"And for the finishing touch…" I muttered to myself while dressing up the crab meat I just finished cooking in a neat fashion. I finished making the dishes with a smile.

I served the plate of crab cakes to Hinako as she licked her lips with lust on her eyes. I also grabbed some puddings from the fridge as dessert. Hinako gobbled up the lunch I just made with incredible speed as she reached for the pudding at the same time.

"Thanks for the food," Hinako smiled in satisfaction as she finished her plates. I also followed suit as I finished my portion.

"You sure are one adorable gluttonous princess," I said with a teasing smile after seeing her finish five portions of crab meat in a matter of minutes.

Hearing that, Hinako flashed a reflexive smile as her cheek blushed as she tried to hide it. However, I just realized how insensitive that comment was.

I quickly apologized, "I-I'm sorry, Hinako. I was being tactless."

"Right on, I'm not that gluttonous you know," Hinako replied to my apology with a somewhat proud yet embarrassed look.

"N-no, that's not what I meant," I quickly tried to think of ways to explain, however only a weird sound could come up from my mouth. Hinako looked at me as she furrowed her brows in confusion.

Hinako deeply thought to herself, until finally she caught up to it. After all, she might be a princess from another land, however that reputation and title was banished into pieces as the Demons invaded her homelands.

"Do you… want to go back to your kingdom, Hinako?" I realized I had crossed the line by asking that question. I wasn't that clueless to think what I was asking for wasn't an insensitive question; I shouldn't have asked in the first place, yet even then I still wanted to know the answer.

Hinako took a second, which turned into a minute as she was sitting in silence at the dinner table. I could see her eyes were glaring with all sorts of emotion that I couldn't imagine having.

"...Maybe, however, even if I go back, there's nothing I can do. The destruction of my home kingdom was already set in stone. I saw knights fighting as they protected us to run, I saw the maids sacrificing themselves to save us, I saw the civilians of our kingdom being slaughtered mercilessly," said Hinako with a smile, however there was nothing cheerful about the smile she just gave me, only bitterness and sorrow.

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My heart took considerable damage after seeing the saddened Hinako as she gazed down in thought of her past. Even then, for some reason I found that side to be somewhat luscious of seductive taste, until I scrap away those dirty thoughts of mine.

"If… if I were to find a way to send you back to your original world, would you do it?" I asked with a serious expression.

Hinako was taken aback at my question, she looked towards the window with a complicated gaze. She sighed and faced me with an earnest smile, "Currently, all the races and the Goddesses in my world probably gathered up to fight the Demon army. In the end, I was just an insignificant princess. My presence is unnecessary. Besides, what's with these questions?"

In the end, Hinako didn't exactly answer my question. I simply stood still without any reason. I gazed towards the window as the giant sun ray down its light beautifully, supporting life on this planet.

"Living… without any human population, is too lonely."

Hinako stared at me with a solemn expression, her fingers intertwined with each other as she gazed at my eyes curiously, "What are you getting at, Sayoko?"

"I was desperately trying to find anyone, anything that I can talk to. So, I tried to invent a wormhole that could try to transport me to another world. It's a silly idea I got from reading light novels and manga, which as expected, didn't work at all, so I gave up. However, now that I saw some real portal that connected our world together and your magic, I might be able to make a way for you to go back to your original world," I said in a lengthy explanation.

Hinako gave a confused sound after hearing the words 'manga' and 'light novel', however she seemed to get the gist of it. Hinako's eyes brightened up after hearing my explanation.

"However, there's only a small, tiny, a miniscule chance that I could manage to make something like that. So I couldn't fully promise it, I'm sorry."

My heart was pounding with anxiety. I felt… horrible, I shouldn't have given her a sense of false hope. I hid my eyes from her gaze, I felt too bad to look at her directly in the eyes.

I could see Hinako observing me with a teasing smile from the corner of my eyes, "What are you apologizing for?"

Hinako came closer towards me as she grabbed my cheek and forced me to stare her in the eyes directly. Her movement was so sudden that I couldn't act at all. Hinako smiled after seeing my reaction as she let me go.

Hinako explained, "When I was chased by the wolves, and the monsters in the forest, I thought I was a goner. I fully accepted my fate back then, that's why, I couldn't care less about going back to my original world."

"B-but! You would only feel lonely here!" I quickly rebutted her words with a slightly loud tone of voice, however Hinako didn't seem to mind it at all. She could only smile at my rebuttal as if I said something crazy.

"I still have you."

With an instant, it felt like the world fell apart as time slowed down. The only thing I could see was the figure of Hinako smiling preciously as she laughed with beautiful lips. Hinako's brunette hair accompanied her figure as her eyes completed the perfect combination of adorable and pretty.

I felt ashamed. I was overjoyed at the sight of Hinako at our first meeting. I had so much fun talking with Hinako so much that I didn't realize, I wasn't so lonely anymore. My mind was filled with memories of people, humans, and society, something I thought I was always craving.

I felt thirsty, this sudden realization hit me like a train of crab, so I sat down on a sofa and ordered Chloe to hand me a drink. With a swift motion, Chloe came back to me with a cup of water that I quickly drank instantly.

"Well, if you're unsatisfied with me being your only companion in this world, we could try making babies."

I spat out my drink loudly, Hinako smiled at my action as she gave a smug smile, "It was only a joke, silly!"

For the first time in a while, I laughed. I laughed so hard that tears started falling down from my eyes. How many days, or months has it been, since I finally laughed subconsciously like this? Tears continued to fall down, I didn't expect Hinako to throw me a curveball joke at all.

[https://i.imgur.io/U6qBjPM_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium]

Hinako looked at me with a smile I've never seen before while saying, "Hey, your sincere smile is lovely."