Miss Demon King, Please Endure a Little Longer - Volume 1 Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Secret(?) Observation

***

On the second day after arriving at the royal capital, in the morning, as dawn broke, Aira opened her wine-red eyes and stretched lazily.

“Mmm… nn…”

Sigh, her chest felt so heavy.

In the first two days, when she woke up in the morning, she would still instinctively reach out and push at them, as if she could push them away. Now she no longer did such foolish things.

And the troubles of growing up meant facing adult problems.

Aira got out of bed and skillfully fastened the buttons on her collar, casually adjusting the missing gap to serve as a ventilation opening.

Standing at the door and looking out, the door to Celeste’s room next door was tightly shut. She didn’t know if she had already gone out or hadn’t gotten up yet, probably the former.

To break through the Sword Saint’s one-on-one defense, Aira’s initial plan was a two-step approach — on one hand, show herself in a good light, like yesterday when she proactively helped wash Celeste’s undergarments, letting her discover that she was actually a good girl. On the other hand, try to understand her better and find her weaknesses.

Unfortunately, the person in the team who understood Celeste best was Vina, and Vina hadn’t returned yet.

No matter, she would first pretend… no, first be a good girl.

Actually, this morning, Celeste had indeed gotten up very early and went to where the clothesline was, leaning close to her own shirt to sniff it.

The alluring fragrance was no longer there, replaced by the refreshing scent of being dried in the sunlight.

Yes, no matter how rich the perfume, after being dried for a day and night, only a few traces of the scent would remain. Could it really last for three days and nights?

“I don’t rule out the natural possibility,” Celeste had said to Zero last night. “But we need to observe for a few more days before reaching a conclusion.”

“You want me to monitor Aira? But she’s my…”

“It’s not monitoring, just observing her living conditions to see if she’s adapting to life back in human cities, and paying attention to certain things in the process.”

Celeste used this explanation to persuade Zero to agree.

She wasn’t someone who only ordered others around, if she asked Zero to observe, she would also monitor together.

So this morning, when Aira was walking toward the dining hall and suddenly realized she had forgotten something, stopping to go back to her room to get it, she turned around only to see Celeste quietly following behind her.

“You… why are you here?”

Not a single sound had been made, startling her so much that her big white rabbits bounced a few times.

“I’m also going to eat, and I just happened to walk here,” Celeste said with a calm expression and unmoving gaze. “Where are you going?”

She was actually asking her instead!

“I forgot something in my room and wanted to go back to get it.”

“What thing?”

“Uh, a hair clip.”

Although she didn’t know why she was asking in such detail, the good girl still obediently answered everything.

“I’ll go with you.”

“Ah… why?”

She couldn’t help but ask.

Celeste was silent for a moment before saying, “We’ll have breakfast together afterward. It’s on the way.”

“…Alright.”

The hair clip was a small rabbit-shaped one. Aira found it on the bedside cabinet, but just as she picked it up, another hand reached over—

“Let me see.”

Because Celeste spoke so naturally, good girl Aira instinctively handed it to her.

Sniff, sniff— the fragrance was very faint, something that had rubbed off from the girl’s hair, not the source of the scent, and there was no small bottle hidden inside either.

Aira watched her actions, thinking that although good girls shouldn’t ask too many questions, in this situation she should probably be a bit shy.

“Um, excuse me, is there any problem?”

“Not at the moment,” Celeste replied rigorously, returning the hair clip to her. “Let’s go eat breakfast.”

Breakfast was bought from the restaurant next door, which provided takeout service and delivered it specifically to the camp entrance. Lia had already retrieved it.

When Celeste and Aira arrived, the Saintess was performing a prayer over breakfast.

“May the light grant us a pure morning, undefiled by any evil.”

A gentle light fell on the dining table, making the already appetizing food look… no different.

Uh, so what did this prayer mean?

“Checking for poison,” Celeste explained.

“I see.”

Having a healer in the team was indeed quite important.

After finishing her prayer, Lia sat down at her seat and began enjoying breakfast, only nodding slightly at the two girls.

She was the working one, so eating first was fine.

The two girls sat down, and Celeste suddenly asked, “How did you live in the Demon King’s Castle? What did you usually do?”

Aira glanced at Lia, who was completely unconcerned with their conversation and was eating her food leisurely.

“Just, a very simple life. I did some chores every day, cleaning and tidying for the Demon King… do you need that?”

“No, I’m not the Demon King.”

“…”

Why did that sound a bit like an insult?

“Is there anything inconvenient about living here? Do you need to buy anything separately?”

“No, no, using the same things as you all is fine.”

After such strange small talk, breakfast was unknowingly finished. It tasted quite good.

Aira stood up, and Celeste also stood up.

“You do your thing,” the Sword Saint said indifferently. “I’m just going the same way.”

How could she be going the same way when she didn’t even know where she was going?

Aira went to walk in the yard, this was her healthy post-meal habit.

Celeste followed behind her.

Just as the two figures disappeared, Zero suddenly appeared from somewhere, sat in Aira’s previous seat, quickly ate her own breakfast, then followed closely behind.

Lia, due to her more ladylike manner, still hadn’t finished eating. Watching the seats beside her changed occupants one after another, couldn’t help but stare in bewilderment.

What were these people up to?

…

These past few days, Aira often felt a chill on her back while walking around the house, as if something was watching her.

She felt that the Campfire Lodge was haunted, though not necessarily, because when she turned around there was a high probability of seeing an ice-blue figure.

“You go your way, I’m just passing by.”

Celeste always said this.

Sometimes she would even turn around and ask where Aira was going and what she planned to do.

As for why “not necessarily,” it was because sometimes when she turned around, there really was nothing there…

“How do you do it?” Celeste asked Zero for tips. “How do you avoid being discovered?”

“That’s a shadow assassin skill. Do you want to give it a try?”

“Assassin skills? I’ll pass.”

“Alright. But speaking of which, it’s been another 3 days now, and Aira still smells nice. Can we rule out suspicion?”

Regarding Zero’s words, Celeste hesitated for a long time before finally giving her answer: “Observe for 2 more days.”

If the scent was still there after 2 days, she would believe that Aira hadn’t used any external substances and just naturally had an alluring body.

But on the second day, a small accident disrupted Celeste’s plan.

A messenger from the royal palace stood outside the camp entrance and conveyed a message to the girl:

“Regarding the matter of the last mission, we hope you will enter the palace for discussion. Oh, and the girl you brought back should come too.”