Barron’s death at the border didn’t attract any attention, and even as his cousin, Louis didn’t have time to take care of this matter. Because the recovery of the three lost cities was already .

Just as Louis was preparing to continue to bring troops to expel the demons, the demons once again came to negotiate with them, but the location and method of the peace talks were to be determined by them.

Those civil servants felt that this time the opportunity had finally come, and even said that since Orede had already stated that he would not intervene, he should abide by his commitment and not intervene under any circumstances. The first chance to negotiate for peace had already been ruined by him, and the second chance to negotiate should be given to Louis.

Orede did not have any objection against Louis going to negotiate and reiterated his commitment not to meddle in their peace talks.

Those civil servants were full of self-confidence and prepared to negotiate with Louis. They felt that as long as Carnia was there, even if the negotiations finally broke down, they could still safely retreat.

Carnia had just been flogged a couple days ago, and then had been forced upon by Barron. But he still went with Louis to negotiate, acting as a and as a bodyguard. Even though Louis still did mind at least a little that he had had a relationship with Barron, he was still extremely moved by his unceasing support no matter the situation.

“Your body, can you hold on?” Louis looked at Carnia and asked with concern, he was worried that if the talks didn’t go well, they might need to start fighting.

“Don’t worry about me, I can endure.” Carnia showed a weak smile.

“Thank you, Carnia.” Louis held his hand.

“There’s no need to thank me, these are all what I willingly do for you. As long as you can succeed in the end, and still have me in your heart.” Carnia said.

“Rest assured!” Louis said with firm eyes. “I will never fail you!”

“I believe you.” Carnia slightly smiled.

Louis set off with his team, this time the negotiations were not in a building, but on the street in one of the three lost cities. Both sides brought a lot of soldiers to prevent the situation last time of being wiped out from happening again.

The content of the negotiations were still on the issue of the three cities. The demons refused to give up those three cities, and the humans also couldn’t let those three cities go. Both sides would not give in.

If it were still under the previous circumstances, Louis felt that it was just three cities, so he could just let them go. But now Orede’s body had recovered, and the emperor was not as weak as he had been before. If now he gave up those three cities to the demons like this, he would have basically completely lost the chance to compete with Orede.

They had been standing under the sun for half a day but still failed to get any results. Carnia felt very confused, did the demon king not know that he had come? How could those demons still be so stubborn in front of them?

Even though there were no results, at least they didn’t start fighting. Both sides decided to first go back to discuss, and then continue the talks tomorrow.

Before both sides were about to retreat, the demon general said: “The negotiations can be taken slowly, but you must immediately give us back our demon elder.”

The demons still did not know that their elder had already been killed by Orede, and thought that he had just been imprisoned.

Louis’s face showed some uncontrollable guilt. He exchanged glances with those civil servants and said to the demon general: “When our negotiations come to an end, we will naturally let him go.”

“Our elder wouldn’t already have been killed by you ba?” The demon general saw Louis and those officials’ appearance and his heart tightened. He guessed that their elder might have already been murdered. They all knew how powerful that elder was, but there were always accidents.

Louis’s face was somewhat ugly. He still hadn’t figured out how to resolve the matter of the demon elder, and in his heart he deeply resented Orede for causing such a big trouble for him.

“The negotiations will continue tomorrow, and any other matters will be said tomorrow.” Louis turned his horse around and prepared to leave.

“Stop!” The demon general yelled. “If you don’t bring our demon elder back, don’t even think about leaving!”

The soldiers on both sides prepared to fight. When the demons started to release demon magic, Carnia raised his hand and prepared to release his light power to fight against the demon magic.

Louis and those civil servants, as well as the soldiers, had thought that they would see the holy white light, but were all stunned when a black cloud appeared in Carnia’s hand.

Carnia looked at his palm in shock. Impossible, he must have seen wrong! As long as the illusion bone was still in his body, the demon magic he released would not show its real appearance.

Carnia tried again, but he still released black demon magic. He unwillingly tried several more times, but the demon magic still did not change into the appearance of light power.

Louis and the rest did not understand what was going on and all looked at him incredulously. Even the demons were all stunned by this sudden transformation.

Carnia’s head was completely blank. He turned to look at Louis and the rest of the group, their expressions and gazes made him even more panicked.

“Carnia, what the hell is going on here?” Louis asked with shock.

“I, I don’t know…” Carnia didn’t know what excuse to make, he didn’t dare to meet Louis’s gaze, afraid that he could see the guilt in his eyes.

“Escape first, quick!” Louis yelled. “Soldiers cover us!”

Louis and the civil servants rushed to retreat, but Carnia sat motionless on his horse.

Carnia thought in a panic, he couldn’t retreat with them, if he couldn’t explain the situation clearly when they went back, don’t mention the great prince not letting him go, even Louis would probably never protect him again.

“Seize them all!” Carnia loudly called to the demons. “Hurry up! Grab them and take me to see the demon king!”

“Carnia?!” Louis stared at Carnia in disbelief. He even thought that he had heard wrong.

Even though the demon general did not understand what the hell was going on, he would not miss such a good opportunity.

Without light power to resist the demon magic, the black and dense demon gas very quickly enveloped all of the humans. The demon magic could not only block the humans’ sight, but also created a strong sense of suffocation. If they inhaled a large amount of demon magic, it was likely that they might die immediately.

After the demon general seized Louis and those civil servants, they quickly retreated. With all of these human hostages in his hands, he could be considered to have done a great achievement.

Everyone was taken to the demon temple. Louis kept staring at Carnia, hoping that he could give him an explanation, even if it was just a hint with his eyes. But Carnia had kept his head turned to the side, not daring to look at him.

They waited in the demon temple for a long time when the demon king finally appeared in the temple.

“!” As soon as Carnia saw the demon king, he called his name and pounced over.

“What’s the matter? Carnia.” The demon king held him and asked.

“Did you not know that I was already at the border?” Carnia looked up with grievance at the demon king.

“Well…” After a moment’s silence, the demon king said, “I have been busy lately, everything has been dealt with by the elders.”

This demon king Davis was an especially lecherous demon king, he particularly liked young and beautiful people. Recently he had received a few very beautiful young people from the human race, and simply did not have the mind to care about other things. In any case, now they were just fighting over the three human cities, and not the demons’ three cities. This was not a big matter for him, so it had been left to the elders to handle.

“Carnia! Originally you and the demon king were in cahoots, you have always been deceiving me! You actually lied to me!” Louis’s furious roar rang in the temple. Seeing Carnia closely embracing the demon king, if he still didn’t understand what was going on, his stupidity would really be beyond rescue.

Those officials also didn’t know how to react. Carnia was actually together with the demon king, they had previously always been counting on Carnia’s light power to help Louis take the throne and bring them greater benefits. Now it seemed that it was all just a big joke.

They had now been caught by the demons, they didn’t even know if they could survive back to the humans. Everything had been because of their trust in Carnia. Even if they all wanted to die from regret, they still couldn’t change the fact that they had been caught in Carnia and the demon king’s trap.

“Is this the second prince of the human race?” The demon king looked at Louis and asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The demon general who had brought them back replied respectfully. “This is the human race’s second prince, and these are the human race’s important officials.”

“Carnia!” Louis ignored the demon king, only angrily questioning Carnia. “You said before that you only loved me, and said that you would definitely help me, were those all false?!”

Carnia was bitter. If his demon magic had not been discovered, he would of course try to help Louis go against Orede, but now he had been discovered. Even if he couldn’t understand why it was like this, right now the only one who could protect him was the demon king. For his safety, he could only give up Louis.

“Don’t speak nonsense!” Carnia gravely denied. “I have said that I would help you, but never said that I loved you. The person I love has always only been Davis, only him.”

Louis looked at the demon king and then looked back at Carnia, his face twisted from fury. “When you held me and asked for more, when you cried out under my body, why did you never say that you loved him and not me?”

“Shut up! I never did those things, don’t try to slander me, Davis will not be tricked by you!” Carnia scolded Louis self-righteously, then turned to hug the demon king, pitifully saying, “Davis, don’t believe his words, I didn’t, I really didn’t.”

“Originally this is who you really are!” Louis’s eyes were already bloodshot. “You really are the scourge of our people like the former saint said, you will bring greater disaster to our people. If I had known earlier, I should not have saved you from the temple, but should have killed you, I should have cut you into pieces, and would have been a great boon for the human race!”

Carnia closed his eyes. Louis saying such harsh words, it was impossible for him to not feel uncomfortable. After all, when the two people had been so close and intimate, he had also truly been moved.

“I don’t want to see them.” Carnia said to the demon king. “Quickly take them away.”

“Take them down and properly ‘entertain’ them.” The demon king emphasized the word ‘entertain.’

“Carnia! You will get your retribution! My royal brother will definitely never let you go, he will come and kill you!” Louis yelled and was dragged out by the demon soldiers.

The demon king’s indifferent appearance was not because he believed Carnia didn’t do those things, but because he wouldn’t care even if he did. He had made a contract with Carnia just because he wanted to use him to utterly destroy the human race. If for Carnia to do this more conveniently he had a relationship with Louis, he completely did not care.

Louis and those officials were taken to the demons’ cells, where they were tortured for two or three days in a row and were already half dead. But the demon king had decreed that they still needed to use them as hostages, so they temporarily couldn’t let them die.

Not only did they suffer physical torture, but they also suffered spiritual torture. Everything was because they had trusted Carnia, and they had regretted until their intestines had turned green. Now the only thing they could hope for was that Orede could disregard their former enmity and save them.

Carnia returned to the demon king’s side and very quickly found that there were again new people around the demon king. Even though he was jealous and angry, he was very clear that he could not be unreasonable or , that would only make the demon king annoyed with him. He had to endure and even let the demon king always feel interested in him. When the demon king was tired of those people, he would be the final winner.

———

[1] – 迫在眉睫, idiom, literally means pressing in on one’s eyelashes, basically imminent

[2] – 強心劑, is actually a cardiac stimulant

[3] – 爭執不下, basically means to quarrel endlessly

[4] – 戴維斯, pinyin dai wei si, not exactly the most devilish name

[5] – 無理取鬧, idiom, means to make trouble without reason