"Your Majesty, we have news about Princess Kira," Luna excitedly told Leticia early on Tuesday morning.
Leticia paused her eating for a moment. Didn't they say it would be difficult before? How did they get news so quickly?
"That fast?"
"Yes, but Princess Kira initiated contact with us. She probably guessed what we wanted to discuss with her." Luna nodded. She had used nearly all her connections; there was no way Princess Kira wouldn't notice such a massive effort.
What is the best way to find someone? Naturally, it's to make that person come looking for you.
Luna knew Leticia possessed something Kira desperately wanted. As long as the news was released, our Princess would naturally take the bait.
"I see. Then pass on a message for me: I don't want money; I just want to meet Kira." Leticia nodded. She genuinely wanted to know why Kira cared so much about this book.
It clearly only contained some ambiguous mythological tales—it was completely clickbait, alright?
What "Research on Ancient Magic"? It should be called "Fictional Mythological Tales."
Magic?
Absolutely none.
Still, those stories were quite interesting, and they contained quite a few lessons.
"You'll go yourself?" Luna's eyes lit up. If Her Majesty was willing to meet with Princess Kira, did that mean Her Majesty still cared about the Demon Race?
At least she cared about Princess Kira, right?
"Go? Of course, I'll go, but I won't let Kira know it's me." Leticia glanced at the hopeful Luna and said somewhat heartlessly, "I don't want that wretched girl sticking to me immediately."
Melanie alone was annoying enough; adding Kira would be disastrous, wouldn't it?
"I see." Luna was slightly disappointed. "I will immediately inform Princess Kira of your request."
Luna relayed the message very quickly. After all, once the two parties began contact, the maid already had a direct channel for communication with Kira's side.
Yes, a mobile phone.
Not long after Luna sent the message, the reply came, and the result was naturally exactly what Luna had expected.
"Princess Kira's side wants to see your sincerity. At the very least, we shouldn't let Her Highness make the trip for nothing." Luna put down her phone and said to Leticia.
This level of caution was a good thing. If Kira had agreed immediately, Leticia would have suspected there was something wrong with how she raised her sister.
The sister she raised couldn't be a naive sweetheart. As the Demon King's sister, even if she couldn't strategize in the tent and win battles thousands of miles away, she at least shouldn't be fooled by scumbags.
Leticia didn't want to be like the Demon Kings in certain stories who were so angered by their sister's brain-dead actions that they ended up in the hospital.
As the saying goes, love makes people stupid, but before that happens, Leticia still hoped her sister would be smart.
"That's simple. Luna, go fetch that book." Leticia indicated she had plenty of sincerity to spare. As a good older sister, would she really trick her own younger sister?
However, Luna did not move.
"Why are you here?" The reason was naturally the arrival of an uninvited guest in the room.
Melanie, with a serious expression, stood behind Leticia, holding the exact book Leticia had just asked Luna to retrieve.
"If I hadn't come, you would have sent this book to your sister, wouldn't you?" Melanie softly scoffed. Leticia hadn't lied to her; she really was going to give the book to Kira just as she said.
"What's wrong? Am I not allowed to favor my own sister?" Leticia argued self-righteously. "Get this straight: I tricked them into giving it to me. Legally speaking, this book is mine now."
She had ownership of the book, so why couldn't she give it to her sister?
"Are you suggesting this was entirely your effort?" Melanie raised an eyebrow.
If she remembered correctly, she was with Leticia, wasn't she?
In fact, they were accomplices.
"Did you contribute anything? I tricked them into giving me the book, and I could have beaten the person alone." Leticia began to act unreasonably.
"I fought two people; you only fought one." Melanie asserted that regardless of the circumstances, she had contributed more to the fighting.
"Hey, since when were you so good at talking nonsense?" Leticia was surprised by the current Melanie. She could actually argue back now—a rapid improvement.
"I learned it from you." Miss Sword Saint's gaze was somewhat evasive. As the saying goes, proximity to vermilion makes one red, proximity to ink makes one black. Being close to Leticia, she naturally learned how to be unreasonable.
Leticia was now in a difficult spot. The book was in Melanie's hands, and she certainly couldn't snatch it back by force. Reasoning was also useless; Melanie was a stubborn block of wood who wouldn't soften up.
What should she do? Leticia pondered, and soon she thought of a solution.
Why did she want to make a deal with Kira?
Of course, it wasn't because she wanted to help her sister fulfill her wish, but because she wanted to know why Kira was so desperate to get this book.
Once she had the answer, whether Kira actually got the book wasn't very important.
"Don't you want to know why Kira wants this book?"
"If you can get the answer without handing the book over to Kira, then I won't object." Melanie's fingers gently brushed the yellowed pages. She was indeed curious why Kira cared so much about this book.
"Then I have an idea." Leticia smiled. As long as Melanie conceded, things would be easy.
"You'll come with me to meet Kira, holding the book. Once I get the answer, we'll have the Hero Association 'accidentally' stumble upon our transaction."
Wasn't this tricking her own sister?
Leticia didn't think so.
If Kira needed the original copy, then she truly couldn't do anything, but if Kira only needed the content inside the book, then it was convenient.
Leticia had already memorized all the content in the book. She would have plenty of opportunities to give the content to Kira later.
Melanie would have to stick to her and Luna every day if she wanted to stop her.
"...That's a plan." Melanie admitted that she was somewhat persuaded.
Leticia's method was quite good, and with both of them present, they could keep potential losses to a minimum.
"But you must guarantee that no one gets hurt."
However, once the deal was exposed, Kira's side would certainly flee, and Melanie was worried that if Kira's group lost their composure, they might cause casualties on the human side.
This was something she absolutely could not accept.
"Don't worry, with me there, there won't be any problems." Leticia immediately patted her chest and guaranteed it.
The Demon King would never break her word.