Even Telling Daddy Wouldn't Help!

Several minutes later.

Hana Ye stared wide-eyed, sitting obediently on the table where Lin En had placed her like a little doll. Her dress had long since been tossed aside, leaving her in just a little camisole and safety shorts.

"Um, well..."

"Don't move!"

Lin En snapped sternly.

Then he opened the medical supplies he had rummaged out of Shakira's house, took a cotton swab, and dabbed disinfectant alcohol onto the wounds Shakira had clawed into the back of her neck.

Hana Ye stole a look at his focused face so close to hers. Her cheeks began to burn, and her heart fluttered wildly.

Because she had never imagined that a mighty Great Demon would actually...

She peeked at him cautiously.

Lin En shot her a stern glance.

She immediately looked away, her eyes wide and her little body ramrod straight, pretending nothing whatsoever had happened.

But her cheeks flushed even redder.

So...

Great Demons didn't really hate Hana Ye that much after all. She really hadn't expected Lin En to bandage her up.

It almost felt a little like they were a real married couple now...

o(*////‸////*)q

Umm...

A puff of steam rose from her head.

[Ding! You made Hana Ye shy. Fragments +10]

"All done!"

With his eyes closed, Lin En wrapped a length of gauze around her neck.

"They're just superficial wounds. Put some medicine on them when you get home and rest for a couple of days. Next time something like this happens, don't be stupid enough to get caught again, or nobody will be able to save you!"

He took out a Band-Aid and viciously pressed it onto the bridge of her nose.

This idiot!

"Ow!"

Hana Ye's eyes filled with tears, and she immediately pulled her head back.

"Um... do you Great Demons treat wounds like this too?"

Lin En glanced at her. "What? Want to try a different treatment?"

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle-

Tentacle after tentacle burst out of Lin En's body.

He smiled.

"Normally, eating a little of my flesh should make your wounds heal pretty quickly. What? Want some? Or would you rather drink something thick?"

Hana Ye immediately pressed herself against the wall behind her with an (ΩДΩ) expression and said:

"No, thank you!! No, thank you!! I think this is perfectly fine! Thank you very much!!"

"..."

This idiot!

Lin En shrugged and made to toss her dress back to her.

Fine, he could consider this a little reward for her courage in drawing her gun. He wasn't some kind of lolicon, but...

Just then, however, his gaze unconsciously strayed to her tiny ankle.

There, faintly visible, were patches of bruising.

"What happened to your foot?"

Hana Ye instinctively hid that foot behind the other, her gaze evasive and frightened.

"Um... well..."

But before she could finish-

Lin En grabbed her little foot. Hana Ye barely had time to let out a startled "Eek!" before he pulled off her sock, revealing the entire bruise on her ankle.

It was a mark shaped like a human hand.

Lin En glanced at it and said:

"Well, what happened here? This doesn't look like Shakira's work. It wasn't there this morning. What? Has another nasty thing set its sights on you?!"

Hana Ye lay there with an (ó﹏ò｡) expression and said:

"Mm."

Lin En felt around in his trouser pocket, his eyes deadpan.

"Well, aren't you something? It hasn't even been a day, and this many Evil Spirits are after you? What? You didn't dare let me see?"

Hana Ye fidgeted with her fingers, her head bowed low, letting out little embarrassed whimpers.

"Um... you were already so impatient when you saw Hana Ye just now... if I told you this too... you'd definitely think this was why Hana Ye came looking for you... you... you'd definitely scold me again..."

Lin En's face darkened.

So tiny, yet so full of overthinking.

Lin En casually took out the Spirit Realm Bounty Writ calling for her death.

He wanted to see just what was going on.

[Blood-Character Bounty Writ]

[Current bounty target]: Youzhi Hana Ye.

[Requirements]: Preserve her body and imprison her soul.

[Current bounty]: 50,000 Spirit Coins

Lin En froze when he saw the amount.

The bounty on her had actually risen from five thousand to fifty thousand.

"What the hell?"

Lin En was puzzled.

Was this some kind of mistake?

Wasn't she just a little girl? How had her bounty gone up tenfold in just one day?

Although he didn't really know the value of these so-called [Spirit Coins], wasn't a tenfold increase a little excessive? Who wanted her dead this badly?

"Did you piss something off? Whoever posted this bounty looks like they want your whole family dead."

Lin En glanced at her.

Hana Ye immediately made an (ŎдŎ;) face. "Piss something off? Um... does Grandpa Headmaster count? I burned his beard once..."

Lin En: "..."

Forget it.

He clearly wasn't going to get anything out of her.

"So aren't you a noble? When something like this happens, why come to me instead of your teachers?"

Lin En stared at her with deadpan eyes.

Hana Ye held her head with an (ó﹏ò｡) expression, her little toes curling.

"Because they can't stay with Hana Ye all the time. Everyone has their own things to do... u-unless I go to the Church, but then Hana Ye would be confined to the Holy Sanctuary all the time. And not everyone believes monsters are hunting Hana Ye..."

"Then what about your dad? Didn't you say he was a big deal? Tell him to hurry back and figure something out for you!"

Hana Ye couldn't help lowering her head.

"Daddy... Daddy doesn't like Hana Ye."

Lin En froze.

"Huh?"

Hana Ye bit her lip and said softly:

"I-I don't know why, but ever since I was little, Daddy always seemed to hate Hana Ye. Once, I got really sick and nearly died, but Daddy just left Hana Ye at the Church. After waiting for days and days, Hana Ye ended up going home by herself..."

"Hana Ye tried to make Daddy happy too, but it never worked. Then one day, I finally couldn't help asking Daddy..."

Once again, she remembered those cold eyes.

Beneath the drifting snow.

That look of loathing, as though he were staring at a monster.

Distant.

Disgusted.

As though he wanted nothing more than to kill her...

Pat-

A crystal-clear tear fell onto her leg.

"So even telling Daddy wouldn't help!"

Hana Ye bit down hard on her lip.

"Because even if Hana Ye went missing, or suddenly died one day... Daddy wouldn't care. Daddy only likes my big sister, because she's a girl who makes him really, really proud. But Hana Ye..."

"Hana Ye is just something he could take or leave..."

So even if she died, it wouldn't matter at all.

Even if she suddenly disappeared one day... it would only be like losing some worthless object.

At that moment.

Lin En stared at her blankly.

"Were you born because your mom cheated?"

"..."

"..."