I lit my pipe.
Gamigin and I had been going at it like animals since morning.
She was now dozing softly beside the bed. Throughout our session, she had clung to me like a child, tenacious and needy—as if trying to fill the absence of emotional connection with physical pleasure.
Beyond the window, the sun was already setting.
"....."
Demon Lords are all bundles of ego, autistic patients all of them. Their minds are diseased.
The reason is simple. They feel the emotions of others as their own.
Whether this emotion I'm feeling now is mine or someone else's is unclear. The boundary is blurred. The protective barrier that naturally surrounds ordinary people doesn't exist for Demon Lords.
To put it in extreme terms, even when a Demon Lord falls in love, she can't be certain of herself. She may feel that she loves this person, but perhaps it's merely the other person's emotions. She's simply mistaking her partner's affection—which is directed at her—for her own...
People always ask, "What am I?"
Demon Lords, however, ask the opposite: "What is me?" That's right—for a Demon Lord, the self is never firmly given from the start. She can only find it herself.
Or create it.
She desperately piles up something she can call herself.
Barbatos, who was pathologically obsessed with the goal of conquering the continent. Paimon, who earnestly pursued the ideal of equality among all races. Even Marbas, who considered mediating between factions his divine calling.
That is how they secured their identities.
In that process, the extinction of the entire human race wouldn't matter. Killing every last one of their own kind would be fine. As long as they can maintain their identity, sacrificing millions or tens of millions is acceptable.
You'd have to say their sense of balance is utterly broken. Mental patients. No different from delusionals.
It's thoroughly pathological.
And yet, there is beauty in it precisely because it is pathological.
"Dantalion..."
Gamigin mumbled in her sleep, breathing softly. I ran my fingers through her hair as if gently combing it, and she shifted contentedly.
It's a fanatical obsession with possessions considered as "this is mine." This tenacity applied equally not just to objects, but to lovers as well. I understood Gamigin's love that way.
Some might call it obsession rather than love. What does it matter?
Gamigin is a delightful partner in bed and a woman with endless potential for exploitation. Whether the emotion connecting the two of us is love or obsession, it doesn't really matter to me.
I whispered softly in her ear.
"I love you, Gamigin."
I might have been imagining it, but it seemed like Gamigin flinched slightly. I smiled and continued stroking her hair for a while.
The evening sun was setting by the window.
Rumors of a major upheaval at the imperial palace spread like wildfire.
This was inevitable, since I hadn't silenced the maids who had directly witnessed the incident. Women have a natural talent for spreading rumors, and maids were particularly exceptional at it.
The day after the incident, every Demon Lord staying in the capital—and the imperial capital itself—had heard the news.
Here was what they heard: Gamigin had stormed the palace to protest something to Court Count Dantalion, only to be interrupted by Paimon. In the end, Gamigin had been so enraged that she unleashed attack magic on the Court Count...
"It was bound to happen."
That was how the Demon Lords took it.
Currently, the Empire was plainly mistreating the independent-faction Demon Lords. You could almost call it anti-independent sentiment.
Demonkin were being appointed as officials across every department of the Empire, but every single one was a talent with no ties to the independent Demon Lords. From the lowly palace guards all the way up to the secretaries of the Ministry of Justice, every position was filled with followers of the Plains Faction, the Mountain Faction, or the Neutral Faction.
It was so politically transparent that it was almost staggering.
It was so bad that even within the factions themselves, anxious voices emerged: "Shouldn't we find someone a bit less partisan?" "At the very least, judges should be people with no political stake."
To this, Dantalion offered a clear rebuttal.
As if he had prepared in advance, he published a pamphlet titled "On Neutrality." The booklet, roughly twenty pages long, was distributed to the Demon Lords.
— There are two types of neutrality in politics: passive neutrality and active neutrality. Passive neutrality means placing individuals unaffiliated with any faction in key positions—maintaining a clear distance from politics.
— However, this ultimately depends entirely on the integrity and honesty of each individual. A vast state apparatus is left at the mercy of individual virtue. In this case, how would we respond when neutrality is compromised? We could only urge and emphasize virtue among individuals.
— Ultimately, passive neutrality reduces a systemic issue to an individual one—an internal, moral problem.
— In opposition to this, I support active neutrality.
— Active neutrality means distributing all key positions strictly on the basis of partisan balance. For example, if a nation has three factions, official positions should be divided in an exact 1:1:1 ratio. The significance lies in solving institutional problems through institutional means.
— If neutrality is compromised, we simply redistribute: give more key positions to the weaker faction, and take them away from the stronger one. Individual virtue doesn't matter. Political equality is all that counts...
— I do not believe that demonkin can maintain pure neutrality in defiance of their Demon Lord's orders. "Absolute neutrality" for us is nothing but an illusion and a delusion.
— Exposing the power ratios of the factions as clearly, as bluntly, and as nakedly as possible—that is the best policy for managing the Empire going forward...
The pamphlet immediately sparked heated controversy.
Some Demon Lords praised it for showing a realistic perspective, while others denounced it as propaganda buried in factional logic. Demonkin on both sides joined the fray and began fighting among themselves.
What capped the situation was the Neutral Faction's declaration of support.
"This pamphlet clearly and concisely illuminates the path the Empire should take going forward."
Demon Lord Marbas was the first to officially support Dantalion.
"The neutrality our Neutral Faction has sought to achieve over the past thousand years is precisely active neutrality. I not only resonate emotionally with Court Count Dantalion's perspective but also offer my wholehearted support."
The words of the Neutral Faction's leader carried extraordinary weight.
Some pointed out that Dantalion had helped Marbas in Polithunia, speculating that some sort of deal had been struck between the two Demon Lords, but this was nothing more than an unprovable conspiracy theory. Public opinion tilted in favor of Dantalion.
The independent Demon Lords were indignant.
"They're trying to exclude us from politics!"
Following Marbas like dominoes falling, the Plains Faction and the Mountain Faction also issued declarations of support. It was a classic case of collusion. The independent Demon Lords' fury grew beyond control. They viciously criticized Dantalion.
"Dantalion is Barbatos's dog and a puppet of the factions!"
"The neutrality they speak of means nothing but the monopoly of power."
But Dantalion never once gave the independent Demon Lords a second thought.
These were the events that had unfolded over the two months since the investiture ceremony.
The independent Demon Lords' anger continued to build. That was why, when Gamigin had caused a scene, no one was surprised or puzzled. Gamigin was regarded as the representative of the independents.
Late at night.
The independent Demon Lords gathered at Gamigin's residence. It was a meeting to denounce Dantalion's atrocities—this was already the fifth such gathering.
"His intentions are plain as day! He hands us territories no bigger than a grain of millet while he controls the entire Empire!"
"We should have been suspicious from the moment he received no title. When he started getting appointed as Minister of Justice and whatnot, we should have sensed something was off. That damn fox..."
Six Demon Lords drank wine and noisily vented their complaints for hours.
Even by their own reckoning, their situation was quite pathetic. How had they, who once reigned above ten thousand demons, come to be treated like this? They, who maintained political purity, were being ostracized—it was truly the end of days.
Valefor, formerly ranked sixth, sighed.
"How long must we keep enduring like this?"
"......But we have no other option."
"The man was ranked seventy-first. Is there anyone here weaker than him?"
The Demon Lords shrugged.
Valefor frowned and said:
"In the end, that Dantalion fellow is just a figurehead for the factions. His personal strength is negligible—utterly negligible. If they intend to ignore us to the very end, then we need to show them what we're made of."
"......Valefor. But assassinating him isn't exactly easy."
The Demon Lords reacted with grim faces.
The topic of assassinating Dantalion had come up dozens of times before. But each time, the Demon Lords concluded it was too difficult. Dantalion was protected by Death Knights, and recently, he had been staying exclusively within the imperial palace.
Valefor knew this as well, so even after broaching the subject, he fell silent. He could only manage an uncomfortable expression.
That was when Gamigin spoke up.
"It might be possible."
"Lady Gamigin? Are you serious?"
"Mm. The odds aren't that high, but maybe."
Gamigin smiled sweetly and took a sip of wine.
"Dantalion's only weakness is women. He's famous for being a womanizer, you know. If I'm being honest, the reason Dantalion went easy on me during the civil war with Agares was also because of that."
"....."
The implication was that she had secured her life by offering her body. The Demon Lords looked awkward.
"Thanks to that, I had to pretend to be Dantalion's lover for a while."
"Then are you suggesting we use a honey trap to assassinate him? The chances of success seem far too slim..."
"That's why I said it's possible."
Gamigin licked the drop of wine from her lip with the tip of her tongue.
"I hurt Dantalion in the imperial palace, so I need to go apologize. But it's so obvious what Dantalion would demand from me personally in exchange for accepting the apology~."
Gamigin tapped her own body with a finger. The Demon Lords nodded.
"But Dantalion is a pervert. He doesn't play normally."
"When you say he doesn't play normally..."
"I mean he plays like a pervert. He sets up scenarios like he's raping someone and enjoys it. Do I really need to spell it out any further?"
The Demon Lords coughed awkwardly. The Demon Realm might be sexually liberated, but even so, there was a certain reluctance about casually throwing around the word "rape" at a gathering of Demon Lords.
"I see. But Lady Gamigin, how exactly do you intend to use this?"
"Oh, please. I may not look it, but I am a Duchess of the Empire."
Gamigin wagged her finger.
"If a mere Court Count personally threatened and raped a Duchess—if we could just capture that scene with Memoria magic—wouldn't that be the end of Dantalion's political career?"
".....!"
The independent Demon Lords shot to their feet.