Vol 4. Chapter 11: Getting Away With It

Her intelligence?

That was very important. It would determine whether the child could deceive Lady Yumo and, without Lady Yumo knowing, weaken the forces on the Anqieka Continent that opposed the Abyss Demons, or even take action against the Child of Destiny. Existences like Lady Karina and Lady Liyu had undoubtedly made Xiao's operations much easier.

However,

a lovable idiot like Limo, or someone as impatient and impulsive as Piere, had certainly caused Xiao plenty of trouble. Even while Limo was still inside the Great Winter Forest, she had caused Liyu, Shuoyue, and the others no shortage of headaches because of this. Outside the forest, Xiao and the Black Rose Family under his control were constantly cleaning up Piere's messes.

The commander of the Black Rose Knights could practically be said to be on standby at all times, always ready to rush out and clean up the aftermath for that 'Sword Demon.' Although, for some reason, Lord Piere seemed to have inexplicably vanished without a trace recently, and Xiao had no idea what he had gone off to do.

But no matter what,

Xiao still hoped that Yuan'er, this newly born Demon King-class existence, would be a little smarter and more perceptive. That way, their future operations would become much easier. Although the Child of Destiny—Xue Tianao had now been confirmed dead, the Asumos Church, which was even more powerful than the Snow Night Empire, still remained, and the Daughter of Destiny was still alive.

There was still some distance to go before they could reach the safest world they all hoped for.

Until then, they could not relax. Strengthening their power and increasing the number of their companions remained priorities that could not be ignored.

Therefore,

Xiao was quite concerned about little Yuan'er.

However,

after watching the pink-haired girl interact with the little white wolf for a while, Xiao could not help furrowing his brows.

He remembered something Lady Yumo had once said:

'Birds of a feather flock together'...

Watching the pink-haired girl happily playing with the little white wolf, even letting out 'Awoooo' sounds and howling back and forth with Lady Limo, Xiao bit his lip and revealed a deeply worried expression.

Uh...

Surely...

she wouldn't be another 'genius,' right...

After offering a small prayer in his heart, Xiao fixed his gaze on Limo. Then, as though the Duke of the Black Rose Family had suddenly remembered something, his pitch-black eyes narrowed slightly. The next moment, while watching Limo and Yuan'er interact, Xiao said 'casually':

"Seriously, I never expected Lady Limo, even after entering 'stupid dog' mode, to instinctively cherish Yuan'er so much. I suppose that's only natural for sisters with similar blood flowing through their veins."

?!

Hm?

Although Xiao's voice was quiet, at such close range, it naturally could not escape Miss Yumo's ears. Upon hearing those words, Miss Yumo raised an eyebrow, and a look of confusion abruptly appeared on her beautiful face.

"'Stupid dog' mode? Are you saying that girl Limo... entered 'stupid dog' mode again?"

"Yes. It's precisely because she entered 'stupid dog mode' that Lady Limo has remained in her spirit beast form recently."

Xiao answered without hesitation.

Then, the Duke of the Black Rose Family looked at the black-haired girl beside him with an extremely 'confused' expression.

"Lady Yumo, you... didn't know?"

"Eh??"

Yumo cried out in surprise and mechanically turned her head, staring somewhat blankly at the little white wolf running and jumping around the clearing. She had been wondering before why that girl Limo had stubbornly refused to return to her human form. So she had entered 'stupid dog' mode?

"W-What happened?"

"Hm? It seems Lady Yumo really didn't know. It's rather embarrassing to admit, but all of this happened because I 'underestimated' Xue Tianao's strength. That Child of Destiny truly was powerful after releasing his divine power. If Lady Limo and Lady Liyu hadn't helped, it would have been very difficult for us to 'fight' him. During the battle, Lady Limo unfortunately took a blow to the head from Xue Tianao's Divine Artifact. After being left dizzy and disoriented for a while, Lady Limo entered this mode..."

...

Xiao explained everything in a perfectly serious manner.

As he recalled the events, a trace of 'guilt' would occasionally flash through his eyes.

With such genuine emotion, coupled with his vivid description of what had supposedly happened, Miss Yumo quickly believed Xiao's words.

"Sigh, so that's what happened. I was wondering why that child kept staying in husky mode... Hm?"

However,

as she spoke, Miss Yumo's brows knitted together again. The scenes of her interactions with Limo and Liyu inside the tent, along with Liyu's explanation, suddenly began flashing rapidly through Miss Yumo's mind like a slideshow. As the mental footage played, a feeling called 'suspicion' began launching an assault on the high ground of Yumo's heart.

"But if that's the case, why didn't that girl Liyu simply tell me? Why was she being so secretive about it?"

"Hm? Lady Liyu didn't tell you? Enmmm, I think that's actually quite normal."

Xiao said unconcernedly.

"W-What do you mean, quite normal?"

"Lady Yumo, didn't you tell Lady Liyu before that she needed to take good care of Lady Limo? And now Lady Limo has once again entered 'stupid dog mode.' From Lady Liyu's perspective, she would naturally consider it a responsibility she couldn't shirk. Lady Liyu probably didn't want to disappoint you, Lady Yumo, so she tried to hide it."

Hearing this,

Yumo sighed helplessly.

"That does sound like something that girl would do. Sigh, it's not like I'd be disappointed over something like this. That child really does overthink everything..."

Yet even as she sighed, Miss Yumo once again focused her attention on the wolf cub running and jumping around.

Stupid dog mode?

Enmm, did she really refuse to return to human form because she'd entered stupid dog mode?

Although there did not seem to be anything wrong with Xiao's explanation, Yumo still could not help observing her fourth daughter carefully.

...

...

However,

after carefully watching her for a while, Miss Yumo suddenly discovered an extremely astonishing and speechless-inducing fact.

Namely,

could she actually tell whether her daughter had entered 'stupid dog' mode or not?

It seemed...

she really couldn't?

Because,

the way that girl Limo behaved after entering stupid dog mode seemed no different whatsoever from how she normally behaved? Watching the little white wolf stick out her tongue and lick Yuan'er's face, Miss Yumo's expression became increasingly complicated.

And among all those complicated emotions, worry occupied an exceptionally large portion.

As for what exactly she was worried about, there was no need to spell it out...

Meanwhile,

seeing Yumo fall into deep thought, Xiao knew that they had successfully muddled through the matter of why Limo had previously refused to return to her human form. Although he felt sorry toward Lady Yumo, with the Daughter of Destiny and the Asumos Church still not eliminated, they could not allow Lady Yumo to discover what they were doing just yet.

'Sorry, Lady Yumo. I lied to you again...'

After helplessly sighing, Xiao looked toward the gray-haired little girl in the clearing and successfully met her gaze.

After communicating briefly through the special coded language devised by Saiboke, little Liyu, who had been leaning against a large tree, was finally able to completely put down the burden weighing on her heart.

'Ah, finally... we got away with it...'

After letting out a long sigh of relief, Liyu quickly cast Xiao a look overflowing with gratitude.

Then,

the gray-haired little girl quickly walked over to Limo.

Although Mother had clearly believed Xiao's explanation now, Liyu still needed to warn her stupid older sister not to return to her human form for the time being, lest their lie be exposed. However, just as Liyu was about to speak, she happened to catch sight of Yuan'er waving toward Mother.

'Enmm...'

Stopping in her tracks, Liyu pursed her little lips and thoughtfully looked at her younger sister.

The fact that her younger sister had not become estranged from them because she had once been human finally allowed the huge stone that had been hanging over Liyu's heart for so long to fall completely away. However, after thinking it over, Liyu still could not avoid feeling somewhat confused.

Her younger sister had clearly only met Mother a few times, hadn't she?

Had she already accepted Mother so quickly?

And she was already this affectionate?

Liyu remembered that when she and Sister Limo had first met Mother, it had taken them more than a month before they became completely attached to her, hadn't it? So how had this younger sister...

Looking at the pink-haired girl who was waving toward Mother with a radiant, springlike smile and a face brimming with happiness, curiosity spread rapidly through Liyu's heart like a drop of black ink falling into water. Besides, with Yuan'er here right now, it wasn't convenient for her to explain things to Sister Limo anyway.

Thus, driven by curiosity, Liyu could not help asking:

"Um, little sister Yuan'er."

"Hm? Sister Liyu? Do you want to play with us too?!"

Seeing that her other sister had also come over, the smile on Yuan'er's little face grew even brighter, and bursts of starlight seemed to sparkle within her mismatched red-and-blue eyes.

"Sure~ But before we play, there's something I want to ask you first~"

"Hm? What is it?"

Yuan'er blinked her large, watery eyes and asked curiously.

"It's just, little sister... enmm, what do you think of Mother?"

"Mommy?"