“That’s better. So, where are you headed next?” Angelo handed over the IDs, his smile rippling like a quiet tide. “Thanks to your whole family, our Demon Race suddenly has a bunch of phantom citizens.”

Edlyn waved him off, her laugh bubbling like spring water. “Pssh. What’s the big deal? I don’t even pay taxes. Why fuss over smoke in the wind?”

“Hey. You’re not gonna tell your loyal grand marshal?” Angelo planted his fists on his hips, grinning like a fox in sunlight.

“Ugh. If I tell you, you’ll cook up a storm of nonsense again, and we won’t get a moment’s peace,” Edlyn pressed a hand to her brow, her sigh as long as a winter wind.

Last time, she’d sent their itinerary to the upper ranks. Spies sprouted along the road like mushrooms after rain, peeking from every shadow.

Eli’s temper flared like dry grass catching fire. With one smack, he sent them all flying back to the Demon Realm like leaves in a gale.

“Uh… that was an accident…” Angelo scratched his cheek, guilt like a cloud over the sun.

They had meant to protect their Demonic Lord, so they dispatched many “elites,” more book and blade than magic, like modern agents under a veil of night.

But Eli pitched every single one back. Angelo had been in his office, reading financial reports crisp as fallen leaves, when hundreds dropped from the sky like a meteor shower, packing the room and the hallway like floodwater.

To the new generation of demons, Eli was near godlike, mist and thunder rolled into a man. They hadn’t lived through the prehistoric magic era, so their return felt like being hooked by time’s fishing line.

Angelo had to claim that man had built a space‑piercing tech, a bridge of light over the horizon.

Edlyn clapped his shoulder, her smile bright as dawn. “Alright, alright. Don’t overthink it. Tend to real fires, not smoke rings. Our Demon Race’s GDP is lagging behind the humans! What’s going on? When I get back, I want clear skies and clear answers!”

“...By your command.” Angelo shook his head, like a willow letting go of rain.

It was his duty, a millstone and a mantle, steady as a mountain.

Edlyn smiled, satisfied as a cat in sunshine, patted his shoulder again, and pulled out her phone like a glossy black pebble.

“Hello? Anna, put Daddy on. Mm. Hello? Eli? Angelo’s set everything up. We can just take off like a kite in a steady wind. Huh? Emmm, probably no tails this time. After the mess last time, they shouldn’t send anyone. Mm. Mm. Okay~” Edlyn hung up with a sugar‑sweet smile, then admired her IDs like shells picked on a bright shore, plotting which coast to chase next.

Angelo watched her glow, then smiled like a lantern lit at dusk. He asked softly, “Demonic Lord. Are you happy?”

“Huh? What’s with you? Is this the state channel interviewing me?”

“...”

...

“Planes are a once‑is‑enough kind of thing. Nothing beats flying yourself,” Edlyn curled into Eli’s arms midair, her voice warm as sunlight on wings.

Eli rode the wind, helpless as a leaf and amused as a breeze. “Then fly yourself. Me carrying you feels like cheating the sky.”

“You’re so heartless! Be a little romantic,” Edlyn pouted, her lips a cherry under moonlight.

He rubbed her small head, like smoothing down a fledgling’s feathers. “If you flew, I’d feel less like I’m carrying my daughter, you know?”

“What’s wrong with that~ Being your daughter sounds pretty sweet~” Edlyn nuzzled his chest like a kitten seeking warmth.

“Tsk.” Eli drew a sharp breath, pinched her cheeks like ripe peaches. “You little menace.”

“You spoil Alice and Anna rotten. Being your daughter sounds like spring all year,” Edlyn flashed little tiger teeth, mischief like starlight.

“If you were my daughter, how would I do terrible things to you?” Eli swallowed, his gaze deep as a midnight lake.

Edlyn arched a brow, mischief blooming like a crimson flower. She slipped from his arms and floated higher, looking down like a moon over water.

Eli watched her with a smile, curious as a fox at the edge of a grove.

She drifted close, pinched his chin like a playful king, and murmured, cool as mountain shade, “Hero. Have you finally chosen to kneel to me? Offer me your loyal heart.”

“Oh? My dear Demonic Lord. How do you want me to submit?” Eli bowed on one knee in the sky, a knight before a stormlit throne.

Edlyn cupped his face in both hands, lifting him like a chalice. “Hero. You still haven’t answered. Will you bow to me?”

“Of course, my dear Demonic Lord.” Eli laid his left hand over his heart, respectful as winter snow.

Edlyn smiled, dipped her head, and kissed him, a spark catching dry pine. When they parted, color climbed her cheeks like dawn. “Hero~ would you do anything for me?”

“Of course, my dear Demonic Lord.” Eli rose, his height a shadow falling warm, his gaze low and molten as ember.

Edlyn floated up, eye to eye, like two swallows sharing one wind.

She suddenly giggled, a bead of rain on a petal. “Pfft. Okay, okay, I’m done. So serious, it’s weird.”

Eli laughed and mimicked her, pinching her chin gently, eyes on the flawless curve of her face like a sculptor under moonlight. “Demonic Lord~ submit to me.”

“Still playing?” Edlyn teased and pushed him away, light as a wave’s slap.

Eli pulled her back in, arms a ring like warm iron. “Yeah. You won’t play along, and now I’m sulking like a storm cloud.”

“You can’t be serious.” Edlyn lifted her chin, a small mountain daring the wind. “Fine, fine, I submit. Happy?”

“Not enough.” Heat smoldered in Eli’s eyes, a summer noon over wheat.

Edlyn shivered, a leaf in a sudden breeze, and wriggled free like a fish from a net.

“You—what do you want?”

“What else? Something meaningful,” Eli licked his lips, lazy as a cat before pounce.

“You horny twenty‑four‑seven bastard!” Edlyn shouted, then shot backward like an arrow, hair a dark comet tail.

Eli chuckled, then streaked after her like lightning across clear sky.

“Edlyn~ why run? Demonic Lord, didn’t you want me to submit? I think your body could make me kneel. Truly.”

“Bastard!” Edlyn bit the words like candy with fire, laughing as she cursed.

“It’s been ages since I flew this free. Hey, Eli! Let’s race! See if you can catch me before sunset,” Edlyn clasped her hands behind her back, grin bright as a gull.

“A race? What’s the prize?” Eli’s smile curled like a wave’s lip.

Edlyn darted close, her breath warm at his ear like spring wind. “If you win~”

“Yeah? What do I get?” Eli’s eyes lit like stars caught in a net.

“Tonight, when we… you know… I can call you Daddy,” Edlyn whispered, impish as moonlight, kissed his cheek like a dragonfly, then shot off like a streak of white.

Eli froze, stunned like a deer in snow. He rubbed the kissed cheek, swallowed, then blasted after her like a storm breaking. “You’d better keep your word!”

“Ah! Not that fast!”

...

On the balcony of a seaview room, the rail was a cliff above a breathing world.

Eli hugged Edlyn from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder like a robin on a warm branch, watching the tide kneel and rise like a heartbeat.

Edlyn leaned on the railing, gaze cast far, like an arrow into dusk. “Tell me. Do the Seafolk have a chance to reclaim their old glory?”

Eli brushed a few strands from her eyes, tucking them behind her ear like reeds by a pond. “Why the sudden splash?”

“When the Giant Squid and the others were around, they mourned by the shore at night, like waves singing to the moon. I got a little sentimental,” Edlyn shrugged, shoulders light as sails.

“Mm… I hate to douse your lantern.” Eli rubbed her head, gentle as rain. “But the Seafolk won’t return. The sea’s become a garden that no longer grows their kind. Even if something rises, it won’t be the same tide.”

“Is that so…” Edlyn tilted her head, a flower leaning to light. “Makes me think—my Demon Race was once like that too.”

“I was the Demon King, lost to the Hero, and was reborn a little girl in a countryside untouched by gunfire, where crickets sang instead of drums,” she said, words slow as falling snow.

Eli kept rubbing her head, his listening as steady as a mountain and as warm as a hearth.

“My heart was a cup full of hate, but time wore it smooth, like pebbles in a river. No clan, no comrades, just me in a field of quiet,” her eyes glimmered, lanterns in mist.

“Still, I had Angela and my parents. They kept me from hating humans like a wildfire. But you! The first time I saw you, you were so insufferable I wanted to deck you on the spot,” she turned and thumped his chest lightly, a fist like a petal.

“That’s just me. I can’t peel off my skin,” Eli lifted his shoulders, a gull riding wind.

“I suddenly miss the old days,” Edlyn murmured, like someone touching an old scar under starlight.

“Those days traveling with you,” she added, head tilted like a crescent moon.

“Silly girl. Aren’t we traveling now?” Eli smiled, warm as tea.

“Yeah, but it feels different. Same scenery, different faces. Back then, magic and Battle Aura were fireflies in every bush. Now the night’s gone quiet,” she said, gaze far as the horizon.

“...” Eli patted her small head again, empty of words like a sky before rain.

“After all those roads and storms, which place did you love most?” Her thought leaped like a fish, and Eli needed a heartbeat to catch it. “Mm. The snow mountains.”

“Huh? Why?”

“They’re quiet. Just us. It felt like we could walk to the end of time, like footprints on an endless white.”

“Hey! We can still go to the end of time together!” Edlyn protested, cheeks puffed like peaches. “You sound like you’re about to leave me.”

Her voice pouted, but her fingers tightened around his, a small bird clutching a branch in wind.

Eli blinked, then spoke fast and firm, like a stake driven into earth. “Don’t be scared. I’m just being moody. I won’t let you go. Even if you want to, you can’t slip away.”

“I know. I just thought… maybe you’d ditch me for another universe,” Edlyn said with a sheepish smile, like someone caught stealing fruit. “You’ve got another home, don’t you?”

Eli tapped his head, a spark jumping. “Right! Edlyn, want to visit my world?”

“What’s so fun there? I’m not going,” she pouted again, lower lip a petal.

“It used to be boring, but things changed for… special reasons,” Eli said, a secret flickering like foxfire.

“Huh? What reasons? What changed?” Curiosity fluttered in her voice like moth wings.

“Powers showed up. And nonhuman races, too. The world grew antlers and shadows,” Eli’s smile curved like a new moon.

“Eh?!”

“I’ll take you soon. We’ll chase the new wind.”

“Okay okay okay~”