As the clock of the Demon Academy struck five o’clock in the morning, time itself seemed to slow, as if quietly awaiting some transformation.
The faintest strands of dawn crept softly into the botanical garden through the window edges, sprinkling down through the gaps between the leaves.
Misty light diffused in all directions, and the entire shadow world of the demons began to dissipate like rising bubbles.
Lan Qi finally closed the ancient book in his hands.
The very next moment, the weathered tome—steeped in the aura of ages—dissolved together with the demon-realm experimental botanical garden around them.
In the blink of an eye, Lan Qi and Huperion found themselves standing inside a transparent chamber wrapped in eternal starlight, where sparse glimmers of stars flickered around them, providing just enough brightness to see.
This was a liminal space, straddling reality and the shadow world.
Not far away, a narrow crack had appeared on the transparent barrier, spilling out tranquil, flowing strands of violet light— a miniature Void Gate.
Once they stepped through it, they should return to the real world.
The shadow world’s “results,” however, had yet to appear.Though true shadow worlds never fail to conclude like artificial ones might, Lan Qi had heard that when too many irregularities occur during a challenge—skipping over mechanisms or breaking patterns—the resolution may take longer.
Who knew how long this one would take?
Lan Qi smiled, lifting his head toward Huperion, ready to strike up a conversation.
He recalled she’d been speaking earlier, but he’d been too absorbed in the last passages of that book to respond.
Then he noticed something strange in her expression.
“Huperion, what’s wrong?” Lan Qi asked softly, puzzled.
“Oh, wait—is it because that man said you were a half-blood demon?”
It struck him suddenly: Huperion had been fine before. But the instant that criminal, swallowed by demons in his last moments, revealed her half-demon heritage, her state had shifted.
“…Mm.”
Meeting Lan Qi’s gentle gaze, Huperion felt her tightly wound heart loosen, if only a little.
At this moment she was certain—she did not want to lose Lan Qi as a friend.
But what came next was something she had never expected.
“My goodness—you have demon blood?”
Lan Qi’s eyes shone with unhidden admiration as he stared at her.
Huperion was stunned.
Never before had anyone learned of her heritage and responded not with disgust—but with genuine… approval?
“You really don’t hate demons? You just spent an entire day alongside one!” she asked in disbelief.
She had never met anyone in this world with such warmth toward demons. Even her own father had loathed them at first, only softening after meeting her mother.
“Uh…”
Lan Qi paused, resting his chin in thought. His eyes carried a distant look, recalling the leadership circle he’d once formed back in the Purgatory Corridor Academy.
“…”
Huperion was speechless.
Forget it—this guy was practically a demon among demons. That he would get along with them wasn’t strange at all.
She thought back on everything he had done in the Demon Academy.
And at last… she let go of her unease.
“…My mother was a great demon from the northern lands. She disguised herself as a common girl and fell in love with my father, Duke Migaya Aransar. And so, I was born.”
Her gaze lowered as memories churned in her eyes.
She never knew whether her father had been aware of her mother’s identity all along, or whether he had simply chosen to feign ignorance.
But when she, a half-demon child, came into the world, the truth could no longer be hidden. Her mother soon departed the capital of Hedon in silence…
Even now, Huperion remembered the sorrow in her father’s expression. Though he knew the truth, his greatest wish was always to bring her mother back.
To Huperion, her father had been the one rare man in the royal capital who bore no hatred for demons.
And now… perhaps there was another.
Lan Qi scratched his head.
This sounded awfully familiar.
Another great demon from the north? Could she be related to Talia?
“I honestly feel like every demon I’ve met has been wonderful. Why does everyone hate them so much?” Lan Qi asked, genuinely confused.
To him, the world’s prejudice against demons felt far too heavy—when he’d never seen any real harm from them.
“…Or maybe you’re just too kindhearted,” Huperion muttered.
If anyone else had uttered such a statement in human lands, they would have been mocked as naive or cursed as a bleeding-heart saint. But since the words came from Lan Qi—well, demons really did seem like harmless rabbits around him.
“This is exactly why, even as a duke’s daughter, I’ve been shunned by everyone in Ikerite. Since the war decades ago, people are convinced demons and humans cannot coexist. Even with only half their blood, I am still despised.”
Her voice carried the release of long-buried pain, finally finding someone she could tell.
Lan Qi, new to the northern capital after leaving the southern borderlands, had barely begun his second day of classes—it was natural he had yet to learn of her heritage or the city’s deep-seated hatred.
But eventually, he would.
“So, you’re saying… even knowing you carry demon blood, they still address you as a duke’s daughter?”
Lan Qi tilted his lips into a gentle smile.
Huperion blinked, meeting the warm green glow in his eyes.
She was at a loss for words.
How could something so tragic—being despised for her bloodline—sound, when spoken by him, almost like a blessing?
“You really are…”
Her helpless gaze lingered on him, equal parts exasperation and surrender.
“Just like last time, with Vivian—you say things that leave people unable to respond.”
Though it sounded like a complaint, in the end her lips curved into a smile.
Not a mask, not the false expression honed in this fourth-level shadow world—but the genuine smile of a girl, born from her heart.