The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 446: Stop Your Imaginations

As the day of the engagement ceremony at the royal palace approached, the capital buzzed with anticipation.

As darkness began to fall, carriages streamed towards the palace, crossing the bridge to the heart island and entering the palace gates.

This continued for hours, highlighting the sheer number of nobles attending the engagement banquet.

Many citizens gathered to watch, gazing at the brightly lit palace, decorated for the formal engagement banquet, their hearts filled with envy.

“I really want to go in and see.”

“Me too.”

“I heard Princess Lucy will be wearing a formal dress.”

“If only I could catch a glimpse.”

“Don’t even think about it. Princess Lucy is about to be engaged to Viscount Buztout… no, I should say Earl Buztout.”

“Well… it’s just an engagement, right?”

“That’s right, just an engagement.”

“Who knows if the engagement will be called off later?”

“Exactly.”

Many people talked amongst themselves, harboring these somewhat embarrassing hopes, clinging to them like a lifeline.

After all, they still didn’t want to see Lucy marry another man.

Even if they couldn’t have her, they didn’t want others to have her either. This was a man’s base instinct.

As long as the goddess didn’t belong to anyone, she belonged to everyone. Countless people held this thought.

Perhaps, even if Lucy did get married, there would still be many in the world who admired and adored her, right?

The Kingdom’s treasure would always be the Kingdom’s treasure, deeply loved by the people.

They could only admire the princess while cursing Shien in their hearts.

Even though things had progressed to this point, and many had accepted reality, there were still many who cursed this incredibly lucky man—Shien Buztout.

“Achoo!”

In the Buztout mansion’s hall, Shien sneezed loudly.

“What’s wrong?” Vivian looked at him with concern. “Did you catch a cold?”

Vivian’s words drew the attention of all the girls in the hall to Shien.

“Are you alright, Mr. Shien?”

Melika looked at him with concern.

“Did you really catch a cold?”

Lumia still looked timid.

“You can’t fall sick at a time like this.”

Diere couldn’t help but say.

Feeling the concern of the girls, Shien touched his nose.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. I just suddenly felt like sneezing.”

Shien looked at the girls.

Four girls were gathered around him, dressed completely differently from usual.

The members of Vivian’s squad had all changed out of their usual adventurer attire and put on formal dresses.

Melika wore a long green dress that complemented her naturally flowing hair, looking like an elven princess at a ball, not stunningly beautiful, but definitely fresh, pure, and lovely.

Lumia wore a light yellow short dress, her fair legs exposed, looking smooth and delicate, making one want to pinch them. She had been feeling uncomfortable since getting dressed and was still fidgeting.

Even Diere had taken off her usual gloomy black robe and put on a simple yet stylish black dress, similar to Lumia’s short dress, but with off-shoulder sleeves. Her eye-catching purple hair was tied into braids and hung down her front, making her look like a cool little witch, although the mask still covering the upper half of her face somewhat spoiled the image.

And the most eye-catching one was undoubtedly Vivian.

Because Vivian had taken off her full-body armor, which she always wore, finally revealing her figure.

It was a curvy, alluring, and sexy figure, no less than Sara’s, truly stunning.

Vivian wore a dark blue dress and high heels, the skirt slightly long, so she held the sides of the skirt with her hands, giving her an indescribably elegant gait.

Shien still remembered that when he first saw Vivian like this, he was stunned for several seconds.

It couldn’t be helped.

In terms of beauty, Shien had seen more beautiful women than Vivian.

Both Lucy and Nien were more beautiful than Vivian.

And Shien had already “eaten” one and kept the other as a backup (Nien: Achoo!), so it was difficult for someone to surprise him with their looks.

The reason Vivian could achieve this was entirely because her current appearance was so different from her usual look, stunning Shien for a few seconds.

Looking at these four girls with their different styles, yet equally beautiful and charming, Shien suddenly understood why Vivian’s squad needed to be so wary of male adventurers approaching them in Larmigion.

The reason was simple: these four girls together were simply too attractive.

However, today, these four charming girls dressed up like this to attend Shien’s engagement banquet.

As the first people Shien met after coming to this world, and his teammates who had been living under the same roof as him for the past few months, the four girls naturally received invitations from the royal family to attend Shien’s engagement banquet.

Of course, besides Vivian, who was raised in a noble family, the other three were initially apprehensive about this.

“I… I’ve never attended such a high-class banquet…!”

“M-me neither…!”

Melika and Lumia almost panicked.

Diere frowned for a long time when she heard about attending the banquet, clearly not wanting to go.

But in the end, all three decided to attend.

The reason was Vivian’s words.

“This is Shien’s engagement banquet. Are you sure you want to be absent?”

These words silenced the three girls, and they finally mustered their courage and decided to attend Shien’s engagement banquet.

As for Airi, she was naturally also present.

“…I didn’t know we had to dress like this.”

Airi looked displeased.

This Dragon Demon Princess also wore a formal dress, a bright red one, with off-shoulder sleeves and a short skirt, two ribbons and gauze hanging down from the back of the skirt.

It had to be said that this dress suited Airi very well.

Although it took quite a while to prepare this dress (mainly because the fabric in some areas was too small, and the dress was too tight, requiring significant alterations to fit), the Dragon Demon, who once made the three realms tremble, actually had such a stunning side, making it worth the effort.

She protested and complained many times, but Shien silenced her with one sentence.

“You said you wanted to attend my engagement banquet, so of course, you have to wear a formal dress, right?”

Shien said.

Airi wanted to say that no matter the occasion, she wouldn’t wear such troublesome clothes.

It was true.

In the past, Airi had never worn a formal dress, nor had she attended any public occasions. She would only appear before a select few when absolutely necessary.

Such an Airi wouldn’t consider the dress code. She would always wear what she wanted.

In other words, wearing a formal dress like this was also a first for Airi.

Airi wanted to say something, but seeing Shien’s admiring gaze, she swallowed her words for some reason.

In the end, Airi could only say,

“Only you could make me do this.”

Airi sighed with strong dissatisfaction.

“That’s quite an honor.” Shien shrugged. “By the way, are you really that uncomfortable? The fabric of that dress should be quite expensive, right?”

Especially since this little girl was well-endowed, and the dress didn’t skimp on fabric in certain areas, it cost Shien quite a bit.

Therefore, Shien was a bit annoyed by Airi’s dissatisfied expression.

Who would have thought…

“…You wouldn’t understand.” Airi suddenly fell silent, then said in a strangely heavy tone, “If I showed even the slightest interest in clothes, then ten thousand years ago, I would have become my sisters’ dress-up doll, forced to play dress-up games with them.”

…Alright, two seconds of silence for her.

That being said…

“Since you’ve gone through the trouble of wearing a dress, can you put away that unsightly pillow?”

Shien finally couldn’t help but complain.

Yes.

Airi was still holding her pillow in front of her, even though she was wearing a different outfit than usual, still covering herself tightly.

This made Shien, who had been hoping for a feast for the eyes, very dissatisfied.

But this was Airi’s bottom line, something she wouldn’t compromise on, no matter what.

“You’re an exception, but I don’t intend to let other men see my body so casually.”

Airi snorted, her words filled with double entendre.

“S-see my body casually…!?”

“W-w-w-what…!”

Melika and Lumia were shocked.

“Shien…”

“Did you…”

Vivian and Diere also looked at Shien differently.

“Wait! Stop your imaginations! Nothing like that happened!”

Shien shuddered and quickly explained.

But his explanation didn’t convince the girls, only making them skeptical.

Shien was on the verge of tears.

At this moment, a small hand tugged at Shien’s sleeve, making him lower his head and look to the side.

There, Lilith was standing quietly, looking up at him.

This little goddess was also wearing a formal dress, but unlike Airi’s bright red one, Lilith’s dress was pure white.

Although she was an evil god, this pure white dress suited her perfectly.

Shien couldn’t help but reach out and pat Lilith’s head.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Shien said.

A minute later, Yulin roared and flew out of the Buztout mansion, heading towards the palace.