An hour later, Leon and Asuna Yuuki left the Hotel Okura together after the dinner party and got into the stretch limousine.
The driver, a familiar silently started the engine, stepped on the gas, and drove Leon and Asuna Yuuki toward the manor.
Asuna Yuuki turned her head and looked at the Hotel Okura as it grew further away. For some reason, a trace of melancholy appeared in her eyes.
"Already starting to miss your family?"
Leon's voice came from the side, rousing Asuna Yuuki.
"If you truly don't want to stay here, you can go back to Tokyo," Leon said, not looking at Asuna Yuuki, merely resting his arms, leaning against the seat back of the car compartment, as if meditating with his eyes closed. "As long as you come to the manor in the evening and finish what needs to be done, I won't force you or require you to stay."
Admittedly, he personally preferred for his peerage members to stay with him, but he wouldn't be overly insistent.
If Asuna Yuuki genuinely didn't want to stay at the manor, then she was free to leave. He wasn't suffering from loneliness and didn't need to compel anyone to stay.
Asuna Yuuki sighed, though it was unclear if she had discerned this point, and composed herself.
"No, this is a rare opportunity, and I want to try a new life," Asuna Yuuki looked ahead and said, "Besides, I'm not feeling reluctant to leave; I just feel as though something has officially concluded, which makes my mood a little complex."
Thinking of her family, who had already accepted her becoming someone else's peerage servant, feeling helpless but not angry, Asuna Yuuki even wondered for a moment if she wasn't important at all in their hearts.
Especially her mother, Kyoko Yuuki. Her eyes only showed displeasure at her arranged life for her children being disrupted, without a hint of concern. Asuna Yuuki truly began to doubt whether she was her mother's biological daughter.
Look at Yukino Yukinoshita. She seemed to always feel unappreciated at home, a replacement for her sister, and had always shown signs of being isolated at home, unlike her favored sister. Yet, after what happened today, her family kept her behind, surely having many important things to tell her.
And what about herself?
Although her father thanked her master for saving her, and her brother blamed himself for not watching out for her, in the end, none of them chose to keep her, simply letting her leave with Leon...
She was about to embark on a completely different life. Did they not have anything they wanted to say to her?
With such thoughts inevitably arising, Asuna Yuuki's mood was clearly somewhat low.
"Snap!"
Suddenly, a hand reached out and lightly flicked Asuna Yuuki's forehead.
"Ouch!"
Asuna Yuuki let out a cry, which was unclear whether it was due to shock or pain.
"What complicated things are you thinking about?" Leon, the perpetrator, withdrew his hand without any guilt, saying airily, "Although you're at an age prone to melancholy, showing a face like you've been abandoned still makes me a little unhappy."
"...Mr. Leon is only one year older than me, isn't he?"
Asuna Yuuki covered her forehead and muttered softly.
"But the feeling you give me always makes me feel like I'm looking after a daughter," Leon smirked and said, "I wouldn't mind fast-forwarding to having a little cotton-padded jacket, but you're a bit too old. Raising you is less appealing than waiting for you to pick up a certain AI little girl later."
"AI little girl?" Asuna Yuuki was momentarily stunned, lost. "Do you mean artificial intelligence? Can something like that be picked up?"
"Who knows?" Leon laughed carelessly. "Although I think it's probably impossible for that to happen in this world, one should always have some dreams, right?"
"...I don't understand what you're saying." Asuna Yuuki frowned beautifully, pondered for a moment, and finally gave up speculating, saying helplessly, "Mr. Leon is always like this, occasionally saying strange things, and occasionally doing surprising things."
"That way it won't be boring," Leon looked at Asuna Yuuki's exquisite profile and smiled. "Perhaps I lived too ordinary and repressed a life before. Now, I'm somewhat letting myself go. My motto is just to do whatever feels most comfortable."
"That really is a lifestyle befitting a devil," Asuna Yuuki seemed to feel Leon's gaze and self-consciously smoothed her hair. "But it's enviable."
"You don't need to be envious, you can do it too," Leon patted Asuna Yuuki's shoulder. "From now on, live exactly how you want to live. There will be nothing left to bind you."
"Really?" Asuna Yuuki's mood seemed to have improved somewhat, even managing to joke. "But aren't you my master, Mr. Leon? Won't you bind me either?"
"That depends on whether you're obedient," Leon said seriously. "If you're disobedient, I'll tie you up and spank you."
"...Pervert." Asuna Yuuki's small face flushed slightly, and she murmured an insult. "I won't give Mr. Leon the chance to bully me."
"Then I'll look forward to it." Seeing that Asuna Yuuki's mood had completely lifted, Leon finally smiled. "I look forward to our future together, Asuna."
Asuna Yuuki was momentarily stunned, then nodded heavily, a smile blooming on her face.
The limousine soon arrived at the manor, drove into the garden, and stopped in front of the mansion's main entrance.
Leon and Asuna Yuuki bid each other farewell on the first floor and returned to their respective rooms.
However, before returning to her room, Asuna Yuuki's phone received a text message.
"Remember to take good care of yourself. - Kyoko Yuuki."
Looking at the content of the text message, Asuna Yuuki's eyes misted over.
Meanwhile, after returning to his room, Leon also took out his phone to check the new messages he had received.
"My sister and mother will take me to school tomorrow. Let's meet at school. - Yukino Yukinoshita."
"How is it? Have you already interacted with Miss Musashi? - Sona Sitri."
"Perverted Devil Lord, I've finished a new section. This time it definitely works. I've sent it to your computer. Go take a look and give me your feedback. - Utaha Kasumigaoka."
Besides the messages from these familiar people, there were also scheduled contact letters from some contacts, reporting various matters to him.
Leon read through them one by one, then replied to each of them, leaving only Utaha Kasumigaoka's message.
"Already new content?"
Leon raised an eyebrow, immediately got up, and picked up the laptop from the bedside table.
Opening the computer, then his mailbox, Leon quickly saw the email signed "Kasumi Utako."
He opened it and read it, then immediately sent a reply.
"Isn't this just old wine in a new bottle? It's still a plot full of sweetness between the male and female leads, sugary from beginning to end. To some extent, it does make people smile knowingly, but I'll say it again: it lacks anticipation and the allure of the first volume. I'll give you three out of ten points. One point for your elegant writing, Senpai, one point for the charming female protagonist, and the remaining point is the patronizing filter of a fan. You still need to work harder~~~"
After writing and clicking send, Leon tossed the laptop onto the bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
Little did he know, at that moment, a certain rising light novel author had exploded with rage.
"What does he mean, 'the patronizing filter of a fan'...?!"
In an apartment in Chiba City, Utaha Kasumigaoka, who had received the reply email, was trembling with fury, nearly throwing her laptop across the room.
At this moment, Utaha Kasumigaoka was in her room and seemed to have just finished bathing.
The evidence was that the girl's hair was still wet, steam was rising from her body, and she was only wrapped in a bath towel, exposing her shoulders, arms, thighs, and other areas to the air, making for an extremely beautiful sight.
"That Perverted Devil Lord, how dare he say something so excessive..."
The nearly naked Utaha Kasumigaoka gritted her teeth, her chest heaving, causing the knot of the bath towel to loosen slightly, revealing quite a bit of scenery.
"And I was so looking forward to that guy's evaluation. I should have never sent it."
Utaha Kasumigaoka was so enraged that she grabbed a pillow from the bed and began wildly pounding it, as if she were beating a certain person's face.
Only after venting her frustration sufficiently did Utaha Kasumigaoka sullenly pick up the laptop, reread the new content she had written, and then let out a low sigh.
"Is it really that bad?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka muttered to herself, looking somewhat dejected.
This was a look she had never shown in front of others. Only when she was alone in her room like this did she allow herself to express it.
"Am I really unable to write the second volume? Will I have to watch Koisuru Metronome get canceled?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka was troubled, her face full of worry, which was truly heartbreaking.
"Is there any way..."
Utaha Kasumigaoka paced around the room, not even bothering about the clothes she had thrown on the floor and kicked, instead kicking them further away.
"Huh?"
Just then, Utaha Kasumigaoka noticed a vintage parchment scroll that had fallen out of the pocket of the kicked clothes.
Utaha Kasumigaoka remembered where the paper came from.
"This is a very effective talisman. It might be able to give you some help when you're feeling troubled."
The image of the young man handing it to her with a bright smile was still vivid. On one hand, Utaha Kasumigaoka felt annoyed, but on the other, she still picked it up.
"If you can really help me, then hurry up and do it," Utaha Kasumigaoka scoffed. "Help me finish the second volume, and don't let Koisuru Metronome get canceled."
The moment Utaha Kasumigaoka spoke these words...
"Zheng—"
The simple magic circle on the parchment lit up.
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