No, I Said it’s Mental Immunity

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A peaceful lunchtime.

Elly was struggling to hide her confusion.

“I don’t have an appetite because I’m thinking about Mom.”

Pastel, sitting across from her, mumbled gloomily. In front of her was a cleanly emptied plate of tomato pasta. It wasn’t particularly important, but anyway, she had stopped eating due to a lack of appetite.

Pastel seemed to want to eat more, but she was sucking on her fork as if savoring it, though that wasn’t particularly important either.

The Great Demon Lord silently glared at his knife. It seemed even he had lost his appetite.

There was an unsettling atmosphere with no conversation. It wasn’t just at mealtime; this mood had persisted since morning.

What’s going on today? Is something happening?

Having just returned from the royal palace to the hotel, Elly didn’t have a clear grasp of the situation. She casually glanced over at Melissa, sitting next to her.

Melissa looked puzzled, as if she was deep in thought.

This wasn’t the norm for them.

Leaning slightly, Elly whispered to Melissa.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

Melissa gave a subtle smile and looked troubled. After pondering for a moment without answering, she said, “It’s probably something personal. I’d prefer not to speculate about family matters.”

Well, that makes sense since Pastel mentioned she was thinking of her mother. It seemed like Melissa didn’t want to pry into her family issues.

Is it a family matter of the Craft Family? It’s routine for the royal family to investigate the Craft Family, renowned as eternal enemies of the demon realm. As the Craft Family was on the path to decline, they set aside grudges and invested their information sources elsewhere.

If the Great Demon Lord is involved in a family matter, what could it be? Is there some deep issue we don’t know about? If Pastel gets troubled by family matters, it wouldn’t be good for the entire demon realm.

As she thought hard, Melissa’s expression turned to one of realization. After some silent contemplation, she seemed to decide that since they were friends, it wouldn’t be rude to share a little.

“Pastel has been wanting to see her father lately. Since the results aren’t showing, it seems she’s been missing her mother. The Great Demon Lord probably isn’t feeling great about this either, given his love for the former head of the household.”

So that was it.

Come to think of it, Pastel had a mom and dad too.

Elly felt a strange mix of emotions.

How could that not be expected?

Imagining Pastel throwing a fit with her parents was hard to picture.

She was born a fool, lived her life, and by the time she regained her senses, her mother was already dead, and her father was missing, so Pastel had never had the chance for such ordinary tantrums.

She had spent her whole existence as the head of the household, living a life of ruling over others without being protected or relying on anyone.

What kind of person becomes such a being?

Elly thought that Pastel’s occasional childish behavior around others might be some kind of reaction. Or perhaps it was a constant effort to fill a life she had never experienced.

But for Pastel to say she’s lost her appetite because she’s thinking of her mom…

So she really is a person.

It felt rude to think this as a friend, but Pastel had lived her life as a fool and, shortly after regaining her senses, soared to the top of the academy, surpassing the next head of the household in Camelot.

Then she took over the student council, secured power with a coup, and managed to negotiate with the emperor to become the governor of Sky Island, all in under a year. She had directly lifted her once-ruined family into an upward trajectory.

Seeing such a being as an equal was incredibly difficult, so Elly hoped for this to be taken into account among friends.

“But if you don’t eat enough, your mom might not like it, so you should eat at least this much.”

Pastel gloomily moved her fork. The tomato pasta twirled and disappeared into her mouth.

Nom nom.

In an instant, one plate of pasta was wiped clean. The fork was slurped and then dropped weakly.

Pastel again bowed her head, looking despondent.

“I can’t eat because I’m thinking of Mom…”

The Great Demon Lord also seemed to have lost interest, leaving his steak untouched. He set down his knife and walked over to the pasta pot, scooping out more noodles. A new plate of pasta was placed in front of Pastel.

“It’s better to eat heartily even if you lack appetite. Blossom would think so too.”

Pastel looked down at the pasta.

Her pink eyes rolled briefly.

“Since I’m in my growing phase, I should eat at least this much according to what Mom would think.”

The pasta twirled again into her mouth. One bowl of pasta was wiped clean.

The fork was weakly laid aside.

Pastel spoke, her expression somber.

“I can’t eat because I’m thinking of Mom…”

And the rest is omitted.

Elly completely understood the situation.

Pastel was currently missing her mother. The cause was not being able to see her missing father.

Elly remembered a sure-fire method that worked perfectly in times like this. Watching the atmosphere carefully, she spoke up.

“Lord Presley mentioned there’s been contact with the cult, and he asked for you to be informed.”

Today’s lesson.

When things are tough, just bear with it and keep working.

This was the perfect help a friend needed when they were struggling with family matters.

“Huh? Presley? Who’s that?”

Pastel wore a confused expression.

“That would be Nathaniel Presley, the gambler.”

“Oh! Right! Nathaniel finally made contact! I actually had something I really needed to confirm!”

Pastel instantly brightened up.

Elly felt a sense of pride. This is what friends should do for one another.

“Why does he want to meet the cult? If it’s to suppress them, I can lend him troops.”

Pastel jumped in alarm.

“No, no, no! While it might be fun to bring troops, we can’t do that! Besides, isn’t the royal family working hard on suppressing the cult right now?”

“Yeah. After cleaning up the messengers, things have been quiet in the papers, so citizens don’t really know, but the suppression is ongoing.”

Lord Presley specifically conveying the information about the cult through her implied that he didn’t intend to collaborate with them and subtly wanted to let the princess know.

“Ah, I see.”

Pastel clasped her hands together as if pleading.

“Then as your friend, I need you to overlook this matter. I have something to do. Please~.”

It wasn’t a difficult request.

“What are you planning to do?”

“Umm…”

Pastel wore a mysterious smile. Her gaze turned to the Great Demon Lord. His expression was complicated.

“Great Demon Lord! Let’s confront the matter directly! We don’t have time to be gloomy! As we promised last time, once we meet, let’s just hit him!”

“Hah.”

The matter in question?

Is it some personal reason?

A private relationship with the cult.

Elly’s mind raced quickly.

As time passed and she looked at the situation calmly, there were many unsettling parts to the flow of the messenger’s elimination.

How had Pastel managed to obtain the internal documents of the messenger detailing her assassination plans?

If she had just fabricated documents based on mere suspicion, that would be understandable. But as Redmond had examined, these were flawless internal documents. It was as if a spy had been hidden among the messengers.

People who didn’t know might think it was the Craft Governor utilizing the intelligence agents of the Sky Island Governor’s Office, but Elly thought differently.

Although she had been kicked out of a hotel upon arriving in the demon realm, she was still the vice president of the student council. The administrative structure backing the governor’s office might be that of the academy, but she had access to all reports of the Sky Island Governor’s Office.

And while Pastel believed her as a friend, the reason for the surprisingly small backlash from the demon realm was because, as the royal princess, she had scrutinized everything about the Sky Island Governor’s Office, a military stronghold and frontline of the empire.

The collusion was unconventional, and those who infiltrated the assembly had little significance. There was no one who could access sensitive documents such as assassination plans.

Even though the inspection chief, Leonard, operated an intelligence network involving the Sky Island Knights, the royal assembly was no easy target for infiltration in a short period.

The documents were not obtained through espionage resources.

Then how on earth did Pastel acquire them?

That had been an unresolved question until now.

She had previously suspected that all documents coming to the desk of the vice president had contained disinformation…

A private relationship with the cult.

The messengers had been planning to assassinate the governor in collusion with the cult, but it turned out the governor had a private relationship with the cult.

Was it a conspiracy?

A trap to eliminate the meddling messenger?

Now she understood why Pastel wanted to make contact with the cult. If the cult had suffered damage during the scheming process, she must have intended to pay the price she had previously mentioned.

She could also speculate on when that relationship had formed with the cult.

There had been an incident where the cult invaded the sacred site of the personal gods underground in Sky Island. Pastel had personally led the suppression but publicly stated they missed the core members of the cult.

However, there was no way Pastel could have truly missed them. At the very least, she would have established connections with the related cult members.

Indeed.

After capturing a high-ranking cult member, she might have agreed to cooperate with the messenger’s assassination plot in exchange for releasing them. There were investigations indicating that the cult member who had been missed escaped to the demon realm, so the circumstances fit perfectly.

Elly began to understand the larger picture.

She had previously harbored some doubts about Pastel restructuring the Knights of Sky Island right after the cult infiltrated deeply.

Wasn’t it too risky of a decision to expel knights immediately after an incident where the cult had infiltrated so deeply? It was as if she thought the cult wouldn’t attack right away.

She had wondered how such certainty had come about, but now it clicked. Pastel had, in fact, been interacting with the high-ranking cult members.

They probably shared future plans, which would have made such a bold decision possible.

Wow, wow.

Elly felt a thrill as she pieced together the puzzle of the whole picture but suddenly felt a chill.

So why is Pastel giving me an opportunity to theorize this?

If she intended to contact the cult, she could have just done it directly. There was no need to use Lord Presley as a medium for the contact, making it necessary for Elly herself to be informed.

What’s the reason?

What does she have in mind?

Given the depth of the plot Pastel is engaging in, this can’t be just a simple signal.

What kind of scheme is tied up in this?

What’s her intention?

Isn’t it something bad for our demon realm?

Elly’s anxious thoughts grew endlessly deep.