Chapter 45: Catnip

“Sorry, Yelu. I was planning to ask you out for lunch this afternoon… but Kaliya, she…”

Ye Lu pursed her lips, just watching him gently sit beside her with the mother in his arms, without speaking.

The little succubus in his arms whimpered.

Father bit his lip, looking troubled, and patted her back.

In one breath, he swayed her gently, then brushed aside her hair and gave her a small kiss on her smooth forehead.

He soothed with his mouth: “Sleep, sleep, Ka Li Ya, there’s nothing there. Even if you want revenge, you have to wait until tomorrow.”

The effect was good.

She quickly calmed down, continuing to lie limp on his chest.

“Humph, childish. She’s already an old lady in her forties…”

Ye Lu crossed her arms and muttered.

“It doesn’t matter. In my heart, she’s forever a young girl.”

“…”

Weakly.

She silently stood up, and just as she had the idea to go back inside and play some otome games for a while, her dad suddenly handed her something.

“This.”

It was a pink teething stick.

Ye Lu was puzzled: “Ugh…?”

Immediately, her tail stood up.

“This is!”

She snatched it over and held it before her eyes.

It was just a teething stick, so why was it emitting a scent her instincts craved?

She swallowed, like a little rabbit seeing fresh grass, and wanted to devour it in an instant.

But even as her mouth opened, she felt something was wrong, and shamefully threw the teething stick to the ground, glaring at her father with a questioning look.

“Of… of course not.”

“How could I possibly feed something like that to my handsome son?”

He calmly explained: “This is a natural herb, hand-picked. It’s the same kind as the snacks you usually like, so… it’s edible. No one has touched it.”

“I see.”

Relieved, she picked up the teething stick and sniffed it at the tip of her nose.

Indeed, the smell was very similar to a man’s, that scent of photinia flower.

But to call it a herb… she was a bit skeptical, so she looked over at her father who was holding the sleeping mother.

Father was speechless, so he had to explain in detail.

“This is called Kuite Flower. It’s very expensive.”

“It’s specially produced in the Succubus Mountains. We used to keep it at home. You even used it as a toy to play with. Did you forget?”

“It’s just… we haven’t been going out much lately, so we rarely stock it anymore. Yesterday I saw you couldn’t eat, and it suddenly came to mind. So I went out specially today to buy it.”

“After all, from now on, you’re a girl too, just like your mother.”

As he said that, he fumbled in his pocket, then opened his large hand, and there were five more teething sticks in his palm that he couldn’t quite hold.

“Thank you…”

Dad had noticed even this? Listening to his gentle words, she felt warm inside. Indeed, it was much more relaxing than being cooped up in her room playing games all day.

No longer holding back, her face flushed red, she picked up that small pill with her fingertips and brought it to her lips, ready to take a greedy bite, but then… she stopped.

She noticed the man beside her staring unblinkingly at her with a complicated expression.

‘…So embarrassing.’

“Don’t look!”

“Sorry.”

Pushing him away, Ye Lu finally focused again.

After all, as a succubus, being watched while eating would be a bit embarrassing no matter who it was, right?

“Ah wu~”

Her teeth broke off a piece.

As the teething stick entered her throat, instantly a tingling sensation shot straight to the crown of her head.

“Ugh… this… what is this~!”

Like a cat sniffing catnip.

It made her unable to help squeezing her legs together, her tail stiffening into a stick.

Just this one bite, and she couldn’t stand it…

Uncomfortably, she slowly lay sideways on the sofa, intending to slowly absorb the medicine’s power, but still couldn’t help making sounds.

After three minutes, the feeling slowly dissipated.

Consciousness returned to her body, as if she had experienced an ascension.

Looking at the remaining large piece of teething stick in her hand, with tears in her eyes, she unhesitatingly put it into her mouth.

“Eeeh~! Oh ho..”

Her eyes rolled back.

This time, it took twenty minutes to digest.

When her vision focused and she got up from the sofa, she found herself crying like a mess. She quickly wiped her eyes, looked around, and found her dad was gone.

“Phew~”

Good thing he left early.

But, squinting, she touched her stomach.

The hunger had indeed eased quite a bit, almost as effective as the nutrition she got from kissing Wangzi.

“No! But seriously, this is way too little!!!”

“This is a full twenty minutes! Twenty minutes!!”

Tragic…

A bit disappointed.

She had thought that if such a thing existed in the world, she wouldn’t have to rely on men anymore, but she didn’t expect the effect to be so limited.

“Is your body feeling better?”

He walked slowly down the stairs, probably having just put her mother to bed.

“A bit better.”

Ye Lu answered honestly: “But… not enough. Is there more of this?”

“No, as a snack, you can only eat it once a day. Rather than this…”

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

Dad was tongue-tied, gritting his teeth as if hesitating.

After a long while.

“Ye Lu.”

“That… as your father, I’m very sorry… I didn’t fulfill my responsibilities…”

“I didn’t have time to teach you practice, didn’t have time to watch over you, didn’t provide any effective help, just immersed myself in my own world.”

“In… in the end, it made you become the person you hate.”

“I’m sorry… it’s all my fault…”

His eyes were dim. The inexplicable apology was not meant as a joke.

“No…”

Ye Lu waved her hand: “Even if it’s a bit late, haven’t I forgiven you? After all… you even saved up to leave me something like the Holy Sword. What complaints could I have…?”

“Mm, but still, I’m sorry.”

“What’s with that.”

It made her feel embarrassed.

Her parents hadn’t committed any heinous crime, right?

In the end, if she had been a little more talented and a little stronger, maybe she could have continued being that carefree boy.

The failure of things was more or less related to her useless self, wasn’t it?

“That… my cute daughter…”

“Ha…?”

“Cu… cute? Why are you saying such cheesy things again! I told you I’m not cute! I’m a man!”

She was embarrassed.

Come to think of it, had her father ever been this talkative? Even when they were alone together, they couldn’t say three sentences a day.

Now, her strange father was silent again.

But his expression was very conflicted.

Until he stopped.

Using all his strength.

Calmly and seriously, he said: “Find a boyfriend, Ye Lu.”

“What?”

She was dumbfounded by this out-of-the-blue statement.

“Ah… no, that’s not it either…”

When her dad saw she didn’t react, he started muttering to himself instead.

“It’s just, seeing Ye Lu become like this, I’m really sad.”

“Um, if I’m not mistaken, with our inherited bloodline, your constitution has probably become the same as your mother’s, become like that…”

“So, things have already come to this. It can’t be helped. If I let you live alone, as your father, I really can’t rest easy.”

“So, I was thinking if I should introduce a reliable boyfriend to you, or something…”