Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Now An Only Child

The next day at school.

Besides Zhang Zikun, three other classmates were absent—all of them usually hung out with Zhang Zikun.

But who cared? They were all a little odd, and together they’d kind of isolated themselves from the rest of the class. At most, someone might whisper about whether Zhang Zikun had noticed something off about his friends and decided to skip class too.

Yiwen sprawled across her desk, her face completely hidden.

Mi Xiaoliu poked her in the armpit.

Yiwen twitched and shook off Mi Xiaoliu’s hand, but still didn’t lift her head, deliberately ignoring her.

Yesterday, Yiwen had earnestly invited Mi Xiaoliu to go shopping together, but to her dismay, Mi Xiaoliu had replied that she was going to accompany Gloria instead, and wouldn’t be going out with her.

It was infuriating. First, Lu Mingxue, now someone else. Was she really the least important, the one who could be put aside at will?

Her silent treatment only resulted in Mi Xiaoliu shaking her even more vigorously.

Yiwen finally looked up: “What’s up?”

Mi Xiaoliu had never been this worked up before.

“Let’s go home,” Mi Xiaoliu replied.

School was already over.

Although they didn’t live in the same direction, today was Friday, so there was plenty of time for them to hang out together.

Yiwen suddenly realized—then put on a fake-looking smile: “Sorry, I already promised to go out with someone else today.”

It was a lie. She was just saying it on purpose. Who told you to choose going with that senior over shopping with me yesterday? She’s not even your real sister.

Now I’m doing the same thing—see how you like it!

Mi Xiaoliu shook her head, grabbed Yiwen’s arm, and said, “You can pet Circle (Quanquan).”

She seemed… anxious?

Yiwen was puzzled. “What’s really going on here?”

Mi Xiaoliu just kept shaking her head, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and pushed Yiwen toward the door.

“Huh? Wait, I haven’t packed up my things yet…”

And then came a scene that left Yiwen utterly helpless. Even though she was the girl, Mi Xiaoliu, as a guy, clung to her arm, afraid Yiwen would run off. Looking around cautiously—which, to outsiders, seemed a little… well, a little too close for comfort.

What was going on today? He was acting so weird.

Come to think of it, Mi Xiaoliu smelled really nice, and felt soft when he got close. She kind of wanted to take a bite out of him.

By the time they reached the school gate, Yiwen spotted Gloria sitting on an electric scooter in the parking lot, scanning the students with a stick in hand like some kind of street tough.

Then, Mi Xiaoliu suddenly hid behind her and pushed her to take a detour.

Only then did Yiwen finally understand.

When Gloria was around, Mi Xiaoliu could step on the school bully’s Chelsea boots and still be perfectly safe.

But when Gloria was the only one around, for Mi Xiaoliu, Gloria herself was the danger.

After being taken away by the police last night and giving a statement, Gloria had angrily sent Mi Xiaoliu a threatening message, using three “🤬” and a “🔪” to fully express her anger.

The effect was outstanding. To prevent Gloria from paying him a visit, Mi Xiaoliu had rushed over in the middle of the night and burrowed into Heli’s bed.

Just what happened between these two yesterday…?

What exactly happened between these two yesterday…  

Yiwen couldn’t help but feel a bit exasperated—was Mi Xiaoliu, as a boy, acting a bit too delicate? Sure, shota characters in Otome games are like this, but some anime tropes just feel weird when applied to real life.  

Oh well. Boys at this age always love to adopt strange personas. He’ll grow out of it in a couple of years.  

And then, she’d bring up these embarrassing moments in front of him every chance she got, making him cringe to death—kekekeke.  

Anyway, because yesterday Mi Xiaoliu sold Gloria out, and Wei Shi’s police report got Gloria arrested… in the end, it turned out the “victim” was her own father, and the matter was settled after compensating the people she’d knocked out with a measly hundred grand or so as hush money.  

All in all, it was treated as a family dispute, so the police didn’t pursue it further. However, Okulet did catch wind of some details.  

For instance, he knew full well that while his daughter was plenty destructive, there was no way Gloria could’ve moved an entire ship over ten kilometers away. Plus, the old man by the river had said the ship vanished suddenly.  

In all of Fanzui City, only two people could pull off something like that: the mysterious spatial man who’d appeared before, and the Black-Clothed One who’d once stored an entire windmill in a spatial rift…  

Gloria getting involved with either of them spelled trouble.  

Okulet pulled up to the school gate in his beat-up old car—a decade-old model he’d bought outright for 100k—and honked at Gloria, signaling her to get in.  

Gloria pretended not to see him.  

So, Okulet simply stepped out and slapped the hood of his car, trying to pass off the clunker as some kind of luxury ride.  

“Don’t bother me right now. Can’t you see I’m stalking someone out?” Gloria turned away, continuing to scan the passing students.  

She was determined to catch that little brat, chop off his tiny d*ck, and force-feed it to him!  

“Get in the car.” Okulet had no patience for her nonsense and dragged her inside.  

Though furious, Gloria didn’t resist too much. Causing a scene in public would only draw a crowd of nosy onlookers.  

Sure, she was usually unruly, but she wouldn’t throw a tantrum to the point of making people mistake her father for a kidnapper. Seeing that kind of scenario on TV always made her blood boil.  

“Have you been in contact with the Black-Clothed One?” He didn’t bring up the stolen ship directly.  

“Why do you care?” Gloria turned to look out the window—just in time to spot Mi Xiaoliu sticking close to Yiwen.  

Ah! When did that little brat slip away?  

Gloria rolled down the window and made a throat-slitting gesture at Mi Xiaoliu.  

Mi Xiaoliu immediately hid behind Yiwen, blocking her view, and frantically pulled out her phone to call Heli for backup.  

Seeing him so terrified, Gloria smirked in satisfaction and rolled the window back up.  

Okulet frowned. Shen Qing had told him Gloria had been bullying a kid at the school doctor’s place every day, but he hadn’t quite believed it. And for some reason, the more he looked at that kid, the more familiar he seemed—like a phantom pain throbbing in his skull.  

“If you wanted a yacht, you could’ve just asked your mother…”  

Thanks to Gloria’s bratty antics and laser-cutting tendencies, most of his life savings were already gone. But none of that hurt as much as discovering, during his inspection of the yacht, that the fish in the water tank was missing.  

He’d been planning to carry that fish all the way home on foot.  

And then, upon arriving, he’d have to endure the new maid’s judgmental stare: So this pretty boy is the master of the house?  

Okulet decided he’d write an autobiography. Maybe call it “The Demon Queen’s Son-in-Law.”  

Even though his wife had taken his surname.  

“Pfft, as if I’d want your crappy boat,” Gloria scoffed, kicking the back of his seat.  

Okulet sighed. That so-called “crappy boat” had been his childhood dream.  

“Hey, old man…”  

“Call me ‘the Plaintiff,’” Okulet replied flatly, eyes on the road.  

Gloria ignored him and cut to the chase: “Where did you put the Star?”  

Okulet frowned. “Why are you asking about that?”  

Suddenly, it dawned on him—there was a reason Gloria had someone steal his ship.  

“Now you’ve got two choices. One: keep guarding that star. Two: keep your actual daughter.” Gloria pulled a pen from her pocket and pressed it against her own throat.  

The pen vanished instantly. The Little Demon King was always this overpowered—with him around, kidnappers didn’t even get a chance to take hostages.  

“Did someone tell you something?” Okulet pulled the car over and turned to face his daughter.  

As for Gloria’s little stunt just now… she’d thrown tantrums before, but this was the first time she’d gone this far.  

“Someone summoned Misha’s soul. They want the star in exchange.” Gloria stared at her father expressionlessly. “It’s definitely the real Misha—I tested it.”  

Okulet was silent for a moment. “Gloria, you’re not a child anymore. Don’t just believe everything people tell you.”  

“Or do you think the star is more important than Misha?” Gloria sneered.  

“God… The Red Prince is in the city. He’s after the star too.” Okulet gave her a read-between-the-lines look.  

Gloria lowered her head, her mood cooling.  

Most of the time, she wasn’t this reckless.  

Propping her cheek on one hand, she turned to gaze out the window.  

Back when she was just a tiny bean, she’d made a birthday wish—to always be an only child, so her parents’ love would never be stolen away.  

Then, right after her birthday, her mother told her she was pregnant.  

When her sister was born, four-year-old Gloria had despised the little baby. Because of her, their parents’ attention had almost entirely shifted.  

Until the day Misha spoke her first word.  

Not “Daddy” or “Mommy”—but clinging to Gloria with tiny arms, she’d giggled and called her “Sissy,” her uneven baby teeth on full display.  

From that moment, Gloria swore she’d never let her little sister suffer even the slightest hardship.  

Then the Red Prince appeared. Back then, he wasn’t called that—just some edgy self-proclaimed “Chosen One.”  

That was when Gloria realized that, compared to Misha, their mother had always loved her more.  

And so, years later, her childhood birthday wish had come true—belatedly. Now, she was an only child again.  

Gloria touched the corner of her eye, then checked her reflection in her phone’s front camera—staring into the same orange-gold irises she’d inherited from her father.

[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]