Chapter 1: I’m a super mom!

Countess Eilena pinned Sylvia firmly against the wall.

Her hand, clad in a black silk glove, seized Sylvia by the throat and wrist, pressing her hard against the stone.

Slowly, she lifted her upward.

Sylvia’s feet left the ground.

A powerful sensation of suffocation rushed in.

Yet Sylvia could not move—or rather, dared not move—afraid of spoiling the Countess’s dining pleasure.

Eilena parted her lips, revealing ice-cold fangs.

With perfect precision, they pierced the skin at Sylvia’s neck.

After the familiar sting came the dizzy whirl of blood being drawn away.

Sylvia could clearly feel that something was different about the Countess today.

Her movements carried less tenderness than before… and far more ruthlessness.

The mixture of suffocation and blood-loss dizziness caused Sylvia’s body to twitch instinctively.

Even that tiny shudder, however, was not permitted.

“Don’t move.”

Eilena’s voice sounded.

There was no warning in it, no command, no reproach.

Yet Sylvia was so terrified she dared not stir—even the body’s reflexive spasms were forcibly suppressed by that single sentence.

Time blurred amid the draining of blood.

How many seconds had passed?

By their usual agreed-upon exchange amount, it should already be enough… perhaps even exceeded.

Sylvia counted silently in her heart.

But the force at her neck showed no sign of easing.

Instead it grew deeper, more urgent.

A vast patch of black bloomed before Sylvia’s eyes.

Was this the prelude to fainting from excessive blood loss?

Why wasn’t Eilena stopping?

Did she intend to drain her completely dry?

No… if this continues, I really will die…

Under crushing panic, Sylvia finally began to struggle.

She raised her other hand—the one that could still move a little—and pushed against Eilena.

Her small body twisted violently, fighting to break free.

“I said don’t move. Think of your daughter, Sylvia.”

“Think carefully.”

Daughter.

Aria and Sophia…

The instant she thought of her daughters, it was as though Sylvia’s soul had been ripped away.

All the desperate strength she had just mustered for one last dying resistance instantly drained dry.

She went completely limp, surrendering her body entirely to Eilena.

Her consciousness began to drift.

Darkness swallowed her whole.

Just before sinking completely into the black, fragmented memories exploded like shards of light.

Sylvia saw a completely different version of herself—her previous self.

She had once been a boy.

But because of a car accident, she was unexpectedly reincarnated into this world.

From a boy she became a silver-haired, gray-eyed girl so petite and frail it defied belief.

It took her a very long time to accept that absurd reality.

Then she met the wife of this world.

Her wife’s smile was the only light in this gloomy place.

From acquaintance to love, to pregnancy—everything beautiful as a dream.

And just as brief as any dream, it shattered soon after.

The black tide of the demon race crushed the kingdom’s border, finally drowning the royal capital.

Chaos. Screams. Burning streets.

Her wife dragged her from the sea of fire, shoved her forward with desperate strength.

A hoarse scream was swallowed by an explosion.

“Run! Live!”

Clutching her swollen belly, Sylvia stumbled along with the despairing crowd.

Somehow she fled straight into demon territory—and picked up an abandoned infant along the way.

In a mold-stinking, blood-reeking basement, enduring unbearable pain, she gave birth to her own flesh and blood.

Two daughters.

The biological one she named Aria—may her heart forever hold light.

The foundling she named Sophia—may she be an extension of the light.

Her two daughters were still waiting for her in that drafty little home.

They needed food.

They needed firewood to keep warm.

They needed… their mother.

“Mommy!”

In her daze, Sylvia seemed to hear Aria and Sophia calling for her.

The tide of darkness receded slightly.

The will to survive, like a candle flame in the wind, stubbornly rekindled a tiny spark.

She could not die here.

She could not become a discarded, desiccated corpse.

Aria and Sophia were still waiting for her to come home!

Finally, Eilena’s suction stopped.

The sudden emptiness caused Sylvia’s body to tremble violently.

The force holding her vanished.

Sylvia slid down the wall and collapsed onto the cold, filthy floor.

She opened her mouth and gulped fresh air in huge, ragged breaths.

Her vision blurred, ears ringing, the whole world spinning and distorting before her eyes.

Countess Eilena gracefully wiped the last trace of crimson from her lips.

She looked down at the small, pathetic human lying like a puddle of mud at her feet.

Those emerald eyes held not the slightest trace of pity—only an appraiser’s cold evaluation of food quality.

“Your blood isn’t as delicious as it used to be. So I needed a larger quantity.”

Eilena gave a soft snort.

She casually unfastened a small, unremarkable pouch from her waist and tipped out several items.

Not the usual silver coins.

Instead, several worn-edged, dull-colored copper coins, and one or two tiny fragments of impure“Magic Crystal Fragments”
—demon crystal scraps of the lowest grade.

Rather than handing the pouch to Sylvia, Eilena simply upended it.

Coins clattered and jingled onto the stone floor.

They scattered right beside Sylvia’s face.

One even rolled into her loosened silver hair.

“Use them sparingly, little mouse. Your blood has lost its former charm. I’m starting to grow tired of it.”

With those words, the Countess turned and left, high heels clicking sharply against the stone.

Sylvia lay on the freezing ground like a fish dragged from water and slapped onto a cutting board.

She opened and closed her mouth uselessly, gasping, exhaling.

But far worse than her physical state was the condition of her heart.

Since when had Countess Eilena become so cold toward her?

Was it because she had grown tired of her blood?

After all, she was just an utterly ordinary human—negligible magic, base bloodline.

It was already her great fortune that a noble like Countess Eilena had deigned to feed on her for so long.

Life in the demon domain had worn away Sylvia’s sharp edges.

Faced with Eilena’s unfair treatment, her first instinct was to search for fault within herself.

She lay there a very long time—long enough to realize that her strength was not returning.

Instead, it was steadily draining away.

She understood: if she kept lying here, she truly would never get up again.

Gathering every scrap of strength, Sylvia inched her arm forward.

Her trembling fingers groped across the ground until they touched copper coins and the rough edges of crystal fragments.

She clenched them tightly in her palm.

The jagged edges bit into the soft flesh, bringing sharp, clear pain.

Only after collecting every last coin did Sylvia attempt to move her legs.

She braced her elbows and tried to lift her upper body.

Every tiny movement consumed enormous energy.

Blackness pulsed before her eyes again and again.

Then—one misstep.

She failed to steady herself and crashed heavily back to the ground.

The coins scattered once more.

Everything would have to start over.

Just die here, then.

Sylvia lay flat again.

But she did not cry.

Not because she didn’t want to—but because her tears had long since run dry.

“Mommy!”

It was her daughters’ voices…

They were still waiting for her at home…

“Sylvia here is Super Mommy. I won’t give up so easily!”