"I... don't know either." Melanie lowered her head, preventing Leticia from seeing her eyes.
Judging by her voice, however, the girl seemed somewhat lost at the moment.
This wasn't just a question Leticia was confused about; it was also something Melanie was contemplating.
"You don't know either?" Leticia raised an eyebrow. This answer truly surprised her; she had expected Melanie to come up with some other excuse.
However, this answer was unexpectedly convincing.
Because Leticia felt the same way; she could clearly feel an aura emanating from Melanie that attracted her. This aura was the reason she had tolerated Melanie's disturbances for so long.
Otherwise, she would have turned hostile long ago; why wait until now to speak so plainly?
"I don't know." This time Melanie looked up, her gaze so piercing that Leticia couldn't help but feel a flicker of trepidation in her heart.
"But, I won't let you escape."
"Those words are quite harsh to the ear, Miss Melanie." These words sparked Leticia's temper. What did she mean by not letting her escape? Did she need this person's permission to leave?
But Melanie was not deterred by Leticia's words. Instead, she took a step forward and grabbed Leticia's hand. "I want to know why."
"There's nothing worth investigating. As long as you don't come looking for me, nothing will be wrong. You be your retired Sword Saint, and I'll be my slacking Demon King. Isn't that fine?" Leticia tried to pull her hand away, but Melanie's grip was as firm as iron pincers.
"Just what do you want?" Leticia flared up. This woman was being far too unreasonable. She had made herself clear, so why wouldn't she listen?
Yes, she used to be the Demon King, so it was normal for Melanie to distrust her.
But it wasn't as if Leticia hadn't shown her sincerity. She had lived here for so long; had she done anything bad?
Not at all; even humans weren't as law-abiding as she was.
When you, Melanie, weren't around, I, Leticia, was the one taking care of Yori. Tell me, is the current Leticia any kind of threat?
No, right?
"You can't leave," Melanie said with exceptional firmness.
"Fine, then you have to promise not to come looking for me in the future. 'My pet dog and Melanie are not allowed inside.'" Leticia nodded. She was moving specifically to escape Melanie; if Melanie stopped bothering her, there was no problem with staying.
Leticia's bottom line was clear: she didn't want Melanie entering her life.
Miss Demon King wanted to be an ordinary person.
But Melanie's appearance had caused ripples in her ordinary life that shouldn't have been there.
During this past week, Leticia had rarely gone out, bought clothes, and even joined Melanie in beating up three hotheads from the Hero Association.
The first few things were fine and acceptable to Leticia, but that last one was problematic.
What ordinary person would wear clothes that only villains wear at night and engage in a thrilling game of brawling with heroes?
The first time, Leticia endured it. After all, she really was short on money then, and for the sake of her 2D waifus, she could accept being extraordinary once in a while.
But this second time, that was a no-go. Once there's a second time, there will be a third and a fourth. Leticia had a premonition that once she was sucked into this vortex, it would be very difficult to get out.
She had to make a decision early: whether to let herself fall into that vortex of conspiracies again, or to escape now while it wasn't too late.
The choice was clear; if Leticia liked that vortex, she wouldn't have fled from the Demon Race.
To tell the truth, as long as Leticia didn't want to see Kira and the others, even if they used all their strength, they wouldn't be able to open Leticia's bedroom door.
"Do you know why I ran away?" Leticia looked at Melanie, whose expression was grim, and asked coldly.
Then, without waiting for Melanie to speak, Leticia answered herself, "I've had enough. Demon King or whatever, I don't want to be it anymore. I gave my all for the Demon Race, but when I fled back in a wretched state, my subjects were only thinking about how to extract more profit from my failure."
"Let me tell you, although I was defeated by you that time, my decadence wasn't caused by you. Compared to those Monarchs who died by your hand, I am much stronger."
Leticia spoke very seriously to Melanie. Melanie had indeed left her with a deep psychological shadow; at first, Leticia would wake up from her dreams in a start every night because, in her dreams, that glowing figure holding a sword was never absent.
But Leticia would never admit that her decadence was due to that failure. She was just disheartened by her useless subordinates and couldn't be bothered to deal with those messy affairs anymore.
"You are indeed much stronger." Melanie acknowledged this. Back then, cutting down those Monarchs was like slicing vegetables, but Leticia alone was as tough as a bone to cut.
In the end, although she had shattered this bone, her own sword had almost broken.
If not for that reason, how could Melanie have let the heavily injured Leticia go?
At that time, Leticia had escaped solely by relying on her willpower to keep herself going. If Melanie had truly been as relaxed as she appeared, Leticia definitely wouldn't have been able to escape.
In fact, at that time, Melanie was also nearly at the end of her rope. The gap between her and Leticia wasn't as large as Leticia imagined.
"Do you even need to say that?" Leticia huffed. "I finally escaped that quagmire, and now you want to pull me back in. Tell me, shouldn't I be angry?"
"You indeed should be angry." Even Melanie knew this was quite a vexing matter. That Leticia was only now speaking clearly showed that the girl had been patient enough.
"Then shouldn't you stay away from me and not make me angry?"
"No." Melanie shook her head.
"Huh?"
"My intuition tells me that you don't feel angry about my approach." Melanie suddenly pulled Leticia into a hug. "Are you angry now?"
Angry? Of course Leticia was angry!
What did Melanie mean by this? She had endured the hand-holding just now, but now she was pulling her directly into her arms? What was this?
"Let me go! Let go!" Leticia struggled vigorously, but even she didn't realize that the strength of her struggle was unusually small.
But Melanie noticed. In a corner where Leticia couldn't see, a very faint smile appeared on the girl's frozen face.
The iceberg seemed to be gradually starting to melt.