After all, having spent several days in close contact with Tsukika, the initial strangeness had long faded. Li Wei had also endured this Demon Lord’s countless teasing antics—and naturally picked up a few tricks.

"Tsk."

Tsukika’s feint was seen through. A sound of clear annoyance escaped her lips.

Li Wei’s eye twitched slightly. *So this Demon Lord doesn’t even bother hiding her desires in front of me anymore?*

Tsukika tossed the stone in her hand, shot Li Wei a glance, and drawled, "Then… what price are you willing to pay, hmm?"

"Just so you know," she added airily, "in this state, your daughter only speaks heartfelt truths. Questions like *Do you like Dad? How much do you like him?*—Chosen Hero, you could easily coax every answer straight from her."

Reading Tsukika’s expression, Li Wei suddenly understood. This Demon Lord had indeed treated her daughter as a "toy" more than once.

*So she’s been secretly teasing her daughter without me?*

*Oh. I wasn’t there? Then never mind.*

Li Wei’s emotions stirred quietly. Back during the Demon King Citadel raids, surrounded by priceless treasures up for grabs, he’d remained utterly composed while others fiercely argued over a single artifact.

He’d believed himself immune to temptation.

But now he knew—faced with something truly alluring, he was still just human.

Even knowing this was Tsukika’s deliberate sales pitch, possibly a trap, he simply couldn’t refuse.

Like how you know certain gacha games are shamelessly greedy and tight-fisted… yet when a character or skin hits your XP, nobody stays indifferent.

Pull it? Curse. Miss it? Curse. Either way—you roll.

Right now, Li Wei faced the same choice.

*Whether I actually get it or not… is secondary. But is this truly the only chance this year—maybe in my whole life—to capture my daughter like this: sweet, clingy, utterly precious?*

His gaze followed the recording stone swaying in Tsukika’s fingers. In that moment, it felt more valuable than any hidden treasure in the Citadel’s forbidden zones.

With this stone, no matter how tsundere his daughter normally was, he could recharge his "daughter energy" daily and navigate their bond with more confidence.

Li Wei suddenly regretted never keeping a single recording stone on hand.

*After this, I’m ordering hundreds from Edith. No excuses.*

"I can’t promise how long she’ll stay like this," Tsukika murmured, smile deepening as she sensed his hesitation. "Miss this chance~ and the next? I doubt the Chosen Hero would pray for his daughter to fall ill every day."

*The mighty Chosen Hero, utterly flustered.*

Though she’d been captured by Li Wei seven times before—that was the past. A new year, a new chancellor.

Those Demon Lords who trembled at his name could never imagine she spent her days *on* the Chosen Hero.

Li Wei’s lips parted slightly. He hadn’t forgotten—he still owed her one favor.

*Last debt unpaid… and now a second? Who could handle that?*

He didn’t rush to promise anything. Instead, he looked down at his daughter, eyes half-lidded like a sleepy kitten, and asked softly, "Yue Lin… do you like Dad?"

This question had weighed on him for so long.

He could guess her feelings—but guessing was never the same as hearing it.

Normally, asking this would earn only a "You’re an idiot" stare.

*"Hah! What nonsense, foolish human? I hate you! I’d never like you, idiot idiot BIG idiot!"*

(An exaggeration, of course. Still… not far off.)

"I like you!"

Yue Lin answered obediently.

A surge of warmth—stronger than any Source Material—flooded Li Wei’s chest.

"Let me ask the next one for you, Chosen Hero," Tsukika smiled. "Yue Lin… do you miss Dad?"

"I do!"

"I miss Dad many times every day. But Dad never notices Yue Lin… never comes to see Yue Lin. Yue Lin feels very sad."

Li Wei met Tsukika’s gaze, heart aching yet complex. He forced a gentle smile—his daughter’s wide eyes were fixed on his face.

Softly, he said:

"Then Yue Lin needn’t worry anymore. Even if you don’t miss me… I’ll always be by your side."

"Will Dad leave Yue Lin again?"

"No."

"Is that just comforting me?"

"No."

*It’s a promise.*

Li Wei whispered inwardly.

Then—a sharp pang. He recalled Tsukika’s hopeful eyes during their earlier agreement. That same dizzying, heart-tugging feeling.

*No wonder they’re mother and daughter. When they want a promise… the emotion hits the same.*

He looked up. Tsukika was watching him too, expression unreadable.

"But~"

Yue Lin glanced between them and added quietly, "Even though Yue Lin misses Dad very much… Mom misses him *more*."

"..."

Silence thickened, frozen solid.

The tension felt like the "Immovable" Authority itself—locking both Li Wei and Tsukika in place.

"????"

"Eh?"

Two pairs of eyes widened in stunned confusion.

If Li Wei could’ve parted Tsukika’s hair, he’d have seen her delicate ears flushed crimson—as if drowned in wine.

If he could’ve lifted her skirt, he’d have noticed her white-stockinged legs pressed tightly together, shifting uneasily.

If he could’ve slipped off her shoes, he’d have seen her toes curled tight inside her stockings, digging as if trying to carve a five-bedroom villa right into the floor.

But alas—he could do none of it.

So all he managed was a stunned, bewildered look at Tsukika.

"Is… what she said true?"

*This Demon Lord actually misses me?*

"Children babble nonsense," Tsukika said, hiding her clenched fist behind her back.

A strange light swirled in her crimson eyes—like a dizzying vortex.

Her temperature rose. CPU overheating.

*How did my daughter backstab me like this?!*

"You just said… she only speaks her heart’s truth?" Li Wei asked, suspicion threading his voice.

He was shaken too—too distracted to notice Tsukika’s own state shifting.

Tsukika pressed her lips tight. Yue Lin pouted.

"Yue Lin isn’t lying! Yue Lin is awake. It’s Mom who hides it."

"Mom doesn’t."

"Yue Lin *saw* it~"

Tsukika paused. "What if… the person you saw just looked like Mom?"

Yue Lin: "?????"

Li Wei: "???????"

*What a picture of maternal love and filial piety.*

Watching the flustered Demon Lord, Li Wei licked his lips, eyes drifting to the recording stone.

Regret surged again.

*Should’ve agreed earlier… missed such a golden scene.*

"But I *saw* it," Yue Lin insisted. "Mom used to stay up late alone… crafting little dolls of Dad!"

Li Wei nearly choked—*Wait, not *with* me?*

He quickly pieced it together. He was a wood-carving hobbyist himself. Tsukika’s "doll-making" must be similar.

*But why…?*

"Mom held fire and lightning over Dad’s doll," Yue Lin added earnestly, "fiddling with it again and again."

Li Wei frowned. *How did she even recognize it was me?*

"Yue Lin," he asked gently, "how did you know the doll was Dad’s?"

"Because I found the broken head Mom dropped… with Dad’s name written on it."

"I see…"

Li Wei murmured.

Tsukika’s gaze flickered, watching realization dawn on his face. Her fists tightened.

"I understand now."

Li Wei met her eyes.

"Understand *what*?" Her voice carried a rare waver.

"—You *were* thinking of me back then."

"But… was it the *kill-me* kind of missing?" Li Wei mused.

Flames, lightning, a snapped-off head… eerily close to voodoo doll curses from his past life.

Surely she wasn’t failing to craft a magical Li Wei replica and venting frustration?

"..."

Tsukika clenched her fists again.

This time—not from nerves.

"Why were *you* flustered just now?" Li Wei finally asked.

Tsukika offered a faint smile. "Before the Chosen Hero filled the void and comforted me… I thought my daughter caught me *rewarding myself* in private. Of course I’d panic."

"????"

*What scandalous words!*

Li Wei froze.

"Heh."

Tsukika gave him an unreadable smile—then, swift and smooth, plucked Yue Lin from his arms.

Li Wei blinked.

"She’s waking up."

"You wouldn’t want her to remember what *you* did, would you?"

Tsukika’s tone was flat.

"You haven’t given me the stone."

"Too late. You missed your chance, hmm."

Li Wei: "..."

Watching Yue Lin carried away, a quiet hollowness settled in his chest. He stood still, memories swirling—strange words, flushed ears, a hidden truth.

And yet…

The house, once cold and silent,

now carried, faintly,

the warmth of home.

One by one, those he knew and trusted vanished from the path he guarded.

In the end, was it none other than the Demon Lord who offered him warmth?