Volume 3, Chapter 12-2 – Bargain Mom Sells Bargain Daughter

“Uh… yeah.”

Stella gave a dry response.

“Speaking of which, President, what happened to you?” Patolize looked around, her gaze sweeping across the swaths of fallen tree trunks. “Were you attacked? How did you suddenly crash when everything was fine?”

Stella did not answer directly.

What was she supposed to say?

That their President had been chased by a dragon that smashed her carriage apart, then fallen into the black forest and happened to kill two higher demons and a Nexus Council observer along the way?

The corner of her mouth twitched.

“The carriage malfunctioned.”

“Malfunctioned?”

“Yeah. It broke apart in midair. The old demon driver didn’t fix the bearings properly.”

Patolize nodded.

She did not investigate the strangely neat cuts throughout the black forest or the devastation scattered everywhere.

Since Stella said it was a malfunction, then it was a malfunction.

The President was hell itself. Whatever she said was what had happened.

“President, you really should stop trying to save money by renting those cheap carriages,” Patolize said solemnly. “The route from Nightmare Street to the school may be fixed, but some drivers really do have terrible Nightmare beasts. Next time you need a carriage, just come to us. The Lionheart Society isn’t short on funds anymore.”

“…Okay.”

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Stella answered without a trace of life in her voice.

Was money what she lacked right now?

What she lacked was the luck not to get chased and bitten by dragons.

“There happen to still be empty seats in our carriage.” Patolize turned around and walked back toward the carriage parked in the clearing. “President, you and Miss Cheryl should get in. We’ll give you a ride.”

Stella nodded. She helped “Cheryl” to her feet and stepped onto the carriage’s footboard.

Patolize opened the door, bent slightly at the waist, and made an exceedingly respectful gesture inviting them inside.

The interior of the carriage was more than twice as spacious as that of an ordinary Nightmare carriage.

Seven or eight familiar faces sat along two rows of long sofas. Every one of them was a member of the Lionheart Society.

The moment they saw Stella, their eyes lit up one after another.

“President!”

“Why are you here too, President?”

“Is that… Cheryl Valentine?”

Stella ignored the greetings rising one after another. She supported Aetlana to a seat by the window and carefully settled her down.

The effects of the Polyjuice Potion were very stable, and no one noticed anything unusual.

Patolize was the last to board. She sat down opposite Stella, her gaze subtly studying Stella and the unconscious “Cheryl.”

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Stella also instinctively glanced at herself and Aetlana.

Several tears had been ripped into the hem of her skirt. Her white shirt was not only smeared with mud, but also covered with quite a few twigs and fallen leaves.

Aetlana was in even worse shape. Her clothes had practically been reduced to strips of torn cloth, exposing large patches of fair skin covered in purplish bruises and scratches.

Both of them were disheveled and barely dressed.

“What happened to Cheryl?” Patolize asked.

Stella took out a handkerchief and wiped the dirt from the back of her hand.

There was obviously no way she could truthfully explain the three-way slaughter that had taken place in the black forest.

“There was a little incident,” Stella replied.

“A little incident…”

Patolize repeated the phrase.

Her gaze wandered over their disordered clothes, and her expression became even more subtle.

“President… although it’s quite common for us demons to have some intense ‘little incidents’ between sisters.” Patolize deliberately lowered her voice. “Everyone usually does that sort of thing in secret. Making this much of a commotion, even dismantling the carriage…”

She winked at Stella.

“You know. If word of this gets out, it won’t be very good for your reputation.”

“…”

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Stella froze for a moment, then instantly understood what Patolize was implying. Her face reddened as though an unripe fruit had ripened in an instant.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Stella turned her face away as she spoke and stopped paying Patolize any attention.

She couldn’t be bothered to explain.

Right now, she only wanted to get some proper rest.

Today had thoroughly exhausted her.

First, she had inexplicably barged into the Belphegor Young Miss’ suite, then been forced to play a game with her. Afterward, she had no choice but to place a forced obedience illusion on the other girl. Judging by Stella’s understanding of the Electors’ daughters, the other girl had definitely set her sights on Stella now.

Immediately after that, she had run into Aetlana. The two of them had gotten into a carriage, only to be attacked by Lavinia. Although Lavinia and her two dragon attendants had died in the dark forest without even leaving ashes behind, the Nexus Council or the Elector Samael family’s reaction definitely would not be slow. They would soon start making trouble over the disappearance of several higher demons.

Finally came the appearance of the Chastisement spirits. She had even accidentally transferred the Chastisement Brand onto herself, and who knew when she might end up eating the White Tower empty.

There would be no shortage of trouble in the future.

If Principal Gehenna found out Stella could cause this much trouble in a single day, she would definitely go insane.

But those were tomorrow’s problems.

Right now, Stella just wanted to close her eyes, empty her mind of that whole mess of Holy Light, black flames, Chastisement spirits, and White Tower wanted notices, and get a good night’s sleep.

She could deal with all that later.

The carriage swayed gently.

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Stella opened her eyes and casually asked a question.

“Which station on Nightmare Street does this carriage go to?”

She adjusted her sitting position.

“I need to find somewhere to rest later.”

Patolize leaned back against the sofa.

“We aren’t going to a public station,” Patolize replied. “This is the direct route to Blood Demon Manor.”

Stella’s movement stopped.

“Blood Demon Manor?” Stella asked.

“Right.” Patolize nodded as if it were only natural. “When we arrive, President can rest directly at Blood Demon Manor, your own property. Meanwhile, the members of our Lionheart Society will take over the estate and tidy it up overnight so we can use it as the Lionheart Society’s core base from now on.”

So this carriage went directly to Blood Demon Manor.

“…”

Stella fell silent.

If she remembered correctly…

Wasn’t Blood Demon Manor, at the third intersection of Nightmare Street, a run-down haunted mansion?