“Sophia?” I hear Cerolus’ voice booming from the front doors of the mansion. I’ve spent the afternoon idly walking around the rooms, trying to take a peek at his life before we met. So far, apart from the surprise family, I haven’t been able to learn anything useful.

Almost running towards the doors to the sound of his words, I wonder when I have started to be like that. And I also want to talk to him, about what happened today, about what has happened thus far. But mostly, I would like for him to share some of his secrets with me. It sounds weird when I think about it at first, but somehow learning more about him would make it a bit easier.

Easier to do what exactly?

After passing what seems to be the tenth corridor laden in darkness and cobwebs, I reach the entrance of the mansion. Then I stop in my tracks.

Who is she? And why is she with Cerolus now?

“Oh there you are.” Cerolus simply walks up to me and kisses me briefly, as if nothing has happened at all. I just nod absently and point towards the intruding Demon woman in the room, my voice not managing to come out of my throat, audible wheezing passing through the air between us.

“Oh, right.” Cerolus brief grimace of confusion is replaced by idle cheerfulness, as far as my understanding of his facial expressions goes.

“Helen, this is Sophia.” I only nod at the woman in question, unable to make any gesture that would be appropriate for someone of my stature, simply lost in my mind.

“Sophia, this is my daughter, Helen. Well, adopted daughter.” Receiving a similar pearly smile I notice the similarities between them, the same shade of red of their skin making them eerily alike. However, her white horns and completely red eyes are a giveaway to the differences between them.

She’s also less… noble. Cerolus’ presence fills the place he is in completely, like an otherworldly aura around him. She doesn’t have that same air around her, a slight tinge of… brown coming off her for some reason.

Wait, Cerolus didn’t mention anything about family, and Kozzok doesn’t seem to have wanted to say more about it. When did this come from? How many things will I learn about Cerolus during my stay here?

“Nice to meet you,” is all my mouth is able to create at this point in time, as my mind is overwhelmed by the newfound information about my husband.

Cerolus decides to end the deathly silence around us. “I think it’s time for dinner.”

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Master has returned home, which I think is great, since the innumerable questions I can’t answer have been getting to me. Humans do lack some observational abilities, but they seem to be rather noisily curious, or at least Mistress would lend me to believe that. Not that I would say anything about that to Master.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The years haven’t really prepared me to be grappled by a woman however. The similar melodic tune echoes through my head, and I know I should remember her, but my memory is failing me, the vastness of my mind being covered in mist.

“Kozzok! Oh how good it is to see you again!” The woman is clearly energetic about our reunion, if I may call it that, but that doesn’t lend any help towards me noting her identity.

I look closer into the mystery in front of me trying to remember something I maybe shouldn’t have forgotten in the first place.

The Master’s laughing voice breaks any composure and concentration I have had. “You forgot Helen, Kozzok? Well, you did last see each other thirty years ago, and that’s quite a long time for you, I gather.”

Helen? The little Mistress? This woman in front of me?

“I am sorry, little Miss. I apologize for my failing memory. This servant is ashamed.” I bow lowly, trying to regain some elegance Master has taught me to strive for ever since we met.

“Oh forget all that Kozzok. You’re as much a part of the family as I am.

How have you been? Has dad been hard on you?”

I remember now. Helen, Master’s adopted daughter. She was there when I entered Master’s service, only a small child. It could be said that we grew up together, if not for the fact that I already looked more similar to what Master described as a young man at my Spawning. She was kind to me when she was little, if not a bit overbearing at times. Young children are a lot of work from what I’ve gathered Master doing in the beginning.

I remember Master casting her out as well, something about unforgettable and unforgiving behavior making him more distant at that time. He would often close himself in his chambers, sometimes clutching various objects, some which belonged to her, some to him, and some I was only told belonged to his sons. Those days passed incredulously slowly.

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I am sat down on the spot next to Cerolus, a shift from our usual sitting arrangements, while the woman is sat opposite of me, leaving the entire half of the dining table barren. Cerolus’ explanation to this was, ‘I can’t possibly make either of you sit so far away’. I guess it’s kind of him to think like that.

I, of course, still have no clue as to who this woman is, beyond Cerolus’ brief mention of her being his adoptive daughter, and the fact that she knows Kozzok, which would be a change for once.

Kozzok seemed more like a shadow for as long as I knew him, nobody but Cerolus seeming to spare him more than a thought. His demeanor hasn’t shifted since, though, cold as usual.

I look towards the woman now, her looks seemingly pleasant to my eyes somehow. It’s weird somehow, I have been close to my ladies in waiting, but my first impressions of her seem more in line towards me meeting a man rather than a woman, more akin to me meeting Cerolus in fact.

“She’s using the look, dad. It’s weird seeing it from a woman.” The woman points out with a small snicker, Cerolus’ smile spreading across his face. “I’m a Lilin like dad. Your reaction is completely normal, I don’t have that much control over my abilities yet. Don’t fret on it. That’s why he adopted me, actually.”

“You were a small child which needed to be saved from a cruel life. How could I not do something so small for one of my kind? There are few of us as is.”

“One fewer tomorrow.” The woman’s word spread silence across the room, as the air around us chills noticeably.

“Let’s change the subject shall we? How was your day Sophia?”

In his question I realize there is something I almost forgot.

Sarron.