The icy expression on the demon man’s face did not waver in the slightest; all his emotions were perfectly hidden.
But the expressions of the surrounding residents and warriors changed rapidly.
Following the initial shock and dread was another, more turbulent emotion.
The rage of being deceived.
“Li—Liar!”
In the crowd, someone was the first to shout it out.
“Those pitiful words just now… they were all made up, weren’t they?!”
“She told them just to gain sympathy and sneak in!”
“A descendant of the Demon King… Heavens, we actually almost believed her!”
The sounds of discussion grew louder and louder, and their gazes turned from dread into naked loathing and condemnation.
It was as if Theia’s heart-wrenching tale just now had become a meticulously designed lie.
Theia looked at those faces that had suddenly become strange and hideous.
Most of them were just commoners without power.
Yet the rejection and malice in those eyes were sharper than any blade.
It made her feel a surge of icy, almost suffocating panic.
She instinctively backed away, her blood-red eyes filled with bewilderment and hurt.
Just then.
A hand reached out from the side, firmly grabbing her wrist and pulling her back.
A black figure wearing an old gray robe stepped forward, standing steadily in front of her.
He blocked all the malicious gazes being cast her way.
Lin Gui raised his head, his eyebrows arched, with not a trace of a smile on his face.
His gaze swept over the crowd, and his voice was not loud, yet it clearly suppressed all the noise:
“What liar?!”
“Are your ears just for decoration?!”
He pointed at Theia behind him.
“When did she ever say she wasn’t a descendant of the Demon King?!”
“From start to finish, what she spoke of was being a ‘half-demon elf’ and her experience of being driven out!”
“Which part was a lie?!”
The crowd was stunned into silence by this sudden, sharp questioning.
Without waiting for them to react, Lin Gui suddenly pointed toward the center of the city.
Toward that massive Demon King Pillar that was faintly emitting a glimmer of light and supporting the barrier.
“Furthermore, even if she is a descendant of the Demon King, so what?!”
His voice suddenly rose, carrying a sharp irony.
“Ask your own consciences.”
“The reason you can stand here safely right now!”
“The reason you can sleep, grow vegetables, and live your lives among the demons in this Wailing Corridor!”
“Who do you rely on?!”
His finger pointed directly at the Demon King Pillar.
“Do you rely on yourselves?!”
“Bullshit!”
“You rely on that pillar!”
“You rely on the one who gave that pillar power—”
“The Demon King!”
“The absolute evil villain in every storybook!”
“The demon in human skin that everyone outside knows about!”
In the crowd, someone’s face immediately turned red, and they couldn’t help but stiffen their neck and argue back:
“That’s different!!”
“Lord Gusion… he is a good Demon King!”
“He protects us! He gave us Avalon!”
These words seemed to ignite a certain sentiment.
The surrounding residents grew excited, chiming in one after another:
“That’s right! Lord Gusion is different!”
“He has never harmed anyone!”
“He is our guardian!”
Their eyes held a love and defense for that ‘Demon King Gusion’ that was not faked at all.
It was as if he were the cornerstone of their faith, beyond question.
Lin Gui was waiting for these words.
Instead of being pushed back by the surging sounds of defense, he took a step forward.
His gray eyes sharply swept across every excited face, and his voice suddenly rose to drown out the noise:
“Oh?”
“Gusion is a ‘good Demon King’?”
“So, there can be ‘good’ ones among Demon Kings, right?”
He whirled around, pointing once more at the pale-faced Theia behind him.
“Then her—”
“Why can’t she be a ‘good’ descendant of the Demon King?!”
His questioning was like an icy chisel, ruthlessly carving into their logic.
“Just because you know Gusion, but you don’t know her?”
“Just because her bloodline comes from another Demon King you aren’t familiar with?”
“Therefore, her pain is fake, her experiences are made up, and she deserves to be stared at by you with eyes meant for a monster?!”
Lin Gui’s voice was not high, yet every word was clear, carrying a cold mockery.
“You…”
“Are no different…”
“From those people outside who drove her out and spat upon her.”
“This so-called Avalon, the city of equality and no discrimination!”
“This so-called Eden described by Uncle Roger!”
“It’s nothing more than a joke!”
Lin Gui’s voice was like a knife tempered in ice.
Word by word, it ruthlessly scraped across the silent street.
These words left everyone speechless.
Many residents looked ashamed, their gazes shifting away, and the hands that had been tightly clutching their weapons loosened.
Avalon was a land of freedom, with no discrimination and no classes; it had always been their pride.
Yet now, it was spoken of so disdainfully by an outsider.
The most critical point was that, for a moment, they actually didn’t know how to argue back.
Meanwhile, the demon man’s blood-red eyes narrowed slightly as he stared intently at Lin Gui.
“You…”
The iciness in his voice faded a bit, replaced by a trace of scrutiny.
“You know Roger?”
Lin Gui laughed inwardly.
He’d taken the bait.
Did he really expect that his fierce questioning would awaken the shame of these residents and make them accept Theia?
How could that be possible.
His goal from the start had been this demon man, who clearly held the power to speak.
Lin Gui’s face remained expressionless, his tone as flat as if he were discussing today’s weather:
“Correct.”
“He is my uncle.”
He paused, then added another sentence.
“A blood relative.”
“To be precise, he is the eldest son of my father Erwin’s younger brother—my blood relation.”
“Our family has been searching for him for many years.”
“This time, I came out for experience, following the clues he left back then all the way…”
“Until I finally found this place, Avalon.”
Opposite him, the demon man’s brow furrowed even tighter; he clearly wasn’t someone who would be easily convinced.
A few old residents nearby who knew Roger also showed looks of doubt.
“Where is the proof?”
The demon man said coldly.
“Roger never mentioned that he had any nephew outside.”
Lin Gui seemed to have expected this. Without any rush, he began to recount a series of things regarding Roger.
“Ten years ago, before Uncle Roger disappeared.”
“He was the former Vice Leader of the Carter Royal Capital’s Seventh Knights.”
“He was skilled in the sword technique ‘Light of Dawn.’”
“There is an old scar between his left thumb and index finger, left behind by a mistake while practicing swordsmanship in his youth.”
“He has a habit of sleeping on his right side, and he must be hugging something to sleep soundly.”
“His favorite was the honey nut bread from the ‘Wheat Fragrance’ bakery in the old alley of the royal capital’s commoner district.”
“But he was the face of the family, and the family would not allow him to step into the commoner district.”
“Therefore, he often secretly asked me to go buy the honey nut bread for him.”
“Finally, at family banquets, he would replace those so-called noble breads with their tedious culinary styles.”
“He would look for the marks I made and take that bread.”
“That was also our little secret.”
Lin Gui spoke at a steady pace, listing them one by one.
Most of this information came from Fal’s own account.
Lin Gui was practically projecting himself into Fal’s perspective, telling the story behind a glamorous and brilliant genius.
With every detail he spoke, the expression in the demon man’s eyes changed another degree.
The doubt on the faces of the old residents who were very familiar with Roger was gradually replaced by astonishment.
Because these details, especially those private habits and small matters…
It was absolutely impossible for an outsider to know them so clearly.
Lin Gui finally stopped and looked at the demon man.
“Do I need to continue?”
The demon man remained silent for a long time.
His blood-red eyes swept back and forth across Lin Gui’s face, seemingly judging the truth or falsehood of these words.
Finally, he spoke slowly, his tone complex:
“You…”
“What is your name?”
Lin Gui answered in a deadpan manner:
“Fal Erwin.”
Theia’s eyes widened, a flash of astonishment passing through her blood-red pupils. Afterward, the corners of her mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Eve, meanwhile, turned her head slightly and covered her mouth with her sleeve.
Her shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly, as if she were trying her hardest to suppress something.
She feared that her reaction might bring a single flaw to Lin Gui’s flawless performance.
Rate on N.U.
