Demon King – Chapter 573 – Planting the Bitter Fruit

“Sis, I’m back…”

In the afternoon, after school, Eiya returned home with her dad driving her. She greeted the only person still at home.

“Don’t worry, Dad’s parking downstairs. I came up first… haaah…”

Before she even finished speaking, the loli let out another big yawn, still looking as sleepy as ever.

“Are you really okay?”

Seeing her sister like this, Eiru felt worried, but the question seemed to be misunderstood.

“Relax, I didn’t fall asleep in class. I took a nap at noon, but it still doesn’t feel like enough. I’m gonna go sleep a bit more first, bye~”

She waved and slipped back into her room, flopping onto the bed and falling asleep almost instantly.

Putting everything else aside, that ability to fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow really made Her Majesty the Demon Lord jealous. If she didn’t have something to hold or someone holding her, then unless she was extremely exhausted, it usually took her quite a while to fall asleep.

“Didn’t you cure her by turning on the LED lights? Why is she still like this? Even though it’s a little better…”

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The little Demon Lord held Hulu up as she voiced her confusion, half asking it, half talking to herself.

The little thing spread its paws helplessly, but Eiru hadn’t really expected to get a satisfying answer from it anyway.

Estimating that the family would be back soon, Yuki had already slipped away early. Still, the two of them had a great time today. Or rather, as long as they had each other’s company, they were always happy.

“Dad should be coming up after parking. Time to play hide-and-seek~”

She placed Hulu on her head and gently patted it. A flash of blue light passed by, and the white-haired little demon loli instantly vanished. In her place stood an ordinary-looking black-haired boy.

Hulu cooperatively hid its form as well, obediently lying on top of Eiru’s head. Just as they finished hiding, the sound of the door opening came from outside, and a figure that filled the Demon Lord with complicated emotions walked in.

“Why does it smell like…”

Ei Yuan frowned as soon as he stepped inside. For some reason these past few days, he kept catching a scent in the house that felt both familiar and unfamiliar, and somehow distinctly feminine.

If you asked him exactly what it smelled like, he couldn’t really explain it. And rather than a scent, it was more like a feeling. The feeling that someone had been here.

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“Won’t you get bored staying home all the time? If you’ve got time, you could go hang out with Jiaqi or that Li Yuki. Young people should go out more, don’t just stay cooped up at home.”

After putting down his luggage, Ei Yuan figured that Eiru didn’t have the guts to actually bring a girl home. He had heard rumors about Eiru getting a girlfriend, but since he hadn’t seen her, it wasn’t appropriate to really scold him over it. At most, he could give a verbal warning.

“Weren’t you the ones who dragged me back? Now you’re unhappy that I’m staying home?”

Maybe it was because of that irritation that surfaced whenever she saw him. Eiru’s words came out a bit sharp, but she immediately realized it was inappropriate.

‘Damn it, what am I saying? Isn’t this just picking a fight? Eiru, Eiru, even if you’re upset, you can’t just lash out like this. You’re a mature macho man, not a child.’

“That’s not what I meant. I just want you to go out more, make more friends. We had you come home because you’d been living outside for so long, and we were worried you’d cut off ties with this family.”

Ei Yuan wasn’t a hot-tempered person. He patiently explained himself to his son.

‘Phew, thank god it’s not Mom. Dad doesn’t have that kind of temper. I still need to be more careful in the future…’

Eiru let out a sigh of relief internally. Her dad was actually a decent person, and his personality was fairly gentle.

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The problem was that he rarely handled things himself. Most family matters were handed over to her mother. This was something Eiru really couldn’t stand. Regardless of what he thought in his heart, he had indeed become an accomplice when her mother drove her out.

“Your mom isn’t coming back today. Want to go downstairs to eat? Your sister went to sleep, right? We can pack something for her later… it’s been a long time since we had a heart-to-heart, just us father and son.”

What do you mean, a long time since a heart-to-heart? Have we ever really had one… Eiru complained inwardly, but she still agreed out loud. She was hungry anyway and did want something to eat.

When she was younger, they could barely be considered heart-to-hearts. Because she was always neglected, Eiru once mustered the courage to tell Ei Yuan how she felt. She also wanted hugs and affection. She hoped her parents wouldn’t only dote on Eiya and ignore her.

But at that time, Ei Yuan’s career was on the rise. Even including Eiya, he really didn’t have much energy to deal with other things. Fortunately, Eiya’s condition stabilized during that period, so Ei Yuan poured all his energy into work and handed all family matters over to Liu Wan, who was much more free.

After Eiru said those things, Ei Yuan told Liu Wan about it the next day, asking her to pay more attention and see how to handle Eiru’s situation.

At that time, Eiru had just started middle school and was already considered a big kid. Liu Wan felt that Eiru wasn’t that young anymore, and also believed that boys should be more independent and less clingy. So she called her son into the room alone and began her ‘education’.

Things like being more understanding toward mom and dad, not being childish at his age, and how his sister’s health wasn’t good so he needed to take better care of her. After that long lecture, someone’s heart had pretty much gone cold.

Similar things happened once or twice after that. Usually, Eiru would bring things up to Ei Yuan, who would then toss them straight to Liu Wan to handle. In the end, Eiru decided to seal off her heart and stop confiding anything to them.

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Ironically, afterward, Ei Yuan did think to ask Liu Wan about it. Her response was that she had already handled everything.

Occasionally, when Ei Yuan had some free time and wanted to get closer to Eiru, he would get replies like ‘I’m a big boy now, I need to be independent. You should go take care of my sister instead’.

Not understanding what was really going on, Ei Yuan genuinely thought his son had grown up and become sensible, completely failing to notice that everything had been buried deep in her heart. Not only that, he was even very satisfied with Liu Wan’s education, believing it was much better than if he had handled it himself.

His original intention had been for Liu Wan to pay more attention to Eiru, to let her act spoiled a bit. Even if it was tiring, so be it. Kids were like that, so just indulge her childishness a little.

Instead, once Liu Wan stepped in, the child instantly grew up, became sensible, and learned to be considerate of them, shifting extra attention to her sister. In Ei Yuan’s eyes, this was an unexpected delight. A completely unforeseen path.

Having reached that conclusion, Ei Yuan handed everything in the family over to his wife, including the children’s care and education. He devoted himself entirely to his work. And that decision naturally planted all the bitter fruit that came afterward.

A bitter fruit that would make them regret for a lifetime, one that would take a lifetime to make up for.