“Maybe… next time. I have things to do, so I need to head back.”
Sephine couldn’t put her mind at ease with the children at home.
They still needed to eat, and Aglis didn’t seem to know how to cook.
“I see… Next time then. I’ll go eat now. Goodbye.”
Catherine was disappointed.
She could guess why Sephine was in such a hurry without even thinking about it.
But it was fine; there was always a next time.
For lunch today, she would just buy something and eat with Freyja.
Freyja was probably busy anyway and wouldn’t have time to buy her own lunch.
“Goodbye!” Sephine waved her off and bought some vegetables and meat on her way home.
The roads were exceptionally crowded today, forcing her to stop and wait for the traffic to clear constantly.
Sephine wondered how a street with at most a few carriages could be this congested.
Perhaps the urban planning needed optimization.
‘I’ll find a time to mention it… Wait, that doesn’t have anything to do with me anymore.’
Sephine didn’t realize for a moment that she had already resigned.
That was all her own doing.
Sephine finally passed through the busy district and reached the street where her house was located.
It was much quieter.
Walking up to the front of the house, she felt her pocket and pulled out her key.
However, the door didn’t seem to be locked.
With a light push, it swung open.
‘Didn’t I remember telling them to lock the door? Or did I forget? Oh no.’
Pushing the door open, she saw that the curtains were drawn, blocking out the sunlight.
It was pitch black inside, and the lights weren’t on.
Sounds occasionally drifted in from the backyard; Aglis was likely in the back accompanying the children while they played.
That was for the best.
It allowed the children to get more exercise so they wouldn’t end up fragile like her.
She was so weak that a slightly strong gust of wind could blow her over—and the same applied to people; any normal adult could easily restrain her.
Placing the groceries on the living room table, Sephine used the sliver of light coming through the door to find the switch and turn on the lights.
“That’s much brighter.”
Sephine took off her leather shoes and removed her sweat-soaked socks along with them.
She had done a lot of moving around today, and she felt a bit dizzy now.
“I have to wash these clothes again. There’s just so much to do.”
She tied up her hair and rolled up her sleeves.
It was time to make lunch.
However, it seemed Sephine wasn’t the only one in the kitchen.
Our Demon King also intended to make lunch.
Where was she?
As it turned out, the Demon King had just started working when her clothes were stained by oil.
She couldn’t get them clean immediately, so she had to take off her stained inner shirt.
To make matters worse, while the Demon King could handle many household chores, she was hopeless at doing laundry.
This left her in a bind; she could only move about the living room wearing her outer coat.
It was a bit cold.
There was no firewood in the house, and this wasn’t a Mana Furnace.
Sephine had always been part of the Reformists, yet she was quite nostalgic when it came to certain things.
The fireplace she bought was an old-fashioned model from hundreds of years ago, a style that used to be exclusive to the nobility.
‘I’ll try washing it first.’
Aglis had said Sephine wouldn’t be back until evening.
Vi just needed to wash the clothes now and put them directly under the sun to dry.
If they didn’t dry in time, she figured she could use magic to handle it.
Sephine was in the kitchen washing and chopping vegetables.
Meanwhile, Vi had just finished with the clothes.
After hanging them up, she also intended to head into the kitchen to cook.
“Aglis, can you hand me a plate?”
Sephine heard the sound of a door opening and closing behind her.
It had to be Aglis.
She wanted to put the chopped vegetables on another plate so she could continue with the rest.
“Aglis?”
There was no response.
Sephine stopped what she was doing and glanced back.
A disheveled Vi was preparing to open the door and sneak out of the kitchen, only to find that her hands were too slippery to open it.
The habit of closing doors behind her had come back to haunt the Demon King.
“Why… are you here?”
“Haha, my clothes got dirty. I saw your door was open and came in to wash them…”
This excuse made the Demon King cringe so hard she felt as if her toes could dig out a three-room apartment.
But she was telling the truth—well, part of it.
“Get out.”
“I can explain…”
“Get out!”
Her attitude was still too weak. She shouldn’t have spoken so much to her today.
Now she even dared to sneak into her house, dressed so… scantily.
“Where are your clothes?”
“I told you, I was washing them…”
Sephine frowned.
Could this person actually be telling the truth?
But she had lied so many times before… She was a habitual liar; she couldn’t be trusted.
Still, Sephine had to admit that the moment she saw her, her heart, which had been cold all day, fluttered for the first time.
Vi looked like a mess, as if she had just finished doing laundry.
Though her sleeves were rolled up, there were visible water stains on them.
They must have slipped down while she was washing.
What an idiot…
‘Idiot…’
“What?”
Vi didn’t hear her clearly.
“Nothing! Take your clothes and leave before I get angry. Sneaking into someone’s house is illegal!”
“It’s also illegal to keep a father from visiting their children…”
“What?” Sephine didn’t hear her clearly.
“Nothing.”
The two of them were at a stalemate.
Vi couldn’t open the kitchen door at all, only making squeaking sounds as she repeatedly tried to turn the handle.
She hadn’t dried her hands after washing the clothes, thinking she would just rinse the soap off with clean water in the kitchen.
“Wait a second, it’ll open soon.”
Vi turned around and devoted all her energy to the door.
Sephine couldn’t stand to watch anymore.
The Demon King seemed to have gotten even stupider lately.
Unlike her, who was doing better and better after leaving the Demon King… right?
Sephine gently pushed Vi aside.
“Watch closely. I’m only demonstrating this once.”
Squelch.
Sephine’s hand also slipped right off the handle.
‘I shouldn’t have installed these round knobs…’
Stealing a glance at Vi, Sephine slowly backed away and wiped her hands clean with a paper towel.
“I had oil on my hands. That didn’t count.”
Approaching the door handle again, Sephine was determined to send this rotten Demon King away!
Squelch.
The handle was very slippery, and Sephine failed once again.
To make matters worse, she had taken off her shoes and was only wearing slippers.
The floor was slick, and she lost her footing.
“Got you!”
Fortunately, Vi was right behind her and caught Sephine firmly.
But as stated before, the floor was very slippery.
Though she caught Sephine, the impact caused Vi to fall as well.
“It’s a bit sweet… What is this taste?”
“Let… Let go, you bastard!”
Sephine’s delicate foot was held firmly in Vi’s mouth, and she even gave it a couple of licks.