A full half-minute passed after Tsukika left, and Li Wei still hadn't snapped out of it.

In less than a single day, his emotions had gone through too many twists.

He'd gone from the relief of finally laying down his burden, to looking forward to a beautiful retired life, to suddenly facing Tsukika and thinking Death had come quietly for him.

Then everything took another sharp turn. He got pushed down by the Demon Lord, and somehow, almost overnight, became a father with a six- or seven-year-old daughter.

—As if the retirement life he'd first dreamed of had suddenly come back after all.

The primitive-man startup route was definitely gone.

But did he really just end up with both a "wife" and a daughter all at once??

The hand pressed to his chest could feel his heart beating hard and strong. Something surged through his chest, while also being forced down, like an emotion about to burst free.

A daughter.

What a heavy surprise.

Li Wei lowered his gaze slightly and looked toward the kitchen door not far away.

He couldn't see through that door to catch the girl's figure, but in this world, he could still clearly feel it.

A bond. A connection. Incomparably solid.

Only...

When he recalled his daughter's cold eyes, his chest still ached faintly.

Distrust. Distance. Indifference. Even a trace of hostility.

Those feelings had been cast at him from his daughter's eyes.

But...

Beneath that coldness, there was also a desire to get closer, wasn't there?

That emotion hidden under the indifference was what really broke Li Wei's defenses, or rather, what made his heart ache most.

Li Wei let out a self-mocking smile. At a time like this, these eyes of his were actually proving useful.

He hadn't even witnessed her birth, yet he could see straight through to his daughter's heart.

But that wasn't what he needed.

What should've happened was him staying by her side as she grew up, naturally coming to understand the thoughts in her heart.

Li Wei let out a soft sigh. He pretended not to notice the tiny crack opening in the kitchen door, and pretended not to notice the furtive gaze peeking at him from inside.

Faced with his daughter's hidden, unstraightforward feelings, Li Wei couldn't resist the urge to be the one to step closer.

He rose from his seat.

...

Yue Lin was secretly watching Li Wei.

Watching this heartless scumbag who had abandoned her and Mom for seven whole years.

Unlike Li Wei, who had only just learned he had a daughter, Yue Lin had always known he existed, ever since she was old enough to understand things.

"My dad is a great Hero!!"

That had been her declaration when she was very little, after listening with shining eyes to stories about her father. She'd waved her big sword excitedly and announced it to her mother.

"What Hero? He's just a stupid scumbag."

Every time, Mom would refute her expressionlessly, pinch her cheek, and ruthlessly attack her with:

"You little ingrate."

An even younger Yue Lin would always argue back, asking with childish innocence:

"If Dad beats Mom, then we can all stay together forever, right?"

Back then, Mom had only shown a dazed expression and held her in silence. She neither spoke nor answered.

When she got a little older, Yue Lin still kept hoping the same way.

My dad is a great Hero.

She admired his heroic deeds. She dreamed of becoming his little sidekick and going on adventures with him.

Until one day.

She saw her mother covered in wounds, standing alone against several human enemies, then fighting other demons as well.

Yue Lin had been carefully hidden away in a sheltered spot. She covered her own mouth, eyes brimming with tears, and could only watch helplessly from the darkness.

In that brutal battle, Mom had almost died.

In the darkness, she'd called for Dad over and over. She'd hoped again and again that, just like in the stories, he would appear like a hero.

But no matter how many times she called, that man never came.

After that day, Yue Lin learned the truth.

Dad was a Hero. That part was true.

But...

He had never been her hero.

Only Mom had protected her with everything she had.

After that day, Yue Lin could only curl up tightly in the arms of her mother, who had returned from a miserable, hard-won victory. The two of them had only each other.

And Yue Lin made a decision.

She hated Dad.

She would never forgive Dad.

Even if one day they met, and that man begged every day, trying to make up for all the love she'd missed, she still wouldn't forgive him.

..

Peeking at that man through the crack in the door, Yue Lin saw him suddenly stand and start walking this way.

She sniffled, quickly shut the door, locked it tight, and put on a blank expression.

She had already prepared all kinds of vicious things to say to him.

Some of them might really hurt.

But none of that could compare to what she and Mom had suffered.

And it still wouldn't make up for everything Mom had given him over the years.

She was ready. Ready to fire everything off cleanly and fast. All she had to do now was wait for that hateful man outside the door to speak and ask her to open it.

And then...

Click.

The door opened.

Yue Lin: "??????"

Looking at the man standing in the open doorway with a key in hand, Yue Lin realized she'd made a huge mistake.

He actually had a key!!

Yue Lin backed away a few steps in fear.

Maybe it was because of the distance. Maybe it was because this man called "Dad," who had never once truly been her father, was suddenly too close.

Yue Lin felt a certain danger.

The girl's pretty little face stiffened at once, turning fierce.

She looked like a little raccoon trying hard to stand upright and spread its paws, making itself seem more intimidating.

Most people on Earth would only use one word to describe that terrifying intimidation.

Cute.

"Y-What are you trying to do?"

Yue Lin forced herself to say it calmly.

She bit her lip, refusing to let herself cry.

Stupid Mom. She actually left me here alone!

Without Mom there to hold the line, Yue Lin suddenly felt like she had no confidence at all.

What if this awful man suddenly rushes over and hugs me? What am I supposed to do?

Fight back?

But what if that just makes him even more excited?!

Humans were all bad people. Yue Lin remembered all of her mother's warnings and secretly swallowed.

Li Wei looked at his daughter, whose face was full of solemn vigilance. Then he looked at the silver ahoge on top of her head, sticking up and starting to sway violently.

He fell into deep thought.

He understood now.

His daughter had excellent control over her facial expressions.

But apparently...

She couldn't control her ahoge.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Li Wei asked.

"Of course!" Yue Lin snapped back at once, saying coldly.

She definitely hadn't eaten breakfast, but she refused to lower her head in front of Li Wei.

She hadn't even gotten to say all the harsh things she'd prepared yet. Did this stupid adult human male really think one breakfast would be enough to brush her off?

Even though Li Wei opening the sliding door had caught her off guard, Yue Lin felt she'd recovered now and could start building up her emotions again.

She'd already decided.

No matter how Li Wei tried to talk to her next, she wouldn't cooperate. She'd wait until he started softening up and coaxing her, and then she'd strike.

That was how she'd deal the most damage.

Yue Lin had a natural gift for making people laugh and cry at the same time.

Then, under Yue Lin's icy stare, Li Wei walked right past her and went to the stove. He took out some ingredients and started preparing them.

Hmph. So he doesn't know what to say and is just dragging things out.

Yue Lin crossed her arms and watched the man skillfully handle the ingredients, waiting for him to come up with a suitable excuse to start talking to her.

And that wait...

Lasted nearly half an hour.

Yue Lin's eyes were starting to sting from staring so hard. All she saw was the man deftly preparing the food, then cooking up an enticing aroma in the pot.

Only then did Li Wei seem to finally have time to glance to the side. As if he'd just noticed something odd about Yue Lin, he asked, "What's wrong?"

Yue Lin: "???"

So you weren't thinking about how to apologize at all?!

Yue Lin was so upset she was almost crying. She forced down the bitterness in her chest and pressed her lips together.

"Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"

She knew she really shouldn't be the one to speak first.

But she honestly couldn't hold it in anymore.

"If I say something, will Yue Lin respond to me?" Li Wei asked softly.

"Of course not." Yue Lin gave a huff. She hadn't planned to respond before, and now she wanted to even less.

"Then why should I say anything?"

Li Wei looked at his daughter with genuine curiosity.

Yue Lin: "???"

At first, she thought that made perfect sense.

Then immediately after, she felt it made no sense at all.

The bitterness in her heart had already risen to her eyes. Yue Lin was on the verge of losing control of the moisture gathering there.

But suddenly, another wave of anger surged up and forcibly pressed back her urge to cry. Her expression turned even colder.

"That's exactly why I told Mom there was no need to come find you at all!"

"You abandoned me and Mom for so long, and you can still act like nothing happened."

Li Wei's expression seemed to freeze for a moment. Then he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know..."

If he'd known about Yue Lin's existence a few years earlier...

But Yue Lin cut off his explanation cleanly.

"Yeah. You didn't know. You never knew anything!"

"When Mom was struggling all alone to take care of me, you didn't know!"

"When I had no father and got bullied by other people, you didn't know!"

"Because I have human blood, Mom wasn't just hunted by human Chosen Heroes like you. She was also suppressed among the demons, to the point she couldn't even stay in her own Demon King Citadel anymore. And you didn't know that either!"

"But even all alone, Mom still refused to come find you, just because she didn't want the title of strongest Chosen Hero to be tarnished."

"And isn't that only natural? Being a Hero, protecting all humans, matters way more than protecting his own family."

"You never cared about us anyway. And I don't need someone like you to be my dad!"

Yue Lin looked straight into Li Wei's eyes and said every word one by one.

By the end, a layer of mist had inevitably clouded her eyes.

After venting all that anger, what rose in the girl's heart was enormous fear and panic.

—Don't.

Don't... leave...

"So that's what Yue Lin wanted to say to me?" Li Wei said softly.

He had deliberately drawn out his daughter's anger, wanting to know what she had hidden inside.

But hearing all of this from her own mouth still left him caught off guard.

Every sentence Yue Lin spoke felt like a giant hand slowly tightening around Li Wei's heart.

Of course he knew...

He had missed far too much of his daughter's growth.

But no matter what, he had never imagined that Tsukika, that Demon Lord, would go this far just to protect his reputation.

She raised their daughter alone. She deliberately hid all news of Yue Lin.

Wasn't that supposed to be simply for the sake of this carefully planned revenge?

And yet, thinking about it rationally, if Tsukika had truly only wanted revenge, there were obviously many more direct and easier ways to do it.

Li Wei suddenly felt a little suffocated.

He couldn't understand it.

Why had Tsukika done this?

“—I’ll make you fall in love with me willingly.”

That pink whisper seemed to echo by his ear once more, sending ripples through his heart.

Yue Lin just stared blankly into the man’s eyes before her.

Those beautiful black eyes were deep and dark. Her figure was reflected in them. In his gaze, she seemed wrapped in the gentlest light in the world.

Faced with such a quiet look from him, Yue Lin froze for quite a while. She said nothing more. She suddenly turned her head away, ran to the table outside, sat down, and sulked.

He wasn’t angry... and he hadn’t really said anything heartless. But this kind of reaction... left Yue Lin not knowing how to face him at all.

A few minutes later, Yue Lin saw Li Wei walk out of the kitchen. He was carrying a large bowl, which he set on the table.

“I’m not eating!”

Yue Lin turned her head away, trying hard to resist the temptation of that rich aroma.

It wasn’t like she cared for food made by this man.

Even though she’d never gotten to eat something like this even on her birthday, she still didn’t care!

It just smelled good, that was all.

“I know you’ve already eaten. This isn’t for you,” Li Wei said with a nod.

Yue Lin: “...”

In an instant, Yue Lin’s little fist clenched tight. Even the ahoge on top of her head stood straight up from anger.

Yue Lin suddenly felt that the guilt she’d just had over attacking this man was completely gone.

She felt like she needed even more aggressive words.

Didn’t anything I just said make you reconsider at all?!

As expected of humanity’s Chosen Hero. He really was cold and heartless enough.

Just as Yue Lin was getting angry again, Li Wei suddenly said,

“Of course, if Yue Lin wants to have a taste, that’s not impossible.”

Yue Lin’s expression softened a little.

“But I also know Yue Lin definitely wouldn’t be willing to casually accept a gift from someone like me.”

Yue Lin proudly tilted up her ahoge, raised her pretty little brows, and nodded with pride.

Li Wei continued, “Then trade labor for it.”

“...”

Yue Lin gave the fragrant food on the table a cold glance, then shot Li Wei another cold look.

“What kind of labor?”

Of course she didn’t want to casually accept kindness from this man. That would mean she was willing to accept him. But if it was just a transaction, then that was different.

Perfect. This would also give her a chance to properly mock the cooking skills of this annoying man.

“It might be a little difficult for you,” Li Wei said softly.

“It’s just labor. What’s so hard about that?” Yue Lin put on a fierce expression. She didn’t want her attitude to look like it had softened.

“Maybe I shouldn’t say it after all. I don’t think you can do it.” Li Wei suddenly looked troubled.

“You haven’t even said it. How do you know I can’t do it?”

Yue Lin was very dissatisfied. “I can definitely do it.”

There was no way she wanted this annoying man looking down on her.

“Really?”

Li Wei looked at Yue Lin doubtfully.

Yue Lin nodded impatiently.

Li Wei fell silent for a moment, then held out a spoon toward Yue Lin.

“Alright then. Feed me.”

“?”

Before the girl could explode in fury, Li Wei continued, “Of course, it’s fine if Yue Lin can’t follow through. No one will blame Yue Lin for that. After all, Yue Lin is still a child.”

“?????”

Even Yue Lin’s ahoge shot straight up in anger. She absolutely refused to be looked at that way by this man. Puffing up in anger, she snatched the spoon away.

“If you’re not used to being this close to me, you can stand a little farther away. It won’t affect much anyway. At most, something might splash onto me. Yue Lin is still a child, so a mistake like that would only be natural.”

“Who would care about something like that?!”

As she spoke, Yue Lin decisively moved a little closer. But after a moment, the ahoge on top of her head curled into a question mark again.

“?”

Yue Lin felt like something was off, but she couldn’t say exactly what was off. By the time she came back to herself, she had somehow already picked up the spoon and walked right in front of Li Wei.

This turn of events seemed a little beyond the girl’s mental capacity. It was like Yue Lin’s CPU had started smoking.

And this distance was way too close!

It was the kind of distance where one more step forward would send her straight into his arms.

For a moment, Yue Lin got so nervous that her pink little toes curled up inside her black leather shoes.

But right after that, she straightened her chest and gave herself a pep talk.

No.

She shouldn’t be this timid when facing this annoying man.

“W-we’re just making a deal. I’m not sincerely trying to feed you or anything!”

Yue Lin reminded Li Wei viciously.

Li Wei nodded. “I understand. Yue Lin still hates me right now.”

“Hmph. Good that you know.”

Under Li Wei’s gaze, Yue Lin awkwardly scooped up a spoonful from the bowl. Then, without thinking, she carefully blew on it by her thin, pink lips. Keeping a stern little face, she said fiercely, “Open your mouth.”

Li Wei smiled and opened his mouth. Tsukika, huffing angrily, shoved the spoon into Li Wei’s mouth.

At that moment, he suddenly felt that the world had become brighter.

His daughter was in this world now.