Vol 4. Chapter 73: The Scapegoat

“Now then, you girls, would you mind explaining to me exactly what happened here?”

The black-haired girl spoke with a smile, raising a hand to point at the heavily damaged mansion behind her.

Although Miss Yumo still wore the same familiar, gentle smile as always, instinct and past experience immediately told Liyu and the others just how serious the situation was.

They were doomed.

Mother was angry...

After pulling her stupid older sister out of the snow and realizing this, Liyu nervously pinched the hem of her skirt with her little hands.

Faced with Mother’s question, along with the terrifying pressure that suddenly descended from above, Liyu did not dare say much.

At most, she kept shooting her stupid older sister vicious, complaining looks.

At the same time, Liyu began secretly making faces at Limo, expressing her dissatisfaction.

Enmm.

Stinky Sister!

Stupid Sister!

Ugly, dumb idiot Sister!

If you were going to launch a sneak attack, then fine, but why did you have to aim toward the house?! Couldn’t you have checked the direction before firing?!

You’re seriously infuriating!

You’re going to get me killed too!

Normally, making a racket and playing around would not have been much of a problem. Even if they accidentally got a little too noisy, Mother would at most scold them a few times.

Besides, disturbing Mother while she was making armor for the Child of Destiny by noisily playing dodgeball had been part of Liyu’s plan in the first place. She certainly did not want Mother spending every day making equipment for that bad woman...

However,

if that iron ball flew toward the house?! Then things became a completely different matter!

Ever since the little wooden cabin had been torn down, Mother had developed a strange fixation on houses. On top of that, Mother clearly loved the new mansion very much.

If the new house got damaged, Mother’s mood would definitely plummet...

And under those circumstances, Stinky Sister, you actually fired the ball straight at the villa?!

And in the end, it even hit Mother dead-on?! Then after hitting her, it dropped right on top of her too? Sure, an iron ball attack of that level could never possibly hurt Mother, but hitting her in the face was a grave challenge to Mother’s dignity, okay?!

“Stupid Sister, is your butt seriously that itchy?!”

Little Liyu could not help cursing wildly in her heart. If she could, she probably would have already pounced onto her sister’s shoulders and started gnawing furiously on her head to express just how unhappy she was.

...

Sensing Liyu’s “furious” glare from beside her, Limo could not help pouting.

Although neither of them spoke, Limo, who was practically inseparable from Liyu, still understood what her little sister meant.

Seeing her little sister blaming her naturally made Limo unhappy.

She turned her eyes slightly and glared at the gray-haired little girl beside her, then secretly bared her teeth.

And just like that, the two sisters began silently communicating.

Limo: You were the one who told me to sneak attack! Why are you blaming everything on me?!

Liyu: I did tell you to sneak attack! But why didn’t you check what was behind Sister Karina?! Why did you have to attack from that direction?! And why did you have to send the iron ball flying toward the mansion?!

Limo: I was following your orders! You told me to shoot, so I shot! You never said there was a mansion behind her! You can’t blame me! I’m innocent! Besides, my attack was also strengthened by your power, little sister Shuoyue’s power, and little sister Yuan’er’s power, okay?! How can you blame everything on me?!

Liyu: Stinky Sister! You’re still making excuses!

...

The two sisters kept glancing and glaring at each other, beginning an intense silent battle of passing the blame.

Actually,

it was not only Limo and Liyu.

Karina, Shuoyue, and Yuan’er beside them had also entered an unusually obedient and quiet state, not saying a single word.

For a time, the entire area became so silent that even a falling needle could have been heard. The strange atmosphere was suffocating.

Facing her daughters’ silence, Miss Yumo narrowed her eyes slightly.

Her voice, overflowing with affection and tenderness, slowly entered the ears of all her daughters.

“I’m only asking casually. You don’t have to stay completely silent.”

Yumo’s voice was pleasant and melodious.

But right now, it made these battle-hardened Demon King-class existences freeze on the spot, not daring to move at all.

The strange silence continued.

...

Seeing this, little Limo, still in wolf form, stopped her silent argument with Liyu.

She blinked her crimson-red eyes in confusion and looked around at her silent sisters.

After all, normally, when faced with Mother’s anger, they would already be frantically making excuses, or even passing the blame onto someone else.

She had not expected everyone to be this quiet this time.

“Awooo?” (What’s going on?)

Countless question marks practically appeared around the giant wolf.

But soon, the clever Limo suddenly trembled all over as realization struck her.

“Awooo!” (I get it!)

Mother had once said something about “the law not punishing...” something or other...

It seemed to mean that if a whole bunch of people committed the same mistake together, then no one would get punished.

If Mother disliked them playing dodgeball, then everyone who participated in the game was an accomplice.

If everyone stayed silent together and bore the consequences together, Mother would not punish them.

At most, she would just scold them a little!

Mm-hmm~

That had to be it!

At this thought, the timid look in Limo’s eyes gradually faded, replaced instead by a completely inexplicable confidence.

After all, for this wolf cub, getting scolded by Mother was practically an everyday occurrence. She had long since gotten used to it.

Getting scolded one more time was nothing.

Besides, this time she would be getting scolded together with all her sisters. With everyone sharing the fire, she had even less to fear~

Thinking this, Limo stopped shrinking back.

She even boldly raised her head, enduring the terrifying pressure descending from above as she courageously met the black-haired girl’s gaze in the distance.

Mother,

if you want to scold us, then go ahead! Hurry up and finish scolding us. I still want to go eat!

Limo even started getting a little smug.

And just as little Limo was growing smug, the prolonged silence seemed to make Miss Yumo somewhat unhappy.

A faint red gleam flashed through the black-haired girl’s beautiful eyes as she thoughtfully glanced over the silent children.

“You’re not going to say anything? ...I believe I’ve already told you that when you do something wrong, you must have the courage to take responsibility for it.”

The affection gradually disappeared from Miss Yumo’s voice, replaced by an indifferent, emotionless tone.

And as her tone changed, waves of crimson Shadow of Silence Power carrying terrifying pressure began surging around the girl.

In the next instant,

heaven and earth changed color.

The entire world was instantly shrouded in crimson light as countless blood-red butterflies fluttered through the sky.

Under the children’s horrified gazes, crimson Shadow of Silence Power surged wildly, and a scarlet magic formation abruptly appeared.

After a burst of magical power,

a legendary weapon glowing entirely with red light suddenly appeared in Miss Yumo’s hand.

The children: (,,#゜Д゜),!!!

Miss Yumo waved the feather duster in her hand, then once again revealed a sweet and charming smile.

Tilting her head, she looked cheerfully at the children who had remained silent for so long.

“Um, let me ask one more time. Who did it? Be brave and step forward~”

?!!

A... a feather duster?

Looking at the murderous legendary weapon in Miss Yumo’s hand, little Limo had not even been hit yet, but a burning pain immediately seemed to spread across her butt.

The entire wolf could not help trembling.

“Awooo...”

The wolf cub chickened out.

But,

when she remembered that she was facing danger together with all her sisters, the wolf cub quickly shook her head furiously and forced herself to calm down.

Right.

There was nothing to be afraid of!

It was just a feather duster! What was so scary about that?!

Mother was only trying to frighten them. There was no way she would actually smack all of their butts!

Besides,

they were all big girls now.

They had to let Mother know that they were no longer afraid of some feather duster!

Threatening to spank them could not scare them anymore!

Limo continuously encouraged—hypnotized—herself.

And when she saw that none of the sisters around her had spoken or shown any intention of stepping forward, the courage in Limo’s heart gradually swelled.

She began meeting Mama Yumo’s gaze fearlessly.

“Step forward? Hmph~ We’re not stepping forward~ If you want to punish us, then punish all of us together~ Don’t underestimate us, Mother!”

The wolf cub muttered smugly in her heart.

However,

she had only maintained eye contact for a few seconds when Miss Yumo’s next words made the wolf cub suddenly tremble from head to toe.

“Limo, so it was you again, you stinky girl?”

?!

Huh?

Hearing this, after instinctively feeling afraid, countless questions immediately sprouted inside Limo’s mind.

Why did Mother only call my name?

W-Weren’t we all in this together?

Why didn’t she call Liyu or Sister Karina or the others?!

The wolf cub did not {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} understand.

She wanted to seek help from the sisters around her.

However,

when Limo secretly glanced sideways,

she was stunned to discover that the sisters who had originally been standing right beside her had somehow disappeared without her noticing...

No.

Strictly speaking, they had not disappeared.

They had simply retreated more than a hundred meters away...

“...Eh?!”

Hey!

You guys!! ︵╰(‵□′)╯︵┻━┻