Chapter 26

Hirpus just couldn’t cheer up. He was still lying limp on the carpet, his face buried in it. And somehow, I felt like it was all because of me and that made my heart heavy.

‘I don’t know what Lepton’s whiskers are, but if it’s bad for your body, I’ll help you for sure.’

They said it was better for non-demons, but Hirpus was a mutant, after all. So even if Hirpus was struggling, I wouldn’t look away. Because we’re friends.

‘So don’t worry.’

He was the first friend I made in the Demon Realm.

“Woof-woof!”

As if to cheer him up, I patted his back and gave him a big, bright smile.

***

But despite my determination, Hirpus refused to eat any baby food after that day. He would glare at Regnator from time to time, sigh heavily, or suddenly sit up in the middle of his sleep.

‘It wasn’t really that bad for him… was it?’

In any case, he was still served regular meals, so skipping baby food didn’t seem to matter much. The one good thing that came from this: Regnator stopped feeding him and handed the task over to Morus. That meant no more baby food battles at every mealtime.

Contrary to my worries, Morus was a demon who surprisingly understood how I felt.

Even though she wasn’t the one feeding me personally, she was clearly unwilling to give up on her baby food mission. She’d send me mysterious dishes every time via her own hands.

I only threw it once.

Morus just smiled sweetly and cleaned it up.

“You made the right choice. Eating this would definitely upset a human’s stomach.”

I was touched that she considered things from a human’s perspective and worried about what might hurt me. It felt like for the first time someone truly understood me, and I let out a sigh of relief so deep I could feel it three times over in my chest.

But that relief didn’t last more than two days.

“Gasp! L-Lady Bella!”

Morus was so startled she dropped the baby food bowl she was holding.

Clang. 

The sound rang through the room, followed by a heavy silence between us.

“What are you doing here…?”

‘What do you mean what am I doing here? This is my room.’

Morus’s eyes rolled wildly, completely unable to hide her panic. Forget being touched, I took it all back. I had caught Morus secretly stealing and eating Regnator’s baby food.

Even though it was meant for a baby, its portion is small and it wouldn’t fill an adult’s tooth gap, so she ate it like it was some gourmet treat. Her expression was so blissful that I almost thought she was eating something else entirely.

When our eyes met, Morus froze stiff.

‘Figures…’

No one in the Demon Realm could possibly be sane. And besides, Morus was Regnator’s only friend. She picked up the bowl she had licked completely clean, trying to hide it behind her back.

“T-this is… I just didn’t want to waste it.”

“…”

“I mean, it’s already made, and it’s got rare, high-quality ingredients in it…”

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence hung between us. She kept coughing and making excuses, clearly embarrassed at being caught red-handed. Eventually, she seemed to give up on justifying herself and tried another tactic.

“You’ll keep this a secret, right? I’ll keep handling the baby food for you.”

Morus whispered slyly, asking for secrecy. I gave her a half-lidded glance. The image of her licking the bowl clean was absolutely gross… but the deal she offered was tempting.

No, it wasn’t even worth hesitating over.

“Waa!”

With my enthusiastic agreement, Morus flashed her signature seductive smile.

“I knew Lady Bella would understand.”

Yeah. So what if she’s not normal? What matters is that she’s easier to deal with than the other two demons. Maybe trying to find someone normal in the Demon Realm was the real mistake. Still, I kept thinking if I really shouldn’t be adapting to this so easily…

But what choice did I have? For my own healthy growth, I had to adapt. 

That’s right. 

Humans are creatures of adaptation! I must adjust to the demon world’s logic and these abnormal demons.

‘Let’s not rebel unnecessarily.’

Let’s accept and understand. That’s the only way I’ll grow up safely. It’s enough for me to stay sane; I can’t force it on people who’ve never known normalcy. Even if Morus had feelings for Regnator and even if those feelings were… weirdly expressed.

Demons are creatures that value pleasure, after all, and they’re said to be quite open about it.

Maybe this was Morus’s way of showing affection?

‘…Okay, no, that’s just too much.’

If that was how demons flirted, that meant Lucifer and Regnator might do the same thing. Just imagining it gave me full-body shivers.

No, I decided. This was just Morus’s kink.

In any case, she adapted to caretaking faster than anyone else.

And from that moment on, both Hirpus and I were completely freed from Regnator’s baby food. I never asked how Morus ‘disposed’ of it.

I had a feeling it would give me nightmares.

***

Four months passed, and I am now twelve months old. A whole year. Fast, yet painfully slow. It felt like just yesterday when I thought I’m going to die here for sure, but now I could see hope for life again. I was growing, somehow.

All thanks to how well I’d adapted to the Demon Realm. There were still some freaky things that startled me, but compared to Regnator and Morus, nothing else fazed me anymore.

Once that clicked, I found I wasn’t afraid of anything.

My dad is the Demon King, Lucifer himself. What could be scarier than him losing his temper? Besides, unlike the chaos at birth, the past four months had been surprisingly peaceful.

Regnator had been very busy, as well thankfully.

And the perverted but sympathetic Morus was actually a decent replacement caregiver, which made things easier.

So why… Why did I still feel this unease?

Like this peace was just the calm before the storm?

I shivered.

‘Maybe I’m just overthinking.’

I shook my head and sighed. Geez, I’ve really become overly sensitive. I brushed aside the anxiety and lifted Hirpus onto my lap. He clearly found it annoying, but didn’t resist.

In the past four months, I’d grown tremendously. Gone was the baby who couldn’t walk, now I could run. And not only that, I’d progressed beyond babbling, I could now say a few clear words.

That was the biggest change. I gently ran my chubby fingers through Hirpus’s soft fur and thought back on my hard-fought days. I was proud of myself. 

“D’you like it?”

At my question, Hirpus snorted through his nose and closed his eyes. So prim and proper… but that meant yes. If he didn’t like it, he’d have flailed and run off.

I was eating well, sleeping well, and pooping well. There was no doubt I’d grown splendidly. I am deeply proud of myself. Unlike me, though, Hirpus hadn’t changed much in the past four months. Sure, his red eyes sparkled, his coat was glossy, and he’d put on some healthy weight but otherwise, he was the same tiny pup as when I first saw him.

That started to worry me.

Worse, whether it was a nap or full night’s sleep, he’d sometimes be feverish, breathing heavily in pain.

Whenever that happened, I stayed by his side, but Lucifer would get annoyed, and Morus would make this odd expression but neither did anything to help Hirpus.

***

[“He’s got all this energy but nowhere to release it. Hirpus can only reproduce once he reaches adulthood.”]

[“…?”]

[“Hmm, maybe it’s too early for Lady Bella to understand. What I mean is, he needs to find a mate and—Ack! Regnator, what are you doing?!”]

I squinted, trying to process what Morus had said. Something about reproduction… and mating? What did that have to do with Hirpus being in pain? He’s still a baby! Why is she talking about finding him a mate?

Do magical beasts arrange mates as pups? Like a childhood betrothal?

‘Hah… I’ve officially lost it. Even my imagination’s gone haywire.’

Living in a place this bizarre had warped my very thoughts.

“Woof.”

When I called him, he lazily opened just one eye. It was unbearably cute. Hirpus was indifferent to most things. Call his name, meh. Serve food, meh. But when I held him on my lap and stroked his head, he’d melt into a relaxed puddle, tail wagging softly.

He was too cute to resist. That’s why I kept doing it.

Then, Morus, who’d been quietly reading a book on the sofa, asked:

“You really like magical beast pups, huh, Lady Bella?”

Maybe she picked it up from Regnator, but she always called Hirpus a ‘beast pup.’

‘Watch your mouth in front of a baby, you demon scoundrels.’

I blamed both demons for my increasingly coarse language and nodded in reply.

(TN: How is today’s chapter guys? I am really loving how exaggerated Regnator is really, haha. I hope you guys are liking him as much as I do!)