Chapter 16

Such a delicate and timid Sheffy—perhaps she would never be seen like this again.

Sheffy no longer needed to rely on her elder sister so much anymore…

Xiarette looked up at the ceiling, stretched lazily, yawned with elegance, and walked toward the guest bedroom that had already been tidied up.

…Sheffy, good night. Sweet dreams, okay?

………………………………..

This was something that happened over an hour later.

The moonlight was hazy, and the night had grown deep.

Xiarette lay on her side on the fairly spacious bed. In her drowsiness, she seemed to hear a soft and gentle voice calling out.

“Xia… Xia… are you still awake…?”

“……”

“Xia, if you’ve already fallen asleep… I’ll just climb in myself, okay? You promised, don’t go kicking me out of bed!”

“Mm…?”

Exhausted from the entire day, Xiarette’s semi-conscious mind was slow to return to clarity.

Coupled with that voice being so light and adorably sweet, it made her feel even more at ease, as though she might drift off completely at any moment.

But then…

Creak~~

Hm?

Creak, creak~~

Hm?!!

The sound of something tumbling onto the bed and pressing into it, causing the boards to creak and groan chaotically! That was enough to make Xiarette suddenly open her eyes wide!

“Enemy attack?!”

Xiarette tensed, instinctively reaching for the Holy Sword that stood by the bed.

But her movement stopped abruptly the moment her gaze locked onto those unusually lively amethyst eyes at an extremely close distance.

“Sheffy?! Why are you here?”

Sheffy didn’t answer her with words.

Instead, she placed the pillow she had brought with her beside Xiarette’s pillow and patted it twice.

Then, like a little hamster, she snuggled into Xiarette’s blanket.

She didn’t have the face to say anything anymore.

With her silence, Xiarette’s wooden-block-like reasoning still managed to arrive at the most straightforward conclusion.

“Sheffy, don’t tell me… you can’t sleep because you’re afraid of the dark?”

Sheffy had completely burrowed into the blanket.

So her reply sounded muffled and hesitant.

“Mm… it was an accident… how was I supposed to know the magic crystal stone would suddenly go dark… pitch black in there…”

“Ah… maybe the magic crystal just ran out of mana. But didn’t you say earlier… that anyone who couldn’t sleep was a little dog…?”

“I’m a little dog. Woof woof woof.”

“……”

Sheffy, this personality of yours—quite adaptable, aren’t you…? Able to bend and stretch, huh?

16. Insomnia?

Unable to sleep alone in the dark.

Then the two of them squeezed together tightly on this small bed—surely that would bring a peaceful sleep?

Xiarette thought—hard to say.

Let’s put it this way.

If there were a clingy little kitten in the bed, then maybe holding it in one’s arms might help one fall asleep and even have sweet dreams.

But if this “little kitten”…

Was it a soft, silver-haired little girl who always carried a faint milky fragrance?

At first, Xiarette was quite happy—happy that Sheffy still trusted and relied on her like this.

But as time passed… things gradually stopped being that simple.

No matter how Xiarette changed her sleeping position, she couldn’t avoid the fact that, whenever sleepiness started to set in, she would accidentally brush against Sheffy’s feet, calves, shoulders, or arms every now and then.

Every time there was contact, the hard-earned drowsiness would be completely wiped out!

She had to start accumulating it all over again.

And then she’d become wide awake once more.

—This was a deadlock she couldn’t break, an endless vicious cycle!

The rustling sound of her nightgown brushing against the bedding as she turned over somehow also stirred her nerves, making it impossible to stay calm.

Damn it… Even if I touched Sheffy, I shouldn’t be this nervous, right?! What is going on with me today…?!

The hero’s blockheaded mind had a hard time untangling such complex issues, so all she could do was toss and turn restlessly on the bed.

But listening to Sheffy’s even, adorably gentle breathing… she seemed to have already fallen asleep.

Still, this couldn’t go on…!

In a state of extreme frustration, Xiarette summoned her courage and suddenly rolled over to face Sheffy’s direction, keeping herself in a sideways position.

Let me see if Sheffy is actually asleep. If she is, then I’ll just move my blanket and sleep on the floor.

As a result…

That roll—

She ended up staring straight into Sheffy’s large eyes, which shimmered with a dreamy glow even in the darkness.

Those big eyes blinked and blinked, making Xiarette feel even more dazed.

“……”

“……”

Alright then, clearly, she wasn’t asleep.

Actually, Sheffy had fallen asleep and had just woken up again.

“Sheffy, I mean… it’s already this late, why aren’t you sleeping?”

“That’s the weird part.” Sheffy reached up to touch her cheek, looking genuinely puzzled. “I was asleep just now… but do you know what I dreamed about? It suddenly woke me up.”

“What did you dream?”

“I dreamed… two slimes suddenly charged at me and slammed into my face really hard. It hurt a lot, and that woke me up. Can dream sensations really feel that real? Ah… it still kind of hurts now. Strange?”

“Slimes? Hit your face? That’s definitely a weird dream… Hm…?!”

“Xia?”

Sheffy, still dazed, touched the side of her face where that bizarre sensation lingered, looking baffled.

Xiarette, however, seemed to suddenly remember something and instantly switched from lying on her side to lying flat on her back!

Only then did Xiarette realize…

When she suddenly rolled toward Sheffy earlier, a certain soft part of her body had apparently slapped into Sheffy’s cheek like a slime—and woke her up!

Xiarette hurriedly crossed her arms over her chest, pressing down on the part that was wrapped in her nightgown, inwardly scolding it for messing up at such a critical moment!

Sheffy knew nothing about this. She was still marveling at the “slime’s” exceptional softness and the forceful impact it delivered.

As Xiarette shifted, Sheffy also turned from lying on her side to lying on her back.

Her hands rested gently on her stomach, her posture looking very serene.

“Oh no, now that I’ve woken up, I suddenly can’t fall asleep again. Xia, were you also woken up by the slime?”

“I…! *Ahem*… Of course not. That was just you being groggy in your sleep, Sheffy! There wasn’t any slime.”

“Yeah… sigh, maybe it’s karma from my super fireball explosion test. I probably killed too many innocent slimes and now I’m paying for it. I’ll go to a church one day, pray a bit, maybe drive away the evil—then it might get better.”

“……”

There were just too many points to roast, she didn’t even know where to start.

Sheffy, you’re from the Demon Clan, and you want to go to a Human church to pray and exorcise evil?!

The two of them fell silent.

The hands of the wall clock ticked forward, second by second.

It was the countdown to sunrise, and also a shared misery for every insomniac.

To be fair, even the horses in the stable by the lake would be fast asleep at this hour.

Xiarette squinted at the ceiling, completely wide awake.

Tentatively—

She lowered her voice and slowly spoke.

“Sheffy…? Are you asleep?”

“Slime.”

“!”

Still thinking about your slime!

Xiarette turned her head to glance at Sheffy’s profile.

Moonlight poured through the window, casting a soft glow on her delicate, intricately carved features—like the work of the gods themselves—making Xiarette’s breath momentarily hitch.

And just at that moment, Sheffy also turned to look at her.

Their gazes met and intertwined in the air.

And in a moment of perfect unspoken understanding…

Both of their voices rang out, almost simultaneously, after a brief silence.

“Can’t sleep.” “Wanna chat a bit?”

““……””

They both went quiet again after speaking at the same time—then burst into giggles.

At this point, the chance of falling asleep just dropped even lower~

Since they’d decided to talk a little through the night, they needed a topic to begin with.

Coincidentally—

Xiarette had something weighing on her mind like a boulder. It had sat there all day without budging. Now seemed like the perfect moment to calmly talk it through.

So she would try to nudge that “boulder” a little.

Xiarette slightly tilted her head toward Sheffy’s side. Her gentle words followed as she softly parted her lips, each syllable clear.

“By the way… Sheffy, is it really okay for you to just leave the Demon Domain like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Because I remember… besides the Demon King and Queen, you also have a younger sister, right? The second Demon Princess.”

“Oh…? Oh, yeah, I guess that’s a thing.”

“Don’t use words like ‘guess’ for something like this!”

“Eeek!!!”

Xiarette had wised up by now. She knew Sheffy always liked to tease her, so even though Sheffy had ducked into the blanket, Xiarette still gave her a swift karate chop through the covers as punishment!

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