Free Web Novel‘Soak with me?’
Vieya froze for a moment. Was her daughter... acting cute with her? A daughter acting spoiled and asking her mom to help with a bath—this was normal.
But in her memories, Jasmine had always been very independent about things like this.
Back when she first used a human bathroom, Jasmine wasn’t familiar with it. She didn’t know how to use the bathing tools, and she even slipped and fell a few times because of the hidden ailments in her hands and feet... yet even then, the Jasmine of those days had stubbornly insisted on washing by herself.
Thinking of that, Vieya sighed again.
At the time, she had taught Jasmine in advance how to use the bathing tools, and then all she did was stand outside spacing out. Even when Jasmine bumped into things inside, Vieya would only ask about it. Once Jasmine assured her she was fine, Vieya truly believed she was fine, and went right back to standing guard at the bathroom door spacing out—spacing out while holding the clean clothes.
It wasn’t until night, when she saw the bruises on her daughter’s body, that she would suddenly realize it, and then feel annoyed with herself in her heart.
“Little Jasmine, do you want Mom to wash you?”
Vieya stood up from the bathtub. Holding a towel, she wiped the water droplets from her body while softly adding,
“Sure. Wait until Mom dries off first...”
Click.
Before she could finish, the bathroom door was suddenly twisted open. The white mist swirling in the bathroom was instantly stirred by a faintly cold current of air.
The sudden chill made the naked slime shiver, her whole body turning a bit stiff.
She had a bad habit: when she bathed, she couldn’t be bothered to lock the bathroom door.
Just like the situation right in front of her—before she could even finish speaking, Jasmine had already twisted the door open and walked in.
The next second, without any wind-up, Vieya lifted her hand and, as fast as lightning, blocked her front with the towel. She turned her head to look at her daughter, her smile stiff.
“Jasmine... why didn’t you knock before coming in today? That’s a bit impolite...”
If she knocked, then she wouldn’t be able to see anything, would she?
Jasmine’s ears were red. Inside, she was nervous, shy, and excited—but she still put on an innocent, clueless look and lowered her head to apologize.
“Sorry, Mom. I didn’t know you still hadn’t had time to put on clothes.”
“...Eh, it’s fine.”
Vieya patted her daughter’s smooth, pale-golden long hair. She draped the towel over her chest, her expression relaxed. “It’s fine, in a moment I... huh?”
She suddenly froze.
The hook in the bathroom used to hang bathrobes was completely empty. That was way too strange!
“Where did the bathrobes in the bathroom go?”
“Fish-sis seemed to clean the room once this morning...” Jasmine said nervously. “Mom has been soaking in the bath every time you come back from going out these past two days. Maybe she washed the bathrobes too and took them out to dry.”
“There’s that too?” Vieya clicked her tongue. Having a Demon King maid who was suddenly this diligent really did surprise her. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
But it didn’t matter. Without a bathrobe, she could still wear pajamas.
Whether there was a bathrobe or not wasn’t important. What was important was appearing decently in front of her daughter.
With that in mind, Vieya was about to go out to find a set of pajamas, then come back and help her daughter wash.
“Ah—!”
Bang!
All of a sudden, Jasmine lost her footing. Her body went off-balance and she fell heavily toward the floor!
Vieya’s pupils shrank. She had just grasped the doorknob to go get pajamas—yet she turned around decisively, flashed forward, and caught Jasmine in her arms.
But caught off guard, Jasmine’s ankle still knocked against the white porcelain bathtub. The delicate skin instantly bruised into a small blue patch.
At the same time, a layer of mist rose in Jasmine’s eyes. Looking at Vieya, tears spun in her eye sockets.
“Mom, it hurts...”
“I-it’s fine. Mom learned healing magic.”
Vieya snapped from panic into calm in an instant. In her emerald-like eyes, the heartache she couldn’t hide was plain to see.
She gently pressed her hand to Jasmine’s injured ankle. A green light flashed, and the bruised ankle was healed.
Her foot didn’t hurt anymore.
But Jasmine was speechless. Sometimes, having a mother who was too strong and too driven wasn’t necessarily a good thing!
“Does it still hurt?” Vieya asked with concern.
“It still hurts...” Jasmine pouted. “Now my foot seems like it can’t walk.”
“Eh? Eh... eh!”
Vieya widened her eyes. She looked at her daughter’s ankle—smooth and fair as before—then looked at her own hand.
Her eyes were full of self-doubt.
Did it not heal? Did the spell structure of the healing magic have a mistake?
How could that be? She could guarantee she absolutely couldn’t have cast the wrong healing spell for something like this!
“Ja-Jasmine, did you take that pill on time?”
“Mm. Like Mom told me—one in the morning, one at noon, and one at night.”
Could it be that the medicine had a problem? Was that elven physician practicing medicine without a license? Prescribing maliciously?
In an instant, countless possibilities flashed through Vieya’s mind.
“Come on, Mom will take you to see a doctor!”
“N-no, no need! Just soaking in the water with Mom is enough!” Jasmine waved her hands frantically to refuse, and with one careless movement, she knocked away ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the towel that Vieya had been covering her chest with.
In an instant, the pale body lost its only cover and was exposed to the air.
The chill wrapped around her whole body. Vieya froze on the spot. “......”
“S-sorry!” Jasmine hurriedly covered her eyes. Her cheeks flushed red, and her heart couldn’t help but marvel.
Wow, that’s amazing!
Even though Mom’s height right now was only a little taller than hers, the scale in front of her chest was really outstanding—an apple... no, it was almost as big as a sweet melon!
White, pink...
But the next second, expressionless, Vieya stood up, grabbed her daughter in one hand, and tossed her straight into the bathtub.
Splash!
Water sprayed everywhere.
Jasmine’s whole body went cold, and then she felt her ankle get pinched hard—but there was no reaction at all.
So Vieya fell silent for a moment.
If she still didn’t understand what was going on, then she could resign from her position as headmistress of the magic academy and apply for an intellectual disability evaluation.
She looked at her daughter, who still hadn’t snapped back to her senses, and asked without emotion,
“Jasmine, does your foot really still hurt?”
“...It hurts.”
Jasmine trembled in the bathtub.
“Tell the truth!” Vieya picked up the towel and covered herself again. She lifted her eyes to look at Jasmine. “Mom doesn’t like children who lie.”
“Sorry, sorry!”
The moment she heard the words “doesn’t like,” Jasmine immediately apologized. Her small body began to tremble.
She seemed very afraid of Vieya saying that.
Seeing her daughter like this, Vieya’s trace of anger quickly turned into heartache. She stepped into the bathtub, hugged her daughter from behind, and asked softly,
“It’s okay. But this bad habit of lying—where did you learn it?”
“......”
Jasmine paused, as if struggling to hesitate. But after wrestling with it for a moment, she still answered honestly.
“I learned it from Mom.”
“...Huh?”
Vieya subconsciously wanted to retort, but then she felt guilty instead, and said in a small voice, “Then don’t learn from Mom.”
Casually fooling people was a bad habit, but the slime felt she probably couldn’t quit it.
Jasmine didn’t answer that. She only turned her head back and asked carefully,
“Will Mom lie to me in the future?”
“I’ll try not to.”
Vieya coughed and quickly changed the subject. “Jasmine, did you stir up all of this today just so you could soak in the bath with me?”
“Mm.”
Jasmine nodded. She leaned lightly against the slime girl. Feeling the softness behind her, she murmured softly,
“Sorry, Mom. I lied to you today, and I made you anxious and worried for me. I’m sorry...”
“I just wanted... Mom to love me a little more.”
