"

As expected, after hearing Ota's words, Astrid finally calmed down and was stunned: "Its demon?"

If she remembered correctly, the only presence that night should have been Freer's scent.

And Otta said she knew that too...

“That’s right.” Ota and Tus exchanged a glance and continued:

"Over the past three months, the Cuiyin Diva incident has also attracted the attention of a large number of citizens within the country, and many people have gradually been attracted by Cuiyin's charm."

The sales of the recordings of the Midori concert projector and CDs from the Frontier Bunko series surged, indirectly boosting the popularity of other Frontier Bunko products... Of course, that's not the main point. The people who loved Midori were therefore even more saddened and angered by the destruction of Midori three months prior, and issued strong condemnations against the Demon Race—”

"To the outside world, we claimed that it was the Fourth Demon, Freer, who destroyed Tsuri, which slightly eased the public's anger."

"but"

Ota's eyes flashed with coldness: "Based on the Knights' analysis of the live broadcast projection from the night of the incident, from various angles, we have reached the following conclusion:"

The aftermath of the battle between the Fourth Demon and the Calamity Hero shouldn't have affected the Songstress of the Vermilion Valley, so the one who destroyed Vermilion Valley... was a more hidden and evil demon!

"Huh?!"

Astrid's shoulders trembled violently.

Chapter 411 The Scapegoat - The Greatest Traitor in Human History

If it weren't for Otta's earlier words, she would probably be handcuffing herself and confessing her guilt by now, with a long face.

Otta, being considerate of Astrid's feelings, casually comforted her:

"Calm down, Astrid, I was talking about the devil, not you."

Minister Tuss interjected at the opportune moment, raising the question: "However, Your Highness, since the live broadcast footage from various locations did not record any images of the culprit who destroyed the songstress of Cuiyin."

You even used the mind-reading technique on all the audience members present except for Lady Astrid, and as a result, everyone present was cleared of suspicion. So, who... is the real culprit?

"We couldn't find any trace or evidence whatsoever."

“That’s the problem.” Ota’s eyes showed no sign of confusion; instead, they burned with a vengeful rage.

“Tus, don’t you think this strange phenomenon is very similar to… a guy we’ve overlooked for a long time, but who really exists… a threat no less than any great demon.”

"Your Highness Ota, you mean...?" Tus's eyes widened.

“That’s right.” Ota gritted his teeth and spat out the name with hatred:

"The murderer who 'killed' Cuiyin is the one who has been lurking within the kingdom, easily uncovering its secrets, and causing countless irreparable tragedies... the kingdom's biggest mole!!!"

"The evidence is that during the last battle to defend the capital, those great demons left behind traces of magic, more or less."

“Using those traces of magic, I continuously draw upon the energy of the Holy Round Table to lock onto those demons. Apart from the newly appeared fourth demon, the Holy Round Table will immediately issue a warning whenever any of the other great demons approach the capital.”

"But that night, not a single demon that left a trace of magic appeared."

Ota's fist gradually clenched: