Chapter 49: The Fiancé Selection and the Kidnapping of the Princess

A month had passed since Lucy made the shocking announcement that she would only be engaged to a child stronger than herself.

The emperor’s only daughter.

The position of her future companion meant absolute power.

To claim that position, the high-ranking nobles of each region urgently gathered their resources and rushed to Helatos.

Helatos Central Arena

The match conditions Lucy had proposed were simple.

They had to fight her and land at least one effective hit.

Many ministers expressed concern. “What if the princess gets hurt!?”

However, with Satan’s permission, the competition proceeded as planned.

After all, he was well aware of Lucy’s strength.

‘Of course, she’s my daughter. She wouldn’t get hurt by children of the same age.’

Hundreds of children—high-ranking nobles, fallen nobles, and local aristocrats—lined up in front of the arena.

Each child awaited their turn, while their anxious parents entered the stands, watching with bated breath.

None of them truly expected their child to defeat Lucy.

It was understandable. Their opponent was the daughter of Satan.

Even though she was young, she was an outlier—an insurmountable wall of talent and power.

Yet, there was still a glimmer of hope.

The condition for victory wasn’t to defeat her—just to land a single effective hit.

The nobles in the spectator stands swallowed nervously.

‘Even if she’s the daughter of Satan, she’s still a child… She’ll surely make a small mistake at least once.’

With a gambler’s mindset, they watched as the engagement competition commenced.

The Results

The results were, of course, one-sided.

“Grow up.”

Over three months, 895 demon children challenged Lucy.

And every single one of them lost in the exact same way.

The moment the match began, each challenger collapsed, instantly put to sleep.

It was the overwhelming power of Lucy’s verbal command.

To counter a level 100 verbal command, one needed at least level 50 resistance.

Yet, the average level of the demon children ranged from 10 to 15.

It was simply impossible for them to last more than a second, let alone land a valid hit.

Lucy smiled in satisfaction as she watched another challenger fall asleep.

She had never intended to take a fiancé in the first place.

However, as a princess, she couldn’t simply reject all suitors without justification.

So, she created her own solution.

“There’s no one who suits me. In this case, even the nobles will have to stay quiet. But…”

The problem was that the challengers weren’t stopping.

Even after she had made so many children retire, more continued to come forward.

Was the position of her fiancé really that desirable?

Lucy, who had been a man in her past life, couldn’t help but feel complicated emotions about it.

‘At this rate, I’ll have to fight every demon child in the country at least once…’

Though it wasn’t physically taxing, the mental exhaustion was unavoidable.

Using a clone to take her place was an option, but there was a high risk of being caught.

After all, Satan and his followers were carefully watching each match.

There was only one way to end this ridiculous competition quickly.

‘Everyone gets a one-second cut. The next child will also inevitably retire after failing to last a second.’

The noble parents in the stands sighed.

There was no possibility of a rematch.

Challenger No. 99

The next challenger entered the arena.

Lucy let out a sigh.

“Really…”

The 99th challenger was Noah Phantom—a student from Edem Academy, and Lucy’s classmate.

He entered with a sheepish smile, his face full of embarrassment.

“Haha… My father was very persuasive… I had no choice.”

“Your father… Ah, right. He’s the Minister of Finance.”

Given his strong ambitions for power, Lucy could vaguely understand his reasoning.

She crossed her arms and glanced at Noah.

“Is this okay? You’re with Abe… Huh, what am I even saying…”

There was no way she could lose anyway.

Lucy shook her head, dismissing the thought.

At the same time, Noah got into position.

“I don’t particularly enjoy fighting the princess, but as a noble, I have my dignity…”

“Do you think you can beat me?”

“Of course not. I’m not that foolish. However… I see. If the princess could grant me some dignity, considering our old friendship, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

He was asking her to go easy on him.

Lucy understood and grinned mischievously.

“Alright. Since we’re classmates, I won’t finish it in one second like the others. Is that good enough?”

She took out the Harvest Sickle from her inventory.

A bead of cold sweat ran down Noah’s forehead.

“Haha… I think you misunderstood me. When I said leniency—”

“What? Can’t you hear me? Anyway, since we don’t have much time, let’s begin.”

“Ugh…”

Lucy strode forward, elegantly swinging a pitch-black scythe larger than her own body.

Noah had no choice but to spread his palms and form a circle.

“Fireball.”

Whirl! A small ball of fire rose above his palm.

It was his first and last struggle, but it had no chance of working against Lucy.

A short scream echoed through the arena.

Challenger No. 100

With Noah defeated, the final match of the day arrived.

The 100th challenger stepped into the arena.

A dark elf boy with gray skin.

His aura was different from the others.

Unlike the other children—who trembled just by standing in the arena—the dark elf boy showed no signs of fear.

‘Is this one different?’

Even so, the result would be the same.

Lucy approached him with a bored expression and prepared to use her verbal power.

“Sleep—”

Then, she sensed something strange.

The boy had no will to fight.

He stood there, motionless, like a sick bird waiting for death.

Then, a noble in the audience shouted, “Wait, wasn’t the last challenger supposed to be the eldest son of Baron Ragnath? There was no dark elf child among his candidates!”

“Ask him yourself. Has anyone seen Baron Ragnath?”

“It seems… he’s not here.”

A noble’s child had entered the royal competition, yet his parents were absent.

The nobles in the audience grew uneasy.

Lucy, sensing something was off, took a step back.

The dark elf boy, who had been silent all this time, raised his hand.

A red light burst from his body.

It was an unsettling magical energy.

Even Lucy, who possessed the True Eye, had not detected it beforehand.

‘It’s not his own power. An item?’

“Sleep, stop magic, back away.”

She cast a triple verbal command to disable him.

But that turned out to be a mistake.

As the boy collapsed, the red energy flared even stronger.

It was an item that activated upon the user’s defeat.

Lucy immediately jumped back to escape.

But the red light flashed faster than she could react.

“Teleportation!”

A blinding red flash engulfed the arena.

The nobles in the stands widened their eyes in shock.

Lucy had vanished.

A Snowy Field

The teleportation coordinates had been set for Satan Castle.

But the scene before her was nothing like home.

Her vision was swallowed by a pure white blizzard.

The dark elf boy was gone.

A forced teleportation artifact—designed to abduct her.

There was only one faction in the Demon Continent that would dare attempt such a thing.

The Northern Forces.

Beyond the swirling snowstorm, silhouettes began to emerge.

Lucy smirked coldly.

“If you’re going to fight, come out already. It’s freezing out here.”