I Took the Demon King as My Wife

-Creeeeak.
They opened the large door and entered the mansion.
The mansion had looked huge from the outside, but once inside, its size became even more apparent.
An endless darkness was deeply spread like a labyrinth.
Eilena moved with unhesitating steps, walking firmly into the interior.
“It’s spacious.”
At Eilena’s words, Hans followed behind her and casually remarked,
“Can you even see anything? I can’t see a thing.”
“I can see just fine.”
“How on earth can you see well in this…”
Hans scratched his head and barely kept pace with her steps.
“…?”
Suddenly, he encountered golden eyes glowing brightly in the darkness and made a startled expression.
“What is it?”
Eilena, feeling his blatant stare, slightly turned her head.
At that moment, Hans flinched upon facing her.
“What’s with those eyes?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your eyes.”
“What about them?”
“Ah, nothing….”
Seeing him continuously failing to give a straightforward answer, her yellow-glowing eyes narrowed into crescent shapes.
Her eyes, which at first glance resembled gold and at another glance the yolk of an egg, were unmistakably shaped like those of a reptile.
“When entering a dark place, my eyes naturally change to see more clearly. Why are you making such a fuss about something so obvious?”
“In what way is it obvious that eyes change like a snake’s…”
“Humans don’t do that?”
“Of course not…”
“You live so inconveniently.”
Eilena spoke and turned around sharply, her skirt hem fluttering.
“It’s not inconvenient though…”
Hans muttered and walked closely behind her as she stepped with a tap-tap sound.
Eventually, after passing through a large lobby and heading to the left, another endlessly long corridor appeared.
Unlike the entrance where no light penetrated, this corridor was fairly well-lit by the soft moonlight coming through the tall, long windows lined up.
Hans, who had been following Eilena closely like a sheep, could finally maintain a bit of distance.
“What are these rooms for?”
“Probably rooms for the servants.”
“How… do you know that?”
“Identically structured rooms of the same size in a row obviously means they’re rooms for the lower staff. Surely the homeowner wouldn’t stay in a place like this?”

“I think even this is plenty nice…”
Hans mumbled as he peeked through an open door into a room.
Indeed, for someone who had spent his entire life in military barracks, this was no different from a luxurious inn.
Hans, who had been peering at the doorway, went completely inside the room and examined the interior carefully.

Eilena continued walking forward, leaving Hans behind. Then she said in a fairly loud voice,
“Then you can stay there, it’s quite a fitting space for you.”
Hans poked his head out from the doorway and watched Eilena’s retreating figure with an irritated expression.
“…Really.”
The way she talks….
Scratching his head, he left the room and slowly caught up behind her.
In the quiet mansion, only the tapping sound of her footsteps and the dull sound of his footsteps in counterpoint echoed.
The two people continued exploring the other side.
Unlike before, a small light flickered between them.
“This lamp, does it have enough oil?”
“Don’t worry, we’ve almost finished looking around the first floor anyway.”
A small lamp was in Hans’s hand.

Unlike the left side of the mansion, which was entirely lined with long windows on one side, the right side had rooms or storerooms on both sides of the corridor, so no light entered, just like the lobby.
Eventually, Hans, who had fallen back into darkness, kept following her and grumbling… unable to bear it any longer, Eilena searched the house and found a small lamp for him.
Hans awkwardly changed the subject.

“By the way, the mansion is so large, how come there aren’t any lights?”
“That can’t be right, even this corridor is full of lights above.”
“What…? But then, why….”
Hans stopped abruptly and raised the lamp high.
Indeed, as she said, there were several antique-looking lights on the high ceiling.
“How are they turned on? Why didn’t you earlier….”
Hans quickly ran to Eilena’s side, who was again going off without him, and asked.
As the flickering light illuminated her face, Eilena stopped in her tracks.
Eventually, with eyes containing a yellow light that seemed to catch fire, she looked at him with deeply furrowed brows.
“They’re magically activated, with an operation switch at the end of the corridor. But, as someone kindly sealed all my magic, I couldn’t even turn these on.”
Eilena thrust her neatly folded hands in front of Hans’s face. The red ring emitted a faint light even in the darkness.
“……”
Hans couldn’t continue. The eyes that had been glaring at him fiercely turned forward again.
-Tak-tak-tak
The angry sound of heels filled the corridor. Hans stared blankly at Eilena walking ahead.
“… Tch.”
It seemed he had said something unnecessary.
*
After thoroughly examining the first floor, the two returned to the entrance and headed toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
A spiral staircase along the large central entrance.
It took ages to climb the stairs due to their height.
-Creeeeak. Creak.
Moreover, perhaps because the house had been without an owner for a long time, the stairs were in poor condition.
With each step, an unsettling sound echoed.
Eilena held onto the relatively sturdy handrail and slowly climbed the stairs.
“It would be better to be careful. The stairs seem quite worn.”
“Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried about you, but about the stairs. If you break them with those brutish feet of yours, we’d have to rebuild the entire staircase.”
“You never miss a chance to retort….”
Eilena glanced back and, after confirming that Hans was taking careful steps, continued up the stairs.
-Creeeeak.
‘Even so, it would be good to have the stairs repaired soon.’
Looking at the stairs that made ominous sounds with each step, Eilena made a mental note of the first thing to request from the Emperor.
‘Well, other than this….’
Apart from the stairs, it was a luxurious mansion with no particular shortcomings.
Although they hadn’t fully explored the second floor yet, judging by the condition of the first floor and the size of the mansion, it would likely be generally satisfactory.
She didn’t know why the Emperor was so favorable to her, but at least he didn’t seem to have tampered with the mansion in any way.
‘I can’t trust him, but for now….’
She had no choice but to accept it as a gesture of goodwill.
Thinking this, just as she had almost reached the top of the stairs.
-Crack!
“Ah!”
“H-hey!”
With a terrifying sound, the board split neatly.
Having let go of the handrail as she was about to reach the second floor, Eilena lost her balance.
In that moment of feeling suspended in the air, Eilena instinctively reached down, trying to use magic.
But magic was out of the question.
Only after her waist had already half-twisted did she remember the ring on her hand.
‘Oh no…!’
Realizing it was too late, she belatedly tried to curl up her body to prepare for the impact.
But even this was too late a response.
Eilena tightly closed her eyes.
-Crash! Bang!
A loud noise echoed throughout the mansion.
Soon, with a little dust, the sound subsided and her falling body stopped.
Eilena slowly unfolded her arms that had been tightly covering her face.
She gradually opened her eyes and lifted her body. Looking up, she realized she had fallen quite far.
But the pain was less than expected. Was it because the stairs were old?
“Urghh….”
‘Huh…?’
At that moment, a pain-filled groan was heard from beneath her.
Only then did Eilena belatedly notice the soft sensation under her hands and the presence of a large man beneath her.
“Ah! H-hey!”
“Ugh… this is….”
Hans was lying beneath her like a cushion.
Eilena hurriedly got off him and dusted off his clothes.
“I-I’m sorry! I!”
“Are you… alright?”
“What…?”
Hans slowly got up, rubbing his sore back of the head. At his words, Eilena looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“You told me to be careful, but it seems you were the one who needed to be careful.”
“Ah…!”
As Hans grabbed the handrail and fully stood up, Eilena’s waist lifted along with him.
She finally noticed that she was wrapped in Hans’s left arm.
‘No way….’
She had naturally thought she had fallen on top of him… but seeing it this way, it looked as if he had cushioned her fall.
Eilena watched with wide eyes as Hans dusted off his clothes with an expressionless face.
‘Why…?’
It was hard to understand.
Why? Why would he protect me at the cost of his own injury?
Even if she had rolled down the stairs a bit, it wouldn’t have been life-threatening.
As long as they appeared fine on the outside, there would be no problem between them.
That should have been the case.
Yet in that split second, without a moment’s hesitation, he had thrown his body toward her as she fell.
And in a way that would maximally protect her.
Eilena could only stare blankly at Hans, unable to say anything.
She couldn’t understand it at all, nor did she know what to say.
Either not seeing her expression or ignoring it, Hans continued dusting himself off and straightening his clothes.
Then he picked up the lamp that had fallen below and handed it to her.
“Here, you hold this.”
“Eh…?”
The lamp, handed over as if being foisted upon her, was still shining brightly.
Hans flashed a subtle smile at Eilena, who couldn’t hide her confusion.
“I’m fine, so just worry about the stairs.”
“Uh… no….”
“Let’s go for now. We can fix the stairs when daylight comes.”
Hans composed himself, grabbed the stair handrail, and went up first.
Then he extended his hand to Eilena, who was standing dazed behind him.
“……”
Eilena silently looked at his outstretched hand for a moment.
Then she took his hand and climbed the stairs.
For some reason, the rough hero’s hand felt much more stable than the old handrail.
*
“It seems there are two bedrooms, this room and the end room we saw earlier.”
“Hmm… yes….”
After safely climbing up from the stairs, the two continued to explore the second floor.
Compared to the vast first floor, the second floor, with a terrace occupying a significant portion, didn’t take long to explore.
“This room seems a bit larger than the one we saw earlier?”
“Well, certainly….”
Eilena stood quietly behind Hans, holding the lamp as he looked around the room.
Hans examined the room here and there, touching his chin.
Eilena walked one step behind him, staring at his back.
‘The injuries seem worse than I thought….’
Holding the lamp, Eilena could see the dark interior of the house as clearly as daylight.
Naturally, Hans’s back was also clearly visible.
The back of his neck, visible above his clothes, was red and the skin had all peeled off.
If his neck was in that state, his back was likely scraped and bleeding.
‘Why on earth….’
Though she tried not to show it while exploring the second floor, she kept being drawn to it.
He didn’t say much, nor did he seem to be in much pain.
There was nothing to worry about.
‘And yet….’
Yet, contrary to that thought, her heart kept moving.
Why did he do such a reckless thing?
Why did he act this way toward someone who had been baring their teeth and growling at each other until just recently?
It was completely incomprehensible.
If she could, she wanted to honestly ask why he did it.
But her pride would never allow it.
In the end, the more she walked around the mansion with him, the more unsettled her heart became.
“Hah….”
Eilena sighed deeply without realizing it.
With her head heavy from strange thoughts, fatigue set in.
She just wanted to forget everything and go to sleep quickly.
“You should use this room.”
“Huh…?”
Hans, who had been silently examining the room for a while, suddenly stopped walking, turned around, and spoke to Eilena.
“This room seems cozier than the other one….”
Hans looked around the room once, then continued.
“It seems somewhat similar to your bedroom in the Demon King’s castle.”
“Ah….”
Now that he mentioned it, it did seem that way…
She hadn’t noticed properly as she had been completely distracted by him, but looking around the room belatedly, indeed, as he said, it had a structure quite similar to her previous bedroom.
“We’ve pretty much seen all the rooms, and we can repair the stairs as soon as day breaks, so let’s go to sleep now.”
Hans said this as he took the lamp from Eilena’s hand.
“Ah, wait…!”
“Hmm…?”
Eilena stopped Hans as he was about to leave the room.
However, when he stopped and turned around, facing him, Eilena couldn’t say anything.
“No… it’s nothing.”
“What is it, don’t you like the room?”
“No, no, I like the room.”
“Alright then.”
Hans waved his hand casually, as if it wasn’t a big deal, closed the door, and left.
Eilena stared blankly at the closed door.
“Whew….”
A sigh involuntarily escaped.
“Why… did I stop him…?”
Eilena looked at her right hand where the ring was placed.
Until leaving the Demon King’s castle, she had vividly felt the sensation of the ring consuming her mana, but strangely, now she couldn’t feel it at all.
Whether it had absorbed all her mana or not, she couldn’t feel anything anymore.
Only the sensation of a man’s touch on her callused hand remained.