Lilia, a seventeen-year-old, baby-faced, big-busted girl, might be a little too early-bloomed. Her motherly instinct was overflowing.

All the way, she clutched Rebecca like a beloved doll.

Now and then, she rubbed her cheek against Rebecca’s, almost licking her.

Rebecca saw stars in Lilia’s eyes, nearly solid.

If this keeps up, an accident might really happen.

But Rebecca didn’t care.

She’d spent her life knotted up over a past life.

By a twist of fate, these girls “saved” her.

For the first time in years, she enjoyed a beauty’s hug.

She didn’t resist. She was secretly thrilled.

Oppai~~

After a day together, Rebecca learned what happened.

The four girls had crossed the Dark Forest.

They reached the Dark Lord’s palace.

They cut down the low-tier monster servants around it.

They found Rebecca and mistook her for a human girl abducted by the Dark Lord.

They “rescued” her.

Total coincidence.

Rebecca checked herself and found the cause.

A Demon Potion brewed with Golden Sand Lizard had changed her hair and eye color.

Because of that, these powerful girls thought she was human.

“Rebecca, you’re so small and skinny.

You must’ve suffered a lot under that evil Dark Lord.

When we get back, I’ll feed you till you’re soft and chubby~

Too bad the Dark Lord wasn’t in the palace this time.

Or I would’ve avenged you!” Lilia said, hugging Rebecca tight.

Right—Rebecca’s parents weren’t at the Dark Lord’s palace.

The Dark Lord’s headquarters isn’t in the Dark Forest at all.

It lies beyond the eastern sea, at the Black Flame Volcano.

After a nasty fight with Rebecca, her parents punished her.

They left her alone in the Dark Forest and went to the Black Flame Volcano.

A sixteen-year-old girl might fear loneliness and her parents leaving.

But they didn’t know Rebecca wasn’t sixteen in mind.

She felt no loneliness and no fear.

With no parents around, she spread her wings and hunted for a way to become a boy.

She finally found a path: a magical potion.

The answer lay in an ancient grimoire of the Demon Race.

Her father had fixed her gender with magic.

Only a Demon Potion could reverse it.

But that book didn’t have the recipe.

So, for a year, Rebecca devoured potion texts.

She brewed. She tested on herself.

She got poisoned over and over.

She fell into comas, burned with high fevers, vomited.

The worst time, red rashes covered her body.

But the Demon Race heals frighteningly fast.

Unknown brews that would kill other races only made her suffer.

This time, the Golden Sand Lizard potion changed her hair and eyes.

“You’re right! If the Dark Lord were here, we’d have slain him!”

The girl with the giant sword said that.

Her name was Laura.

Rebecca had taken Laura for an icy type at first.

After spending time together, she learned that icy look was an act.

Laura just thought it looked cool.

She was a full-on chuunibyou bruiser.

Strong, arrogant, and dismissive of everything.

Rebecca really wanted to curl her lip.

To avoid blowing her cover, she kept a vacant face.

It wasn’t fear of the four girls.

Rebecca just hated trouble and didn’t like fighting.

The four were indeed strong.

Crossing the Dark Forest proved it.

But compared to Rebecca, they were far behind.

She’d had an adult’s mind since childhood.

She worked hard and had absurd talent.

On the path of cultivation, she almost never took detours.

Her growth was terrifying.

Her father both loved and hated his defiant daughter.

Crossing the Dark Forest was rare.

Breaking into the Dark Lord’s palace was pure accident.

Not because they were too strong.

To brew her potions, Rebecca had sent all high-intelligence, powerful demons in the Dark Forest deep into the Endless Abyss to gather ingredients.

That left the palace hollow on defense.

The four noisy girls barged in and thought they were mighty.

From another angle, they were impressive.

Aside from the Sword Saint of Wind eight years ago, they were the only humans to cross the Dark Forest.

By human standards, they were strong.

“Rebecca, have you remembered your family?”

Kami asked, the gentle woman in white robes.

She was a cleric.

“No… family… don’t know…”

Rebecca’s Huobei wasn’t fluent yet.

Yesterday, she’d pieced together a pitiful backstory in that choppy Huobei.

At five, she went with her family to her grandpa’s.

Then the Dark Lord abducted her.

Her family all died.

She remembered nothing else.

It had many holes.

Yet there was no seam to tug.

Rebecca looked soft and frail.

In human mouths, demons are hideous.

Such a cute girl didn’t link to the Demon Race.

Besides, it happened when she was five, eleven years ago.

You can’t expect detailed memories.

So Rebecca became another homeless girl.

Why lie?

With her strength, she could ditch them and go home.

But she planned to go to the Kasmo Empire.

The Dark Forest palace wasn’t the Demon Race’s HQ.

It had few potion books.

After a year, she’d read almost all of them.

The Black Flame Volcano palace had plenty more.

But it was awkward with her parents.

She didn’t want to go.

If her father learned she was researching potions to turn male, he’d lock her up.

So Rebecca planned to leave the Dark Forest.

She would travel the world for new recipes.

It was a plan long on her schedule.

Originally, she wanted to do it undercover.

Demon traits were too obvious.

And her father’s magic had fixed her female form, hampering the Demon Race’s shapeshifting.

This potion’s side effect was a lucky break.

Her changed hair and eyes let her enter the human world openly.

And there were guides.

This shut-in Demonic Princess wouldn’t have to find the road herself.

Nice, right?

Only headache: once the potion faded, she’d need another dose of the drowsy Golden Sand Lizard brew.

Only a domineering potion could shake the Dark Lord’s magic, even a little.

“Send her to an orphanage?”

The girl who always wore a mask spoke in a flat, chilly voice.

Her name was Emily.

Though she didn’t speak much and sounded cold, Rebecca felt it.

She wasn’t cold.

She was just stiff, always one tone.

“Orphanage! No! Absolutely not!”

Lilia flared like a cat stepped on the tail.

“Rebecca’s so cute.

How could you dump her in an orphanage?

No way. I’m raising her!”

“Lilia, that sounds like you’re treating Rebecca like a pet.

People aren’t things you can ‘raise’ on a whim.

Ask Rebecca what she wants~”

Kami’s smile stayed gentle.

“Study… work… money… trade money…”

Rebecca stammered.

“Oh, Rebecca, you’re so sensible~

It’s fine.

If you want to study, I’ll find you a very good school!”

Lilia was moved by Rebecca’s timid yet stubborn look.

“Rebecca, don’t worry about money.

We entered the Dark Lord’s palace and took…

Uh, hang on…

Here!”

Laura pulled a crown from her pack, thrilled.

“See this?

It’s the Dark Lord’s crown!

This dark magic stone proves it!

He wasn’t in the palace, sure.

But we got his crown.

Her Majesty the Empress will reward us a ton!

Just focus on school.

No need to rush work.

We’ll also try our best to find your family!”

Rebecca’s mouth twitched.

Yes, that was a crown.

And yes, that stone brimmed with dark magic.

However… that was the Goblin King Migo’s crown.

After Migo submitted to the Demon Race, he offered it to show loyalty.

And now these girls had swiped it as loot.

What would Migo think?

So… what was Migo doing now?

“Her Highness was captured? Are you sure?”

In the Endless Abyss, Migo gripped his hoe, digging herbs.

A battered monster servant rushed in with the report.

Migo was stunned.

He knew Her Highness Rebecca’s strength.

If she was captured, how strong were these intruders?

No matter how strong, Migo couldn’t sit still.

He kicked the servant flying.

His small frame released terrifying pressure.

“You’re going to tell me everything, word for word.

You know how important Her Highness is to the Dark Lord, right?

If anything goes wrong, I’ll kill you first, then myself…”