My Dear Princess [COMPLETED]

Chapter 9

Our hero was by now standing at the castle gates...

With a loud thump, the door suddenly swung open, and our hero strode into the room.

"At last I've found you, demon lord! Let Her Highness the Princess go! Oh, wait, there you are, Your Highness! You need have no more fear, now that I have found you."

"It was good of you to come all this way, o hero. I imagine you must be tired. Drink this, with my compliments."

So saying, the demon lord held out the glass of juice that I had made that morning.

Now I get it, I thought: our hero had been marching nonstop since the day before to get here, and the demon lord had brought the juice with him so as to offer him some refreshment upon his arrival. That would be an awfully sweet thing for a demon lord to do. Or could it be that he felt defeating our hero while the latter was still exhausted would not be a true proof of his might? And come to think of it, our hero didn't sound as shy as he did before, when he spoke just now, either. Did the prospect of battle bring out a different side of him, perhaps? I wonder if our hero will actually drink the juice that I made...

"I don't know what you're up to, but a hero would never drink anything offered by a demon lord."

"That is so mean of you, especially after I went to all the trouble to fix this juice. Don't bother giving it to our hero, o demon lord. I'll drink it myself."

"What's that you say? You prepared this juice, Your Highness? You went to all that trouble for me? Even so, the demon lord may well have put something in it himself..."

"Well, I didn't exactly make it with you in mind, o hero... And besides, the demon lord isn't the kind of person (even if he is a demon) that would stoop to such tricks (or so I suspect, anyway). I mean it: you really don't have to give it to him. I'll gladly drink it."

I made it for the demon lord, after all, so there's no reason for our hero to drink it.

"Her Highness has spoken. What will you do, o hero?"

"I... accept. (Glug glug) My thanks to you. Your Highness, that was most delicious. Already I feel a new man. And with that, I shall promptly dispose of the demon lord and return you to the castle of your father the king. This will all be over and done with very shortly now."

"OK, I can handle that. Now that you're no longer fatigued, this contest will be a fair one. I will sit right here and observe the battle between the two of you men (though I keep forgetting that the demon lord isn't a man at all)."

"Then let us commence this battle, shall we?"

"Very well."

To Be Continued