"..."
Koizumi Akako gave a dead-eyed look and glanced to the side.
Inside Snow King Ice City, the simple, ordinary decor was accented with red tones. Warm yellow lights shone down on the bustling customers, the busy Shimo-Kasa Sisters, Akemi Fujino smiling behind the register as she greeted customers, and...
A loli who was secretly peeking around the corner—one who looked like a little girl but was actually an eighteen-year-old girl?
Koizumi Akako directly ignored the corner-peeking loli, her eyelids lowering slightly.
She suddenly felt that those obviously unreliable words somehow made a little sense.
Whether it was a lie or something else, this place really was warm.
It felt like home.
Though there were no parents, there was still an older sister and a younger sister. They ran a little shop together to make ends meet, living an ordinary, everyday life.
Koizumi Akako inexplicably felt a sour ache in her heart.
She envied that kind of life.
Despite being a witch with power beyond that of ordinary people, and wealth accumulated by the Red Magic lineage over many years...
She still wanted to live like an ordinary person.
She wanted to cry like a normal person, without having to bear the so-called fate of inheritance.
The goblin butler: "..."
So, Lady Akako, am I not a person?
Come to think of it, I really didn't look much like one...
That thought merely flashed through her mind.
Coming back to her senses, she withdrew her gaze and looked at Fujino, reminding him, "Although I'm not really qualified to say this, I still need to remind you: be careful not to let this get exposed."
"I know."
Fujino nodded. "I've considered all that long ago. When the time is right, I'll find a way."
Koizumi Akako nodded and said nothing more.