Yue Lin’s little face was still stiff, but her emotions were far from calm.

She knew Mom was deliberately finding chances to bully Dad. But from where she stood, no matter how she looked at it, the two of them seemed... really close.

Of course, they were Dad and Mom. Being close, being intimate, that was only natural. Mom’s original goal had been to make Dad change his heart and come back, after all. But... but still, why did it feel so strange?

Yue Lin frowned slightly as she thought.

Then she suddenly felt...

...like even her place as their daughter had been stolen by Mom??

She’d finally gotten a complete family with so much difficulty. Even if she still hadn’t acknowledged that unreliable human male’s identity, she should at least be getting double the love.

But in the end, was the one receiving double the love actually Mom?

Even so, Yue Lin didn’t really feel much bitterness.

She stared blankly at Mom sitting beside that man. Mom had pulled over a little stool and sat next to him, her eyes fixed on him completely. That was something Yue Lin wanted to do, and yet didn’t want to do.

She really hoped this comforting scene could go on forever.

Because in the past, she could only ever see something like this in dreams.

And the light shining in Mom’s eyes... that was pure happiness, wasn’t it?

She rarely ever saw Mom like this.

Other than those occasional nights when Mom held her close.

Even though Yue Lin always felt heartache and pity for that travel-worn, dust-covered Mom, and had asked more than once whether every day was exhausting and painful, Mom would always smile a little and answer in a happy voice:

“How could Mommy feel tired or miserable? In this world, I have my daughter, and that clueless idiot man.”

“And Yue Lin? Living this kind of life with Mommy, is it hard? Is it painful?”

Mom would ask her that in return.

And every time, Yue Lin would throw herself into Mom’s arms and hide her face so her tears wouldn’t fall.

“Yue Lin doesn’t think so either. Because in this world, I have Mommy... and that annoying guy too...”

She didn’t even know why she’d added that annoying guy, that man who had never once come to see her.

Maybe because she had been hoping for him, and before she knew it, that had become a habit.

A word like father had suddenly become something as distant as fairy tale books and the stars at the edge of the sky.

Year after year.

In the human world, Mom had run everywhere, hidden her identity, and struggled to raise her.

The demons’ suspicion and doubt had come more than once—

But Mom had never dared reveal her existence in front of any demon.

On the rare occasions when she had no choice but to return to the Demon King Citadel, Mom had always walked on thin ice, disguising everything with extreme care. And she was only the little girl Mom had “picked up.”

She couldn’t possibly be the little princess of the Undying Demon Lord. So in the Demon King Citadel, she could only be an orphan, a somewhat lucky child favored by the Demon Lord.

And the kind with no talent at all.

In the human world, Mom was a single Chosen Hero struggling to raise her daughter. Even though a few aunts had become Mom’s human friends, maybe that only made things harder for Mom instead.

The closer someone got to her secret, the more effort Mom had to spend on disguising and hiding it.

All at once, it felt like no matter where she was, there was no place in the world where Mom truly belonged.

She always had to wear a mask just to have a future.

Yue Lin had always behaved herself and never added to Mom’s burden. No matter what Mom told her, she accepted it all obediently.

Until a few days ago.

After finding that man, Mom seemed to have finally been set free.

She no longer had to do those things Mom used to talk about, that “empty-something snake” stuff that man had said.

And there was much more happiness on her face now too.

But still...

There was one thing Yue Lin couldn’t understand.

The mask on Mom’s face didn’t seem to have fully come off yet.

It was like she was still hiding something from Dad.

And from her too.

But...

As long as their relationship could fully recover, fully heal, then it should be fine, right?

With those little thoughts in mind, Yue Lin told herself—

If it was Mom, then it was probably fine, right? Even if for now, Mom had to take her share too.

Compared to her, Mom was the one who needed Dad’s comfort the most.

While growing up, Yue Lin hadn’t had Dad by her side. She hadn’t been able to rely on him. But at least she still had Mom to lean on.

Mom had given her all the love she could give.

But Mom truly had no one she could rely on.

Thinking of it that way, everything suddenly made more sense.

Yue Lin kept her little face stiff and came to a firm conclusion. Just because she couldn’t cut into their fish-this fish-that conversation earlier didn’t mean she was the extra one. It only meant that for Mom’s sake, she didn’t want to interrupt!

Not to mention, she had to show her stance. She couldn’t let that unreliable human male notice that she wanted to get closer to him. Hmph. There was no way she’d forgive him that easily.

Mm... even if she thought that, she still felt a tiny bit disappointed.

Just as Yue Lin started absentmindedly kicking a little pebble by her foot, that unreliable man was, for once, reliable in her eyes. He pulled his gaze away from the Demon Lord beside him, whose eyes seemed glued to him, and looked toward his daughter, who had been standing silently in the distance the whole time.

Then he asked softly,

“Yue Lin, what kind of fish do you want?”

“Yue Lin likes stewed fish the most.”

Before Yue Lin could answer, Tsukika answered for her.

How did Mom become the traitor?!

Yue Lin shot a puffed-up glare at the thoughtful-looking man and immediately retorted, “...I don’t like stewed fish. I don’t care for this stuff at all. As long as it comes out edible, that’s enough.”

After saying that, Yue Lin turned her head away.

But the instant she did, she started regretting it a little.

She felt like she’d been controlled by some weird force again.

Tsukika smiled as she watched her daughter turn away. Then, right in front of Li Wei, she took out a bottle of special medicinal powder and sprinkled some onto a piece of fish.

“?”

Li Wei was shocked too. He had only just recovered from the small surprise of learning his daughter’s preference, and now his expression almost broke.

This Demon Lord isn’t even pretending anymore when she drugs me?

“Did you forget what I told you?”

Li Wei glanced at his daughter, who seemed so close and yet out of reach. He could only grit his teeth and lean close to Tsukika’s ear as he spoke.

The man’s warm breath mixed with his words and brushed against Tsukika’s ear. It wasn’t the sweet, sticky kind of breath a girl might have, the kind that made people itch inside, but to an utterly unguarded Tsukika, it was still a huge stimulus.

Her hand almost trembled from the sudden puff of air into her ear, nearly spilling all the magic potion.

But it was only for an instant.

Tsukika quickly steadied herself. Calmly, she turned her head and brushed the silver hair by her ear down to cover her small, crystal-like ear, now hot and red.

“What is Chosen Hero-sama talking about? I don’t understand.”

“Why not say it more plainly?”

Only after saying that did she take the time to tighten the potion bottle’s cap.

At some point, a tiny crack had appeared on the bottle.

But before Li Wei could notice, Tsukika had already put it away.

And Li Wei had no mind to care about details like that right now. After confirming that his daughter still had no intention of turning back around, he gave her a dead-fish stare and said,

“I’m completely out. Not a single drop left.”

“...”

Tsukika fell silent for a moment. She looked at Li Wei with a strange expression. Then all of a sudden, one hand covered her mouth, the other pressed against her stomach, and her body trembled as if she were struggling to hold something back.

Anyone who didn’t know would think she was trying not to laugh herself sick.

Anyone who did know would think she was having morning sickness.

The moment Li Wei saw that, his pupils shook, and cold sweat broke out over him in a way that almost never happened.

...If Yue Lin had been a one-shot hit, then after being squeezed dry by the Demon Lord these past few days, he should’ve at least hit hard pity by now!

And not a single shot had gone outside.

She couldn’t be saying she’d handled it, when she actually hadn’t, right??

Li Wei’s mood instantly turned complicated. If they were really about to have a second child right away... huh? To his surprise, he realized he didn’t actually seem that resistant to it???

But right after that, the Demon Lord lifted her little face, and Li Wei no longer had to keep agonizing over it.

Now he finally saw it clearly...

This wasn’t morning sickness.

She was trying not to laugh herself sick.

“I feel awful...”

Tsukika’s little face was flushed red from holding it in, and tears were almost coming out.

Watching this, Li Wei only felt even worse.

He truly couldn’t understand what exactly he had said that was so funny that this Demon Lord had to struggle this hard not to laugh.

Thankfully, Tsukika hadn’t noticed the change in his expression just now. Otherwise, if she’d guessed what he was thinking, she probably really would’ve laughed herself to death.

As a professional Demon Lord, Tsukika still forcibly calmed herself down. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, then stuck out her soft pink tongue.

“So scary. As expected of the strongest Chosen Hero-sama. I almost got killed by a single sentence from you.”

Looking at Li Wei’s darkened face, Tsukika smiled lightly. Then she glanced back at her daughter, who seemed to have been drawn by the commotion and was secretly turning her head back around, and leaned close to Li Wei’s ear too, gently blowing into it.

“I didn’t expect Chosen Hero-sama to be so unforgettable once you’ve had a taste of that sort of thing. But sadly, that medicine just now wasn’t for you.”

“It was for our daughter.”

Li Wei felt the tingling breath in his ear, but his mind was completely caught by Tsukika’s last sentence.

Medicine for their daughter...

His gaze shifted, and he looked back at the dish in his hands.

Not long after, a whole fish feast, tortured by every possible cooking method and complete in color, aroma, and taste, was freshly born from Li Wei’s hands.

The tempting fragrance was enough to make even the Demon Lord, who had originally only been joking around, feel her appetite stir. There was no need to mention Yue Lin beside them, whose cravings had long since been hooked. She was already trying to think of unpleasant things just to suppress her appetite.

That hateful human male had actually mastered such terrifying cooking skills to tempt her.

Yue Lin resisted the sugar-coated attack with difficulty. But when Mom personally brought over a bowl of steaming hot, beautifully milky-white fish soup, she finally couldn’t hold out anymore.

“Yue Lin, time to eat your fish~”

Tsukika gently and tenderly patted her daughter’s head.