This story was originally written in Indonesian. I used AI to help translate it into English, so I apologize in advance for any translation errors or awkward phrasing that may appear.
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The grand throne room doors creaked open slowly.
Pandora stepped inside with trembling legs, cold sweat clinging to her skin. She walked beside Rezafh, following the command of Demon Queen Persephone. But the scene that greeted her was far from what she expected.
The bodies of the maids and magic instructors who had tormented her daily lay lifeless on the cold stone floor.
Pandora swallowed hard.
On the throne, Queen Persephone fixed her with a piercing gaze.
"As a noble-blooded demon, why did you allow trash like them to bully you?" the Queen asked. Her voice was calm—yet the pressure in it pierced straight into Pandora's chest.
"I-I…" Pandora tried to answer, but her lips wouldn't move. Her breath hitched under the immense pressure of the Queen's aura that blanketed the room.
Even the other demons present, many of them far stronger than her, were struggling to stay upright.
But Pandora refused to back down.
"Damn it… Come on, Pandora! You're that clever, bold, tomboyish girl who used to bully the weak! You're not some coward!" she screamed in her head.
Slowly, she began to straighten her back. The demons around her stared in disbelief.
A powerless demon like Pandora… could stand firm under the Queen's aura?
"I get it now," she thought. "All this time, I thought she didn't care about me. But I was wrong… Even if she only cares whether I'm useful to her, that's still something."
She stood tall and looked directly at Queen Persephone with eyes that no longer trembled.
"Forgive me if this sounds disrespectful, Your Majesty," she said firmly. "But if you ask why I let them do it… honestly, it was just my own stupidity. Still… thank you. Thanks to you, I've realized something."
Pandora took a deep breath.
"Yes… I've been foolish. That voice told me—this world isn't my punishment, but my chance. So if that's the case… I'll change my fate. I'll survive. And if I'm lucky… I want to see my mother again."
Her voice shifted. What was once meek and obedient now carried the tone of a mischievous girl itching for a fight.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty. But even geniuses… can be idiots sometimes, right?" she added with a cocky grin.
Queen Persephone's lips curled into a thin smile. That smile… was like someone who had just found a new, intriguing toy.
"Oh? Then what will you do now?" she asked.
Pandora raised her fist high.
"I'll prove to the world that Pandora is not a weak demon! I'll show you who I really am!" she declared with confidence.
The Queen nodded slightly.
"We'll see," she said.
Then she pointed to someone beside her—Vivian, one of her elite guards.
"From now on, Vivian will train you in swordsmanship. You can't use magic, right? Then you'll rely on physical strength to protect yourself."
Vivian was a vampire. Pandora didn't know why a vampire like her served the demon realm, but… that was a story for another time.
In the middle of their conversation, the Queen suddenly glanced toward a wall, as if sensing something.
"Haaah… Another one, huh?" she muttered.
Pandora blinked in confusion. But from the look on Vivian's and Rezafh's faces, they understood what the Queen meant.
Queen Persephone rose from her throne and looked at Pandora.
"Prove your words. Help us track down the intruder who entered the palace grounds. I'll give you the details later. For now—dismissed," she ordered.
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
Agramon stood before a breach in the barrier, flanked by the elite unit he'd assembled himself.
A female elf from the magic investigation team approached him.
"If possible… please try to find Princess Alfina as well," she said.
Alfina, the youngest princess of the Elmund Elven Kingdom, had vanished after creating a pathway into the demon territory.
With her brilliance, she helped the investigation team locate a safe gap in the barrier. But now, she had disappeared without a trace.
"I'll do my best," Agramon replied gently.
He stepped forward, crossing through the barrier with Rusalka and his squad. They moved into the shadowy forest toward the demon castle, suppressing their magical presence to avoid detection.
But Agramon knew… the Demon Queen had surely already sensed them.
Back to Pandora…
She now sat in a meeting room with Vivian and several high-ranking demons.
Pandora scanned the room.
"I was told to help find intruders… but why does this feel more like I've been assigned to babysit a mental ward?" she muttered internally.
To her left, a burly demon was… casually picking his nose. Next to him, a long-haired demon mumbled to himself like he was talking to invisible friends.
"Hah? What are you looking at, huh?" the nose-picker snapped.
Pandora turned to her right.
A flashy demon lady was admiring her nails. Beside her, a pair of demon twins—one boy, one girl—were arguing like toddlers.
Pandora sighed deeply and glanced at Vivian.
Vivian smiled at her cheerfully. Just one look, and Pandora instantly understood: Vivian was definitely the muscle-over-brains type.
Pandora hung her head, sighing harder.
"Seriously… What the hell is this…? I'm supposed to help them? Shouldn't it be the other way around? These people need therapy…" she thought, exasperated.
Still, she took a breath and tried to stay calm.
"Now that I think about it… maybe Her Majesty knew these demons were useless, and that's why she sent me here. Maybe this is some kind of test?"
She recalled something important.
Demons possessed incredible magical and physical power. But… their greatest weakness was their thinking ability.
Demon intelligence developed slowly. Even after living a hundred or two hundred years, they could still act like children. Most of them only obeyed strength, not logic or strategy.
Pandora eyed each of the demons in the room.
"So these guys… might actually be thousands of years old?" she thought in horror.
But the more she watched… the more it became clear. They were too wrapped up in their own little worlds. Not one of them seemed to care about the meeting.
"Wait… is it me overthinking things… or are they just really this dumb?" she muttered internally, face blank.