Chapter 15: I’ll Be Watching You 👁️👁️

Night had already grown deep.

Only after confirming that Kaika—who was using her thigh as a pillow, face buried against her lower abdomen—was breathing evenly and had fallen peacefully asleep did Valo dare to carefully lay the girl flat on the bed, resting her head properly on the pillow.

Then she slowly withdrew her hand from the warm, soft fullness against Kaika’s chest.

“Mmm…”

Even hearing the girl’s faint murmur, she did not dare breathe loudly.

Inch by inch, she wriggled free, slipped off the bed, stood up, and shuffled toward the door with three pauses in every step.

At last, with the utmost caution, she gently closed the bedroom door.

Moonlight cast mottled shadows across the floor. The sleeping beauty on the bed looked incomparably beautiful, pure, and flawless at this moment.

A classic promotional CG deception. Back then, countless players had downloaded the game just for Kaika’s promotional CG, closed their eyes, and chosen her route right from the start.

And then they experienced firsthand what it meant to receive a “love letter” from the development team.

Who could have imagined that such a seemingly perfect elf daughter could, with the slightest misstep, be raised into a filial daughter who would kill her own mother?

After shutting the door, Valo quietly let out a sigh of relief.

She was about to pour herself a glass of water to calm down—and to consider how, given the current turn of events, she should sever the mother-daughter relationship between herself and Kaika.

Then she turned and saw a “female ghost.”

“Whew… what is it? Oh, it’s Finney.”

If she had not been mentally prepared, she would have screamed and woken Kaika up.

At some point, the Hero had returned to the dormitory.

She stood silently at the door of her own bedroom without even turning on the light, head lowered in dejection—like a despairing middle-aged man who had just been dumped by his girlfriend and fired by his boss.

She was clearly waiting for Valo to come out.

The next moment, the girl raised her head and forced out a weary, unsightly smile.

“So you’ve returned safely, Mother. That’s truly wonderful.”

Now it was Valo’s turn to sigh. She had just soothed the Demon Seed, and now the Spirit Pearl had arrived.

She suddenly understood what it felt like for a loli widow to raise two daughters. She was really living it.

Glancing at Finney’s Nurturing Panel, she saw that Knight Princess Ain’s comfort had been somewhat effective.

The girl’s Justice Value had already dropped to ninety-five percent.

Valo decided to take this opportunity to properly guide the young Hero.

Because she was kind.

It would help untie some of Finney’s emotional knots—and, incidentally, serve Valo herself as well.

“Finney, go wash your face first.”

“There are some things I need to explain to you.”

Under normal circumstances, even though the girl’s execution threshold for Valo—her Justice Value—was dancing at a dangerous level, as long as Valo did not interact much with Finney, it would be difficult to trigger the bad ending in which Finney would uphold righteousness, kill her own kin, and then take her own life.

However… if Kaika forced her into the Clock Tower as well, and she and Finney ended up spending day and night together, things would become unpredictable.

She could not neglect severing the “Mother” identity in Finney’s case either.

Before long, Finney returned from the washroom.

After splashing cold water on her face, the girl’s lifeless expression had eased considerably.

Valo immediately began speaking.

“Have you calmed down, Finney?”

“Then listen carefully. Regarding the Great Sage’s confinement of me and her demands this time, I have decided not to pursue the matter. I hope you can try to understand your adoptive mother a little as well.”

The girl who had just been despondent suddenly looked up in disbelief and argued indignantly.

“But Mother! Her— the Great Sage’s actions were a complete abuse of power!”

“It has nothing to do with your identity as the Demon King. I believe that, deep down, she harbors indiscriminate prejudice against the Demon Clan. She lacks the fair and clear-minded stance required of the overseer of the Clock Tower!”

“Otherwise, why would she target you so baselessly?”

Finney… have you ever considered that your adoptive mother might simply be jealous?

And because she holds a high position, she indulged in a small whim of power.

Valo did not intend to voice those blunt truths. She was not here to create conflict between Finney and the Great Sage. She was here to join this family.

Because…

If she could ease the tension between Finney and the Great Sage and improve their relationship, Finney would not cling to her at every moment as “Mother,” and Valo could more easily sever that identity.

A brilliant plan.

What she needed to do next was find an excuse to mask her true motive.

And, incidentally, speak a few fair words.

“No one is perfect. Do not slander the adoptive mother who raised you, Miss Hero.”

Valo’s rare seriousness finally made the girl before her restrain her indignation.

“As a mother myself, I believe the Great Sage simply holds you to excessively high expectations because you are too outstanding, Finney. In doing so, she may have inadvertently overlooked your feelings as an adopted daughter.”

Valo revealed a gentle “Mother understands you” smile and patted the girl’s head. “That, too, is a form of love.”

So, Finney, go get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, visit your adoptive mother, cry and embrace, clear up the misunderstanding, restore your mother-daughter bond, and then everyone can gather happily to make dumplings together.

That was what Valo had thought just a moment ago.

The next moment, however, she realized that the Hero was indeed moved.

Only… perhaps in the wrong direction.

“Mother…”

Murmuring, the girl suddenly stepped forward and wrapped Valo in a tight embrace.

Valo had no strength to break free from a Hero’s grasp.

She could only watch helplessly as the girl lowered her head, buried her face against her neck, and inhaled deeply.

It was just short of lifting her up entirely.

Valo did not even have time to struggle. Because as her eyes swept across the Nurturing Panel, she saw that her Hero daughter’s Justice Value, which had just fallen, had climbed back to full.

Unexpected, yet reasonable.

The fluctuations of Justice Value differed from Blackening Value. Her earlier guidance had resolved some of Finney’s inner turmoil, and the increase made sense.

Valo had hoped her risky strategy would genuinely mend the relationship between Finney and the Great Sage. Yet the girl’s next reaction unsettled her.

“As for my relationship with my adoptive mother… I think I know how to handle it now. Thank you for your concern.”

Do you really know?

Why did it feel as though the Hero had not understood at all? She was even holding her tighter.

“Even though you are the Demon King Valo Lant, as a mother, you are truly perfect.”

The girl’s voice sounded faint and altered. “If only you were truly my mother.”

“Mother, why are you the Demon King?”

Please stop, Miss Hero. This conversation is drifting toward the territory of tragic lovers.

Valo was about to ask Finney to put her down—her toes were already off the ground—

When suddenly, with a creak, Kaika’s bedroom door slowly opened a crack.

Was the door not closed properly?

Yet the Hero, righteous and upright before others, jumped like a guilty thief at the sight of that dark slit beyond the door. Even so, she did not release Valo.

Why are you panicking? This was supposed to be a normal mother-daughter talk.

You are not doing anything shameful, are you, Miss Hero?

What Valo did not know was that, as she was carried off by Finney—held around the waist like a possession—to the Hero’s bedroom for an “all-night discussion”…

A breeze stirred Kaika’s half-closed door, making it creak softly.

The elf girl, who should have been sleeping peacefully, opened her feigned slumbering eyes, revealing a chill colder than moonlight.

Given the Hero’s condition this morning, it was only reasonable for Mother to stabilize her tonight—for everyone’s safety.

After all, a weak mother like her had nothing left to rely on except her charms and this identity.

How adorable.

Still, that elder sister… she was rather in the way. So immature. Was she a child?

So even if she requested that Mother enter the Clock Tower as well, even if Mother would live with her afterward, she could not relax her “protection” over Mother in the slightest.

Daily routine. Work and life.

What Mother drank for breakfast, what she ate for lunch…

How many professors she met at the Academy, what she said to which students…

She would know everything. And now that she would be in the same place as Mother, she had the ability to know.

Ah, Mother, you truly are a useless Demon King.

But it does not matter.

“I will always be watching you. Your beautiful academy life is only just beginning… Mother.”

As she imagined the delicious sight of her mother forced to put on a brave face and beg her to clean up the aftermath in the future, the girl closed her eyes in satisfaction.