Vol 4. Chapter 4: Anxious Liyu, Clueless Limo

Faced with Lady Yumo's question, little Liyu immediately trembled all over, her emerald-green eyes filled with panic.

Liyu knew very well that her mother's temper was exceptionally good. Even when dealing with those foolish humans who repeatedly offended her and recklessly barged into the Great Winter Forest without any regard for their lives, she could still maintain a pleasant expression.

If it were them instead? They probably would have fired a Nihility Cannon at them long ago.

Although Mother had a good temper, that did not mean she never got angry. There were two things that could easily make Mother lose her temper.

One was hurting children. Mother loved children very much, regardless of whether they were humans, magical beasts, or spiritual beasts.

The other was repeatedly disobeying something Mother had specifically told them not to do...

Before Mother left for Wind Facing City with Qiu Mingtong and the others, perhaps because she was worried that they had no experience with the human world, she repeatedly told Liyu and her big sister Limo not to run around recklessly.

Back then, Liyu and her big sister Limo had seemingly agreed quite eagerly in order to put Mother at ease.

As for not attacking the Child of Destiny, Mother had warned them about that countless times. After all, in Mother's opinion, the aura of divine power surrounding the Child of Destiny was far too concentrated and could easily make them lose control. Once they lost control, the consequences would probably be unimaginable.

No matter how you looked at it,

not leaving the Great Winter Forest and not attacking the Child of Destiny were both things Mother had repeatedly instructed them about. Obviously, the displeasure currently visible in Mother's eyes was because she and her big sister Limo had failed to behave and listen to her.

'Wuuuuuu...'

With her head lowered, Liyu bit her lip in distress.

Actually,

Liyu had already expected Yumo to ask her these questions. It was just that she had previously been immersed in Mother's tender embrace and had temporarily forgotten about it. Now that she realized it again, Liyu instantly felt as though she were facing a formidable enemy.

It wasn't just Liyu. Even Qiu Mingtong, who had cautiously entered to deliver some clothes, couldn't help holding her breath when she heard Yumo ask that question.

The only one present who remained completely relaxed

was probably the little white wolf in Liyu's arms, who had absolutely no idea how serious the situation was.

'How should I explain this... Hurry up and remember...'

Liyu clenched her tiny fists as the girl's heart grew increasingly nervous.

Previously,

Liyu had always believed that as long as they could get rid of the Child of Destiny, then even if Mother found out afterward and gave her a vicious scolding or a beating with the feather duster, she would willingly accept it. However, now that the problem was actually right in front of her, Liyu discovered that she couldn't be nearly as carefree about it as she had imagined.

It wasn't merely because she was afraid of the feather duster. She was even more afraid that once Mother learned the truth about everything they had done, she would be terribly disappointed in them.

She was afraid that Mother would stop paying attention to them because of it, or even abandon them altogether...

That was the true root of Liyu's anxiety and fear.

Although a voice deep inside her kept telling her that Mother would never abandon her and that the worst she would get was a beating with the feather duster, Liyu still couldn't stop herself from worrying about it. Moreover...

'Getting beaten with the feather duster is terrifying too!'

Recalling the pitiful expressions her second brother and big sister Limo had worn after getting their butts beaten before, Liyu couldn't help shuddering.

No matter what,

Liyu had to find some way to bluff her way through this now. Otherwise, not only would her butt be beaten raw, Mother would also be terribly disappointed in them!

After realizing this,

Liyu took a deep breath, and a hint of fighting spirit even ignited within her emerald-green eyes.

'I was forced to come to Skyvault. I was forced to attack...'

'I was forced to come to Skyvault. I was forced to attack...'

'I was forced to come to Skyvault. I was forced to attack...'

...

...

Just like that, Liyu began repeatedly chanting this sentence to herself. According to Saiboke, if you wanted to successfully fool someone, the most important thing was to fool yourself first! If you didn't even believe it yourself, how could you possibly fool anyone else?!

After frantically hypnotizing and convincing herself internally, Liyu slowly turned her head and looked toward the black-haired girl behind her, whose face bore a 'kind' smile.

Her emerald-green eyes immediately became watery, her pupils brimming with guilt.

"S-Sorry, Mother. We didn't listen to you and... and ran out on our own."

"Then why did you run out? Didn't I tell you that you still don't understand the outside world? If you casually run off like that, you could end up in danger."

Yumo spoke with considerable displeasure,

but alongside that displeasure, her words were filled with deep concern.

Unlike Karina and Piere, the two girls Limo and Liyu were far worse at controlling their strength. They couldn't completely suppress their own power and could only stabilize the violent Shadow of Silence Power inside their bodies while maintaining their adorable pet forms.

And while maintaining those adorable pet forms, the two sisters were very 'weak.' What if they went outside and someone bullied them?

If they fought back after being bullied, their identities as Abyss Demons would be exposed. What if that attracted pursuit and encirclement from the Asumos Church or other factions? Although Limo and Liyu were also Demon King-class existences, their strength was far inferior to that of their older brothers and sisters. If they were surrounded and attacked, they could be in serious danger.

Even if they didn't use their powers, the two sisters could still accidentally expose their identities. After all, neither of them had any experience living in human society.

Besides,

after running out, they had actually come to a place like Skyvault, where powerful experts gathered?! What if something happened to them?!

Merely imagining her daughters being surrounded and killed by powerful humans made Lady Yumo's heart ache. And along with that heartache, the anger within her scarlet eyes grew even stronger.

"Running out is one thing, but you actually came to Skyvault too? Isn't that far too reckless?!"

"Sorry..."

Looking completely aware of her mistake, Liyu lowered her head pitifully.

"Big Sister and I originally didn't want to come to Skyvault..."

"Hm? Then why are you here?"

"We originally left the forest because we wanted to find you, Mother. At the time, some Braves had entered the forest, and they woke up little Yuan'er. When little Yuan'er awakened, she destroyed the communication magic stone Xiao had sent us, so we had no choice but to go looking for you. We wanted to tell you about what happened to little Yuan'er... and while we were at it, rush out of the forest and eliminate the remaining members of the Brave team so that news of little Yuan'er's birth wouldn't get out..."

Liyu looked toward the northern area where Skyvault's Imperial City was located, her expression somewhat conflicted and gloomy.

"But after we came out, we ran into the Snow Night Empire's Fourth Princess, Fengling. To avoid exposing our identities, we transformed into adorable pets and followed the princess. We originally thought she was going to Wind Facing City, but who would've known that after the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church attacked, the princess suddenly changed course and returned to Skyvault... So Big Sister and I ended up coming to Skyvault completely clueless. After arriving in Skyvault, we were afraid of exposing our identities, so we stayed in our spiritual beast forms the entire time. It wasn't until the Abyss Demon horde entered the city that we dared to secretly release some of our power..."

As she spoke, using the blind spot in Yumo's field of vision, Liyu fiercely tugged at the fur on her big sister's butt again.

Feeling the slight pain, Limo immediately nodded along and put on an equally pitiful, tearful expression.

After hearing this explanation, Lady Yumo unconsciously raised a hand to her chin and assumed a thoughtful expression.

Come to think of it,

the Fourth Princess, Fengling, really had come to Wind Facing City before. Was that when she encountered Liyu and the others? If that was the case, then there seemed to be a reasonable explanation for why they had ended up in the Imperial City.

It was just...

wasn't that a little too coincidental?

"Enmmm... Then why did you attack Xue Tianao?"

Faced with this question, Liyu pouted and put on an expression that screamed, 'I had no other choice.'

"Sorry, Mother. We wanted to help Xiao. After that Xue Tianao guy released three layers of divine power blessings, he became really 'strong,' you know. We saw that Xiao was in danger and couldn't hold ourselves back... so Big Sister and I attacked him together..."

...

...

At this moment, little Liyu could truly be said to have become completely possessed by the spirit of an actress. The techniques Saiboke had taught her, along with the results of many years of diligent practice, were displayed to their fullest extent at this very moment. She blamed the Asumos Church for why she had left the Great Winter Forest, blamed the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church for why she had come to Skyvault,

and as for why she had attacked Xue Tianao, she blamed Xue Tianao himself.

With little Liyu's pitiful expression, her aggrieved voice, and Qiu Mingtong occasionally chiming in from the side with a "Exactly, exactly"...

the suspicion within Lady Yumo's scarlet eyes gradually faded beneath Liyu's stream of 'sincere' explanations. Faced with her obedient daughter's explanation, Yumo thoughtfully nodded.

"So that's what happened. If it was to help Xiao, then I suppose it couldn't be helped..."

"Sorry, Mother..."

Liyu once again spoke in a pitiful voice.

However,

although she still kept her head lowered on the surface, looking 'weak, pitiful, and helpless,' when little Liyu saw the anger gradually fading from Yumo's eyes, she couldn't help secretly letting out a huge sigh of relief.

Phew~

Looks like I got away with it...

However, before Liyu could relax for long, the gray-haired little girl's heart immediately leaped into her throat again from nervousness.

At this moment,

after listening to Liyu's entire series of explanations, Lady Yumo said nothing more. Instead, she shifted her gaze toward little Limo, who was still in her little white wolf form within Liyu's arms. Looking at the little white wolf who hadn't said a single word this entire time, Lady Yumo frowned slightly.

"Speaking of which, Limo, there's no need to pretend to be a spiritual beast anymore. Aren't you going to turn back into your human form?"

The moment those words came out,

cold sweat began pouring endlessly from Liyu's forehead.

The little girl's heart began pounding wildly.

She herself could rely on her superb acting skills and the trust she had accumulated with Mother to just barely bluff her way through this.

But,

when it came to Big Sister Limo...

Recalling just how adorably clueless her big sister could be, Liyu immediately sucked in a cold breath.

'We're screwed. Something's about to go wrong...'

Xiao!

Where are you?! Hurry up and come save us!

If you don't get here soon, none of us are going to have a butt left!!!