Vivian’s face burned crimson with rage.

If she had a rage bar, it would’ve flashed “WARNING! WARNING!”

If she were male, she’d probably be throwing a love-charged “deliberate punch” right now.

But she had none of that.

All she could do was tremble with fury.

Retort? Fight back?

Absolutely impossible.

After all, what cuts deepest isn’t someone yelling insults at your whole family tree—

but someone smiling sweetly while thanking you,

each “thank you” stabbing straight into your heart.

You can’t even get angry. You have to say *thank you*.

Tsukika’s crimson eyes crinkled slightly at the corners as she savored Vivian’s unconsciously pale face.

She kept talking.

“—In short, if *I’d* tried to persuade my husband to abandon his duty, he’d have ignored me.”

“If not for you freeing him from those heavy burdens, I wouldn’t have dared bring our daughter to see him.”

“If I’d shown up out of nowhere? He’d scold me fiercely… and punish me *very* severely that night, you know~”

The Demon Lord’s eyes welled up naturally, putting on a pitifully wronged act.

“That’s enough,” Li Wei muttered, a headache blooming. *She’s really pushing it.*

Tsukika’s tears were staged—but Vivian genuinely looked seconds from tears.

*With mental fortitude like this, how could she ever slay a Demon Lord?* Li Wei thought. *She’d cry from words alone.*

“Hehe~ We’re old married couples already, Chosen Hero. Still so shy?” Tsukika dropped the fragile act. A rosy blush tinted her cheeks—genuine excitement. She was *thoroughly* dominating these human heroes, and it felt *exhilarating*.

Back then, she’d seethed watching foolish women burden Li Wei. She’d wanted to crush them.

But now? She’d found a far more entertaining game than crushing Chosen Heroes.

*Times change. Never underestimate a Demon Lord in humble circumstances.*

Tsukika kept speaking, but Vivian no longer heard her.

She’d been dizzy for minutes—just like Li Wei once was under Tsukika’s revelations.

Truth after truth slammed into her, sweat beading on her brow.

A bitter, grievous wave exploded in her chest—as if three punches had shattered a jar of tangled emotions, flooding her with sour, salty, sweet chaos.

No breath. No rebuttal. Only the dawning horror: *This was true. I never saw it.*

“So… it was *her* reason you never answered anyone’s hopes?” Vivian whispered.

No wonder he showed no affection during the Demon Lord campaigns.

Someone had claimed the prize long before the race began.

*Li Wei found a replacement? ✗*

*We’re not even replacements? ✓*

Her past fantasy—that *she’d* rescue the abandoned hero—was pure comedy.

*…Was the clown me all along??*

She glanced dazedly at Li Wei, then the family of three. A hollow void filled her chest. Her mental walls crumbled. Old wounds flared. Nausea rose—body and soul screaming.

Then—Frostheart, her Miracle, activated.

Forcing calm. Forging her heart colder, harder.

But the chaos in her head was unbearable.

“I’m sorry. I have matters to attend to. I must leave.”

Questions swirled—about his mysterious wife, her anger at Li Wei—but she couldn’t stay another second.

“What a polite young lady,” Tsukika chirped, hands behind her back, smiling brightly. “Do visit again next time~”

She watched the golden-haired girl stagger away like a defeated golden retriever.

Li Wei watched Vivian go, voice low: “Satisfied now?”

“The Chosen Hero *has* satisfied me before~ Don’t think I’m *that* easy,” Tsukika teased, sticking out her tongue.

Li Wei: “….”

“Though~ One thing *did* surprise me.” Her eyes narrowed, sweetly. “I never knew you’d been thinking of me… even rejecting others for my sake?”

Li Wei glanced at her. “*Also*?”

Tsukika stiffened. The delicate, translucent ears hidden in her hair flushed pink. She blinked, innocent. “What ‘also’?”

Li Wei shook his head. “Nothing. It’s not ‘thinking of you’—I just wouldn’t start a relationship with no future.”

After claiming the Demon Lord’s first time—and beyond—he couldn’t answer others’ feelings.

Not with *their* agreement.

“Hmph. So principled? I thought a Chosen Hero like you’d have a harem of double digits.” Tsukika’s smile was sly, but her eyes gleamed.

*Triple digits wouldn’t satisfy your spree,* Li Wei mused. *Any yandere would pale beside you.*

“But… if *that* hadn’t happened when you left the Demon King Citadel… would you still have chosen this path?” Tsukika asked lightly.

Li Wei stayed calm. “‘If’ doesn’t exist for me. If it did, too much could change—even my life.”

“I see~” Tsukika murmured lazily.

*…But for me, an “if” without you doesn’t exist.*

As her thoughts drifted, Li Wei asked: “Why ask?”

Tsukika smiled serenely. “To remind you, Chosen Hero—you’re *mine* now. No wandering thoughts.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Li Wei dismissed.

He didn’t dwell. Countless had died trying to steal *her* treasures—let alone an EX-rarity Chosen Hero like him.

In a Tencent gacha game? He’d be unit #0000.

Of course she’d treasure him.

“You handled that well earlier. Next time a ‘bad woman’ tries to win you back—be just as firm~” Tsukika’s eyes sparkled. “Since you were so good today… another reward?”

She pouted her dewy pink lips. Li Wei almost laughed—*How is her Authority NOT Charm?*

He wouldn’t be shocked to find a tiny heart-shaped tail under her skirt someday.

He knew those lips well—sweet, supple, clever—but kissing a Demon Lord publicly? No. He glanced at curious onlookers. “You call this a reward? Not punishment?”

“Didn’t you enjoy it? You were *drunk* with pleasure that night. So… are my lips sweeter than candy?”

“I don’t like sweets.”

Tsukika’s glare sharpened—then the small figure on Li Wei’s back stirred.

“Yue Lin’s waking,” Li Wei said.

Tsukika released him, but her gaze turned mischievous, eyes twinkling with new schemes.

They closed the room door. Reluctantly, Li Wei carried Yue Lin to the sofa.

*If this tsundere wakes up realizing a “hated human” carried her…*

He gently set her down—then tiny arms locked around his neck.

He froze.

Yue Lin’s eyes were open: ruby-red, shimmering with moisture.

Unlike Tsukika’s sharp, authoritative crimson gaze, hers held Li Wei’s gentle softness.

Wide, watery, heartbreakingly vulnerable.

Before he could process it, a drowsy whisper:

“Daddy… I missed you so much.”

*Whoosh.*

An arrow through the heart.

Nothing—not even that first night with Tsukika—hit this hard.

This dependence was different. Deeper.

His “retired caveman protocol” vanished into oblivion.

Tsukika stared blankly at his stunned, blissful smile—the kind he wore after her Noble Phantasm struck.

Silently, she activated a recording crystal. *This idiot’s face might scare our awake daughter to tears.*

“The Chosen Hero’s expression is *truly* worth savoring, you know~”

Li Wei snapped back, carefully hugging Yue Lin as she nuzzled his chest like a kitten. He shot Tsukika a suspicious look. “Illusion?”

Tsukika chuckled—and pinched his waist.

“?????”

“Not an illusion. *Definitely* not.”

Pain-testing was crude—but for Li Wei, whose will fused with flesh, it worked.

He glared at her twisting fingers. “How much longer?”

*Do all women master waist-pinching after marriage? Even Demon Lords?*

Tsukika blinked innocently. “Until you say ‘let go’?”

“Didn’t I?”

“Did you? I didn’t hear those words.”

Li Wei: “…Let go.”

Tsukika released him—reluctantly.

Li Wei quietly glanced at Tsukika’s slender, pale hand—and suddenly wondered… maybe he was still in one piece. Maybe he was even a little lucky?

He steadied his thoughts, looked down at his daughter clinging to him like a tiny koala, then paused and met Tsukika’s gaze. “What’s wrong with Yue Lin?”

This was the first time he’d seen his daughter like this.

It was as if a switch had flipped: her usual unshakable tsundere defense vanished, leaving only her vulnerable, clingy side completely exposed.

“As you can see,” Tsukika murmured, her eyes soft on her daughter as she gently tousled the limp strand of hair on her head. “Whenever she’s sick, or just after a curse lifts like this… she becomes like this. Probably her own self-protection mechanism.”

She turned her gaze back to Li Wei, voice deliberate, word by word:

“After all~ in moments like this—when she’s at her weakest, most fragile—there was never a father by her side before.”

“No matter the pain, the fear, the terror… she bore it all alone. Because she’s always been thoughtful enough not to worry her mother.”

“Caught between wanting to rely on someone and fearing she’d be a burden… that’s how this pure, utterly adorable version of her appears~”

“If someone she trusts comes near, she’ll melt into their arms, soft and sweet. If no one does… she’ll curl silently into a corner, hugging herself without a word.”

“But whether it’s the clinging or the pain—it’s all things she doesn’t want to remember. Once she recovers, she won’t recall any of it.”

“So even if the Chosen Hero… *ahem*… cuddles, kisses, or lifts her up while she’s like this? Perfectly fine.”

“She won’t wake up scolding you huffily for taking advantage.”

Tsukika ended with a gentle, teasing smile.

Li Wei felt as if the Demon Lord had slipped a blade straight into his heart—without warning.

He held his daughter a little tighter, murmuring, “I really have missed too much of your lives.”

“What?”

“I mean—I’ve missed too much of my daughter’s growth.”

Face unreadable, he corrected the slip, then fixed his gaze on the recording stone in Tsukika’s hand.

Noticing his look, Tsukika lifted her crimson eyes, studying him thoughtfully. A faint smile curved her pink lips.

“Does the Chosen Hero want it now?”

“Yes.”

Li Wei answered instinctively—then quickly added:

“I mean… I want the stone in your hand.”