Chapter 31
Chapter 31
A chill ran down my spine at the quiet voice pointing to the neatly arranged cake. No matter how finely it was sliced, I didn’t want to put that horrifying cake anywhere near my mouth.
I could eat something else… No, if only I hadn’t seen the original shape in the first place!
“I also lent a hand.”
Thud!
Of all things, Lucifer helped make that monstrous-looking cake?
“You lent a hand? Didn’t you just shape it a little, Lucifel?”
“That’s what lending a hand means.”
“At that level, honestly, it’s safe to say you did absolutely nothing.”
When Regnator sternly asked where he got the nerve to lie, Lucifer just twitched his eyebrows. The cake plate was swiftly pulled further away.
“Bella, you might get stomach rot if you eat that…”
“Oh, come now. Isn’t this an excellent cake precisely because Lucifer had a hand in it?”
I laughed at Regnator’s sudden and almost pathetic change in tone. But the cake was back again, closer than ever. Was I really going to have to eat this?
“Lady Bella, please do try it. Everything was brought straight from the human world. Apparently, eyeball candies are a trend there now, so we even used them as decoration.”
That eyeball candy is the problem!
“Of course, since you probably can’t eat hard candy yet, we made them out of soft jelly instead. I’ve never seen eyeball candy before, so I modeled them after Hirpus’s eyes as closely as possible. What do you think? Do you like it?”
Excuse me? What? Whose eyeballs?
My mouth fell open. Thank goodness they weren’t actual eyeballs like I first feared, but the cake was already ruined in my eyes.
Then the liquid dripping like blood must’ve just been strawberry cream, as I initially hoped.
‘Then why make it look like this?!’
I couldn’t begin to understand Regnator’s thought process; I was utterly lost. But in a way, it was also very Regnator. Lucifer picked up a fork himself and carefully cut a piece into a bite-sized portion, holding it out in front of my mouth.
Now that I knew what it was made of, the cake that had once looked inedible suddenly felt like a sweet, loving gift. I gladly opened my mouth and accepted the piece from Lucifel.
‘Oh my god, why is this so good?’
The cake was genuinely delicious. Even in my past life or my life before reincarnation, I’d never tasted a cake so sweet and tangy. It was so soft it barely needed chewing, melting smoothly in my mouth. It was absolute perfection.
“Do you not like it?”
“Is it no good?”
The two demons asked at the same time, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d thought I was about to cry from how touched I felt, but instead, I burst out laughing.
“Kyahaha!”
So, without realizing it, I laughed out loud. I was exhausted but more than that, I was happy.
“B-Bella…”
“…Bella.”
Lucifer and Regnator looked at me with surprised expressions. Just when had they prepared all this?
They didn’t even know humans that well, yet they’d done this for me. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and affection for them. Even though I was already receiving more love than I ever deserved…
This insatiable desire to be loved just kept growing.
“So many!”
I was happy. I had believed no one would ever love me. And yet now, there were two people who gave me that love.
‘This love may be more than I deserve… but I still want it.’
I didn’t want to just endure life anymore, I wanted to live it right, so that this affection would never end. My joyful laughter came straight from that sincere wish. As Lucifer and Regnator looked relieved at my reaction and began arguing over who should feed me next, the thickly closed doors of the banquet hall opened.
“Oh dear, am I a bit late?”
A guest who had arrived later than the Demon King himself, at a banquet hosted by the Demon King?
“I rushed here the moment I heard rumors that the Demon King’s daughter would be present. I encountered some trouble on the way and was delayed. Please forgive me.”
Though no one had blamed him, his polite apology was as clear and refreshing as morning dew.
Clarity? In the demon realm? That made no sense.
The moment I heard his voice, Regnator’s expression hardened. He usually wore only expressionless or forced smiles, so this was unexpected.
“Tsk.”
A strange wariness flickered in Lucifer’s eyes, too. Clicking his tongue quietly, Lucifer pulled me back onto his lap. I hadn’t even heard footsteps, but the man with the voice slowly approached the dais.
“It’s been a while, Lord Lucifer.”
“Do you usually attend such events?”
“Who knows? I tried to recall if I was the type to attend such things, but I couldn’t. Then again… there should have been events like this before.”
“… So what?”
“As it’s your very first banquet, wouldn’t it be my duty as your subject to attend?”
“…”
The man turned his gaze to me with a sly grin, “And of course, I was curious about the daughter Lord Lucifer brought in…”
His eyes lingered on me for only a moment. Even though it was just a fleeting glance, it sent a chill down my spine.
With a smug smile and theatrical bow, the man looked like he belonged in a circus performance. Lucifer didn’t even want to exchange words. He waved the man off with a single dismissive gesture.
With that casual flick, the man bowed out dramatically under everyone’s gaze, just as he had entered. Then Lucifer asked Regnator in a low voice:
“Did the news reach the northern edge?”
“No rats escaped.”
“Then that means there’s a rat pretending to be a cat.”
“…”
“Find them.”
At Lucifer’s cold order, Regnator nodded. Unlike the grave tension among us, the man who had arrived late blended seamlessly into the crowd of demons. I found myself staring blatantly, thinking how blatantly out of place he was, when Lucifel stood up.
“I think it’s best if we return and rest for today.”
I’d only had a single slice of cake, but I nodded quietly. Lucifer, who had been so gentle and sweet earlier, now looked deeply unsettled as if all that had been a lie. Even when I was transferred into Morus’s arms and we exited the hall, Lucifer and Regnator continued to watch over me.
‘Did something happen?’
Or maybe it was the arrival of that ‘guest’ just now that was the problem. Who was that man, to make even the Demon King Lucifer and fearless Regnator react so unpleasantly?
‘Well… if it’s something I need to know, they’ll tell me in time.’
My curiosity stopped there. Even if he had a voice unfitting for the demon realm, it had nothing to do with me. So I brushed it off and let the thought go.
“Woof!”
As soon as we returned to the bedroom and I saw Hirpus quietly waiting on the living room carpet, the man vanished from my mind.
‘Were you lonely without me? While sitting here waiting like this!’
We’d only been apart for a few hours, but since raising Hirpus, this was the first time he’d waited like this.
“Bella, I have something to check on. Will you be alright alone for a while?”
“Mmhm!”
Still rolling on the floor hugging Hirpus tightly, I responded half-heartedly. Morus gave a sympathetic look to Hirpus, then quickly exited the room. She even left the bedroom door open, which he usually kept tightly shut.
“Hmmm.”
Normally, I wouldn’t care whether the door was open or not. I could never go out on my own anyway, since there were always crimson eyes watching over me. But today?
‘Morus is gone, and Father and Regnator will probably be late…’
Thump-thump. The door is open. There’s no one watching. I’ve been alive for a year now, and inside I’m over thirty. What harm could a little stroll do?
‘It’ll be fine.’
I could walk and even run decently now, and my stamina had grown a lot. And now I knew that my growth rate was much faster than a typical human’s. Looking in the mirror, I couldn’t possibly pass for a baby born just a year ago.
“We, go?”
I grinned and pointed at the open door for Hirpus. No matter how gibberish my babble was, Hirpus always understood me perfectly. Does he even realize how cute that is?
I never expected to have someone… well, something who could understand and respond to me like this.
Maybe because he’s a magical beast?
Regnator said they’re highly intelligent, so I had a feeling we’d be good friends for a long time. Yep, I should definitely name him soon.
But despite clearly understanding my intent, Hirpus widened his eyes and shook his head firmly.
“Why no?”
I tilted my head, stroking his fluffy fur, but Hirpus refused to even look at me and kept shaking his head. He was shaking so vigorously, which was the complete opposite of his usual lazy attitude.
Which only made me want to go even more.
“Ehehe!”
The idea of sneaking out filled me with giddy laughter.
I hugged Hirpus’s neck tightly and beamed with anticipation. A whimper ‘Yelp!’, escaped from Hirpus’s mouth, but I showed no mercy. Just because you don’t want to go doesn’t mean you get to play the victim.
Without hiding my twitching grin, I dragged Hirpus across the floor and slipped through the cracked door. He groaned and resisted the entire way, but unfortunately for him, I’d grown strong enough to overpower him.
I ignored his flailing paws and patted his back reassuringly.
He let out another weird, choked cry.
‘Honestly, this magical beast is the real drama queen.’
So what if a baby’s strong? It’s still just a baby strength, right?
=
(TN: No, Bella. You were not supposed to go out, noooo…)
