The heavy, rusted door of Diana's cell groaned open. She stepped out with caution, looking straight at me.
"Well, I am impressed," she said, her voice dripping with skepticism. "Your ability to manipulate a human is quite something."
"Hold your tongue, pathetic goblin," Rosella snapped back, her expression instantly hardening. "I am not a child to be easily manipulated by mere words."
"Hey, hey," I stepped between them, raising my hands to calm the rising tension. "Diana, we are in no position to mock her. Plus, we need to show some gratitude. She is helping us, even though it means going against her own nation."
"Well, I can't argue with that..." Diana muttered, averting her eyes.
"Very well. Here, this is a gift from me to you," Rosella said, pulling out a cloak that looked incredibly familiar.
"Is this...?" I gasped, genuinely surprised. It was the exact same cloak I had accidentally left behind when we were ambushed by the human army in the demon city castle.
"This is the cloak our men found during the ambush," Rosella explained, a gentle smirk playing on her lips. "It is quite unique, considering it makes the wearer invisible. They sent it to the research division to figure out the formula so they could replicate it. But I guess now I'll just have to make up an excuse that someone stole it."
"Thank you. It will come in handy," I said, offering her a grateful nod. "And also... I think you should leave now. It's almost time for the guards to rotate."
She nodded silently and walked back toward the exit.
"So, let's go," Diana said, her voice bubbling with the excitement of finally leaving the dark, rusted cell. "We have a chance to flee, we shouldn't waste any time."
"Hm..." I placed a hand on my chin, falling deep into thought. "We are not escaping right now. We will escape tonight."
"Huh? Why?" Diana tilted her head, confused. "Isn't this the perfect chance? The new guards haven't arrived yet, and if we use that cloak, we can easily walk right out the front door."
"You're right, but there are two major issues," I explained. "First, if we leave right now, suspicion will fall directly on Rosella. She just met with us, and if we vanish the moment she leaves, they will interrogate her. She could lose her title, or worse."
"I see... You're surprisingly kind, aren't you?" Diana observed, studying my face. Then, a new doubt crossed her mind. "But if we're waiting until tonight, why did you unlock my cell door right away?"
"Well, that was just to check whether Rosella actually handed over the right key," I admitted with a faint shrug. "She might be indebted to me, but her loyalty to her nation still makes me nervous. I was just eliminating any doubt, that's all."
"Huh...?" Diana's eyes narrowed, drilling a dense, intense stare right through me.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, a sudden chill running down my spine. Does she suspect that I'm not actually a demon?
"Hey, don't tell me... are you some kind of genius?" she asked, her gaze softening into pure astonishment. "I've never heard of a demon who could formulate such tactical strategies. I thought your kind only relied on brute strength."
"Hahaha... Well, you could say that being a low-tier demon, I had to develop a knack for strategy just to survive," I laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of my neck.
"Then what about the second issue?" she asked, tilting her head again.
"Well, you'll find out soon enough when we exit this place," I replied with a smirk.
With that, we slipped back into our cells to wait, leaving Diana to marvel at my reasoning.
Later that night, the darkness deepened, signaling the shift in the guards' positions. Taking the spoon they had given me with my rations, I began striking it loudly against the iron bars of my cell. The sharp metal clanging echoed through the corridor, instantly drawing attention. I heard heavy footsteps rushing down the hall.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" a guard yelled, raising his voice angrily. Behind him stood a second guard holding a flickering fire torch.
"It's just... I was wondering if you could tell me what's going to happen to me," I said, putting on my best act of desperation to keep the lead guard's eyes locked on me.
It worked perfectly. The distraction gave Diana all the time she needed. She quietly slid her cell door open, crept up from the shadows, and swiftly choked the torch-bearing guard into unconsciousness.
"Haha... What's the matter, are you that eager to become a dead—"
Before the first guard could finish his sentence, Diana struck him precisely across the side of his neck. He collapsed to the floor, completely knocked out.
I quickly unlocked my own door, knelt down, and searched the guards' pockets. My fingers wrapped around a heavy iron ring. "Found it—the key to the main exit."
I nodded to Diana and turned to lead the way, but she stopped me. "Hey, aren't you taking the torch? It's pitch black ahead. You'll need it to see the route."
"It would be convenient, yes, but if I use it, the other guards will easily spot the light," I explained. "The cloak might hide the torch itself, but it can't conceal the glow illuminating the walls."
"I see..."
"And besides," I added, glancing back at her, "you're a half-goblin. Your eyes should be able to navigate this darkness easily, right?"
"Huh? How do you know that?" she asked, caught entirely off guard.
"Your people live in the dark caves of the mountains," I replied smoothly. "It's only natural that you've developed excellent night vision to navigate those tunnels."
I unfurled the cloak, threw it over my shoulders, and extended my hand out from beneath the fabric for her to take.
She hesitated for a moment, staring at my empty glove before finally grasping it. "Who the hell are you?" she muttered under her breath. "Even for a smart demon, this is too much."
Guided by Diana's eyes, we silently climbed the pitch-black stairs and navigated the labyrinthine corridors until we reached the heavy exit doors. I slotted the guard's key into the lock, turned it, and slipped outside.
The moment we crossed the threshold, a breathtaking night sky unfolded above us—but it wasn't just filled with stars. Hundreds of glowing, magical candles were floating through the air like a sea of miniature suns.
"Huh? What is that...?" Diana whispered, her head tilted toward the sky in awe.
"Exactly according to plan." A sharp grin spread across my face. I turned to her and confidently winked. "This was my second reason! I overheard Rosella mentioning earlier today that the kingdom is celebrating a grand banquet for the princess's seventeenth birthday."
"You mean...?" Her eyes widened as the pieces connected in her mind.
"Yep. I planned our escape for tonight because I knew the festival talk meant the guard presence around the dungeons would be much lighter than usual. Most of them have been formally stationed at the castle for security. This festival was our perfect window."
"This is..." Diana's face flushed a deep crimson.
I didn't give her time to finish. I took her hand tightly in mine, and we sprinted toward the outer city gates.
Every twist and turn of the escape route was burned into my mind. When the guards had first transported me to this underground dungeon, I had memorized the entire layout, drawing the map over and over again in the dirt of my cell floor so I wouldn't forget a single detail.
We ran past the final checkpoints. No one noticed a thing. The very demon they thought they had securely caged was escaping their territory as if it were child's play.
But just as we crossed the threshold of the main gate, a wide, victorious smile formed on my face—and instantly froze.
Standing directly in our path was a figure clad in pristine white knight's armor. He had striking golden hair, and his crimson eyes were locked dead onto me, piercing right through our invisibility.
We didn't lower our pace, hoping to bypass him like a passing breeze. But the knight merely closed his hand around the hilt of his sword. With blinding speed, he slashed the blade through the mid-air.
A wave of pure, radiant white energy erupted from the swing, rushing toward us. The light was so blindingly intense that my vision blurred before I could even process what was happening.
"Watch out!"
Before the energy could tear me apart, Diana threw her weight into me. The force of her tackle sent both of us crashing violently to the ground. Behind us, the massive castle walls and iron gates shattered into pieces from the residual shockwave.
Our cloak—the very thing keeping us hidden—was cleanly sliced in half.
My head throbbed as I slowly forced myself up, terrified by the sheer magnitude of his power. The knight took slow, deliberate steps toward our crumpled forms.
"My, my, it seems we have some escapees here," he murmured, his voice smooth and terrifyingly calm. "A half-goblin girl, and... a demon? No..."
He stopped, his crimson eyes narrowing as he stared directly into my soul.
"I see a traitor among humans, I guess."
Diana glared up at him, her eyes burning with fierce anger as she bared her teeth, preparing to launch a desperate attack. But I could barely move. Panic seized my chest.
How?
How was he able to see through my disguise instantly—a disguise that neither Rosella nor the Goblin King had ever been able to identify?
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