After getting back to the castle I made some clothes for the cute baby hero and ordered Emma, the head maid to change her into them and prepare a cot for the child.

I told her to place the cot in my room and headed to the throne room where Lucifer and the others were waiting for me. Only Beelzebub had headed to the borders and the others were all in the castle today.

“Welcome back, Acedia-sama.”

“I’m back! But I think I just left Beelzebub in a pinch there…teehee…”

“Well, since I left ‘that’ with her, I guess she’ll probably survive for today.”

I pray for your safe return Beelzebub…

I clasp my hands in a praying position for Beelzebub-chan to return safely.

While I was sitting on my bed-like throne I used to lie down 24/7 and ponder over how I should reveal the bombshell of the fact that I kidnapped the hero herself and have her in our castle right now.

While I was thinking about all this, a guy came floating in thin air into the castle. He was completely unconscious.

Ah. Beelzebub’s flies are carrying him…wait…isn’t that the guy who fainted earlier? Oh! So, is he still alive? Good for him.

“You’ve returned safely Beelzebub.”

“Yes. I was able to return safely thanks to you, Acedia-sama.”

Hm? Did I do anything that special? The only thing I remember doing is running away with my tail between my legs…wait, is this sarcasm I’m hearing?

“Hehehe…you don’t have to praise me so much…”

“You are too humble Acedia-sama. If you hadn’t left this, I’m sure we wouldn’t have been able to come back unscathed.”

Huh? Wait! What the hell is that thing doing over here?! I left it over there hoping that she’d negotiate with Zen and exchange this Bow for letting her go for the day…

“I was honestly surprised when I saw the bow next to this good-for-nothing.”

She pointed at that good-for-nothing mercilessly as a good-for-nothing.

“I never expected him to be so compatible with the ‘Dark Virtue of Humility’.”

Huh?! Wait! What is this person even saying? Is he compatible with that weapon? I just left it as a bribe for that Zen girl, but it seems like something different happened while I was blissfully unaware of what was happening.

“Oh! I see so he was actually compatible with the weapon huh?”

“You don’t have to be so humble Acedia-sama. I’m sure that you knew all along that this guy was compatible with the weapon.”

Huh…well, I don’t think I can say anything right now after such a big misunderstanding…let’s just go along with the flow then…

“Well, yeah I knew it the moment I looked at him. He stood out of the rest of the bunch after all.”

“Kukuku…as expected of Acedia-sama. There’s no bound to your unrivaled knowledge.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Yah. Let’s just ignore this weirdo who’s been muttering some weird things for a while now.

Argh! Why do I feel so guilty now? They were the ones who came up with such a misunderstanding in the first place! If I were to say no to them now, what would they even think of me?

Emma entered the room with the baby in her hands all dressed up and tidy.

Oh! Nice timing Emma.

Gah! Now I have to worry about how I should explain the child’s situation.

Emma brought the child carefully and placed the child in my arms. Her light blue hair and eyes shun brightly under illuminating light.

“Is this the child, Acedia-sama?”

“…yes…she is…and…”

I got up from my seat and lifted her with both my arms. Like introducing the next king of the jungle to my minions.

Just so you know, making myself stand in this position is tiring you know. As the embodiment of sloth, I’m going against my comfort zone for her!

“Listen up. My people…this…being in front of you…I order you to protect this child!!!”

“Ohhh…” Everyone started clapping their hands cheering my majestic self. But the moment they understood the meaning behind my words…

“Wait! What?!”

I sometimes wonder if they're doing this on purpose. Why are they so in sync at times like this?

“But Acedia-sama. That is a human child right?”

“Tsk-tsk. Lyssa my dear. This is no ordinary human child. This is the one and only-...yes, she is just an ordinary child.”

It'd only make things worse if I told her that the child was the hero.

“Um…can you please not look at me like that? You’re making me blush…”

I pretended to be bashful while they still stared at me.

Lytta took over Lyssa’s body and was the first one to defy my opinion.

"Why in the world do we have to protect a human child?"

"Hm? Because she's cute and I want to protect her?"

“Oh! I see. Please forgive my stupid self, Acedia-sama.”

“Mm! As long as you understand the way almighty me thinks!”

“But…are you going to keep her the castle?”

"For now, but we have to eventually find someone from the human realm to take care of her."

"...sigh...I wish I could just find a partner for myself."

"A partner? Why all of a sudden?"

"Come on, even I have times when I wish to talk about love and daydream a little."

"What's your type Acedia-sama?"

"My type? I don't know...a strong cute girl who's as unexpected as a fire cannon...?"

Lytta looked at Freya who was the only one out of the five who didn’t say anything after I made my announcement.

And all the others looked at her which left Freya confused and nervous.

“Uh…what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Did Freya do something?”

“Are you okay with this Freya? I think it's about time you talked about it.”

Freya was as confused as I was at what Beelzebub and the others were worried about.

“Um…Freya…don’t you have feelings for Acedia-sama?”

““Huh?!””

Both me and Freya were equally shocked at what we had just heard.

“W-wait! W- What are you even saying Beelzebub? Acedia-sama marrying someone is a Capital Sin!”

“That hurts Freya…and here I thought you people understood Freya more than I did.”

“What do you mean Acedia-sama?”

“…sigh…Freya doesn’t have feelings for me. It’s more like she’s, my fan?”

“Fan? Then why does she not want you to marry anyone?”

“Hm? I doubt you’d understand the feelings a fan has for their idol. It’s more like she worships her idol, so she doesn’t want me to get married. Don’t worry too much about it, even I don’t understand the way diehard fans think about their idols.”

Freya nodded along at my words.

“Then why did you seem so shocked earlier?”

“Well, that’s because she needed some time to process all this information in her head and it caused a short circuit in her brain.”

Freya looked at me with teary eyes.

“Acedia-sama! I can’t believe you understand me so well…so please don’t get married. I wish to savor your pure beauty for the rest of my life.”

“Your stalk-ish nature is revealing so please refrain from saying anything else. And I shall respectfully decline your earnest request.”

And when such an important discussion was going on Lyssa switched with Lytta and dropped a bombshell right in my face.

“But Acedia-sama…aren’t you a girl too?”

I froze at her words, and the whole room fell into dead silence.

“…sigh…Lyssa, my dear…it would’ve been good if that were true. But…sigh…I…am genderless.”

“Huh?”

“Like I said. I don’t have a gender.”

“What? Um…then…how do you…um…you know…”

“I don’t!”

“Really? Uh…sorry?”

You know that tilting your head and saying sorry in such a cute way isn’t gonna cure my broken heart you know…

But I’ll forgive you since you're cute.

“Then where does-…”

“Alright, that’s the end of this conversation! We’re not going any further down this topic. Understood?”

“Um…yes, Acedia-sama.”

“Alright. Get some rest, I’ll take care of the child and even I’m worn out from this conversation. I wanna sleep for a few days now…”