Second Chance in the Demon Kingdom
Chapter 5

It was dark, cold, and lonely. She had felt this feeling before. Caro always hated it, for it reminded her of how weak she was back then, in her previous life. Back when she was helpless and defenseless against the people who were supposed to be her parents.

Opening her eyes, Caro found herself in bed, in a familiar room. It wasn’t her room back in the castle in Harlan, nor is it her room back in the orphanage. No… This room she was in… It was-

A door opened, causing her to tense up and look to the source. There, standing by the door, with a tray of soup in hand, was a young man. This man had black short and tousled hair, ocean blue eyes, and a handsome face. He had on a black t-shirt and blue pants.

“Oh! You’re up! That’s great news!” he exclaimed, walking to a chair and bringing it to Caro’s bedside. “I wasn’t so sure if you were going to wake soon.”

The sight of him shocked the girl, as she looked at him in slight fear.

Seeing that expression concerned him. “What’s wrong? Are you-?”

Caro flinched and hid under the blanket, knowing full well who this person was.

’Is this… some kind of hell?’ she wondered. ’Why of all people… is he here?’

“Hey. Are you okay?” she heard. At one small touch through the blanket, Caro flinched and clutched her head, not wanting to see his face or go through the pain he had put her through. She heard something being put down and felt a gentle hand placed on hers through the blanket, followed by what felt like a head gently placed on top of hers.

“It’s okay, now. You’re free from their control,” she heard him gently say. “You can be happy, and do what you want to do. You’re no longer a slave. From here on out, you’re a free bird. You can have your second chance in life.”

Hearing him say those words, the words that gave her light and hope in her previous life, tears had formed in her eyes.

“Alex!” Caro shot up from bed to speak to him, to ask him why he betrayed her the way he did, why he lied to her all this time… only to see him gone. Not just him; everything in the room was gone, filled with nothing but a black void. Even the bed was gone, as Caro was now standing in the center of the empty space. “Alex? … Alex!”

The only response she got in return were echoes. With those echoes, after hearing the words that gave her hope, were more loneliness. Such a feeling weighed her down more than anything, she got to her knees and looked down at her hands.

’I… What have I been living for this whole time…?’ she wondered. ’Why was I ever-?’ Before she can complete her thoughts, she let out a pained gasp, as a sword suddenly poked out through her chest. Slowly turning around, her eyes widened to see Alex there, with Ruby by his side.

“You really thought we cared for you? You were never loved by even your parents. What makes you think we would love you?” her former beloved questioned.

“And to think I was happy to be given a name from you,” Ruby added, raising her staff and causing a magic circle to appear below Caro, who gasped for air and tried to speak. “Humans and half-humans aren’t meant to be at peace in the first place. Farewell, human.” Slamming her staff down, a pillar of flames emerged from the magic circle to burn Caro to ash.

The sight of being burned alive frightened her as she screamed and tried to get herself away from the flames, but eventually, they latched themselves onto her and did the works.

******

Caro let out a scream as she shot up from bed, panting and gasping for air, as she clutched her chest, where she was stabbed through. Thankfully for her, there was no blade on her chest, much less a hole there.

She sighed in relief, realizing that what she experienced was only a dream. “Just a dream,” she muttered, falling back in bed.

Upon realizing her exact situation, her eye snapped open once more, and she shot back up again, replaceing herself in an unfamiliar room.

′Where am I?!′ she thought.

That wasn’t all Caro realized, as she noticed she couldn’t see much of her left side as usual. Reaching her hand up, she found that the left side of her face was all bandaged up. It didn’t take her much longer to remember what happened last, how she had practically fought for her life against that Demon Prince and lost her eye during the fight. Although… How was she alive?

“Lady Caro. Is something a matter?” she heard.

Caro turned to her right and saw, lying by her bedside, was a large, black, three-headed dog. Seeing it shocked and frightened the human, as she yelped and jumped out of bed, distancing herself from the beast.

“Who the hell are you?!” she gasped.

“Wait, Lady Caro! It’s-!”

Hearing it speak and know her name made her panic even more. She grabbed a fireplace stick closest to her and, using it as a makeshift sword, unleashed a weak Wind Wave Slash at the beast. Before it struck, shadows suddenly shot out of the floor and protected it from the Blade Burst. While it was distracted, Caro rushed out of the room and ran down the halls.

As she ran, she noticed that wherever she was seemed quite similar to the castle back home. This made her realize that where she was in, it was undoubtedly the Demon Prince’s home. But why? Why was her life spared? Why was she brought here? What reason was there for her to live?

As she ran, a demon maid was passing through and saw her.

“What-?! The human?!” she gasped.

Caro narrowed her good eye and knocked the poor maid unconscious with a hard hit to the head. As soon as she confirmed the knockout, she continued on her way. During her run, she ran into more maids and had to knock them out as well. If not them, then some knights patrolling around the castle.

Some time of running later, Caro rushed into what seemed like a throne room, where the prince she fought and other knights were, standing or kneeling before a demon sitting on the throne.

The demon was quite identical to the prince, only older with a small, white beard on his face. From where Caro stood, she saw he had on a white dress shirt with a black vest and yellow over it, and a black and yellow coat over that. He also had on white and yellow pants and yellow boots, as well as a yellow cape on his back and a crown on his head.

“The human’s awake?!” one of the soldiers gasped.

“That’s too fast!” exclaimed another.

“Human! What do you think you’re doing here?!” the prince demanded.

Caro had her guard up and held the fireplace stick up, ready to fight her way out.

“Enough!” the Demon King shouted, causing all to be silent. The king got up from his spot on the throne and calmly made his way to Caro. “I’m sure you have many questions. And I shall do my best to answer them all, as well as keeping my son and his men calm and refrain from attacking you.” He eyed at the group as he said that.

“Why promise me that?” Caro asked, not letting her guard down. “More importantly, why am I here? Alive?”

“Rather than answering your questions here, why don’t we move to a more… comforting area? You did just wake, after all.”

The demons all turned to look at him, shocked that their king was being kind to a human.

“Father-!” The prince wanted to speak against the decision, to ask why show kindness to the human, as well as why they were letting the girl live, as she had asked. However, his father raised a hand to silence his son, and gave a look that clearly told him to not think of the matter any further. At least not in the room they were in now.

Standing up to his feet, the king walked to Caro; specifically, the exit behind her. “Come along, human. You as well, my son.” Without another word, he left the room.

Caro and the prince simply stared at the king’s back as he walked. The pair then turned to each other, displaying confusion on their faces, before finally deciding to follow the older royal.