"Ah... you're still as thoughtful as ever."
Matilda let out a long sigh, her tentacles curling around Xiao Erfu's neck as she murmured:
"While I was gone, did you ever think that I might have died in the God Realm? That I might not have passed the trial?"
"I did," Xiao Erfu answered earnestly.
He could be so frank, not only because he knew Octopus Lady possessed the ability to browse others' memories.
It was also because he held supreme loyalty toward Matilda.
This devotion needed no Servant Contract to bind it—it was steadfast and pure!
"But I firmly believed that Madam would definitely return."
"Even if Madam could never return, I would take good care of Madam's home and keep waiting."
"Hehe, you truly are utterly loyal to me." Matilda swept her gaze across the room and found that everything was arranged exactly as it had been when she left.
Not a single thing had been moved.
Yet every object was spotless and gleaming, without a speck of dust.
Someone had clearly cleaned the place with great care.
"I only hate that I am too weak to enter the God Realm alongside Madam." Xiao Erfu sighed softly, his face full of self-reproach.
"Enter the God Realm with me?" Matilda chuckled.
"What if you died?"
"I only went in there once, and I lost a whole layer of fat. With that little body of yours, there's no way you'd make it out alive."
"If not for Madam, I would have died long ago." Xiao Erfu raised his head, his eyes resolute as he looked at the tall woman beside him. "My life was given to me by Madam. I should follow Madam."
Matilda's heart trembled as memories of the past surged into her mind.
After a moment of silence, she