S-Class Dungeon’s Mistress - Chapter 31

“Huh?”

“Are you going to value him more than me?”

Adelaide blinked her eyes.

So, the point of Lisianthus was… Jealousy. He was jealous of whether the stone that had just rolled in would remove the stone that was already in place.

‘Men’s hearts are so difficult to understand…’

Why was it so complicated? Adelaide rolled her eyes from side to side, contemplating, and hastily opened her mouth.

“No, I like Lisian the best!”

Because of her nervousness, she spoke in a very exaggerated tone, but she was sincere.

The devil Caladium was a very welcome presence from the dungeon master’s point of view. But if it hadn’t been for Lisianthus, far from recruiting demons, Adelaide would have probably ruined this dungeon as soon as she inherited it.

For her, Lisianthus was her partner, teacher, and benefactor. No matter how precious Caladium is, he will not be her top priority.

“Is that true?”

“Yes, totally!”

Lisianthus took one step closer to her.

Hey, isn’t your face a bit close?

By the time Adelaide thought that, Lisianthus, who had his eyes bent like a sly fox, slowly opened her mouth.

“Then… Could you please grant one request of mine?”

Somehow it was like a secret voice.

“Request?”

Adelaide asked with her eyes wide open.

She didn’t understand what he meant for a moment and showed a blank expression on her face, then she nodded her head brightly.

“Yes! Of course! Just tell me!”

‘I’ll listen to anything!’

Adelaide declared confidently. She felt very good. It was because it was the first time Lisianthus had asked something from her.

So far, Lisianthus had been helping her, and she never had a chance to help him. He had always been the perfect guy even without Adelaide’s help. She couldn’t believe he’s asking for a favor! She was very satisfied as she seemed to have become someone he could rely on as well.

She would really do whatever he asks for. Even if it was something very cumbersome and difficult. Even if he asks to borrow some money, she will lend him as much as she can.

Adelaide promised, her pink eyes shining like jewels.

Meanwhile, Lisianthus, seeing her bright face, struggled to suppress his smile that was about to leak out from his lips.

Even without using his powers, he could easily read what Adelaide was thinking. That’s how transparent her face was.

‘What should I do with this pure master…’

‘Do you know what kind of request I’m going to ask, and you are proudly saying that you’ll do everything?’

‘Looking at her face, she’s not expecting me to make a strange request. No, even if I did ask for something strange, it seems like she will do it anyway.’

Because it was the first request he made. She trusted him foolishly, not naively.

Adelaide didn’t even know anything about Lisianthus. She had never even asked about his past or where he had come from. She believed in him according to what she had seen.

Lisianthus thought that she was such a …

“I want to call Master by your nickname.”

It was special.

“Nickname?”

“Yes. So far, I have been avoiding it as much as possible to fulfill my duties as a manager, but… I don’t want to do that anymore.”

To the extent of wanting to throw away the newly created ‘duty’.

He softly curled his long eyes and smiled softly. It was a very happy face.

“Can you give me your permission?”

Adelaide, on the other hand, has a disappointed expression on her face. She thought it was going to be something great because it’s a request, but he was just asking for permission to call her nickname. The anticipation shrank like a balloon with a hole on it.

Once again, Lisianthus was indeed different.

So far, he was the first demon to ask Adelaide permission to call her by a nickname. Like Penelope and Caladium, everyone naturally called her by nickname.

For ordinary demons, a nickname was simply an abbreviation of a long name. It’s just for convenience, and there weren’t many demons who put meaning to it. Adelaide was one of those ordinary demons.

Besides, this was Lisianthus’ first request. Even if he asked to call her ‘Boraca’ in the future, she would reluctantly allow it.

“Yes, of course! Feel free to call me Adela.”

Then Lisianthus made a strange expression. There was something about his face that wasn’t very friendly. After being silent for a moment, he spoke in a soft voice.

“It would be an honor, but…”

“An honor.”

“But I am too greedy to share Master’s nickname with others.”

What did he mean? Adelaide tilted her head.

Lisianthus tends to make easy words difficult. It was a very difficult habit for Adelaide, who was not very good at understanding.

“Adele, can I call you that?”

Ah, that’s what he meant. He could have just said he wanted to call her in a different way.

Adele or Adela, it wasn’t that important. He probably thought it would be easier to say with one less syllable. She nodded her head and said.

“Okay, Lisian can call me what he wants.”

“Thank you, Master.”

No. Lisianthus quickly fixed it.

“Adele.”

The ends of his eyes bent up and his reddish lips curled up on both sides. His golden eyes, resembling sunlight, were dyed with supreme satisfaction.

‘Eek.’

Adelaide clasped near her heart and let out a pained sound. Even though she was constantly attacked by that smile, she did not develop immunity. The eyes that were already big just got bigger.

She deliberately narrowed her eyes as she tried to see his face as little as possible. Lisianthus was unaware of such efforts and kept laughing at what was so funny.

“I’m going to bed now. Lisian, go to sleep too.”

Sorry for keeping you up so late. Adelaide added, avoiding his gaze.

It was because she suddenly remembered the reason why he woke up, and was embarrassed. She was even more embarrassed when she remembered the situation in which he had separated her from Caladium.

Uhumm, she coughed lightly.

“Yes. Sleep comfortably, Adele.”

In fact, Lisianthus had a very calm face. It was as if he had forgotten everything that just happened. The moment Adelaide turned around and headed towards her room, Lisianthus added, with a still calm voice.

“We’ll talk about regular absorption later.”

As if to prove that he didn’t forget.

Adelaide smiled awkwardly at him, who grinned.

‘What are we going to talk about…?’

Goosebumps sprang up on her back. Somehow she had a bad feeling. A feeling that things might be more troublesome than she expected.

*****

Whether she had a bad feeling or not, Adelaide slept very well. As soon as her head touched her pillow, she fell asleep. Even snoring through her nose.

When morning came and she woke up, her memory of yesterday had already faded. She ate Caladium’s energy, and that she allowed Lisianthus to call her a new nickname.

Adelaide sat on the bed for a long time with a blank expression on her face. The bed Lisianthus made was so comfortable that she couldn’t get up at all.

‘But the rice Lisian cooks will be even more exciting.’

The craving for delicious food defeated the flood of sleepiness.

Adelaide rose from her seat with a clear face in an instant. She immediately ran out after roughly using face-washing magic.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Adele. Today, I baked Master’s favorite pancakes.”

Lisianthus greeted her in a neat manner as usual.

At his words, Adelaide’s gaze turned to the pancake. The pancakes topped with fresh strawberries were absolutely perfect.

“Hurray, pancakes—!”

Adelaide ran quickly and sat down on the chair. And Caladium, who was sitting before her, saw that and became very upset.

“Hey. Can’t you even see me?”

Caladium scoffed in a low voice. Adelaide, who only then discovered his existence, hurriedly greeted him.

“Guf mm-ning!”

[T/N: Good morning]

However, her pronunciation was messed up because she had already stuffed pancakes in her mouth.

Oops, Pippa told her not to talk when she has food in her mouth.

Adelaide shut her mouth as she remembered Penelope’s stingy hands grinding her back. And she was absorbed in eating pancakes again. Caladium smirked as if it was absurd.

‘F*ck, I was the only one who cared. Only me!’

He couldn’t sleep all night last night.

Although he tried to sleep, he could not sleep because the memories of him kissing Adelaide and his lips kept coming back to him.

His lower part, which had been forced to lead a celibate life for 100 years, was constantly heating up. No matter how hard he tried, it showed no signs of dying and was on the verge of going crazy. He tried to solve it by himself, but it had little effect as the aching continued to revive.

In that way, Caladium spent a dawn that was nothing more than torture, and as soon as morning came, he came to the living room with wide eyes and waited for Adelaide.

His heart raced as he waited for her. Caladium imagined facing her, shuddering at her embarrassment, and blushing at the unknown anticipation.

What should he say first? Would Adelaide be embarrassed too, so should he be considerate and open his mouth first?

He even had such useless worries. He completely forgot what kind of demon Adelaide was. And the result was just the same. Caladium asked in a frustrated voice.

“… Was it delicious?”

“Yes! You’re the best!”

Adelaide gave a short answer and then chewed the pancake hard. Without giving a glance to Caladium. His presence was worse than that of pancakes.

Caladium clenched his fists at the humiliation. He wanted to say more, but if he did, he would be squealing for attention and affection. The devil has a reputation to maintain, he couldn’t afford to be so childish….

“Okay? Then I’ll have a bite too.”

Caladium took away Adelaide’s plate with a small smile. Then he opened his mouth wide and poured out all her pancakes.

Well he didn’t have to maintain his reputation, and it’s because he was usually childish. Caladium rationalized in his mind.

And Adelaide had a lost expression on her face.

“Wha.. What…”

She pointed at Caladium with a bewildered look. It was so absurd that her words did not come out properly.

“Um, it’s delicious.”

Caladium smiled mischievously and licked the maple syrup off his thumb.

He had a handsome face and a sensual look that could attract anyone, but that didn’t matter to Adelaide now. What matters now was that her own precious pancakes were taken. By that cheeky devil!

“You, you…!”

“Why, Master? I’ve only had a delicious meal, is there any problem?”

Just like how you ate me yesterday.

Caladium narrowed his eyes and added.

“Caladium!”

I will never forgive you. I will avenge my anger burning like hellfire!

At that moment, a new plate was placed in front of Adelaide.

“Freshly baked blueberry pancakes and tea.”

You don’t need to pay attention to that guy.

Lisianthus smiled and gave advice.

And Adelaide instantly forgot all her despair. The boiling anger dissipated so quickly as if it was a fire from a match, not hellfire.

“Lisian, did I tell you?”