For the first time in what felt like forever, Morrigan finally could get some good night's rest. She wasn't worried about enemies ambushing them during the night, or about Deziara or any of her companions being in danger or anything else. All of that could be attributed to the simple fact that Alphegor was sleeping in the room next to hers.

  While her father's arrival in Count Etheles's mansion initially made her fear that the whole tour would come to an end, everything turned out alright thanks to the support of the Count and her companions. While the King wasn't pleased with her continuing the dangerous tour, he understood that it was necessary. Not just to secure her position as Crown Princess, but also to let her explore the world that she craved to see for so long.

  And to paint every beautiful scenery that I come across.

  "Good morning, Father," Morrigan chirped happily, as she met him on her way down to the dining hall.

  "It appears that you have slept well," Alphegor said, a faint smile on his lips. She had the impression that he was trying to appear more tough, but her bubbly attitude was probably too infectious for him to retain the stern facade.

  "Of course. With you in the room next to mine, I had nothing to fear at night," Morrigan said. "Also the fact that the beds were actual beds helped."

  "Are you sure you wish to continue the journey?" he asked, offering her his elbow to grab onto. She took hold of it and nodded.

  "Yes, I'm sure. This is something that I have to do. I can feel it in my blood. Not completing this journey feels wrong somehow," Morrigan explained her feelings. Alphegor nodded in understanding.

  "But if anything happens, then do not be afraid to call upon me. You have the medallion, so we can get in touch at any time," he said. Morrigan smiled and hugged him as soon as the two had descended the staircase.

  "Thank you, Father. For supporting me and trusting me to continue," she said as he returned the hug.

  "Do not be afraid to rely on the people around you. Not just your sisters, Azrael and Haku. Use your guards, use Count Etheles's knights, use Melanos. These demons are here to serve you and protect you. Do not forget that," Alphegor said sternly as she separated from the hug. She nodded, taking his words to heart. It was true that so far she had only relied on herself, Deziara, Azrael and perhaps Viana.

  She had to learn how to best use the people around her according to their strengths. It sounded somewhat harsh, however, it was their job. Guards were there to protect her, while servants and maids were there to complete menial tasks so she didn't have to worry about them. Perhaps, she was struggling with this concept, because as a human she could only depend on herself. If she truly was to become Alphegor's heir, then she'd have to change this mindset.

  "I'll do my best, Father," she replied resolutely. "But if the worst comes to worst, I'll call you."

  "No," he said, making her blink in surprise. "You will call me as soon as anything feels out of order. Even if it's just a mushroom that seems slightly larger than the rest. Even if it's an odd shadow moving in some corner."

  "Father, the Underworld is filled with shadows," Morrigan retorted.

  "Exactly. And you can't trust a single one of them. You have to call me as soon as something is wrong. Or perhaps it would be better if I were just together with you," Alphegor scratched his chin in contemplation.

  "Who is going to manage the state affairs then?" Morrigan narrowed her eyes at him.

  "Lucius can handle it for a while. He's already done it once," he said dismissively.

  "Please don't do this to Lucius. Last time, you had to exile and remove titles from many noble families for treason, not to mention all the paperwork that had piled up over two years," she reminded him, and the King flinched.

  "I suppose the country cannot remain without its King for too long," he relented, and Morrigan chuckled. There were some things even the Demon King feared – like paperwork.

  ***

  Morrigan and her retinue departed from Count Etheles's mansion well-fed and well-rested. She could still taste the various delectable desserts that the Count had offered to them and wondered when would she have the chance to eat something so delicious again. Her stomach felt so full from all the deserts she had eaten. Unfortunately, it was likely that for a while she'd have to survive off the rations they had taken along with them and whatever food they'd get from whatever village they'd stop at.

  "Where are we going to go next? Our initial route had us stop at a town named Ragnar, which is supposed to be filled with incubi and succubi," Morrigan said, frowning. In a way, she was relieved that their route was changed. While the incubi and succubi didn't use other demons for sustenance, they were still rather… energetic. Of course, they wouldn't try to do anything to somebody from the royal family and a child no less. But she'd still rather avoid them.

  "Yeah, we are definitely not going there. You can never really trust a succubus and if there was a place willing to work together with our mysterious enemy, then it would no doubt be them. No, we're going to head into the frozen parts of the Underworld," Azrael said. He was riding in the carriage together with all three demon princesses who were carefully listening to him.

  "Frozen parts? So you mean to go to the Garden of Frozen Memories next?" Viana asked.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Garden of Frozen Memories. The place sounds almost ominous, but at the same time, I really want to see what it looks like. Viana said that she didn't really enjoy her visit there – she had felt too exposed. But I'm still curious to see it. There must be some sort of unusual magic going on there if it is deemed as sacred.

  "Yeah. We'll have to go deeper into the cold region than we initially anticipated to avoid the original route. But on the bright side we'll be able to see the Fire-Ice Sea on our way to the garden," Azrael said with a satisfied smirk.

  "Fire-Ice Sea?" All three girls perked up, looking at him in hopes of answers.

  "No, I won't tell you anything. It's best to keep it a surprise," the mage said with a smirk and then disappeared, likely teleporting back to his own carriage.

  "Viana, you must know something about it," Deziara looked at her older sister hopefully.

  "I've heard of it, but I've never actually been there. Supposedly, it's the place in the Underworld where the Overworld is the closest. In fact, it is so close that the sea from above is flowing down into the Underworld and mixing together with one of the lava rivers nearby," Viana said.

  "I'm having a hard time imagining how it would look," Deziara frowned. "Like a lamp where lava floats around in the water in globs, perhaps?"

  "But lava would instantly cool down when it touched the water," Morrigan said, remembering the videos on the internet where some crazy people were grabbing lava with a pick and dunking it into a bucket of water. The water would instantly start boiling, but at the same time, the lava would lose its red color and become black. "Perhaps the lava would just harden and fall to the bottom."

  "That sounds more likely. In either case, we should see it soon enough," Viana said, and Morrigan nodded. Perhaps it would be something worth painting.

  Unfortunately, the soon enough in Viana's statement meant several more days of travel and camping outside. It appeared that their plan of changing routes meant that they'd be sleeping outdoors more often since the initial route focused on their comfort and staying in the cities as often as possible.

  "This is the worst," Morrigan grumbled on the third night of camping outside. The temperature was getting noticeably cooler and at the same time also more damp. Azrael said it meant they were getting close to the Fire-Ice Sea, but that didn't make Morrigan much happier. After all, they'd still have to camp outside before getting there.

  "I think my hair is starting to frizz," Deziara grumbled, looking at the tips of her hair.

  "Probably from all the moisture in the air. This is probably one of the dampest places in the Underworld since it's not yet cold enough for the moisture to freeze, but at the same time we're further away from lava river zones that keep the moisture rather low," Viana explained.

  "So how do I fix this?" Deziara whined, pointing at her hair.

  "I'm afraid there's not much you can do. Unless you know some hair de-frizzing magic," Viana retorted and forlornly looked at her own hair. It still looked beautiful, but there were some places where it didn't appear as smooth as before. Morrigan looked down at her and almost jumped in fright as something appeared somewhere in the background.

  At first, she worried it might have been a monster or a spy sent to tail them. Then she realized that it was indeed a spy, except it was their own spy – Melanos. While the grim demon made sure to remain somewhere in the background, his presence was really unsettling. Morrigan couldn't quite understand it but she guessed it was due to the fact that Melanos also acted as an executioner of sorts. Or perhaps it was because he never spoke aside from responding to orders.

  "I just want to sleep in a proper bed. It is getting too cold to sleep outside," Morrigan complained, trying to distract herself from the spymaster.

  "Should we get you some more heating pads?" Three of the maids instantly perked up and ran to the carriage, beginning to rummage through it.

  "No. I mean yes, but… " she stuttered as the maids brought out the heating pads and began stuffing them inside Morrigan's sleeping bag. "I don't think I'll fit inside the bag if you overstuff it like that."

  "Then we'll put them on the outside," the maids were not deterred and began making a nest of sorts on Haku's front paw which Morrigan used for sleeping. It was kind of amazing that the maids were not deterred by the dragon, who looked at them in confusion but did not mind their bustling. But there was clearly a limit as to what you could do with a few extra blankets and heating pads.

  "How come you're not bothered by this Azrael?" Morrigan accused Azrael, looking rather fresh for somebody who had to sleep outside for three nights.

  "I just teleport to the closest town for the night and sleep there," he shrugged, completely unperturbed.

  "Wait, what? You've been sleeping indoors every night?" Deziara accused him. "And you never took anyone else along?"

  "Teleporting other people or opening a portal requires quite a lot of magic. I use shadow teleporting which uses a minimal amount of magic, if I only teleport myself," Azrael said.

  "And what if somewhere were to attack us at night?" Morrigan grumbled.

  "It's okay. I have wards set up all around the camp. If somebody would come, I'd know," he said with a shrug and then disappeared. Morrigan growled as he disappeared, wanting to give him a piece of her mind. But it's not like she knew where he teleported to. The downside of shadow teleportation was you had to know the place you wanted to get to, in order to teleport there. And since Morrigan knew so little about the Underworld, she had no way of following the demon.

  "I'll ask Father to lower his salary," Deziara frowned.

  "Yeah, me too," Morrigan added.

  "I will as well," Viana nodded, and the three sisters all looked onto their sleeping arrangements for the night and sighed.

  "What got you three in such a sour mood?" Galandir asked as he was passing by, carrying a large chunk of meat for Haku.

  "We're just tired from sleeping outside," Morrigan whined.

  "Sleeping on Haku isn't that bad," Galandir retorted. He had been sleeping in between Haku's wings, securing his sleeping bag with some ropes to prevent himself from falling over in case the dragon decided to move.

  "Until he decides to move," Viana grumbled and glared at the dragon, who looked to the side apologetically.

  "Hey, don't blame him. I bet it's hard for him to remain still with four people sleeping on top the whole night," Morrigan defended her friend.

  "Yeah, I know. Quite honestly, I am not sure how I managed this journey before without a convenient dragon bed. It certainly is a major upgrade from sleeping on the ground," Viana admitted and gently patted Haku's scales. Morrigan smiled at the sight.

  Previously her eldest sister had shown no interest in the dragon whatsoever, mostly avoiding him. But since they started this journey, Viana had grown closer to him, occasionally even flying on his back when she got too tired from sitting in the carriage.

  "Every princess should have their own dragon friend," Morrigan smiled and also patted Haku who growled in approval.