The items left behind by former Demon Kings are truly exceptional.
The Demon King finally found the key technique to help her win back her wife.
“Disguise Art!”
If she could just lurk by Sephine’s side, have Aglis provide cover, and finally reveal her identity, wouldn’t Sephine be easy to win back?
“First, I have to hide the horns… then the wings.”
The Demon King adjusted herself in front of the mirror.
She had already completed the first step; at least now, others wouldn’t recognize her as the Demon King.
“Now for the face, a bit like this… and like that… there!”
She didn’t look like the Demon King at all now.
She looked no different from the commoners outside.
Being neither a high-ranking official nor a noble, Sephine should prefer interacting with someone like this.
Most importantly, she wasn’t herself.
That was the basic requirement.
However, the Demon King didn’t know if Sephine would end up only liking the disguised version of her.
But that was a worry for after she succeeded.
For now, she only needed to think about how to win her back.
However, if she went out to pursue Sephine on her own whim, there would be no one in charge of the Imperial Palace.
That was troublesome.
Being a King truly wasn’t easy.
Though she could order her subordinates to capture Sephine at any time, given Sephine’s personality, she feared that only a corpse would return.
In the past, even when she didn’t work, she at least had Sephine to cover for her.
Now, almost everything was heaped upon her.
Vi was quite miserable.
At the thought of returning to a lonely Inner Palace after a tiring day, she gradually lost the desire to go back.
It was better to stay in the Cabinet; at least she could hear the noise from outside.
‘I really am a bit too dependent on her. Let me think, how did I live my life before…’
It was nothing more than handling government affairs the next day and then going back to the Inner Palace to sleep.
Power hadn’t brought Vi what she wanted.
To her, the only positive feedback from handling affairs was Sephine’s praise during the Morning Court, although it seemed a bit strange for a minister to praise a King.
Was there anything wrong with wanting someone’s praise?
The Demon King felt it was entirely human nature.
Picking up the documents on the desk, Vi continued her work.
It was better to go find her a bit later.
Perhaps moving too fast wouldn’t be good for either of them.
—
Compared to the lonely Demon King, Sephine’s side was much more lively.
The two little ones were constantly surrounding Sephine, competing for her favor.
Sephine even slightly regretted letting them help; she had originally just wanted to wear out their energy.
“Alright, I can handle the rest by myself. Go upstairs and play.”
“No, I want to play with Mother!”
“Mother has to look for a job later. Will you two be good at home?”
“Okay…”
Children couldn’t hide their emotions.
The expressions on their faces betrayed their true thoughts.
Both children were very disappointed.
Their mother seemed to value work a bit too much.
“Didn’t that auntie give Mother so much money just now? Why did she still need to work?”
Sephine brought the plates to the table and took out the utensils, preparing to eat.
It had been nearly half a month since the last time she had cooked personally, and she didn’t know if her skills had regressed.
Only when she actually sat at the table did Sephine realize she seemed to have taken an extra set of utensils.
“…”
Sephine knew better than anyone who this set was supposed to belong to.
“Perhaps hiding outside and sulking like this was childish, but other than that, what other way could Sephine resist? Self-harm? Suicide?”
That would be irresponsible to everyone, including herself.
What she had said to Aglis was just to scare her.
She still had children; Sephine wanted to watch them grow up.
‘It tastes so bad. Why can’t you do anything right?’
The water in the glass reflected Sephine’s wretched appearance.
Flustered and lost.
Unable to cut the ties, yet overwhelmed by the mess.
“Mother looks very sad… Karin, stop playing with your hair!”
“Dummy, Father isn’t here, so of course Mother is sad. Didn’t you see Mother took out bowls for two people?”
“Mother isn’t willing to tell us who Father is either… I guess Father made Mother angry. Karin, we have to help them!”
“Is this part of our training project? Mother won’t let us go out alone.”
“Then we’ll sneak out.”
“If we get caught, our butts will be smacked!”
“Mother is very gentle. She won’t hit us.”
Sephine didn’t have much of an appetite.
She only ate a few bites before putting the food into the refrigerator.
It was winter, and the children couldn’t just wear such thin dresses.
She had to go buy some clothes for the little ones.
Unfortunately, there were no clothing stores near the house.
Sephine had to cross an entire block to get to the most bustling City Center.
It would take quite a bit of time.
“Stay at home, don’t open the door, don’t fly around, and no pranks. Mother will be back in a while, understood?”
“Okay~”
The two sisters answered in unison.
Just like before, Sephine brought her keys and locked the door before setting off.
The only thing she forgot was to bring money.
She had left her coin purse at home.
“Mother is such a dummy. She didn’t even bring money.”
“Mother isn’t a dummy. She just has a bad memory.”
“What should we do? Should we bring the money to Mother?”
“But we don’t know where Mother went.”
Sephine still hadn’t remembered this, walking all the way to the City Center.
There were many people today.
It was already afternoon, and a considerable number of people were passing by on the street.
Sephine’s current attire wasn’t considered decent.
People would often cast strange looks at her.
Usually, she didn’t care, but for some reason, she felt uncomfortable with those gazes today.
Maybe today wasn’t a good day to go out.
“Oh no, I don’t think I brought my wallet…”
Sephine’s wallet was just a simple pouch, but it was very sturdy, so she had never replaced it.
Going out to buy clothes without money—she might end up making a fool of herself again.
There were still two Silver Coins in her pocket; it should be enough to buy a few ordinary outfits.
Fortunately, Sephine was in the habit of casually putting change into her pocket, otherwise, this trip would have been a waste of effort.
After purchasing the clothes, it was almost dark.
She hadn’t expected that picking out a few outfits would take so much time.
The two little ones at home must be starving. It was time to head back.
But on the way back, Sephine saw a tavern.
Perhaps because Aglis had mentioned drinking earlier, Sephine walked in as if possessed.
Since she was already there, she ordered a small glass of Wheat Beer.
She sat at the bar, took a small sip, and then got drunk.
*Gurgle, gurgle…*
Sephine slumped over the bar, making strange sounds, her head buried in her arms.
At that moment, a tall woman entered the tavern and sat down beside Sephine.
“Boss, a beer.”
“You won’t get drunk after just one drink too, will you? How about some juice instead?”
“Do I look like I would?”
The woman made a fierce expression, frightening the owner.
In the end, the owner served a glass of juice.
“Am I such a jerk? Leaving the kids at home and running out to drink by myself~”
“Tell me more about the children.”
The woman leaned closer to Sephine, wanting to coax more information about the kids out of her.