Free Web NovelHalf a month later.
Southern border town, Fengxiang Town.
When Vieya woke up, she realized her daughter had—as usual—already gone to the Academy for morning classes. A breakfast had been left on the bedroom desk, with a note stuck on top.
Without even thinking, she knew it said something like “Remember to eat breakfast, I’ll come back at noon, don’t worry about me.”
Vieya slowly crawled out of bed and put on her clothes and shoes.
After the Talin incident ended and she confirmed that Xiao Lü’s true body had been fished out from the Cloud Pool, she did not participate in the subsequent cleanup work.
That battle had consumed a huge amount of her magic power. Although she was suffering some lingering drowsiness afterward, at least her body hadn’t shrunk into the completely limp, bedbound state like last time.
Looking at the reflection in the mirror—her physique restored to about thirteen or fourteen years old—Vieya let out a faint sigh. Right now, she had barely one-third of her stored magic power remaining.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
The real trouble was that inexplicable drowsiness.
At night she would hold her daughter and tell bedtime stories, but she would end up falling asleep before finishing the story—and often once she slept, she wouldn’t wake up until noon the next day.
Jasmine, after finishing morning classes and coming home, would find her mother still asleep with the careful breakfast untouched. It was enough to make her world collapse.
As for the other three maids in the house—they were completely unreliable. Not a single one went to wake up the snoring slime-mom; they just spent the entire morning downstairs playing cards.
After washing up and eating the breakfast Jasmine prepared, Vieya—as she always did—removed the note and slipped it into the drawer. She walked out of the bedroom, yawning.
Most of her thoughts now were focused on reviving her wife.
Although she felt embarrassed about it, she had still thickened her skin and proactively contacted Aislin—who had already returned to the Elven Royal Court—multiple times.
But the answers she received were never very useful.
Miss Aislin said she had never seen the complete revival process of the Elven Divine Tree. Everything she knew was only what was recorded in scrolls. All deeper secrets were beyond her access at her current status. She would have to wait until she formally inherited the position of Queen before she could investigate in detail.
After the number of messages increased, Aislin had begun teasing her:
“Vieya, why didn’t you reply to my last letter? Or did you not even read it? Am I just a tool-elf to you?”
That was Aislin’s exact wording.
Even through a thin letter, the few written lines had made Vieya blush furiously, breath uneven. The next time she wrote back, she had been much more polite. Other than asking her questions, she would also inquire about Aislin’s recent life, chatting about trivial things.
After all, her first choice for reviving her wife was currently the Elven Royal Court.
But she didn’t know what the revival requirements were—whether she needed to collect all of the wife fragments. At present, she only had one wife fragment.
Since Aislin, as the next heir to the Elven Queen, would eventually gain access to all knowledge regarding the Divine Tree’s revival ceremony, Vieya expected she would eventually get some real clues from her.
Furthermore, Aislin had already said in her last reply that Vieya could visit the Royal Court anytime. It wouldn’t be presumptuous.
Even so, she still felt guilty toward Aislin.
She had been contacting her with ulterior motives each time, and Aislin wasn’t stupid—yet even knowing that, Aislin still replied to her, still cared about how she and her daughter were doing...
All of it made Vieya’s conscience ache.
Opening her bedroom door and stepping into the hallway, Vieya walked down the stairs, yawning and lost in thought.
Pa-dah.
When she reached the final step, her foot landed on a round, squishy fluff-ball. She froze—
And with a sharp yowl—
“—Myaaaow!”
Thump!
A huge force slammed into her leg, like being rammed by a boar.
The slime-girl’s vision spun; a moment later she crashed heavily onto the floor, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling.
“Meow meow meow! Why’d you step on me, that hurt!”
The black cat bounced over and leaned over Vieya’s face, baring her teeth.
“Damn slime! Your body got smaller, but why are you still so heavy! Are you trying to step me to death?!”
“Who told you to lie on the stairs!”
Vieya lifted a hand and slapped it onto the cat’s head, rubbing hard twice. “You okay?” freeweɓnovel.cѳm
“No problem, just got startled by your sudden stomp.” The black cat flicked her ears, then flopped down beside the slime girl, asking curiously, “But why does it feel like ever since you came back from Talin, you’ve been listless, totally like a sleepy bug?”
“People get old and lose energy.” Vieya used the cat as support and slowly sat up, glancing around the slightly empty first-floor hall. “Those two Demon Kings—where did they run off to today?”
“No idea, meow. Probably out hunting for food again, like always.” The black cat glanced at the white-haired little girl beside her and said helplessly, “They said you never feed them enough. That you starve them with tiny rations every day, keeping them on the edge of death. Too cruel.”
“If they eat enough they cause trouble. I don’t have the energy to deal with that right now... so they stay hungry.” Vieya stood up, dusting off her white dress—though the floor had been cleaned today, so there wasn’t much dust.
“I cleaned it, meow. I want dried fish.”
“When Jasmine gets back, let her take you to buy some.”
After the Talin incident, Vieya had been holding a grudge toward those two contribute-nothing Demon Kings. Though she still kept them fed, necessary punishment was necessary.
Raising Demon Kings was a double-edged sword—if raised well, they were strong assets; if raised poorly, they were walking time bombs.
Ultimately, there weren’t many people she could truly trust. Her daughter hadn’t grown strong enough yet. If anything happened to her, all the enemies she’d ever made would naturally shift their hatred onto Jasmine.
Vieya bent down, lifted the black cat, and stroked her chin, making her purr.
As for this cat—she had considered many things. But since she had once served under Flaviel, and had brought Jasmine to her back then—though timid and weaker than Demon Kings—she was reliable and worth keeping.
Which meant, aside from reviving her wife, her greatest priority was raising her daughter into someone capable of standing on her own.
After returning from Talin, Jasmine had ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) shown astonishing growth. Not only in strength, but also in personality. And in less than a week, she passed the Intermediate Mage exam—becoming the youngest Intermediate Mage in the entire southern region. Combined with her careful, thorough personality and her serious approach to academic magic, she had practically become the leading figure of the young generation at the magic academy.
Her daughter’s growth was one of the few happy things in Vieya’s recent days.
As for Anna—she hadn’t returned to Fengxiang Town for half a month. Aside from large sums of gold coins occasionally transferred into Vieya’s account, there had been almost no news.
Judging from the transfer origin, Anna had probably left the southern region and gone to the other three regions.
“Tonight, maybe I can pass on the promotion gift Anna left back then to Jasmine.”
That’s what Vieya thought.
The morning passed quickly. Jasmine was always enthusiastic—she was always the first one out of the Academy gates.
Most people were curious about the Academy’s little genius mage-loli. Curious about her home environment, curious why—in a student population where anyone level 9 or higher usually stayed at the Academy during lunch—Jasmine always went home at noon. Her behavior was eye-catching.
Her two teammates understood, and secretly hinted they wanted to go with her.
But Jasmine rejected them mercilessly.
At top speed, she left the Academy and ran home. Seeing her mother lazily lounging on the sofa petting a cat, Jasmine's mood brightened.
Looks like Mom really listened today and ate breakfast.
“Mom, I’m back!” Jasmine rushed in, grabbed the slime-mom’s cat-petting hand and pressed it to her own head, rubbing against it. Her big eyes curved happily. Softly she asked, “Mom, what do you want for lunch? I’ll make it for you.”
“Takoyaki, maybe?” Vieya named a dish.
“Uu... I don’t think I have enough time at noon.” Jasmine scrunched up her tiny face, speaking very quietly. “Can we change it? Mom, I’ll make that for you tonight instead...”
“Hehe, I was joking, Jasmine. I’m not the kind of mother who gets in her daughter’s way.” Vieya smiled, watching her daughter’s worried expression with amusement. “I cooked pumpkin porridge. I remember you like it. Once it cools a little we can eat.”
“Mm-mm.” Jasmine nodded obediently, then asked, “Mom, did you take your bedding out to dry today? I wrote it on the back of the note. Did you see it?”
“Ah... that?”
“You didn’t see it... then, Mom, wait for me!”
Jasmine left the slime-mom’s hand and rushed upstairs.
“Myawoo, the little Demon King is really capable...” the black cat sighed in admiration. “More energetic every day, meow.”
Vieya narrowed her eyes again, ready to take a short nap while waiting for her daughter to finish drying the bedding.
But then—
From upstairs, Jasmine's startled scream rang out:
“Who are you! Why are you in my mom’s bed!”
Vieya’s eyes snapped open. A terrible feeling spread through her chest.
“Myawoo?” The black cat stared at her in shock, as if asking: “You found Jasmine a step-dad?!”
Vieya’s face darkened. All sleep vanished.
No—how could I not know someone was in my bed when I woke up this morning?!
In the past half month, the slime girl’s mind had never been this clear.
At the same time, Jasmine's accusatory voice moved from the upstairs bedroom into the upstairs hallway:
“Mom!! Why is there a naked woman in your bed!”
