Pastel slept in the Demon Lord’s bed.
Not that she was snuggled up tight with the Demon Lord. After all, the Demon Lord didn’t need sleep, so she just sat at the bedside reading a book while Pastel confidently claimed the bed and snored away.
Morning arrived, signaling the rooster’s crow.
Her pink eyes fluttered open groggily.
So, it’s morning…
Pastel wiped the drool from her mouth and sat up, twisting her head this way and that.
A strange room.
Where am I? Who am I?
Am I kidnapped?!
The back of the Demon Lord was in view as she sipped her morning coffee and gazed out the window.
Oh right, I came here yesterday.
“Demon Lord, good morning!”
The red-eyed figure glanced sideways.
“Yeah.”
Pastel raised one hand high.
“Please give me morning cocoa!”
Morning morning cocoa!
“Directly asking for favors, are we?”
The Demon Lord placed her coffee on the windowsill and stepped out of the bedroom.
Moments later, Pastel received her morning cocoa, steam wafting up.
“Getting the Demon Lord to run errands for me in her own bedroom, wow!”
“Well, ain’t that something.”
The Demon Lord shook her head lightly, as if mixing her coffee.
“If you’re going to drink that, get out of bed. Eating in bed is a bad habit.”
“Ew.”
That was unnecessary scolding.
Pastel sluggishly climbed out of the bed. Following the Demon Lord to the window, the sparkly sunlight woke her up.
Her pink eyes gazed at the beautiful city below as if she just entered modern civilization.
A pigeon soared through the city and landed on the head of a merchant member heading to work early in the morning, scattering something before flying off.
Whoa.
“Awakening in a hotel and starting business at dawn feels like being a super-duper elite…”
Wait a minute.
Now that I think about it, I am a super-duper elite!
She rolled her pink eyes.
Then she glanced at the Demon Lord beside her.
“Demon Lord, since you’re running errands for me, could you also grab the assassination report from my room?”
Super-duper elites are always about business in the morning, after all.
The Demon Lord chugged her somewhat lukewarm coffee in one go and silently brought back the report.
Pastel leisurely sipped her cocoa. Being the super-duper elite that she is, she held the report in one hand, trying to look dignified while attempting to flip the pages with the other one, only to realize she couldn’t because she was holding cocoa!
“Why don’t I have an extra hand?”
Well, people have two hands.
Whoa, what a revelation!
Realizing this, Pastel hastily made her way to a chair. Once she set her cocoa on the table, she magically had an extra hand.
Wow, I’m smart!
With her newly enhanced intellect, she re-scanned the report.
Last night had been a sleepy time, and after the demonic shenanigans of Mr. Penguin and Emperor, she needed to ensure she hadn’t missed anything.
“Poo.”
She hadn’t missed anything, but her lips poked out slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Look at this.”
She pointed her finger at one part of the document.
It drew attention to how some of the hawks were planning to assassinate the governor by colluding with a faction of the cult.
“Hmm?”
The Demon Lord narrowed her eyes.
“Poo-poo.”
Her dad is a high-ranking member of the cult, so what does it mean for his daughter to face an assassination threat?
Aaaah!
Is my dad trying to kill me?!
But Pastel wasn’t in a fog; rather, she felt twice as sharp right now.
Her pink eyes narrowed.
“This is a power struggle.”
It was easy to speculate.
Her dad had clearly pulled some mysterious stunt in the sacred land beneath Sky Island and fled to the Demon Realm.
To put it differently, after completing his mission, his assigned area changed from Sky Island to the Demon Realm.
But a cult is hardly a mom-and-pop shop; there were surely high-rankers who had originally managed the Demon Realm. It was definitely a case of a rolling stone displacing a rooted one.
Someone in the cult must have taken issue and decided to unleash their anger on the governor’s daughter. A prime example of the exemplary behavior a member of a criminal organization might exhibit.
“Poo-poo! Poo-poo!”
Frustration soared high above fear for Pastel.
Her dad sold off the Craft family assets and took off, failing to manage his escape properly, putting his daughter’s life at risk.
“This guy must be slacking off properly!”
“Exactly! Exactly!”
Total agreement! A complete echo!
Pastel slammed her hand down on the table.
The cocoa sloshed around, but Cocoa Friend wasn’t the kind to spill unnecessarily and didn’t drop a single drop. Instead, the Demon Lord pulled out a handkerchief and wiped up the unidentifiable black sugary liquid.
“When I met you in the sacred land, you were wrong to underestimate me! Back then, I said nothing, but now it’s different!”
Pastel threw invisible punches into the air.
“Back then, the Knight Order was still up for grabs, so I didn’t feel confident to argue in front of dad. But now, I’m none other than Governor Pastel herself!”
That’s right, that’s right!
“A fully established, independent person! Honestly, I’m at a higher ranking than my dad! It’s time he hands over the authority and sits back!”
That’s right, that’s right!
Now she could easily put her dad in his place with just a flick of her finger!
Yap yap!
Plus, plus!
“The love-struck pink-eyed girl is a super ultra fantastic invincible! Right in front of Dad!”
She jabbed a finger into the air.
“Why do you live like that?! I could ask him that!”
Why do you live like that?!
I’m really really curious!
You know what, I’m already not curious since I’ve heard it!
Leaving his daughter behind to resurrect his dead wife is a dishonor to her memory, I think…!
“And moreover!”
Pastel shoved her hands into her pajamas pocket. Something crinkled and quickly was raised. A paper with hearts fluttered in the air.
Heart flutter charm.
Let me name it.
“Charm of Love~!”
Governor Pastel always knows how to look ahead.
No promise was made to the Demon Lord regarding who she’d use it on!
I mean, isn’t it fine if Dad, who fled with the daughter’s assets, becomes enslaved just because of that debt?!
Pastel thought in a dizzying loop. However, her thoughts were often in a hazy, confused state, so this felt no different than her usual mentality.
“What’s that?”
The Demon Lord, dumbfounded by Pastel’s outrageous statements, raised an eyebrow at the charm.
Whoa.
Pastel froze in place as she held up the charm, her pink eyes rolling for a moment.
The charm naturally drooped down and vanished into her pajama pocket. The pink eyes turned away.
“Melissa gave it to me.”
It was given by the kind and exemplary Melissa, so it’s not dangerous at all.
Pastel threw her friend under the bus.
Being popular, Pastel never betrays her friends, but making an excuse for a friend in front of a guardian is a quintessential act of best friends, so it’s totally acceptable.
Yep, yep!
I acknowledge it!
The Demon Lord seemed skeptical but didn’t pry any further. Her mind was likely more boggled by Pastel’s earlier statements than her suspicious charm.
Phew!
Thank you, Dad!
It seemed for the first time in Pastel’s life, he did her a favor!
Pastel sat back down. She took a sip from her seemingly lessened Cocoa Friend and looked down at the report.
“That aside, I think I should meet Dad at least once.”
The assassination plan of the hawks failed, and the Emperor’s trigger wasn’t something Pastel could deal with right now.
However, the imminent assassination based on the emotions of a criminal organization was a pressing issue. Logical opponents can be controlled, but the actions of an illogical foe present a huge variable.
“When I met him at the sacred land, he mentioned that if he thought about saving Mom, he would ask me to come to the Demon Realm. There’s bound to be a means of contact; I just need to find it.”
I’ll have to think about how to find it. Probably getting Leonard and my friends together will be right.
“Poo.”
But really, what should I do when I see him?
Should I start with greetings? “How have you been? Has there been progress on your plans to save Mom?”
Or really, “Why do you live like that?”
Then, “Are you happy?”
Oh, right.
I already asked that.
Love is greater than anything else.
I still don’t know what that means as a response.
Once my dad gets involved, my mind gets all tangled.
Suddenly, her palm pressed down on her pink hair.
Pastel lifted her head to look at the Demon Lord.
“If you want, I can punch him the moment we meet.”
Huh?
The Demon Lord clenched her fist and punched the air. It was a gesture similar to what Pastel had done earlier, but the sound was different. The air erupted, creating a gentle shockwave.
Pastel watched for a moment, then smirked.
“Just one punch?”
“Hmm.”
The punch created a small shockwave.
“Two wouldn’t be too bad either.”
Haha!
Pastel cracked up.
“Isn’t Dad frail and a scholar? If you hit him twice, he’ll be toast.”
That’d totally be murder!
The Demon Lord chuckled.
“That’s true. For that frail body, two hits would be excessive. One should be just fine.”
“Great! Great! Just give him one explosive punch!”
The girl’s legs swung back and forth rapidly.
Just you wait, Dad!
The Demon Lord will hit him hard!
Poo! Poo!
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