Even the Holy Sword, fully captured by Leia, couldn’t have anticipated it—Xuefei was actually using the restored memories for something like this.
She searched high and low for Leia, all because the memories had revealed that Leia and Laer actually got along pretty well!?
But the Holy Sword was truly at its wits’ end. Leia would never let a whistleblower like it off the hook. Fortunately, it had no emotions or nerves and no idea what fate awaited it, so it simply waited in silence.
“Leia… Leia…”
A petite figure darted frantically through the corridor, mumbling under her breath nonstop.
Right now, she had completely forgotten the humiliation she had suffered from Leia. Her little head was filled only with anxiety and self-reproach.
By chance, a tall and slender maid was cleaning nearby. She wiped the wall over and over with her cloth, her orange-red hair swaying side to side. Being from the Demon Race, it barely cost her any stamina, so she handled the task with ease.
She nearly collided head-on with the suddenly charging Xuefei, but Xuefei just brushed past her uniform.
The maid’s skirt fluttered lightly, lifting her long hair in the breeze.
“Huh? Lady Xuefei?”
“Sorry, sorry!” Xuefei turned back with an embarrassed scratch of her head. But the thought of her missing Leia made her slam on the brakes. She stopped dead and stared at the maid, her face full of urgency.
“Do you know where Leia is?”
The maid blushed and gave a shy smile.
She had never seen such an adorable girl before. Xuefei’s cheeks were plump and perfectly round, and the anxious furrow in her brow pushed her cuteness to unbeatable heights.
What to do? Lady Leia was so lucky.
The Xuefei mascot dangling from her arm swayed gently. It was one of the little dolls Great Sage Laer had handed out for free to every maid—they treasured them like prized possessions, and they were a huge hit.
“You mean Evil Dragon Lord? I saw her leave the restaurant and head to the study. Haven’t spotted her since.”
“Really?” Xuefei could hardly believe it. To reach the master bedroom, Leia would have had to pass right through this corridor the maid sister was cleaning.
“I wouldn’t get it wrong, Lady Xuefei,” the maid said with a slight nod.
“Okay then…”
It looked like Leia hadn’t gone back to the bedroom after all.
Xuefei had figured Leia would be waiting there for her to return and apologize…
Her attitude really had been over the top. Leia was probably furious by now, and Xuefei had only made it worse back then.
…Saying stuff like she had no intention of returning to the bedroom, or that she didn’t want kids.
Especially after betraying that trust.
And Leia had sincerely invited her, too…
“Lady Xuefei, if something’s troubling you, you can tell me,” the maid said, tilting her head. She admired Xuefei’s charm while staying focused on her duties.
“It’s nothing, really…”
“Oh, right—Lady Xuefei, Dragon King has cleared you to go out alone now. You’re free to leave~”
“Oh… really?”
She’d actually lifted the restrictions? Xuefei had thought it was just talk.
Self-reproach gnawed at her.
Xuefei turned and marched off without a backward glance, straight toward the basement.
With the bedroom ruled out, Leia had to be either in the downstairs bath or the basement. The other rooms were for the guards and such—Xuefei was certain she wouldn’t be there…
Unless it was Laer’s dormitory.
“No, no, no…!”
Xuefei’s head shook like a blur as she desperately shoved away the thought. That woman Laer stealing Leia from her? She just couldn’t shake the suspicion!
Great Sage Laer.
Abandoning her—the sinner—for a close friendship with the protagonist?!
Keeping her distance because Xuefei’s past behavior had been so vile and filthy?!
“Clark…”
“Hm? Lady Xuefei remembers my name?” The maid blinked in surprise. Back home, she was a top fighter versed in both letters and arms, but here in the hero-packed Evil Dragon Palace, she was just another little maid. For a VIP like Xuefei to know her name left her thrilled and flustered.
Xuefei gave a small nod. She remembered the names of nearly everyone in the Maid Corps.
Right now, she was half-crouched on the floor, her face a picture of grievance and sorrow, on the verge of bursting into tears.
“I… I’ve got a friend—awrooo—whose girlfriend is ignoring her and hiding away… If you were my friend, what would you do?”
Clark pondered for a second and got the picture right away.
The “friend” she was talking about was Xuefei herself, obviously?
And Xuefei really did adore Lady Leia! To cling like this, all those rumors about “Xuefei being forced into love and hating Leia” were total nonsense!
“Your friend—has she ever done something that went against her conscience? Or let her girlfriend down?”
Xuefei shook her head, but almost immediately nodded again.
“I-I have…”
“Then go apologize to her. There’s no finer gift than sincerity~”
“But what if her girlfriend has already fallen for someone else?”
“Huh?”
Clark lapsed into thought.
Fallen for someone else? Did that mean Leia had moved on to another love?
Impossible.
Anyone might stray, but never Leia.
After serving Lady Leia for so long, Clark was convinced that Leia’s genuine love for Xuefei went beyond mere romance—it had ascended to some exalted plane.
Which meant, if she applied a bit of reverse psychology…
Clark felt a twinge of nerves, but she laid out her honest opinion all the same:
“I see. Well, it sounds like your friend hasn’t been trying hard enough. My advice? Have her step up her game. Avoid any more slip-ups, fix the ones she’s made completely, and swear she’ll never repeat them~”
Xuefei lifted her head just a fraction, her eyes brimming with tears. She looked heartbreakingly fragile, like a rain-soaked pear blossom.
Clark rubbed her forehead, wondering if Leia had taken her teasing too far. Xuefei was so adorable—how serious could her mistakes possibly be?
It had to be the Dragon King’s doing!
“As I thought… were the things my friend did before just too awful?” Xuefei murmured.
Yes, it was all her own fault. If she hadn’t tried to run from Leia so many times, if she hadn’t abandoned her in the heat of battle, Leia never would have drifted away.
She had to shape up and behave… If she kept stepping on Leia’s sore spots, there’d be no coming back from it.
“But… what if she’s taken a liking to another woman?”
“Then go confront her! Catch her red-handed! And prove that you’re worth more than any other woman out there!”
Clark’s passion surged as she pumped her little fist. She was determined to help this sweet girl get revenge. What had gotten into the Dragon King, casting aside Little Xuefei—who was carrying her child, no less? Even as a joke, it was downright unacceptable!
But just as Clark opened her mouth to share her plan and offer some strategy, Xuefei was gone—vanished right there on the spot.
“Huh?”
Xuefei moved like a fleeting shadow now, leaving only the faint scent of flowers in her wake along the road. A new resolve burned in her cute scarlet dragon eyes.
Target: Laer!
She absolutely could not let the Great Sage steal Leia away. And she had to act perfectly obedient, overflowing with love for Leia. That way, Leia would never dream of leaving her!!
