Surprisingly, I woke up on my fluffy bed instead of a dark cell. Groaning, I lightly touched my neck, which was bruised from…yesterday’s incident.

“Dammit, twice in the same day.”

{It was terrifying. I’m not even going to make fun of you.}

‘Thanks. You should learn how to choke from Herald. Unlike you, he actually managed to make me pass out.’

{Do you want me to choke you again?}

Saying that, Nira turned humanoid and grinned at me.

Staring at her hands, I shook my head.

“No. Would be useful for fights, though.”

“Mmmm…I prefer being used by you. Fighting by myself is just too much of a hassle.”

“...Lazy bum. No wonder you’re fat.”

She was the opposite of fat—that was, really fit and lean. However, that was one of the few things that could trigger her.

Nira pounced at me for making fun of her. Before she could reach me, both of us could hear the door knob of my room being slowly turned.

Also reflexively, Nira turned into a stick.

As soon as the stick hit me in the forehead, the door fully opened, revealing Mom.

{Hah, I still hit you!}

‘Shut up.’

Sliding Nira under the bed and massaging my forehead for a bit, I approached Mom and hugged her.

She returned the hug and whispered,

“Little one…I’m sorry. I should’ve protected you yesterday…”

‘So, she knew about Herald’s “conversation” with me?’

“It’s okay,” I reassured her.

“N-No, you don’t understand. I’m…a coward.”

No, she wasn’t. Herald was 9-star, so even if everyone in this mansion fought against him at the same time, he would come out victorious and without even a scratch.

“It’s okay, Mom. You’re not at fault. And look, I’m not hurt at all!”

“Lies,” she immediately sighed. Then, she gently caressed my neck. “There are still marks of his finger here. It must’ve hurt a lot.”

Well, it did.

As if knowing what I was thinking, Mom chuckled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make the pain go away.”

Closing her eyes, she hovered her hand right above my neck and muttered,

“[Minor heal]”

As Mom’s hand glowed green and the pain on my neck went away, I widened my eyes in surprise.

‘S-She’s a Healer?’

Not even giving me the chance to recover from my surprise, Mom winked at me and whispered,

“How’s that? I was once Saintess Emelia’s disciple, you know?”

‘She’s what?!’

“Don’t tell anybody, okay? Not even your grandfather knows of this…”

Instead of answering her, I stared at her blankly, still trying to process what she’d just said. Eventually, I collected myself and gave her a small nod.

“Come on now, let’s go get breakfast.”

As I followed Mom through the mansion, I couldn’t help but think back to what she’d just did with my neck.

‘A Healer… a Healer… a Healer… a—’

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{I know that Healers are rare, but can you not say that again and again in your mind? It’s getting pretty annoying.}

‘Healerhealerhealerhealerhealer…’

I kept sending those kinds of messages to Nira while following Mom. To be honest, I was fairly surprised, but now that I think about it, it was nothing too special.

Sure, she was a Healer. Sure, she’d probably be highly sought after by Magic Academies and Nobles alike, but it wasn’t anything too grand. Plus, it seemed that she only knew how to use [Minor heal] since knowing her personality, she’d have used [Major heal] on me if she knew how to.

And now came the problem of her being “Emelia’s disciple.” She was definitely bullshitting. Somewhat, anyways. The Saintess always made sure to guide every Healers she came across, so I wasn’t sure if calling Mom Emelia’s “disciple” was right.

‘But to think that I came so close to Mom before in my past life…’

I shuddered just thinking about it.

Eventually, we arrived at the dining room. However—

“Owww…”

—Mom suddenly stopped in her track, making me crash into her.

Unlike always, she didn’t apologize to me immediately. She was probably too shocked to do so, seeing as her body stiffened like a block of wood.

After a while, she managed to calm herself down and uttered in disbelief,

“Hannah?”

‘Wait, what?’

I peeked over her legs to see Hannah sitting at the dining table; her mouth hung open as the fork she was holding dropped to the ground. With shaky eyes, she pointed straight at Mom’s face.

How rude.

“H-Hayan? W-What are you doing here?”

“No, Hannah, I’m supposed to be the one asking that. What are you doing here?”

“I-I’m here to offer my service to the owner of this mansion.”

She then alternated her gaze between Ria’s grin, Mom’s still stupefied expression, and my blank face.

Even if I couldn’t read her mind, I could see that the dots were connecting inside her head.

“A-And it seems that you’re the owner.”

“I…am.”

Mom sighed. Then, she ordered all servants but Ria out of the room. She marched straight at Hannah and took the seat beside her.

“What’s all this about, Hannah? I thought you hated Nobles?”

“It’s a long story.” Hannah smiled. “And it involves your daughter. But, let’s forget about that for now. It’s been so long since we last met. Let’s catch up.”

Mom smiled back.

“Of course! We haven’t seen each other since we were 17!”

“Mhm! But to think you’re Riri’s…mistress…looks like she’s in good hands every ni—”

“Hannah! Not in front of Nova!”

Before things could get more awkward, I spoke up.

“Mom, I’ll eat outside.”

Abruptly, Mom and Hannah turned her gaze toward me.

“Little one, you don’t need t—”

“I want to.”

Actually, I didn’t. I just wanted to give these supposed old friends some space to chat, and I’d rather not be here when Hannah inevitably tells Mom about what I did in the village in detail.

So, after some more convincing, I left the dining room with a bread and a glass of grape juice.

.

.

.

.

{Wow, how did you even get drunk on grape juice?}

‘I-I merely passed out!’

Currently, it was the next day. After I went outside, I literally got drunk on grape juice somehow. Apparently, some maids found me collapsed on the floor, drunk, and carried me back to my bed.

Coincidently, today was the day that I was supposed to meet kid Ihwa again, so I asked Mom for permission like a good little child this time.

“You can go,” she gave me a surprising answer. “But you need someone to protect you. I’ll ask Ria to arrange a guard for you.”

And arrange a guard she did. The only problem was that—

“Edward.”

“Milady.”

—said guard was Edward.

{This must be fate. The world is telling you to marry him.}

‘Or…’

I glanced at Ria, who was winking at me and giving me a thumbs up. Her thoughts must’ve been going in directions that weren’t family-friendly.

Wow, of course she did this. I remembered specifically telling her that I didn’t care about this unfairly handsome bastard, but it seemed that she didn’t believe me.

But…this might work in my favor.

‘Nira, what are the chances of me successfully blackmailing him?’

{100%. Your Mom’s crazy over her fishing rods, and everyone knows it.}

As such, after Ria left us alone, I slapped Edward’s shoulder in a friendly manner.

“My buddy, do you know where Violette is?”

“None of your business.” He scowled.

“She’s my personal servant. It’s very much my business.”

“Then you should’ve known that she’s going through maid training! What kind of master neglects her servant like that!”

Looked like he had a very bad temper.

Grinning on the inside, I said,

“Then, what kind of guard steals his master’s belongings?”

“T-That…”

“Do you want to know what would happen if Mom knew who’d been stealing her precious fishing rods? Or do you want the Head maid to find out that you snuck into my room and nearly stole the gift she gave me?”

Edward stayed silent and hung his head down.

“Good,” I chuckled and patted his shoulder. “Don’t utter a word about what’s going to happen to anyone. I do believe that I don’t need to tell you what’d happen if you do.”

“Y-Yes, milady.”

Nodding in satisfaction, I made my way toward the edge of the forest.

‘Time to get the silk for the Demon.’