Chapter 443: Sheila, the Amusement Freak

Seeing Takumi happily chatting away with Serafall while completely ignoring her, Zest finally couldn’t help asking, “Um… what are you planning to do with me?”

Hearing that, Takumi smiled.

“What’s wrong? Are you that eager for me to deal with you?”

Takumi’s magnetic voice and the way his face drew closer instantly made Zest’s breathing grow heavier. Her cheeks flushed as she lowered her head and whispered, “Mmm… n-no. It’s just… just…”

Her cherry-red lips parted slightly, but she couldn’t manage to get out a complete sentence.

Seeing how adorable she looked, Takumi couldn’t resist pinching her cheek.

“Haha~~ We’ll talk about what to do with you tomorrow. For today, just stay here and behave.”

With that, Takumi turned on the television and casually asked, “By the way, Zest, do you watch TV in the Underworld?”

“Eh!? Television… n-no.”

Now unusually docile, Zest shook her head and stared at the screen with a hint of curiosity.

Although the Underworld had gradually begun modernizing, the War Faction she belonged to still maintained the traditions of the older generation. She had never experienced entertainment like television before.

When they heard that Zest had never even watched TV, even Asia looked at her with pity.

The girls, Irina included, also gained an entirely new impression of this beautiful female demon.

She seemed… surprisingly clueless.

“She really doesn’t seem much like a demon.”

Irina and Kurumi quietly muttered to each other.

Not long afterward, Tohru brought a lavish dinner to the table, and everyone gathered together to eat.

“Hehe~~ Since I don’t want to take up an extra seat, I suppose I’ll make the sacrifice and sit here instead. You don’t mind, do you, Takumi~?”

Sitting in Takumi’s lap, Sheila spoke while lightly wriggling her slender waist.

She completely ignored the stares Tohru and the others were shooting at her.

Takumi could only sigh helplessly.

“All right, just behave and eat your dinner, Sheila.”

“Mom, you are absolutely sleeping with me in the room next door tonight!!”

Maria, seated across from them, glared at her mother as she spoke through gritted teeth.

Sheila immediately put on a pitiful expression.

“How could you say that? I still need to deepen my relationship with Takumi. Maybe your mother could even give you a little assistance~”

“I don’t want that kind of assistance!”

Maria’s face turned bright red as she hurriedly protested.

The elegant and dignified mother who had once existed in her mind was truly gone forever.

Sheila’s mischievous, amusement-seeking personality had now been displayed in its full glory.

Seeing Maria react like that, Sheila immediately looked as if she were about to cry.

“Uu~~ I never thought my own daughter would speak to her mother like this.”

“Sheila, shut up.”

Takumi gave her no chance to continue. He scooped up a spoonful of fried rice and stuffed it straight into her mouth.

“Mmph~~ Takumi, you’re so rough.”

Sheila chewed for a moment.

“Mmm, it’s actually pretty good. There are little pieces of meat too… Wait, this meat!?”

Her complexion instantly turned a dark purplish-black.

Pointing shakily at the plate of fried rice in front of Takumi, she used the last of her strength to say, “This food… is poisoned!”

Then she slumped against Takumi’s chest as though her soul had left her body.

Every woman at the table froze and turned in unison toward the dragon maid.

Tohru scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“Looks like I didn’t remove the poison very well… But Takumi should be fine if he eats it, so don’t worry.”

Takumi silently looked down at the plate of fried rice in front of him.

His attention had been distracted by Sheila’s soft body earlier, so he hadn’t noticed that his was the only plate on the entire table containing fried rice.

And judging from the muscle fibers in those little chunks of meat…

It was unmistakably meat from Tohru’s tail!

Takumi’s expression nearly cracked as he looked down at Sheila in his arms.

She had been poisoned, but her vitality was still extremely strong. She was mostly just pretending to be weak.

Takumi ran a fingertip across Sheila’s flawless pale skin and drew the traces of poison out of her body.

The moment he finished, Sheila opened her beautiful eyes.

A bashful expression appeared on her face as she spoke in an adorably sweet voice.

“Ara~~ So you saved me, Takumi. I’ll never forget this life-saving favor for as long as I live. In that case, I suppose the only thing I can do is offer myself to you in marriage.”

“Mom!!”

Maria looked ready to rush over, rip her mother out of Takumi’s arms, and beat her.

By now, she could tell perfectly well that Sheila was doing all of this on purpose!

“That’s enough. Maria’s right there. Keep messing around and I won’t let you sit here anymore.”

After getting flicked on the forehead, Sheila finally behaved.

After all, the scorching hardness pressing against her made it very clear that Takumi wasn’t entirely joking.

For now, Sheila only wanted to tease him with her words. If things really turned into a head-on collision, even she felt a little nervous.

After subduing Sheila, Takumi looked toward Zest, who was still standing off to the side instead of joining them.

“Zest, come sit down too. Since you’ll be staying here for now, there’s no need to be so reserved.”

“Eh!? I can…?” Zest hesitated before softly adding, “Um… thank you.”

After talking with Asia and the others, she had already started picking up expressions like that.

Once she shyly thanked him, she obediently sat down with the group.

In truth, her emotions were extremely complicated.

Zest had been raised as a pawn guided by the War Faction and had grown accustomed to being assigned missions by others. That was how she had lived nearly her entire life, with very little of her own will ever involved.

Because of that, obeying other people’s orders had become second nature to her.

Takumi should have been her enemy, yet not only had he spared her life, he had even taken her in like this.

Zest was genuinely lost.

She had no idea what she should do, so all she could manage was to follow her instincts and obey Takumi’s instructions.

Noticing the confusion in Zest’s heart, Takumi quietly withdrew his gaze.

Zest was an exceptional servant. All he needed to do was guide her patiently, step by step, until she joined his side for good.

Once dinner ended, the house settled into a strangely peaceful atmosphere.

There were considerably more people staying there now, but fortunately, Takumi had anticipated situations like this when arranging the house, so there were genuinely enough rooms for everyone.

Normally, he would have bathed together with Mio, Maria, Tohru, and the others.

But with so many people around keeping one another in check, he unexpectedly found himself enjoying a bath alone for the first time in quite a while.

“Doing this once in a while is actually pretty relaxing.”

Takumi let out a long breath.

When he emerged wrapped in a bath towel, he found Sheila outside the bathroom, tied up from head to toe.

Clearly, she had just attempted some sort of sneak attack and had been captured on the spot.

“Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!”

Even her mouth had been gagged.

The instant Sheila saw Takumi come out, she began struggling desperately and making noises at him, obviously asking him for help.

“Hmm~ I don’t hear anything. Guess I’ll head back to my room.”

Takumi’s gaze swept right past her as he strode forward without stopping.

Maria immediately emerged from the side, hoisted her mother over her shoulder, and carried her toward her own bedroom.

At the same time, as Mio headed toward the bathroom, Yuki happened to walk over.

Watching Mio’s blouse sway tightly around her chest, Yuki couldn’t help muttering to herself, “With that thing stretched so tight… how has her shirt not strangled her to death?”

She had just spent quite a while talking with Maria about various things.