"So sister, why did you agree? Do you know how weak your body is now? How can you go out like this?" After Bai Ling left, Qila, whose suggestion had been rejected by Leticia, asked in confusion.
She could have just bought the headphones directly—why let sister take such risks?
She couldn't understand.
"How should I put it? I feel my body can already support daily activities. If worst comes to worst, give me a wheelchair and I can make do." Leticia touched the cat ears of the headphones and explained quietly. "But her condition is a very rare opportunity."
Legitimately entering the Hero Association to see what humanity's heroes' current strength was like.
"There's still no need for sister to take personal risks." Qila retorted. These matters could be left to subordinates—sister was the Demon King and didn't need to personally take the field.
Leticia smiled. Her sister's concern pleased her greatly, but since she'd already made her decision, she wouldn't change it casually. "Don't worry. That person surnamed Bai won't harm me."
"Sister says she dislikes Sister Bai, but actually still trusts Sister Bai very much, right?"
"This statement isn't wrong. I do trust her very much—this is the Demon King's intuition." Leticia answered with a smile. "Just like I know my Little Qila still likes me."
Touching her sister's fluffy little head, Leticia thought of when Qila was small. Back then, Qila's attitude toward her was a bit poor—every time she wanted to touch her sister's head, her sister would slap her hand away.
Of course, the current Qila still didn't like being petted, but if it was Leticia doing it, she could endure it.
"I don't like you at all."
"I didn't expect Qila to be tsundere too. Quite cute, hehe." Her sister's insincerity made Leticia giggle.
Her Little Qila was as cute as ever.
"Sister has no right to call me tsundere." Qila indicated that compared to Sister, her tsundere was small potatoes.
Her own was just a special state, while Leticia's tsundere was already a permanent state at max level.
"You little brat, when have I ever been tsundere!" Leticia immediately declared she'd never been tsundere.
She, Leticia, dignified Demon Empress, couldn't possibly be tsundere.
"Heh heh." Qila stepped back a little, dodging Leticia's hand. "Since sister has already decided, then I'll trust sister this time. I still have many documents to approve. If sister has time..."
"Ah, I suddenly feel my stomach hurts." Leticia's expression changed as she very dramatically clutched her stomach and began dry howling.
This acting was so obvious that even Qila could tell Leticia was deliberately pretending to be sick.
"Fine, sister can be happy." Qila glared at Leticia. "I really don't know where that diligent sister from before went."
The previous Leticia had been a ruthless working machine who could work a full sixteen hours every day.
Now, Leticia indicated that working sixteen minutes could cost her life.
"Diligent Leticia has been killed off. The current Leticia is decadent Leticia."
"Then bring back diligent sister, decadent Sister." Qila stepped forward and pinched Leticia's cheeks, stretching them outward. "Believe it or not, I'll hang sister from a tree and beat you."
"You little girl, why are you so vindictive? I didn't do it on purpose that time." Leticia quickly defended herself. She'd had no choice then.
Without showing her iron-faced ruthlessness, how could she make those nobles submit?
If a bunch of people came asking for leniency using family connections as excuses, wouldn't that be super troublesome?
She'd planned to eliminate that bunch of nobles completely, absolutely not leaving them any room to maneuver.
And just then, Qila had made a mistake.
The mistake wasn't big, but it wasn't small either, and it happened to violate the law Leticia had just established.
Then Leticia had made an example of her.
"Yes, sister didn't do it on purpose, but little sister was really sad and thought sister was going to abandon her." Qila snorted. She certainly didn't hate her sister, because she knew sister was doing it for their good.
And she had indeed made a mistake—receiving punishment was proper.
"I would never abandon Qila." Leticia hugged her sister and said softly. "Qila is my only family. I'd rather abandon myself than abandon Qila."
This statement was actually somewhat problematic. Leticia had quite a few relatives—those great nobles were more or less related to Leticia.
After all, there would always be Demon King descendants marrying into noble families, and some nobles were even descendants of former Demon Kings.
The current Demon King bloodline had only a little left, the reason being Leticia's grandmother and mother—these two had somehow brought the originally flourishing Demon King family to near extinction.
"If sister wants to sacrifice herself to protect me, I'd rather sister not protect me." Qila's face was a bit flushed as she struggled out of Leticia's embrace. "It's almost dinner time. I still have many things to do, so I'm going to the study first."
Without waiting for Leticia's response, the little girl quickly ran out of the room.
She was being shy.
"My sister is really cute." Leticia's lips curved with a smile. Although she'd been reluctant to meet Qila before, after really being caught by Qila, she felt much more relaxed.
At least she didn't have to worry about whether an angry sister would come find her someday and drag this derelict sister back to the Demon Realm to lock her up.
She could sleep peacefully at night without having dreams of being locked up by her sister.
There were gains and losses—she couldn't spend all her time on games, but she'd gained peace of mind. This trade wasn't unacceptable.
Sigh, better not think so much and just read manga. The female leads were still doing that "you know I know but just won't say" routine, making Leticia really want to charge in and tell them: stop acting, just get together already.
But she couldn't charge in, so she could only patiently read page by page through the sweet daily life of these two cute girls. The day when everything would be revealed was obviously still far off.
Given this author's drawing style, they'd probably have to wait until the manga ended for these two girls to confess their feelings and truly be together.
......
"You didn't sleep well last night?" Sitting in the smoothly moving car, Bai Ling looked at the drowsy girl and asked.
Leticia nodded with a very small movement. "Reading manga got me mentally excited. Every time I closed my eyes, my mind was full of when those two little rascals would get together. Result was, couldn't sleep."
Even hugging her sister hadn't brought any sleepiness. She'd waited until after 1 AM before finally falling into deep sleep under her body's protests.
This time she wasn't pulled into Flora's manor—it seemed that after Leticia agreed to her request, she had no reason to pull Leticia over again.
Of course, the most likely reason was that her main body had been taken away by Lin Qingyu, and the distance prevented her from pulling Leticia into her world for chats.
"Then rest a bit more in the car. The drive from here to the Hero Association takes quite a while." Bai Ling suggested.
From the suburbs to the Hero Association in the city center took about an hour under good road conditions. If they encountered traffic jams, it would probably take twice as long.
So Bai Ling usually relied on her own legs when going out, jumping between tall buildings was much faster and more convenient than sitting in a car crawling on the ground like a turtle. And because superpower users' existence wasn't secret, ordinary people had quite high tolerance for figures jumping around on skyscrapers.
At least there wouldn't be the awkward situation of one person jumping above while everyone below simultaneously pulled out phones to call police.
But because she was bringing Leticia, whose mobility was temporarily zero, Bai Ling could only call a car for them to slowly make their way there.
Using "squeezed" might be inappropriate—the car's back seat was actually quite spacious, easily accommodating two girls. It felt squeezed entirely because Bai Ling had scooted toward Leticia as soon as they got in.
This made Leticia feel the distance between her and Bai Ling was a bit close—a bit squeezed.
However, after the car started moving, the previously suppressed drowsiness gradually surged up, and Leticia didn't pay much attention to such things. "Where did you send that Lin Qingyu?"
"Quite a safe place. Don't ask so much—just sleep well." Bai Ling said to Leticia.
"I'm just afraid you say you're sending her somewhere safe but actually sent her into the tiger's mouth." Leticia propped her head and spoke unclearly.
"Even if problems arise, I'll take responsibility for solving them."
"Hopefully. If she really gets captured, I hope you can directly kill her."
"Hm? Why?"
"Who knows what secrets she has. If she has something that could threaten us, and that thing falls into elven hands because she gets captured, wouldn't that be big trouble?" Leticia yawned again. "So it's better to just kill her directly. If you can't do it, I will. Just don't interfere then."
"Isn't it too early to consider this..." Bai Ling was only halfway through when she saw the girl beside her swaying as if about to fall.
Was she that sleepy?
Using her hand to support Leticia, then placing her head on her thigh, Bai Ling planned to discuss Lin Qingyu's matter after Leticia woke up.
However, Leticia wasn't actually asleep yet.
She'd just been a bit confused. Now with Bai Ling's actions, her drowsiness vanished instantly.
What was this? Why was she directly placed on her thigh?
What was happening?
Leticia was confused. Bai Ling's thigh felt quite good—very soft, so soft she wanted to stay pressed against it.
Bai Ling usually wore skirts or pants. Today she wore a somewhat short skirt with semi-transparent white stockings underneath. From Leticia's current angle, she could even see the thigh flesh slightly compressed by the garter.
Really too amazing.
Should she resist?
Leticia quite wanted to resist, but she felt the drowsiness that had just left returning with a vengeance.
This time, she was probably really going to fall asleep.
Sleeping against the chair versus sleeping on a girl's thigh—this didn't seem like a choice question.
Well, she was the one using Bai Ling's thigh as a pillow, so she wasn't at a loss, Leticia told herself.
Soft and fragrant—she had a premonition she'd have sweet dreams.
Bai Ling naturally knew that Leticia hadn't been asleep just now. She'd actually made a risky move, thinking that if Leticia didn't refuse, she could spend over an hour with Leticia like this.
However, the probability was low. Bai Ling had already prepared to be scolded by Leticia, but she never expected Leticia wouldn't even bother with symbolic resistance.
She just fell asleep like this?
Gently poking the girl's slightly flushed cheek and softly calling her name in her ear, getting no response, Bai Ling confirmed Leticia was truly tired.
Otherwise, how could she fall asleep without a word? She would definitely struggle on the surface, then if she herself was forceful enough, there'd be some probability of her obediently sleeping.
That should be how it worked, right?
But missing that middle part where Leticia was verbally unwilling but physically honest felt somehow wrong.
Could the one on her lap be a fake Leticia?
Probably not.
She was probably just too tired to bother with formalities, Bai Ling tried to convince herself.
The girl lying on her lap was real—that was enough. No need to overthink other things.
"Drive slower and more steadily." Bai Ling lowered her voice to the woman in black in the driver's seat.
"Understood."
Bai Ling could drive, but she could only drive the kind of wild cars that could be crashed around randomly. She absolutely couldn't pass ordinary driving license tests.
Because sometimes, this young lady's thought processes could be quite peculiar. To prevent Central City residents from being tortured by these peculiar thought processes, Senior Sang had very decisively decided to absolutely not give Bai Ling a driver's license.
This made Bai Ling, who quite enjoyed bumper cars, somewhat displeased.
"Should I have them sit separately today since Senior Sang is coming too?" Bai Ling began considering another problem.
......
"Mm... mm?" Leticia, who'd had a beautiful sleep, opened her somewhat confused eyes.
"Awake?" Noticing the girl's movement, Bai Ling asked softly, afraid the girl was still sleeping and she'd wake her.
Leticia groggily propped herself up with one hand on Bai Ling's thigh, straightening her body.
"How long did I sleep?" Vigorously patting her face, Leticia felt much more awake.
"One hour, not long." Bai Ling looked at the drastically changed scenery outside and replied. "We still need to ride for a while before reaching Hero Association headquarters."
"I see." Leticia nodded, then remembered what she'd been sleeping on.
Her cute little face immediately turned crimson. Sleeping on another girl's thigh was really too stimulating.
Even though the thigh provider was Bai Ling, whom Leticia greatly disliked, this couldn't hide the fact that it was a girl's thigh.
And the feel was excellent.
"Are you embarrassed?" Bai Ling reached out to touch Leticia's face, finding this girl's face a bit hot—this should be a sign of embarrassment.
"What are you talking about?" Leticia slapped away Bai Ling's hand, firmly denying any embarrassment.
This was just a normal phenomenon after waking up!
Though even Leticia herself didn't believe this explanation.
But there were only two people in this car. The driver obviously wouldn't contradict Leticia, and Bai Ling knew it was best not to argue with Leticia at times like this.
Probably got away with it.
During the remaining journey, Leticia and Bai Ling chatted about this and that. Daily bickering had become something Leticia felt completely normal about.
When the car stopped in a parking space, Leticia realized she'd arrived at Hero Association headquarters.
While Leticia was dazed, Bai Ling got out first and took a folding wheelchair from the car's trunk.
With the black-clad driver's help, Bai Ling quickly assembled the wheelchair, then pushed it to Leticia's door and opened it for her.
"I'm not so weak I can't walk." Leticia felt this was disrespectful. She'd recovered quite well now.
The weakness and powerlessness from a few days ago had completely disappeared, leaving only a bit of fatigue still troubling Leticia.
In her current state, she could walk independently.
"I'm afraid you'll be like the day before yesterday." Bai Ling didn't say it explicitly, but everyone knew which incident she meant.
Definitely Leticia trying to turn off the lights and ending up falling by the bed.
"I'm completely different from the me of the day before yesterday!" Leticia protested. The current her could beat five of her past sElves.
But Bai Ling indicated that whether it was the current Leticia or the Leticia from the day before yesterday, in her eyes they were both Leticias who needed care.
"Being supported by me, or sitting in a wheelchair while I push you—choose one." Bai Ling gave Leticia a multiple choice question.
If she had to choose between these two, Leticia chose the third option: "I'll walk myself."
"Don't be silly." Bai Ling told Leticia she didn't have a third choice.
After seriously considering the power difference between them, Leticia felt she should back down for now.
"Then the wheelchair."
Hero Association seemed to be holding some event today. Leticia saw quite a few ordinary people passing by their car, and judging from their excited, happy expressions, it probably wasn't anything bad.
Being supported by Bai Ling to walk in front of so many people—she'd rather be pushed in a wheelchair.
"Mm." Bai Ling reached out, wanting to help Leticia out of the car.
But Leticia very rudely jumped out directly, and before sitting in the wheelchair, she even bounced twice in place to show she had complete autonomous mobility.
Regarding Leticia's petulant behavior, Bai Ling found this girl somewhat cute. She smiled unconcernedly and pushed Leticia toward Hero Association headquarters.
Halfway there, she explained to Leticia why there were so many people today.
"Every month, Hero Association sets aside one day for award ceremonies and promotion ceremonies to reward heroes who performed excellently the previous month. These people are here to attend the ceremony."
"Oh, cheerleaders?" Leticia indicated she understood—just shills.
"No, they're all prominent figures in Central City, attending the ceremony to find heroes they can cooperate with." Bai Ling shook her head. "Heroes have high commercial value."
Especially those renowned super heroes—products they endorsed sold extremely well.
And heroes with less fame could still provide some force protection for partners, giving these big shots some confidence when facing certain people.
"But weren't we going to watch training?"
"Right, so our destination is different from theirs." Bai Ling explained. "It just happens that today is when the ceremony is held."
Training happened every day, but Hero Association's old-timers had arranged to meet Bai Ling today—quite a coincidence.
Of course, the deeper meaning was debatable. After all, choosing today specifically when they could have picked any other time probably had some other intentions.
"We'll take the side entrance." As she spoke, Bai Ling had already pushed Leticia away from the main group, heading toward another side of this giant building.
Today's main entrance was reserved for ceremony attendees. Bai Ling didn't have an invitation and didn't want to get involved in those matters, so she naturally planned to use the side entrance to go directly to the training grounds.
But to Bai Ling's surprise, the entrance she wanted to use was actually blocked by circles of reporters. Those people carrying cameras of all sizes were gathered around this rarely-used entrance for unknown reasons.
After noticing someone approaching, a reporter wearing a blue baseball cap trotted over. "Excuse me, are you two heroes from Hero Association?"
Bai Ling nodded, then shook her head. "I used to be, she isn't."
After answering this young lady's question, she asked her own: "What are you all doing gathered here?"
"You don't know? 'Songstress' is coming here today. We think she definitely won't use the main entrance, so we're waiting here in advance."
"But if it's a retired hero returning to headquarters, they're more likely to use the sky entrance." Bai Ling pointed to the top of the headquarters building and told this young lady, "'Songstress'—she can fly."