Published: March 21, 2026
"You've come again?"
Crow's weary face was already familiar, and Amelia had grown used to his cold stare. She walked up to him and, as she had done yesterday, bowed her head.
Because of Shou's orders she couldn't act on her own, so Yoru had been prepared for another round of pleading and being ignored — ready to watch the whole show — but Crow was different today.
Yoru had hoped Amelia's humiliation would finally pay off, but that hope was quickly dashed.
"Sorry, but the blacksmith has work today and will be in the workshop next door all day. If you're going to loiter around anyway, you're free, right? Make lunch for me and bring it over. Use whatever food is in this house."
So it was chores, of all things.
Noticing Yoru's damp, resentful stare, Crow smirked cruelly.
"You'd just be in the way. I'll put you to work with the chores. Not a bad idea, if I say so myself."
With that he grabbed a lump of metal and what looked like parts of a demonic beast as materials, and hurried into the adjacent smithy.
Yoru sighed.
"What do we do, Miss Amelia?"
When Yoru looked up, Amelia was holding a purple vegetable that looked a lot like a carrot.
In her other hand she held a knife in a reverse grip as if preparing to strike.
Even Yoru's eyes widened.
"Wait, wait. What is Miss Amelia trying to do?"
"What? I was just thinking about what to make, so I figured I'd cut the vegetables first."
Amelia tilted her head, so Yoru hurriedly took the dangerous-looking knife from her.
If she made a fuss and broke something in the house, who knew what Crow would do. And if Yoru, who was supposed to be watching, let Amelia hurt herself, Shou's reaction would be terrifying to imagine.
"Miss Amelia, did you at least rinse the vegetable before cutting? See, there's sand on it. And you need to peel it too."
He had to stop her from trying to cook.
No — making Crow eat whatever Amelia produced, likely some bizarre concoction, and thus letting her relieve some of the humiliation she had suffered could be amusing.
But Yoru shook his head at that thought. If the food turned into something so awful that she collapsed, Shou would be in trouble. He couldn't risk that.
"By the way, what kind of relationship do Crow and Yoru have?"
Amelia, carefully rinsing the vegetable, asked while Yoru precariously balanced on top of her head to keep watch.
She looked up slightly and Yoru nearly slipped, clutching at her in a panic.
"Well, it's a bit of a long story. Not that big a deal, but do you want me to tell it?" Yoru asked, watching the vegetable, and decided what to make as he spoke.
He began giving cooking instructions as he talked.
"It was probably about a hundred years ago. Even though it was on the demon lord's orders, Crow regretted rampaging through the Beastmen territory. It wasn't a mission that needed to be carried out to the point of being called 'adrea's nightmare.'"
He went to the memorial as a black cat.
He couldn't even say what he intended to do there. He just felt sorry for what had been done.
That's where he met Crow.
When Yoru arrived at the hill with the memorial monument, someone was already there.
A black cat beastman sat slumped in front of the monument, face empty, calling out someone's name.
Yoru thought this was the bereaved family of someone he had killed, and hid quietly in the shade of a tree.
"Hey, 'adrea's nightmare', you there?"
At first he thought it was just wishful coincidence, but because there was no further exchange, he slowly peered out from the shade.
When he looked, the black cat beastman was staring directly at him.
"Long time no see. You took care of me at the Demon King's Castle. Don't think you can hide from me with that magic power of yours."
Only then did Yoru realize this beastman was one of the hero party who had stormed the Demon King's castle and been driven off — the one who had barely escaped with his life.
"Relax. My sister wasn't killed by you."
He muttered that, staring up at the memorial with eyes utterly swollen red from crying.
Since no killing intent was directed at him, Yoru went over and, standing beside Crow, looked up at the monument in the same way.