Chapter 5: If you lose the war, you should prepare for pregnancy.

“Mommy!”

“Begging for mercy by calling me Mommy is useless.”

Yalith responded to Chloe’s stunned expression with a smile. She looked toward the great lords with their varied gazes and fully assumed the bearing of the Demon King.

“The king does not speak lightly.”

These four words set the tone for everything said today.

She was serious.

“Although it is regrettable that I cannot let the Blood Clan Royal Court provide you all with more stable guidance, for the sake of the demon race’s future, I must be a little ruthless.

I unified the demon race, so the rules are naturally set by me. If my offspring is unworthy, then I will personally strip her of her inheritance rights. Everyone, just like our distant ancestors, if Chloe is not qualified, she can become a plaything for the future Demon King to show off her might.”

Where had the mother who doted on her gone?

Chloe’s mouth hung open and never closed. She stood there dumbfounded, trying to interpret Yalith’s words as some kind of warning.

The great lords thought the same.

“Your Majesty, there is really no need to use this method to force… stimulate Her Highness.”

The Wind Demon Great Lord spoke up in an attempt to persuade. Chloe, who had slightly regained her senses, shot her a grateful look. But Yalith narrowed her eyes.

“Irina.”

She chuckled, her eyes carrying a playful glint.

Irina immediately rose from her chair and hurriedly knelt before Yalith.

“Your Majesty, this subject…”

She sensed danger and was about to apologize when Yalith clicked her tongue lightly.

“I know you like my daughter. If there are outstanding young clansmen in your tribe who can defeat Chloe and earn my approval, Chloe can become your slave. And… the same goes for all of you.”

The hall fell so quiet that a pin drop could be heard. Chloe, who had been directing grateful glances toward Irina as an elder, stiffened. She suddenly felt that everyone’s gazes toward her carried deep meaning.

Anticipation?

Or excitement?

She had become the top prize!

Wasn’t this just selling off a daughter? This detestable old hag. And were all her seniors into lolicon?

Chloe’s little face turned deathly pale as she felt the oppressive pressure of wolves surrounding her. She cursed wildly in her heart.

A bunch of shameless old bastards!

“Everyone, go back and prepare.”

Yalith used these words to conclude today’s council.

Watching the ambitious great lords leave with dazed eyes, Chloe had already begun thinking whether she should run away now or bite her old mom first before running.

“Are you thinking about escaping?”

Yalith’s words drifted over lightly. Chloe immediately put on a flattering smile.

She looked at her mother, who sat on the throne, gently sipping tea and glancing at her casually, then quickly picked up the teapot.

Yalith moved her teacup closer. Chloe sensibly refilled it for her.

“Mommy~ My good Mommy…”

“I hope I won’t see your child in ten months.”

“Mom, you’re really serious!”

Chloe immediately knelt down. Yalith put down her teacup with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and looked down at her from above.

“Before I am your mother, I am the king of the demon race. Before you are my daughter, you are the princess of the demon race. Chloe, I have told you for five years the principle that one who wishes to wear the crown must bear its weight.

You want to be my daughter yet also want to be a good-for-nothing? There is no such good thing in this world. Even people who fall behind in the Hero’s party get kicked out. If the demon race cannot be more ruthless, we would have gone extinct long ago.”

“How could the Hero possibly…”

Although Chloe was a demon princess, she had heard many stories about the Hero. Quite a few had been told to her by her own mother.

As the greatest enemy of the demon race’s powerhouses and the negative example for all young demons, everything the Heroes did was the complete opposite of what the demons stood for.

It was the opposition between good and evil.

Yet Yalith’s teasing gaze instantly drained Chloe of her confidence.

She herself had a vague feeling that the Hero probably wouldn’t want weak companions either. Otherwise, how could they repeatedly defeat the demon race’s cadres?

“You are my beloved daughter, Chloe.”

Yalith gently stroked her long hair, putting away her Demon King demeanor, and sighed. “You have become like this now, and I bear some responsibility. It is because I did not teach you well.”

“Mother, then I…”

Chloe couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty at her mother’s earnest words.

To be honest, as Yalith’s only daughter, enjoying these years of noble treatment while refusing to improve and only wanting to slack off was indeed unbecoming. Her mother definitely loved her. Today she must have been truly angered to say such things and use this desperate measure to force her to take things seriously.

No matter how heartless a person was, facing their mother’s somewhat haggard and helpless side made it hard to keep acting without restraint.

Raising her strength…

She really should work hard to raise her strength.

Only someone strong enough could truly act willfully and enjoy a slacker’s life.

Chloe thought this in her heart and made her decision.

“Since I failed to teach you well, I can only let this society, this world teach you well. Once you become a mother, you will slowly understand.”

“?”

Was this something a person could say?

Was this my mom?

Chloe felt that all her感动 and remorse had been fed to the dogs.

What kind of logic was “if I can’t teach my daughter well, I’ll make her become a mother herself to understand the hardships of motherhood”!

Chloe silently stood up and took a step back.

“It’s decided then. I have no plans to give birth to another. Whether the Blood Clan Royal Court can still have someone to lead the other demon clans after me will depend on my granddaughters.”

“You old woman, shouldn’t you be thinking of making me shape up and believe in your daughter’s strength?!”

She cried out in disbelief.

Yalith, however, looked at her with a strange gaze and sized her up and down.

“No one knows a daughter better than her mother. What level you are at, do I still not know? Can you beat your peers from the same clan? The title of the most useless princess has been stuck on your head for four or five years. Don’t tell me you were hiding your strength and biding your time. I’d rather place my hopes on your offspring than on you.”

As she spoke, Yalith clapped her hands, looking forward to it without any politeness.

“Just thinking that I’m about to become a grandmother makes me somewhat happy. Of course, after you give birth, I won’t let them know they have a useless mother… How about eight? After you finish giving birth, I’ll personally host my daughter Chloe’s funeral.”

“Waaah…”

“Are you still not going to prepare? Do you really want to give birth to granddaughters for me? Crying also counts as time. As my daughter, you should struggle uglily until the very end!”

Yalith changed her expression again as she spoke and pointed outside the hall, roaring for Chloe to get out.

Unable to withstand her mother’s tyranny, Chloe ran out of the hall crying, wanting to find her head maid to complain about her unreasonable mother.

And just as she wished.

Before she even ran back to the palace, the purple-haired big sister dressed in a black-and-white maid outfit with an indifferent expression—her beloved head maid Elda, who felt even more like a mother than Yalith—quickly appeared in her sight.

Without thinking, Chloe rushed forward and hugged her, sobbing.

“Your Highness, I still need to go purchase supplies. Can whatever it is wait until later?”

“Purchase what supplies? Nothing is more important than comforting me.”

“His Majesty instructed me to first prepare sufficient preconception supplies for you. With Your Highness’s figure, I’m afraid the future heir might go hungry. Milk is supplied on an annual basis. If we go late and fail to place the order, it will be troublesome.”