Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 348

Chapter 348

A flicker of surprise crossed Beili’s red eyes before they returned to their usual calm.

“Your Highness, I’ve never thought about that.”

Beili was the first to speak.

Then she lowered her gaze, avoiding the unmistakable disappointment that had surfaced in his violet eyes.

The atmosphere grew awkward.

After a moment’s thought, Beili tried to change the subject. “Your Highness, how much longer until we reach Sainthos territory?”

“Tomorrow.” Cyril gazed into the distance. “We’ll be back tomorrow.”

Silence fell around them once more.

His violet eyes flickered in the firelight. His fingers absently sifted through the gravel beside him as though he were still searching for the right words.

Just then, someone lifted the tent flap.

Hearing the movement, Cyril looked up and saw Cassius, dressed in white, with blond hair and green eyes. Cassius lowered the flap behind him and offered Cyril a gentle smile.

“Your Highness, it’s time. I’m here to take over the watch.”

Cyril gave a brief acknowledgment, rose, and entered the tent, leaving the warm campfire behind.

Beili had already slept enough and had no intention of lying down again, so she casually stretched out on the gravel with her arms beneath her head.

Cassius sat down beside her. He knew she disliked idle conversation, so he simply kept her company in silence.

Beili raised a hand and tried summoning the weapon in her mind as she grasped at the empty air. In an instant, the weight in her chest eased, and a red dagger appeared in her right hand.

Perhaps because it had remained inside her body for some time, fine blood vessels had begun to spread faintly from the hilt to the tip of the blade, making it seem almost alive.

“Do you recognize this dagger?”

Beili was the first to break the silence, her voice exceptionally clear in the still night.

Only after a long pause did Cassius answer with a quiet, “Yes.”

“Don’t you want to know where I got it?” Beili asked.

Cassius gently shook his head. His expression remained unchanged as he regarded her with quiet green eyes filled with acceptance.

It was as if she could do anything she wished, whether good or bad.

But he would not interfere.

He would simply watch in silence until she asked him to act.

“You heard my conversation with Cyril,” Beili stated.

“If you’ve studied Memory Insight magic, I won’t need to trouble Cyril…”

As the words left her mouth, Beili suddenly realized she had begun taking Cassius’s help for granted. That was not what she wanted.

“I don’t know much about Memory Insight,” Cassius admitted with a shake of his head. “If it isn’t urgent, I can try learning it once we return to Sainthos. Give me a month…”

“Forget it.”

“Two weeks,” he amended.

“Forget it.”

“One week… But I may not succeed. Let me try a few times.”

“I mean, leave it alone,” Beili said.

Cassius lowered his green eyes and replied obediently, “All right.”

“There’s something I want to tell you. You’re the only person I can speak to about this without any reservations…”

Beili placed a hand over her chest and lowered her voice.

“That heart has been returned to its rightful owner. Perhaps it’s only because of this dagger that I’m still standing here… It has become my heart.”

“I can sense the terrifying amount of Mana sealed inside the dagger, but I have no way to use it.”

Her pale brows drew together slightly. A hint of expectation appeared in Beili’s shifting red eyes.

“Doctor Cassius, do you know how to unlock it?”

If anyone was likely to know, it was him.

Cassius shook his head again and answered thoughtfully, “Being unable to unlock it may be a good thing for you, Miss Bartholomew. Your body may not be able to withstand that much Mana.”
Beili fell silent for a moment and did not press him further.

She released her grip and put away her dagger.

Dawn soon broke.

The group packed up their tents, boarded Cyril’s Flying Carpet, and continued their detour toward Sainthos.

By noon, they had entered Sainthos territory.

As soon as they crossed into Sainthos, dark creature sightings increased sharply.

The dark creature invasion had left the Towns of Sainthos in ruins. Dried, blackened blood stained the ground, houses had collapsed, and the land lay desolate.

They traveled in Beast Form. Although they only passed through several Towns before returning to the imperial capital, traces of dark creature activity could be seen everywhere along the way.

Some lurked in the shadows, while others wandered through the forests.

They also encountered quite a few dark creature individuals, both large and small.

At first, Cyril and Clarence used magic to eliminate several of them. But they soon realized that the dark creature individuals did not attack after seeing the group.

As though acting under someone’s orders, the dark creature forces merely watched from a distance until the group had left.

So the group stopped paying them any mind and headed straight for the Imperial Palace.

…

The Mages of Sainthos were all guarding the palace. Even though His Majesty the King of Sainthos had ordered the gates opened and commanded everyone to welcome the dark creature forces into the palace, no one had actually obeyed.

The king had gone mad. Everyone agreed on that.

Thus, the moment Cyril returned to the Imperial Palace, the members of the Noble class who supported him emerged from their hiding places in the Palace Chamber, their hope restored.

Prince Cyril reactivated the Defensive Magic Array protecting the palace and the imperial capital.

He ordered the Mages and Knight orders to clear the dark creature forces from the imperial capital first. Once the city was secure, they would deal with the Towns beyond it.

But then something completely unexpected happened.

All dark creature activity in Sainthos abruptly vanished.

Witnesses reported seeing the creatures leave Sainthos like a migrating herd of deer, all heading in the same direction.

When the news reached Cyril, he was feeding medicine to His Majesty.

Doctor Cassius had prescribed sedatives. Only after taking them would His Majesty quiet down.

Cyril frowned slightly.

As he pondered the situation, His Majesty, lying on a magnificent, opulent bed, suddenly spoke excitedly, uttering a single word:

“Wedding.”

…

Beili slowly leaned back and settled onto the chaise lounge.

Standing before her was the Mage Cyril had found, an expert in Memory Insight Magic.

A red robe draped over his body, and a broad hood concealed half his face. Only his long, curling beard betrayed his advanced age.

This was the attire most commonly worn by a Mage serving the Royal Family of Sainthos.

Dressed entirely in white, Doctor Cassius stood in the corner of the room, watching her.

If anything went wrong, he would intervene at once.

“Miss Bartholomew, the prince has already explained what you wish to do,” the Mage said slowly.

“However, Memory Insight is generally used to interrogate prisoners, and it can cause severe damage to the mind. If you only wish to examine a specific memory of your own, we can extract it and place it in a Memory Pool instead.”

The Mage gestured toward a small, crystal-clear basin beside the chaise lounge. It looked as though it had been fashioned from glass and contained a transparent, waterlike liquid.

“This method will still leave you mentally exhausted, but you will recover after a period of rest.”

Beili nodded.

“Then which period of your memory would you like me to extract?” the Mage asked.

Beili gave him the date.

She still remembered that night.

The bells of the Church had tolled twelve times.

After that, the three Red Cardinal figures and Messenger Yue had disappeared.