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Door opening, door closing—within seconds, Lucia had left the living room and returned to her own bedroom.
Just as she'd said, she'd only gotten up because she was thirsty and wanted water. She'd accidentally heard sounds from the living room, and when she went to check, she'd discovered the embracing pair.
"Phew~"
Taking a long breath as she returned to her bedside and sat on the soft mattress, Lucia found she couldn't lie back down.
Just like humans, demons had their troubles and pressures. But sleep was something that could only be achieved in a relaxed state.
Right now, the moment Lucia relaxed and closed her eyes, her mind involuntarily replayed the image of her mother embracing Bokue Keikain on the sofa.
As Sheila's eldest daughter, her mother hadn't hidden anything from her about this matter.
That's right—Lucia had always known about the relationship between her mother and Bokue, though she'd never mentioned it to her younger sister Maria.
And Lucia was equally aware of what her mother hoped for from her.
It all came back to that same principle: demon realm culture had always been about respecting the strong. Whether male or female, everyone naturally gravitated toward more powerful partners when choosing mates.
And... the demon realm's views on romance and marriage were completely different from the human world.
To be precise, the demon realm's current relatively normal relationship standards had only developed since trade with the human world began half a century ago. Before that—in the generation before the previous one—all sorts of chaotic arrangements had been extremely common.
For instance, if someone wanted to recruit a powerful individual into their family, competing for them—even going "all hands on deck" together—wasn't entirely impossible.
And right now, her mother was making exactly that kind of plan.
Of course, as far as Lucia herself was concerned, she'd been born and raised in the Northern Territories, following the Old Satan Faction from a young age. The remote region and her complete lack of visits to the human world meant she'd received virtually no exposure to human ethical perspectives.
So truthfully, Lucia wasn't particularly opposed to the "all hands on deck" approach—especially with her mother's clear hints.
Besides, her personal aversion to Bokue had already gradually dissipated over this past month of interaction, even slowly transforming into positive impressions.
Take the tripartite summit that had just concluded a few days ago. She, her mother, and Maria had all attended that conference.
There, she'd watched a seventeen-year-old boy single-handedly dominate the entire assembly, leaving the leaders of all three factions unable to act out of turn in his presence.
Not to mention the subsequent scene of riding a celestial dragon through the heavens.
Which was precisely why Lucia could understand her mother's intentions so well.
After all, unlike Mio Naruse who carried Gremory bloodline, she—from the perspective of both the Gremory family and Bokue himself—was technically an "outsider" right now.
And the simplest way to become an insider was to "go all hands on deck."
But... she'd once condemned and cursed him so harshly over Lord Ramuthas's matter. That must have left an absolutely terrible impression on Bokue.
Someone like her, now wanting to offer herself—would he... actually accept her?
Heh~
Another long exhale escaped her. The nightmare maid leaned backward, collapsing onto the bed and raising her arm to rest across her forehead, blocking her vision.
So conflicted.
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Meanwhile, Bokue and Sheila—who'd been embracing on the sofa moments ago—had long since left the living room.
They'd gone straight to the bedroom. The petite nightmare housewife sat on the bed's edge in the young man's embrace, her delicate face—identical to her daughter's—showing a shallow smile, clearly full of anticipation for the coming storm.
"Hmm? Why do I feel like..."
Bokue's hands wrapped around Sheila's waist, but the sensation seemed off somehow. He couldn't help squeezing repeatedly.
The unnecessary action made the nightmare housewife—who'd thought the palace gates would open wide the next second—sprout a small question mark above her head.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Well, how should I put this..."
Growing increasingly convinced something was different, Bokue rarely showed uncertainty as he furrowed his brow slightly, squeezing twice more and comparing the current measurements against his memories.
"I get the feeling... Sheila, have you gotten slightly bigger recently?"
Not referring to anything specific—literally meaning her entire person had grown larger, become more substantial.
In Bokue's memory, although Sheila was already the mother of two daughters, her physique was actually even smaller than Maria's by a fair margin.
Yet today's measurements made him feel like Sheila had grown an entire size—at least matching Maria now, maybe even slightly exceeding her by a tiny bit.
This... what was this, hitting a second growth spurt at her age?
"Eh? Really?"
Hearing the young man's assessment, Sheila couldn't help but pause slightly.
"That probably means my power has recovered somewhat during this period."
"Power recovery?"
"Mm..."
Seeing Bokue's increasingly puzzled expression, the nightmare housewife started to explain, but after pausing a moment, she couldn't resist reaching out to poke his cheek.
"Honestly~ Bokue, you didn't think I'd always been this size from the beginning, did you? No way... You should know that before giving birth to Maria, I was always a mature, sultry older-sister type. It's just that after the birth, I seemed to pass all my power to Maria, which caused me to shrink to this size."
"If my body's starting to recover now, that means the power I lost back then is gradually returning too."
Sheila let out a light huff here.
"Of course, for us nightmares, as long as we have sufficient power, our body size is something we can change at will. So even after my power fully recovers, I can still transform into my current small form... It just depends on which type you prefer more, Bokue. Hmm?"
As she said this, she deliberately raised an eyebrow at the young man in front of her, as if issuing a challenge.
Setting up a trap question?
Looking down at the triumphant little nightmare housewife in his embrace, Bokue shook his head.
"Well, let's wait until after your power recovers before worrying about that."
Dropping that line, Bokue moved decisively—
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The sudden intensity made Sheila gasp sharply, her mind blanking for an instant.
Her head fell back, silver hair cascading like a waterfall as waves of sensation crashed through her body with overwhelming force.
"W-wait! Hold—ah!"
But there was no mercy in his movements, no hesitation in his approach.
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On another front, as time passed and Saikai Academy concluded its daily classes and entered club activity mode, a tall, straight-haired girl from Japan's Bureau of Astrology finally located the old schoolhouse.
"Mm... so this is the place."
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