With Helcat’s departure, breakfast this morning was one less thing to worry about.
Vieya sank lazily into the sofa, stretching with satisfaction. The once-Hero-turned-monster girl was ready to enjoy a perfectly peaceful morning.
The soft sofa seed to rge with her sli-girl body. She half-closed her green eyes, feeling that familiar laziness creeping back in again...
Lately, life had been far too comfortable.
Aside from bonding ti with her daughter, most of her days were spent in the kitchen.
How had the once-glorious Hero ended up as a housewife stuck cooking three als a day?
She would never have believed this could happen to her. A kitchen idiot once upon a ti, yet for her daughter’s sake she’d sohow beco a master of pots and pans.
Still, she didn’t mind. Jasmine really was a sensible child—throughout this whole past month, she hadn’t caused a single bit of trouble.
Vieya only wished she could make up to her daughter a little more.
The only problem was that the girl was too clingy.
Not the kind who demanded constant attention, no—more like... well, she didn’t insist that every mont be spent with her.
She seed rational, able to restrain her own desires... but if you were away for too long, if you stayed out of sight, the longer the separation lasted, the stranger her behavior beca.
Back then, when Vieya had returned from a commission and just finished collecting her bounty, Lilian had co looking for her.
Vieya could still rember Lilian’s complaints clearly:
“Finally! You’re back! Let say first, I’ve been taking good care of your daughter—no bullying, no punishnt, no neglect... I might as well have treated her as my own!”
“Thanks. Has Jasmine been behaving herself?”
“Behaving? She’s too well-behaved! Whatever we tell her to do, she does it...”
Lilian sighed. “That’s the problem! Your daughter’s so obedient it’s eerie. Tell her to eat and she doesn’t take an extra sip of water; tell her to sleep and she’s in bed on the second; ask if there’s anything she wants to play, she shakes her head; ask if there’s anything she wants to eat, she shakes again. It’s like... aside from maintaining the bare minimum to stay alive, nothing matters to her.”
“Isn’t that good? She eats and sleeps.”
“...Oh, Light God above. I swear, you are the most careless mother I’ve ever t. I want to tie you before a statue and make you pray for five hours straight—then scrub that brain of yours with holy water.”
“Eh... how am I careless?”
“...Incredible. Anyway, you—right now—are coming with to see your daughter!”
“I still have so paperwork to finish—hey, don’t pull my clothes!”
Like hauling a cabbage, Lilian dragged Vieya straight to the convent gates, forcing her to peer through the vine-covered iron fence.
Inside the convent courtyard—
Jasmine was sitting on the steps, staring toward the gate. A few children around her age stood nearby.
Was this bullying?!
Vieya rolled up her sleeves, ready to charge in, but Lilian grabbed her arm.
“Wait! This is a convent. I promise she’s fine... just watch for a bit.”
“You’d better be right.” Vieya pried Lilian’s hand away.
On the other side of the fence—
“Wow, you’re the quiet angel my dad ntioned from the convent... your hair’s so pretty! Can I touch it?”
The speaker was a brown-haired girl in a puffy dress, maybe five years old—slightly older than Jasmine.
But Jasmine rely lifted her eyes to look, then looked away, saying nothing.
A living example of what it ant to be a silent angel.
The little girl fidgeted awkwardly, but another gray-haired girl spoke up, biting her finger, her tone slow and hesitant.
“Uh... your eyes are weird... not like ours. One’s... red, and the other... gold? Pretty though...”
“Wanna co play with us? It’s boring here,” said a boy this ti.
“......”
Then—
As if the chatter itself offended her, Jasmine quietly stood up, turned away with a cold expression, and walked off without saying a word.
Wait, what?
Vieya blinked. Her daughter had always been polite—shy, yes, but she knew her manners.
What’s with this...?
“...That’s rude!” a boy muttered, stepping forward, trying to scare her a bit.
Thud!
Jasmine, startled and flustered, tripped over her own feet—left tangled with right—and fell flat on the ground with a smack. The children froze.
Finally the puffy-dress girl darted forward and helped her up.
Seeing her daughter fall, Vieya could hold back no longer. She glared at Lilian and stord over.
“Hey, hey, don’t be rash—”
But since Vieya was already running, talking was pointless.
Worried the overprotective monster-mother might lash out, Lilian rushed after her.
...
“Mom?”
“Wake up... Mom...”
A weak voice echoed beside her ear.
Vieya jolted awake on the sofa, blinking at the worried Jasmine watching her.
“Mom, are you tired? Maybe... take the day off? I can handle the chores and als with Cat-sis.” Jasmine’s voice was gentle.
“It’s fine...”
Vieya reached out, pulled her daughter into her arms, and sighed softly.
That day—after she had carried Jasmine, knees scraped and bleeding, back to the infirmary and wrapped the wounds—
Lilian had told her that Jasmine’s hand and foot issues were serious. Even in all of the Church’s dical archives, she had never found a single case similar to Jasmine’s condition.
Congenital defects like hers were hundreds of tis harder to treat than acquired injuries.
aning... Jasmine would likely live with it her whole life.
Lilian had also, rather cautiously, asked who Jasmine’s father was.
Vieya hadn’t answered. She simply left in silence with her daughter.
She didn’t know how to answer—and she was terrified that if anyone learned Jasmine was the next Demon King, assassins would soon co for her.
On the sofa—
Jasmine stiffened ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) in surprise at being suddenly hugged, her face brightening shyly as she nestled closer.
“Mom, are you worried about sothing?” she whispered.
“No...”
Wait!
Did I forget sothing?!
Vieya frowned, glancing at the clock. Why hadn’t Helcat returned yet?
It had been almost half an hour.
“I’m just wondering if sothing happened to Helcat. She’s been gone too long buying breakfast...”
Vieya tried to focus on the imdiate issue.
“She went out to buy breakfast, but still isn’t back. I’m worried soone tricked her.”
“Don’t worry, Mom! Cat-sis is really strong!”
Jasmine tilted her head back against the sli’s chest.
“Cat-sis was the Demon King Castle’s best summoner—she keeps tons of dragons!”
“Dragons...”
Of course I know she’s strong.
What worried Vieya was that Helcat might fall for so human sche—or worse, start a rampage in the streets.
And speaking of dragons... did demon-realm dragons also like hoarding treasure? Did they have gold-filled caves?
Judging by Helcat’s attitude...
Vieya sighed, a little regretful. “I just hope she doesn’t spend all the money at once. That’s our breakfast budget for the month.”
...
Out on the street—
Helcat carried an oversized sack stuffed with breakfast. Satisfied after counting everything, she was ready to head back when she caught a faint scent of blood.
“How strange... this sll of blood... isn’t it that purple-haired Hero’s?”
Back during their battle, Helcat had slled that exact sa scent from the girl’s old wounds.
And now...
“What’s going on? She’s hurt?”
Her brow furrowed. Once, she wouldn’t have cared if the purple-haired Hero lived or died.
But after last night’s talk, she could tell how much Vieya still cared about that Hero.
If the purple one died, Vieya would be sad, wouldn’t she?
“Should I check it out...? But the breakfast...” Helcat hesitated, then slipped into an empty alley.
A flash of red light—she summoned a giant white-feathered eagle from the void. Tying the bag to its claws, she instructed,
“Take this to where I’m staying. Don’t alert anyone.”
The eagle screeched, beating its wings and soaring away.
A white blur crossed the sky.
...
Monts later—
Duang!
A sudden knock against the window!
Vieya flinched, set Jasmine on the sofa, and turned sharply toward the sound.
Her eyes narrowed in caution.
Duang! A white bird perched outside, wings flapping.
That magic signature... Helcat’s?
One of her summoned beasts.
Now she’s playing ssenger tricks?
Vieya caught on quickly and opened the window. The white bird flapped inside, hovering before her and cocking its head.
Breakfast.
She untied the food from its claws and looked at the bird still hovering there.
It cawed insistently, clearly trying to convey sothing.
But Vieya didn’t understand bird language, so the two simply stood before the open window—one sli, one bird—staring each other down.
“Caw, caw!”
“Can you speak human?”
“Cah?”
“......”
Vieya’s lovely eyes narrowed. Her instincts told her—the bird was trying to deliver an important ssage.
Sothing unrelated to breakfast.
“But... did sothing happen to the cat?” she guessed aloud.
“Cah!”
Vieya: “...”
From the sofa, Jasmine peeked her head out and explained,
“Mom, Big White says Cat-sis slled the blood scent from yesterday’s Hero-sis while eating buns. She thinks sothing might’ve happened, so she’s following the scent now.”
The bird nodded approvingly.
“What...”
The Hero got injured after leaving last night?
Vieya’s face changed. She suddenly recalled the scene she’d witnessed at the marketplace—
Several humans, completely drained of blood, being carried away by knights on stretchers. The corpses had no wounds at all, yet the tallic sll of blood still clung thickly to the air.
That could only an one thing: there was a vampire lurking in Fengxiang Town—one turning humans into blood thralls—and it had beco so rampant that Rania must’ve stumbled right into it.
By all logic, with Rania’s strength, nothing should’ve gone wrong.
But...
Vieya thought deeply for a long mont, then made up her mind.
“Jasmine, I have to go out. Stay ho, no matter what—don’t leave until I’m back.”
“...Okay, Mom.” Jasmine smiled faintly. “I’ll wait for you.”
Vieya nodded, then jumped out the window together with the white eagle.
Flap!
The eagle spread its wings wide, a sli dangling from its claws as they soared into the sky.
“...You can fly like that?” Jasmine murmured, watching the sky. After a mont, she closed the window and door tightly.
...
“You’re called Big White, right?”
Up in the sky, Vieya rembered her daughter’s na for the bird—Big White.
“Can you locate your master now?” she asked.
The eagle cried sharply, diving downward. The fierce wind whipped against Vieya’s face, blowing strands of hair into her mouth. She spat them out with a scowl.
Below them lay the alley where Helcat had summoned the eagle.
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