Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 195 : Interlude - Trust and Suspicion

"...What happened to your injury?"

Looking at Fiel's arm in a sling, Linda was puzzled.

"I accidentally fell yesterday!"

Even lying requires some skill...

Though being able to lie with a straight face also requires a certain level of skill.

In any case, demons' bodies are quite sturdy. How could a mere fall result in a broken arm? She's not a frail elderly person.

This demon doesn't seem very intelligent,

Previously, Linda felt the aura around her was becoming increasingly ominous, which is why the Young Lady had her secretly increase surveillance.

But seeing her again today, that ominous aura had dissipated significantly.

Could it all have been a misconception before?

Linda didn't dare jump to conclusions, only noting these changes in her mind, planning to write a report to send to her Young Lady later.

"But in this state, you can't work, can you?"

Today was the day for making smoked meat. The children were all involved, helping to carry the Pami fruitwood that had been chopped and dried in autumn.

"Hmph, mere elf, don't underestimate me."

Saying this, Fiel raised her only functioning hand, using magic to levitate a large bundle of Pami branches, swaggering past Linda, leaving her dumbfounded.

Although the horned area on her head was covered by a ribbon, wouldn't using magic so casually expose her?

It seemed this foolish demon hadn't considered hiding her demonic identity at all.

This carelessness made Linda somewhat suspicious.

However, the other children seemed used to it,

"Ah—Fiel, you're so sneaky~ Using magic to slack off again!"

The red-haired girl nearby, carrying her share of firewood, came running up. It was Annie, the child who got along well with Fiel.

Annie looked worriedly at the floating firewood, then turned to the culprit, Fiel:

"Fiel, Sister Delia said not to use magic. Why won't you listen?"

It seems that normally, magic use is restricted by that Sister... This is new information.

"Come on, my hand is like this, I can't carry things at all! Of course I'll use magic when needed—Oh right, I'll help carry your share too."

Fiel waved her small hand smugly, and the fruitwood branches Annie was carrying also floated up.

"Wait? Then what am I supposed to carry?"

Deprived of her task, Annie became a bit flustered,

"Isn't it better to just rest on the side?"

Fiel was actually being kind, truly wanting to make things easier for the child,

However, Annie didn't seem to fully understand her good intentions,

"Everyone's helping out, how can I be the only one empty-handed?!"

The older children at the relief agency were quite sensible, with Annie being the most considerate among them.

All along, she felt she should set an example for her younger siblings, just like Sister Elsa.

"Shut up, I won't let you work today anyway—Kids should eat, sleep, and play. Leave work to the adults!"

Yesterday she had been busy too, distributing clothes to everyone and then moving things, causing blisters on her hands.

"But Fiel, aren't you a child too?!"

Annie clenched her small fists, cheeks puffed out, very dissatisfied,

"How rude! I'm 539 years old! I'm already a mature adult!"

"Liar—You're even shorter than me!"

"That's because~~ There's a reason I'm like this now!!"

But given her small stature, these words held no convincing power. Even if telling the truth, it would come across as a child's innocent remark.

"Hmm~~~~~"

Very reluctant, Annie thought hard and finally came up with a compromise:

"Ah—Then I'll just carry Fiel!"

"W-Wait?!"

Heave-ho—!

Without further ado, Annie picked up the petite Fiel.

"Wait... I told you to wait!!"

However, being completely ignorant about magic, Annie overlooked one point,

Magic requires mental energy to maintain. If someone suddenly disrupts the caster's rhythm, the magic will be interrupted,

Fiel was still controlling the floating firewood. Now that the caster was startled, the levitated wood lost its buoyancy and began to fall,

"Aaaaah—!!"

"Get down!!"

As the sharp wood was about to fall, although Fiel wanted to regain control, with her magic power once again depleted, she was completely overwhelmed. In the emergency, Fiel instinctively used her body to shield the much more fragile girl,

She nervously closed her eyes tight, but the expected sound of wood clattering down didn't occur as she had imagined.

"It's alright now."

When she opened her eyes, she realized that a certain elf lady on the scene had timely prevented the accident from happening.

"See! It's very dangerous!!"

Sitting up from Annie, Fiel scolded shrilly, her eyes welling up with tears of concern.

"What if you got hit! What if a branch poked your eye!! An-"

Just thinking about the possibility of this child getting hurt because of her mistake made Fiel extremely worried.

"Waaah... Annie, you idiot!"

Getting more and more worked up as she spoke, she then burst into loud sobs.

After becoming a child, it became harder to control her emotions well.

"I'm sorry, Fiel... I shouldn't have suddenly picked you up... I'm sorry, I'm sorry—"

Annie hadn't expected little Fiel to be so worried about her. She became flustered and could only hurriedly try to wipe away Fiel's tears.

"Feeling better?"

Fortunately, the tears stopped quickly. After a while, she finally calmed down,

"Hmph..."

Fiel blew her reddened little nose with the handkerchief Annie handed her, finally calming down.

While breathing a sigh of relief, Annie suddenly chuckled

"Although it's not nice to say this in front of little Fiel who just cried... but I'm quite happy, you know?"

"...You, what are you happy about?!"

Fiel couldn't understand. Indeed, women of any age are difficult to comprehend.

Annie patted the dust off Fiel's clothes and said with a gentle smile:

"Because Fiel protected me first, didn't you?"

"N-Nonsense... As a king, protecting one's subjects is only natural!!"

"Eh? Shouldn't subjects protect the king?"

Looking at the two quarreling, Linda suddenly felt that her worries all along might have been in vain.

This foolish demon probably wasn't an enemy.

Linda had already thought of what to write in her next report to her Young Lady.

Someone who would protect others, possessing emotions no less tender than humans...

Such a Demon King could never be an enemy to humans.

"Thanks to you, we're safe and sound."

After picking up Fiel again, Annie then turned to Linda with a grateful smile:

"—Thank you, Aunt Linda! May the Goddess bless you!"

Wait,

Aunt... This child called her aunt...??

This title echoed in Linda's mind for a long time,

Had her apparent age really reached the point where these children would call her aunt—

Although by human aesthetic standards, elves appear much younger than their actual age, there are still some aging changes as they grow older.

So, being called "aunt" made Linda quite doubtful of elven nature.

Although given her true age, she could easily be this child's great-great-grandmother, to be honest, she still wanted to be called "big sister"...

·

The meat chunks, evenly coated with crushed rock salt and spices, were placed in batches into the oven,

The air was filled with the pleasant charred aroma of burning wood, along with a faint sweetness from the fruitwood.

Meat smoked this way would have a sweet flavor, very popular among children.

"Lunch is smoked meat rice bowl."

"Yay!!"

When the Sister announced this, all the children cheered.

Although fresh smoked meat hadn't gone through the air-drying process, cooking it while still moist also had its unique texture.

"Hold reverence for the animals that become our food, and with a respectful heart, let them become your nourishment."

"We thank the Earth Goddess for her blessings."

Seeing the children earnestly praying with hands clasped before the meal, Linda, influenced by this, joined in.

Should we say... as expected of a monastery?

"Alright—Everyone, you may begin eating."

Delia clapped her hands, and these children immediately reverted to their true nature, starting to feast heartily, chomping on the meat with oily faces, exclaiming how satisfying it was.

"By the way, you seem to be coming quite frequently lately."

At this lively dining table, the little Demon King Fiel slyly approached.

"It's just a task from my master. As the regional manager, I naturally need to be diligent with clients."

"~~Oh? Is that really all?"

Deliberately prolonging her voice, Fiel plopped down beside her.

"Linda, what do you think of Delia?"

Crack—

Linda's hand slipped, nearly dropping the large piece of smoked meat she was serving herself onto the table.

"...Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"Aren't you and Delia close? You sleep in the same bed every time you come, right?"

"That's because there are no other rooms in the monastery."

"I heard you've known each other for 10 years."

"We're just pen pals, it's not what you're thinking."

Fiel was really getting anxious.

"Delia is beautiful, and she has big breasts, what are you unsatisfied with?!"

Linda felt her head starting to ache. She put down her utensils and took a deep breath:

...Has this one misunderstood something? Why assume she likes women just because she's a woman herself?

Seeing Linda's cold reaction, Fiel became more anxious,

"Anyway—Please like that person! Even if you just pretend to like her!! Otherwise, there will be big problems—"

Problems?

What does that mean...

Linda couldn't understand her meaning,

Seeing the confusion on Linda's face, the little Demon King seemed about to say more, but a voice filled with amusement from behind her immediately scared her into silence.

"You two seem to be having a very happy conversation... Can I join in?"

"Ah~ The roast meat is delicious."

Entering fool mode, Fiel hugged her bowl and disappeared in a flash.

"It's nothing,"

Linda instinctively moved away from the approaching Delia.

"That child seems to have misunderstood something."

"Oh my, what kind of misunderstanding?"

But the more Linda moved to the side, the closer Delia came.

"...She seems to think I have special feelings for you."

"And what's the reality?"

"Honestly... I'm not sure myself."

She didn't want to doubt.

But she had to doubt.

"I think... we're very similar."

She chuckled and put her hand on Linda's shoulder. Linda then realized that her body had become overly stiff from nervousness at some point.

...This is unacceptable,

Letting a potential enemy appear behind her and place a hand near her vital neck—It's practically suicidal.

Fortunately, she didn't seem to have such intentions.

...At least not in the short term.

As the only adult in the monastery, this Sister usually had a crowd of children following her for everything she did,

But now—At this lively dining table, the two seemed to have vanished from others' eyes, as if their seats were empty.

Is it a spatial barrier?

Undoubtedly, Delia, as a nun, could use magic.

But to what extent, still needed Linda's probing and assessment.

"At least in terms of enjoying observing people, we are quite similar."

"I don't deny that point."

Linda then noticed she was smiling,

When conversing with Delia, whether through letters or in person, Linda always felt an indescribable sense of comfort.

Like the resonance of voices, the harmony of instruments... Although reluctant to admit it, Linda truly enjoyed the time spent with this person.

"We are essentially the same type of person, Linda."

No longer adding polite honorifics, she called Linda directly by name.

"You mean... we're the same kind?"

"Oh my, aren't we?"

The person behind her laughed like silver bells.

"...That's quite an honor."

Linda said self-mockingly,

Actually, she had thought so too, and wanted to believe it.

But as long as the puzzle remained unsolved, she would probably continue to live in speculation and doubt like this.

At this moment, she finally understood what she wanted.

She wanted to break the false balance of trust and suspicion between them.

"Sister Delia."

"Yes."

She responded as if she had been waiting for a long time,

"...If you really consider me an important friend, I hope you can tell me the truth."

The last conversation was cut short when she became dizzy,

This time, taking this opportunity, she must get clear answers.

"The 'truth' you want to know... what exactly does it refer to?"

She took her hand off Linda's shoulder and sat down beside her.

"In a situation where everything is a lie, the boundary between 'truth' and 'falsehood' has already become infinitely blurred."