Outside the window, the moonlight was like water.
After settling the sleeping Jasmine, Vieya ca to the desk, switched on the small green-shaded lamp, and began leafing through the packet of docunts Lilian had prepared for her before she left the convent.
Compared to the Old Dean’s oral account, these records were far more detailed. Not only did they describe the organizational structure of the [Ghosts], but even so of the nine leaders’ abilities were noted.
“Altering collective mory, deceiving with causal compensation, forging false laws... all troubleso non-direct combat powers. Without enough intelligence and preparation, the first encounter could easily end in disaster.”
Vieya rubbed her brow. In the past, the stronger and more dangerous her enemy, the more excited she had been.
After all, every strong foe she defeated increased her fa, and her reputation across the world grew accordingly.
Once her fa reached a certain height, anywhere she went, with just a gesture she could summon a crowd of fervent admirers.
Even eating or shopping beca a way to experience the intoxicating superiority of being above all others.
But she was not like that now.
“The Ghosts’ leaders number nine in total, also called the Heavenly Nine... a na taken from a folk card ga called ‘Pai Gow.’”
“Founding ti unknown. So speculate it arose five hundred years ago, yet traces of their activity have been found even further back. Note:”
Vieya read silently and suddenly rembered the stone stele she had seen beneath the ice, where the founder was said to have lived five to six hundred years ago...
But.
Traces of activity from an even earlier age?
That was wrong—the founder had not even been born then!
Vieya could not help but think of the novels she had once read: the aged emperor living a second life, turning his back on all beings, fishing alone through eternity!
So reincarnation exists in this world too?
Ha.
Vieya chuckled and shook her head.
Maybe the secrets within this organization were even deeper and more entertaining than she imagined.
Oh, she almost forgot what Aurora had said—
To overthrow the current Empress’s rule.
True or false?
Or perhaps Aurora only knew part of the truth, wandering between shadow and reality, and spoke only fragnts.
Looks like she needed to find ti to visit Xiao Lü, have her look up Aurora’s present residence, and if possible, trace her recent movents.
Closing the docunts, Vieya yawned. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the black cat had sohow slipped over and was now dozing at her feet.
“Well now, little cat, when did you co? The moon’s beautiful tonight.” Vieya smiled, bending down to rub the furry ears, a small comfort.
“ow... you’re done working?”
The black cat twitched her ears, puffed up her round body, opened her eyes, and began speaking nonsense:
“Just thinking about gaining dried-fish freedom tomorrow makes so happy I can’t sleep, ow~ Boss, you’re really generous!”
“I’m broke, you know... I don’t even drink anymore.”
Vieya spread her hands, lifted the cat onto the desk, and glanced back at Jasmine curled safely under the covers. Her lips curved into a bright smile.
“In a few days, once matters here and the unrest outside calm down, I’ll take a few well-paying commissions and redecorate the house.”
“Then I want a cat bed too! The floor’s so cold and hard!” The cat’s tail swished with delight.
“No problem.” Vieya nodded. She had never been a stingy captain, nor a stingy owner.
“Oh, chatting with you made nearly forget. Just now, soone seed to linger outside our door.” The black cat’s ears twitched as she recalled. “That scent... I’ve slled it sowhere before, but it vanished too quickly. I can’t place it. Sorry, ow.”
“A familiar scent?”
Vieya stroked the warm, soft cat head, her thoughts flashing back to the docunts. Could the Ghosts already have found her?
Like thieves scouting and marking a target ahead of ti—had the Ghosts co to mark her door?
Sensing she was about to rise to investigate, the cat quickly wrapped her tail around Vieya’s arm.
“I already checked outside thoroughly—safe, no marks. Whoever it was just lingered for a mont and left. It’s late. Stay with the little Demon Lord a while longer. She’s never depended on anyone like this before. I may be no fool—I can see she likes you.”
“Well, I didn’t expect you to be so perceptive.” Vieya smiled.
“First ti eting, ow.” The black cat sat on the desk like a beckoning cat and held out her right paw. “I am Helcat, once a servant of the forr Demon King.”
Vieya clasped the furry paw pad and shook it like a human handshake. “What first ti? We’re old friends. I’m the Demon King’s father.”
“ow ow ow?”
Helcat’s single-core brain failed to process the aning of that sentence. She stared at Vieya, utterly confused.
But Vieya had already risen, sitting at Jasmine’s bedside, tucking the blanket snugly around her. With a soft sigh she said:
“Jasmine seems so poor at talking with others... with anyone but she stutters, avoids eye contact, as though she’s had no practice communicating, even though I’m right here with her... Helcat, did she rarely speak with anyone in the Demon King’s castle?”
“ow?”
Helcat stroked her whiskers and explained helplessly. “You know her condition. Though she has a Demon King’s body, half-human and half-demon, she’s weaker than most monster cubs... To guard against assassins from other Demon King castles, the elders forbade monsters from approaching her chambers.”
“Those elders hardly ever visited her either, since seeing her was pointless. It took quite so ti back then just to talk with her normally... That’s why I said she likes you. She could speak with you easily from the first eting.”
Hearing this, Vieya finally understood Jasmine’s problem, her heart heavy.
A child with both demon and human blood carried both the monsters’ thick nerves and the humans’ sensitive heart.
In the face of storms she could display a monster’s indomitable resilience, yet at night, alone, she longed for a parent’s warmth like any human child...
An isekai version of mild autism?
Vieya was wordless.
This kind of wound would not heal overnight. It needed long years of ti and companionship.
“Since you’re a parent, don’t let your child feel afraid...”
In her ears it was as if she heard again those words from the noodle master she had once t in a small town on a monster-hunting commission. Even though he had been terrified, he hid his wounded son in a haystack and ran off alone to draw away the monster, buying ti for rescue.
How could an ordinary man outrun a four-legged beast?
In the end both father and son died—the father in the monster’s jaws, the son from loss of blood.
At the ti, Vieya had not understood why that father did not hide together with his son, which might have given them both a sliver of hope.
Nor had she understood what he ant with his dying words.
But now Vieya did.
This was responsibility. As light as a feather, as heavy as a mountain.
“Good night, my daughter.”
Vieya leaned down and left a kiss on Jasmine’s forehead.
“Sweet dreams.”
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