The Author's POV

"Tsk."

Coming out of the Duchess's room, I clicked my tongue.

'I tried at least.'

Lowering my head, I looked at the three other tubes in my hand before putting them away.

Moments prior, I tried to negotiate for a devil fruit, but I was flat out rejected by her.

In the end, all I could do was leave with my head lowered.

'I can't be too impatient.'

I could've negotiated for a devil fruit before, but the Nectar was far more important to me. While I wasn't completely healed, I felt far more refreshed than I had in a very long time.

I even had a very good night's sleep for once.

Plus…

'It's not like there won't be an opportunity later.'

"You're back?"

"Yeah."

As I made my way back to our residence after secretly escaping the estate, I was greeted by the sight of Melissa tinkering with an odd substance. Nothing unusual.

Already used to this, I found a chair not so far from her and took a seat.

"Have you found what you've been looking for?"

"Not really."

Melissa shook the test tube in front of her and quietly observed it.

Though faint, I caught sight of a couple of bubbles on top.

…Just what sort of potion was she making?

"When are we going to leave?"

"When the time comes."

The only way back was through Kevin, so until the designated time, we'd be stuck here for a bit more.

"Thankfully, I'm already finished with what I needed to do, so I guess we can take it easy until the time is right if that's okay with you?"

"That's fine with me."

Melissa nodded her head without a change in expression.

It seems like she was enjoying her stay here.

"That's great."

I stood up from the seat.

best we make the most out of it. We've got

had originally assumed that we'd only have about five months on our trip over

I only realized later that I had grossly underestimated something over here, and that was the fact that one

the amount of time

"It's perfect."

was, I originally thought there wasn't enough time, but given the time I had, maybe… just maybe—by

with my hand and pulled out several bottles, each of

"…I can only try."

up due to the lack of mana in the air... I no longer relied on mana alone. I could use

Demonic energy.

***

decorated, lit up by the bright moon that hung high in the night sky. There was complete silence in the room as the white curtains that led to the balcony ballooned

"Pftt…"

the silence in

when she rejected his request, Priscilla found herself unable to

for not telling me he'd

she did comprehend the reason he acted in the manner that he did, it would have been nice if he had informed her of it

the past was the past, and what was done was

the right bet

he was on

at the thought of being on the opposite side

extremely terrifying, but so were

In a single day, he managed to do what she

house point of

houses busy with the succession war, and the House of Envy being the main target of everyone, the House of Sloth was the one that gained the most from the whole

they were also the house with

the others,

I think about it, the scarier this

fool seven Prince ranked entities was enough to

"Huh."

exhaled and gazed at the moon outside. She then brought two fingers

"Huh?"

she had nothing in her hand. Immediately her

the

***

The world around him was

a lifeless look on his face and the only movement that could be seen was the

appeared before

"It's been a while."

that of the chained man. No,

none other than

who showed no reaction to his appearance, Ren

and just stared at him for an unknown period

was trying to check if he was still

eventually let out a

you going to be like

"…"

no response. Nonetheless,

that really all there is to it? Do you have no goals that you want to achieve before dying…

"…"

it because there's something wrong with your

his hand, several

straight ahead,

help you. I won't ask anything in return, but... if