Chapter 14: To meet one’s mother openly and honestly.

Perhaps sleeping was the only thing she could completely control and achieve satisfying results from.

She didn’t know how much time had passed. As her consciousness sank into the dream world, Chloe, aware that she was dreaming, thought this to herself.

This method of escaping reality was even more suitable for her baby-like constitution than drinking. She had already used it countless times.

In the eyes of others, she was a demon princess who acted wildly and was nothing more than a shameless rascal. Who could know that she was actually a poor little thing who often wiped away tears under the covers?

Before the age of eight, she hadn’t known how she had come to this world. She had wandered outside, developing all sorts of wild habits, no different from a stray dog on the roadside.

After turning eight, she was suddenly told she was the Demon King’s daughter and brought back to the Demon King’s palace. The status and wealth were things she had never dared imagine before, yet the familial affection she had fantasized about had never once landed on her.

Chloe understood very clearly that the demon race revered the strong. Emotions were not something she should expect normal feedback on from demons. If she, as the Demon King’s daughter, showed any desire to depend on others, her ending would definitely be extremely miserable.

So she began to fully unleash her wild side, hoping to express her dissatisfaction. Yet why, after she did this, did Yalith—who had never given her motherly love—gradually begin to pay more attention to her?

The more she acted out, the more Yalith gave her a kind of doting motherly love.

It was like…

Constantly adding firewood to a bonfire, hoping she would remain a good-for-nothing, a shameless rascal?

But if that was the case, why did she also hope for her to become a powerful and responsible Demon King successor?

Chloe had always been confused. Over these five years, she couldn’t figure out what she truly wanted to do besides surviving, nor could she understand what Yalith’s expectations of her really were.

But this time, when Chloe felt that her Demon King mother had grown tired of playing and wanted to send her to her death, she once again used deep sleep to soothe her heart and had a strange dream unlike any before.

In the dream, she was a young man working in a strange world who had transmigrated to the current world due to an accident.

Relying on outstanding talent, she had become an excellent graduate of the human empire’s magic academy and even joined an adventurer party as a mage.

In Chloe’s view, powerful, sharp, and dazzling—only such words could describe that version of herself.

But just like her past, the young Clay soon met with misfortune.

No matter how dangerous the enemy or how difficult the commission, that guy could easily solve everything with magic at a negligible cost. Yet because of those small costs, she suffered the disdain of ignorant people. Not long after, she was kicked out of the party by her teammates for ridiculous reasons, experiencing the sharp fall from the peak of life to the bottom.

Chloe couldn’t help clenching her fists.

Because in the dream, her ending was wandering the streets, waiting for her tragic final moments in a cold alley.

“If it were me, I would definitely kill those ungrateful bastards, and suck all those swindlers who cheated me dry.”

The blood clan’s characteristic bloodthirst was triggered by what she saw in the dream. Chloe couldn’t help feeling fortunate.

Although she hadn’t obtained the mother-daughter relationship she wanted, at least Yalith had saved her from a life of wandering. Now she was simply determined to make her shoulder the responsibility of being the successor by sending her to infiltrate the Hero’s party and achieve results.

The sensible demon princess easily convinced herself. In her view, as long as Yalith wasn’t openly ordering her to slit her own throat, she could still accept this Demon King mother.

But she didn’t understand why the dream felt so real yet so hazy that she couldn’t see the details clearly. Her intuition told her that the dream-version of herself had not died in that alley, but she couldn’t see the ending.

Waking up halfway through a dream was the most annoying thing.

Chloe instantly felt irritated and directly woke herself up from anger.

Fortunately, there were dream demon maids in her palace. She could still call one over quickly to continue the dream.

However, before she could open her mouth to shout, a voice reached her ears.

“Become my daughter. This is not something you can refuse.”

“Huh?!”

Chloe sat up abruptly on the bed, breathing heavily. It was clearly Yalith’s voice, with no oppressive pressure at all—on the contrary, the tone was incredibly gentle—yet she felt her heart pounding in fear.

Was it an auditory hallucination?

Chloe looked around and realized she was no longer in her bedroom but in a large, familiar yet unidentifiable living room. Her tension reached its peak.

Fortunately, she spotted a familiar figure.

Beside the crackling, flickering fireplace stood a mature woman with black hair and red eyes, wearing a long dress woven from purple gauze, her expression carrying a touch of languidness. She stood with her arms crossed, calmly watching her.

“Mom…”

“I am Yalith von Manchester, the Demon King, King of the Blood Race, ruler of the Western Continent, the terrifying bloodthirsty Demon Lord.”

Yalith introduced herself word by word. Chloe didn’t understand why she was doing this, but out of instinct, she replied:

“There isn’t enough room here for that many people… Huh?!”

Immediately after, everything from the dream became incredibly clear and real. The hazy details were filled in and repaired, and the unseen ending also surfaced in her mind.

Yalith smiled as she watched her daughter’s expression change repeatedly, until terror appeared on that adorable little face. Only then did she step forward, after the heart-shaped tail and matching wings she had longed for so long appeared behind the extremely tense Chloe.

“Chloe, do you remember who you once were? What should you call me?”

“I… I…”

Having been turned into a demon small-fry princess, calling the Demon King “Mommy,” and even longing for the Demon King to give her motherly love?

This series of all-too-real memories left Chloe speechless.

Yalith sat down beside her, affectionately pulling her into her arms. She didn’t mind letting the girl’s face rest against her chest as her hand reached for Chloe’s tail, gently grasping it and feeling the embarrassed stiffness of the body in her embrace.

“Don’t be afraid. That was all just a nightmare. You are my good daughter, right?”

“Mother…”

Chloe stammered but still uttered the title. Yalith satisfiedly stroked her head.

“Do you want to resist me, kill me, or do something else?”

The Demon King’s light, seductive voice carried a bewitching quality. Struggling between the identities of Clay and Chloe, the terrified girl gradually calmed down.

Seeing this, Yalith curled her lips.

“After regaining your original memories, do you still think I’m tormenting you by sending you to infiltrate the Hero’s party?”

Based on her judgment of Chloe’s—originally Clay’s—past deeds, a little clear explanation of the pros and cons would still make the little girl obediently follow her arrangements. Moreover, as her first embrace, Chloe had no more choices anyway.

Such interaction was merely showing a bit of respect for that false mother-daughter relationship, but…

“No, Mommy.”

Chloe gave her a sweet smile. “That dream was really strange, but I understand now. You used this method specifically to make me take responsibility. I get your hatred for the Hero. Don’t worry, leave everything to your daughter.”

“Huh?”

Yalith let out a light sound of surprise. She grabbed Chloe’s shoulders with both hands, pulled her out of the covers, and placed her on her lap. She stared into her eyes for a long time but could not detect any falseness or performance in those red pupils identical to her own.

“Aren’t you accepting this a bit too quickly?”

She confirmed that Chloe had fully regained her memories, yet this reaction was far too abnormal.

“Accept what?”

Chloe blinked. Her adorable face was full of confusion and bewilderment, as if saying that the one with the problem was Yalith.

“I am the Demon King’s daughter after all. I’m not afraid of some Hero.”

This frank and open answer, paired with her completely natural “Mommy” tone, successfully made Yalith doubt the effectiveness of her own magic.

Had she actually created a permanent daughter for herself?