The Cursed Prince

"Artifact?" Harlow was surprised and thought that Julian now seemed to be more of a treasure hunter than an adventurer, either way, the man refused to tell her a word about the artifact.

Julian nodded. "Yes. I won't tell you anything about it because, besides your name, I don't know anything about you either, Harlow. Why is a woman like you trying to go to the demon realm?"

Harlow pursed her lips. "What if I can guess what you want?"

"Guess?" Julian raised a brow. 

"Yes. Tell me if I get it correctly." The princess gave the adventurer a coy smile and remembered their previous conversation. It was when she was bugging the man to reveal more things about himself so she could find it in herself to trust him.

Julian grinned a little at the words of Harlow and incline his head. 

"Well, if you put it in a little challenge then, perhaps, I can share if you got it right, but you'd be hard-pressed to actually imagine what I'm looking for."

"I'm confident that I can get it right," Harlow said smugly.

"The Demon King's treasure room is filled with countless treasures unimaginable and vast. Wealth, artifacts and other items like scrolls of spells and rows upon rows of treasures."

His words stuck in her head.

Harlow gave him a look. "You mentioned your goal to me yesterday… you say that everything you're doing is to find a way back home, right? My presumption is that the Demon King has something that you desire which can help you."

Julian blinked and then shook his head in amazement. "Well… maybe you have some idea as to what I'm actually after for then."

"I believe that he has a way back to the human realms." Harlow breathed out as hope filled her chest. Perhaps once she was done confronting Raphael, she could also take the same way as Julian but the man seemed unwilling to divulge the details.

Julian smirked at her cockily. "Well, you're wrong."

"Whaaat?!" Harlow frowned at him and nearly stood up to refute him. She glared at the man and found herself at a loss of words. "Why would you risk your life to head to the underworld if it's not a way back home?"

Julian chuckled and raised a hand. "Easy. You didn't let me finish… it's not only a portal back to the human realm but a portal to all of the realms, Harlow. You can think of it as the magic door to o anywhere your heart desires."

Harlow's eyes bulged when she finally heard the truth from Julian. So… no wonder the man was so determined to go to the demon's realm and try to steal an artifact that belonged to the demon king.

A door that could take her anywhere her heart desired… that sounded amazing.

"... I see." Harlow pressed her lips and nodded in understanding.

"Someone as important as the demon king knows that he is not welcome in a lot of places and thus he created his own pathways through several realms." Julian cleared his throat. "So not a mere portal to the human realm as you wish, but to multiple realms instead."

"Does that mean that even if the Elven people had magical protections in place… he could enter this land without any problem?" Harlow asked as her memory flashed back to last night. 

The princess didn't know if the demon she encountered had any regal aura, but it could explain things besides the regular portal. Or perhaps it was all merely coincidence and that the demon last night was just an ordinary one.

"Possibly. The Demon King is a powerful individual and I can assure you that whatever obstacles the Elves have placed here cannot contain him at all. Most demons would disintegrate merely by scratching themselves in the thorns."

"What?" Harlow raised her hands to her cheek. "That sounds so intense!"

"Well, I'm sure that it doesn't apply to humans if you accidentally hurt yourself last night," 

"Hmm… I don't know…" Harlow checked herself and found that she was not injured. There was not even a scratch on her skin.

She remembered she fell down on her butt and the thorny plants grazed some of her skin. However, now she didn't see any signs of them. Was she dreaming of her injuries? No, right?

Julian saw her countenance and decided to ask her what happened. "Is anything the matter?"

Harlow touched her cheeks, felt her legs and her arms. Everything was fine.

She shook her head. "Nothing."

Julian looked at her with a grin and then nodded. "Okay."

Harlow thought the man was hiding something because his wide grin meant he knew something she didn't, and that's why he was so smug about it. She didn't like it.

"Why are you grinning like a fool?" Harlow narrowed her eyes curiously. "Did you see me looking for you last night? Did you see the thorny plants too?"

Julian shrugged. "No. I was asleep… with a very sweet dream."

"What dream?" Harlow became more curious.

"Hey hey… princess, it's rude to question people about their dreams, okay. It's a very personal question." Julian raised a brow. "It's like asking a man what color is his underwear."

"Huh…?" Harlow's mouth was agape. She didn't think this man could be more shameless than he already was. What did the dream have to do with underwear?

"Unless you also want to know what color is my underwear," Julian added.

Harlow was still stunned in her place. Her face flushed so red like a beet. Finally, she shook her head in frustration and rolled her eyes so hard. "FINE. I don't want to know."

Julian raised another brow and narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, my gods!!! NO. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR SWEET DREAM AND THE COLOR OF YOUR UNDERWEAR!" Harlow couldn't believe she was agitated so badly that she finally lost her temper.

"It's black, by the way," Julian said nonchalantly as he eventually stood up and then offered to grab Harlow's plate. "Are you done with eating, princess?"

At this point, Harlow's face was already so red like a boiled crab, she refused to say anything. The princess just let Julian collect her plate and clean it before he put everything back into his supply bag.

"Shameless.... so shameless," she muttered through gritted teeth.