Chapter 1 Time Slows Down

As the hands of the Demon Academy clock pointed to exactly five in the morning, time seemed to slow down in an instant, waiting for some kind of transformation to occur.

A sliver of dawn's light, delicate and silent, slipped through the window edges into the botanical garden, scattering between the gaps in the leaves.

A misty, clear radiance pervaded, and the entire demon shadow world began to rise and dissipate like a bubble.

Lan Qi finally closed the book in his hand.

The next second, this ancient Demonic tome, as if scoured by the years, slowly dissolved along with the scene of the Demon Realm Botanical Experiment Garden.

In the blink of an eye, Lan Qi and Hyperion found themselves standing in a small, transparent room, enveloped as if by a starry night sky. Sparse starlight shimmered all around, providing enough light for them to see clearly.

This was the liminal space between the real world and the shadow world.

Lan Qi could see a thin crack in the transparent barrier not far away. A few strands of quiet, swirling purple light spilled from that narrow gap. It was a small void gate.

In a moment, as long as they passed through it, they should be able to return to the real world.

But the shadow world's reckoning didn't seem to be appearing just yet.

Although a real shadow world wouldn't fail to produce results like an artificial shadow world, Lan Qi had heard that if too many abnormal situations outside the mechanisms occurred during a real shadow world challenge, it would slightly lengthen the shadow world's reckoning process.

He wondered how long his would take.

Lan Qi smiled and looked up at Hyperion, preparing to chat with her.

He remembered that Hyperion had been talking to him earlier, but he had been too focused on reading the last little bit of the book.

Then a hint of doubt appeared on Lan Qi's face.

"Hyperion, what's wrong?"

Lan Qi gazed at Hyperion's expression, murmuring in confusion,

"Oh, right, is it because that guy said you're a mixed-blood demon?"

Lan Qi realized that Hyperion had been fine before, but after the lawless element devoured by the demon said that Hyperion was a "mixed-blood demon" as he was dying, her state had become a little off.

"Mm."

Hyperion met Lan Qi's usual gentle gaze, and for some reason, the anxiety in her heart finally subsided by half.

At that moment, she was very sure that she didn't want to lose Lan Qi as a friend, no matter what.

But then.

She never expected.

"My god, you have demon blood?"

Lan Qi didn't hide the admiration in his eyes at all, staring at her as he spoke.

This left Hyperion completely dumbfounded.

It was the first time she had seen someone react to her mixed-blood demon identity with genuine… favor, instead of disgust?

"You really don't hate demons? You've been with a demon for a whole day."

Hyperion said in disbelief.

She had never met someone in this day and age who was so friendly toward demons!

Even her father had initially loathed demons until he met her mother and gradually changed his attitude.

"Uh…"

Lan Qi hesitated, stroking his chin as he pondered for a moment, his eyes seemingly reminiscing about the leadership team he had assembled in the Purgatory Corridor Academy.

"…"

Hyperion was speechless.

Never mind, this guy was completely a demon among demons. It wouldn't be strange if he was friendly to demons.

Hyperion recalled what Lan Qi had done in the Demon Academy.

She finally felt relieved.

"My mother was a high-ranking demon who came from the north. She disguised herself as a commoner girl and fell in love with my father, Duke Mikaiah Alanzar, and eventually gave birth to me."

Hyperion lowered her eyes, her expression seemingly full of thoughts, as she confessed to Lan Qi.

Hyperion didn't know if her father, Duke Alanzar, had realized that her mother was a demon, or if he had actually known all along but pretended not to.

Until she, the mixed-blood demon baby, was born, the truth could no longer be hidden. Her mother quietly left Hutton Royal Capital not long after…

Hyperion still remembered the melancholy expression that her father often showed. Even after learning that her mother was a demon, his greatest wish was still to bring her back.

Duke Alanzar was also the only person Hyperion used to think of, in Hutton Royal Capital, who genuinely didn't loathe demons from the bottom of his heart.

Of course, there might be one more of these kind-hearted oddballs now.

Lan Qi scratched his head upon hearing this.

Why did it sound so familiar?

Another demon from the north, and a high-ranking one at that. Could she be related to Talia?

"I feel like the demons I've met are all pretty nice. Why does everyone dislike demons so much…"

Lan Qi said in confusion.

He felt that the world was too malicious toward demons, even though they weren't harmful at all.

"…Could it be that you're just too kind-hearted?"

Hyperion didn't want to criticize Lan Qi.

If someone else had said those heaven-defying words in a human country, they might have been attacked and called a sanctimonious fool, but if the speaker was Lan Qi, the nature of the statement changed because, indeed, demons were as docile and harmless as novices in his presence.

"Alas, that's why I, as a duchess, am disliked by everyone in the royal capital, Ikret. After the war decades ago, everyone firmly believes that demons and humans cannot coexist, even for a half-demon like me, who only has half-demon blood."

Hyperion said to Lan Qi as if she could finally say the words that had been weighing on her mind for a long time, but which she couldn't find anyone to tell.

Lan Qi had only recently arrived in the war-torn royal capital in the north from the southern border territory. It was only a little after five in the morning on the second day of the semester, and he was a bit unfamiliar with the place.

Actually, as long as he went to school for a few more days and interacted more with others, he should learn that Hyperion was a half-demon.

Then he would naturally understand the hostility of the people in this royal capital toward demons.

"In other words, even though the people in this royal capital know you have demon blood, they still respect you as a duchess?"

Lan Qi said with a faint smile on his lips.

Hyperion was stunned when she heard this. She gazed into Lan Qi's emerald green and gentle eyes.

For a moment, she didn't know how to respond.

She didn't understand.

Why was the fact that "as a duchess, she was rejected by everyone because of her demon blood"...

A different way of saying it.

Seemed to sound like a lucky thing.

"You're really…"

Hyperion looked at Lan Qi helplessly, with an "I give up on you" expression,

"You spoke like that between Vivian and me last time too, making it impossible to respond to you."

Although it sounded like a complaint.

She finally smiled in relief, not a fake smile, nor the acting skills she had learned in this fourth-order demon shadow world, but a sincere smile that a human being could show.

(End of Chapter)