Vol 4. Chapter 78: Crying Pitifully

“Please. Limo’s education can only be entrusted to you now.”

Yumo blinked her beautiful, watery eyes and spoke in a pleading tone.

Faced with those words, although Xiao was extremely unwilling inside, in the end he still could not withstand Miss Yumo’s adorable attack.

And so, with a helpless slight nod, he accepted this task of super S-rank difficulty.

“I understand, Lady Yumo. I’ll try my best.”

“Really?! That’s wonderful!”

After receiving an affirmative answer, Miss Yumo immediately revealed an expression of blossoming delight.

A radiant smile appeared on her breathtakingly beautiful face, instantly forming a wonderful, soothing picture.

That sweet smile seemed to contain magic, directly sweeping away Xiao’s hesitation like a gentle spring breeze.

It even made Xiao somewhat dazedly reveal a faint smile as he patted his chest.

“Don’t worry, Lady Yumo. I will cultivate Lady Limo into a qualified lady.”

“Mhm, mhm! I’m counting on you!”

...

...

Seeing this scene, the old butler Saiboke, standing nearby, could not help raising a hand to press against his forehead.

His emotions immediately became extremely complicated.

Glancing from the corner of his eye toward Xiao, who was speaking with Lady Yumo, Saiboke could not help letting out a long sigh inwardly.

“Sigh...”

Your Grace, that was too rash...

Saiboke shook his head.

Naturally, the old butler Saiboke understood the Black Rose Duke he had served for several decades extremely well.

It could be said that in the eyes of the Black Rose Family members, their Duke was an outstanding ruler.

Not only was he powerful, he was also handsome and dashing, with an extremely deep and calculating mind.

Within human society, there were probably only a handful of people who could be compared to him.

In Lady Yumo’s eyes, Xiao was equivalent to an extremely reliable, all-purpose “godson,” practically a Doraemon in human form.

In Lady Karina and the others’ eyes, Xiao was a powerful teammate worthy of trust.

It could be said that in the eyes of almost everyone, Xiao was a flawless person.

However,

Saiboke knew very clearly that even such a seemingly perfect Duke had a few weaknesses.

Aside from the almost obsessive caution caused by his childhood experiences, Xiao’s greatest weakness was that he simply could not withstand Lady Yumo making a request of him.

As one of the many children raised by Lady Yumo, whenever Xiao heard Lady Yumo asking him for something, his rationality would inexplicably disconnect.

No matter what the request was, as long as Lady Yumo was the one who asked, Xiao would eventually agree.

Ordinary requests were one thing.

But sometimes, Lady Yumo’s requests were practically the equivalent of issuing a “hell-level” mission.

For example, back then, Lady Yumo had once asked the Black Rose Family to help clean up after the Sword Demon.

Almost everyone knew just how capable Lady Piere was when it came to causing destruction.

Cleaning up after him was practically an impossible task!

But,

Lady Yumo’s understanding of her own son was clearly still insufficient, and she actually made such a request.

Even more outrageous was that,

after hearing Lady Yumo’s pleading words, Xiao ultimately agreed without even thinking twice.

Then, after accepting the task, in order not to disappoint Lady Yumo, they gritted their teeth and chased after Lady Piere across the entire continent cleaning up his messes.

It had to be admitted that after accepting Lady Yumo’s task, the Black Rose Family nearly encountered the greatest crisis in its entire history.

In order to deal with Lady Piere’s destructive activities, the Black Rose Knights and the family’s various major organizations were almost constantly on standby, always ready to rush out and clean up after him.

That was undoubtedly an enormous mental torment, and physically it was an equally brutal trial.

And aside from the mental and physical strain, the Black Rose Family’s finances deteriorated at an unprecedented speed.

Expenses for large-scale operations, weapons and equipment, spatial magic stones, communication magic stones, medical treatment, refugee relief, hush money, silencing fees, and so on...

No matter how wealthy the Black Rose Family was, even they could not withstand that kind of consumption.

Fortunately, the generous Dragon Clan and Elf Clan helped them survive that difficult period.

In addition,

because they were constantly carrying out cleanup operations, their original actions against the resistance forces inside the Sadik Empire were forced to be delayed.

Those fools who did not know their own limits actually failed to take that opportunity to flee for their lives and instead launched a counterattack against them.

Although the strength of that counterattack was negligible, it still caused quite a bit of trouble for the Black Rose Family.

...

Recalling that exhausting period when they had worked themselves half to death, Saiboke practically felt like coughing up blood.

The reason his hair was so white and his face looked so old probably had quite a lot to do with the exhaustion from that time.

It could be said that if Lady Piere had not suddenly disappeared later on, the entire Black Rose Family would probably have worked themselves to death...

That incident

could be called the greatest crisis the Black Rose Family had faced since Xiao became Duke!

And the entire reason for it was that Xiao had gotten hot-headed and accepted Lady Yumo’s request!

Precisely because of that blood-soaked lesson from the past, Saiboke now felt uneasy after seeing Xiao accept another task from Lady Yumo.

However,

after glancing from the corner of his eye toward the wolf girl lying on the sofa nearby and continuously wagging her tail, Saiboke’s unease eased somewhat.

No matter how you looked at it...

Turning Lady Limo into a proper lady?

At the very least, that should be easier than cleaning up after Lady Piere, right?

Even if they failed to educate her properly, there should not be any losses, right?

Thinking this, Saiboke waved his hand with a thoroughly resigned expression.

Besides, what else could he do besides accept his fate?

He could not withstand Lady Yumo’s pleading tone either.

Expecting him to stand up and object was even more of a fantasy~

Enmm,

“Suddenly, I feel like I’m not really qualified to criticize His Grace either.”

The old butler could not help roasting himself inwardly.

...

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, a short while after accepting Miss Yumo’s task, Xiao’s rationality seemed to gradually return.

His entire body suddenly shuddered, and he instantly came back to his senses.

Realizing that his old problem had struck again, Xiao could only bite his lip somewhat gloomily.

Just like before, after already accepting the task, he was too embarrassed to open his mouth and back out.

So he could only look at the black-haired girl before him with some difficulty and honestly say,

“Lady Yumo, I can educate Lady Limo, but there’s a small problem right now.”

“Hm? What problem?”

“It’s just that after the Skyvault incident, a huge amount of official work has piled up in Sabelius, our territory. We may have to return to the Sadik Empire very soon. I’m afraid teaching Lady Limo will have to be postponed for the time being.”

“Mhm, that’s true. Handling official business is more important first.”

Miss Yumo nodded in agreement.

“However, that’s actually easy to solve.”

“Hm? Easy to solve?”

“Yeah. Just take Limo back to the Sadik Empire with you. Xiao, you don’t have to rush to teach her. Once the official work is finished, or whenever you have free time, just teach her a little.”

“Eh?!”

Hearing this, Xiao immediately revealed an incomparably surprised expression and looked into Yumo’s crimson eyes in disbelief.

“Lady Yumo, did you say... you want Lady Limo to return to the Sadik Empire with us?”

It was not only Xiao.

The people of the Black Rose Family behind him, as well as Karina, Liyu, and the others, all involuntarily revealed stunned expressions.

When it came to Limo,

Yumo had always been unwilling to let her leave the forest.

So this time, why...

“Hm?”

Faced with Xiao’s and her daughters’ confused expressions, Miss Yumo smiled gently.

“Yes. Limo has barely ever left the forest, so letting her go out and see the world would be good. Besides, with you and Saiboke looking after her, Xiao, I’ll feel at ease.”

“Uh, this...”

Xiao was momentarily speechless.

...

However, before Xiao could think of how to respond, Limo, who had been nearby, finally understood what Miss Yumo was saying.

She immediately could no longer remain lying there.

Her crimson eyes instantly lost all of their previous leisure, and a dense uneasiness abruptly surfaced within them.

Her pupils began trembling, while her fluffy tail and ears drooped straight down.

“Ah? Y-You want to take me to Sadik?!”

Limo could not help crying out in alarm.

If it was simply being educated?

Limo really did not care.

After all, for the past several hundred years, Mother had never stopped educating her.

But if the prerequisite for receiving that education was going to the Sadik Empire?

Then she absolutely did not want to!

She did not want to leave the Great Winter Forest, and she wanted even less to leave Mother and her little sister!

Was Mother trying to send her away?

Did Mother not want her anymore?

Wuwuwu,

she didn’t want that!!

The moment she thought of this, the wolf girl’s eyes instantly reddened.

Her crimson pupils abruptly turned into fried eggs.

Ignoring the pain in her butt and whether her posture looked dignified or not, driven by the unease in her heart, Limo immediately climbed up from the sofa without another word.

Crying pitifully, she threw herself directly into Yumo’s arms and tightly hugged the black-haired girl’s waist.

Then,

under the confused gazes of everyone present, including Yumo herself, Limo suddenly burst into loud sobs.

“Wuwuwu!! Mother, don’t throw me away!! I don’t want to go to Sadik!! Wuwuwuwuwuwu! I won’t randomly wreck the house anymore! I won’t randomly eat things anymore either! Don’t abandon me! Wuwuwuwu...”