But Daddy just stared at the blanket without taking it. Instead, he passed by me and left the room. I watched him leave, worrying he might wipe his hands on his expensive-looking suit jacket, but Daddy didn’t seem to be such a sloppy person.

After a minute, someone in a maid’s outfit with a bob haircut came in and greeted me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my lady. My name is Tina.”

“Heh...woh?” (Hello?) I was just about to return the greeting with a deep bow when I caught sight of something, my jaw dropping open.

Huh...? I rubbed at my eyes, doubting what I saw. But when I looked again, they were still there. On either side of Tina’s forehead was a pair of… “Hones?” (Horns?)

“Ah, yes, my lady. Mine are out in the open like this because I can’t hide them.”

I gasped, then clasped my hands over my mouth and checked for their reaction. What... What are those horns? Tina couldn’t really be a demon, right?

“It’s all right, my lady. Only those born of high-ranking devils like you can hide their horns completely. It’s completely natural for mine to be visible. You didn’t say anything wrong,” Tina explained.

I was confused. “But I don’ hab any hones...?” (But I don’t have any horns...?)

“Oh! I didn’t know you were still too young for your horns, my lady. They’ll be coming in before you know it, and you’ll be able to hide them very well when they do.” Tina, who looked to be in their mid-thirties, was so nice and kind. I must’ve looked confused, because they gave me a warm smile and took my hand. “His Grace has ordered us to serve you as we would the young masters. I’m here to attend to you, my lady, so please be at ease.”

“M’hm.”

“If you have any questions, I’ll answer them all one by one. But first, shall we wash?” Tina looked at me with sympathetic eyes. It was true that I was soaking wet, not to mention smelly. From head to toe, my tiny body was giving off a funky, “damp dog” kind of smell.

I do want a bath. I wondered if I would be able to wash properly here. I looked doubtfully up at Tina, who crouched down to meet my gaze at eye level.

“When you’re done bathing, I’ll give you something sweet, my lady. How does that sound?”

“Good...”

I didn’t know why, but I had a feeling that Tina wasn’t bad. Soon, I was holding their hand as I padded down to the bathing room. The moment I set foot inside, I couldn’t stop gaping at how fancy it was. “Wow... It wook ekpensib.” (Wow... It looks expensive.)

“Does it, my lady? If you turn the golden faucet over here, gold bubbles come pouring out.”

“Wooow.”

Daddy was really rich! If he’s this rich, he’ll be able to give me child support for sure. I had a hard time closing my jaw when I first entered the sitting room, too. I even wondered whether it was all right for someone like me to go inside and dirty it. Even the sofa looked so expensive that I’d hesitated for a long time before sitting down.

So child support would practically be nothing to him, right? If I didn’t bother him or beg him to take me in, and just promised to go far, far away with the money he gave me, he wouldn’t be too upset. There was no way Daddy would wipe his own daughter off the face of this earth just because he didn’t want to pay child support, right?

Of course, he could be annoyed that I exist in the first place. But Daddy was so fond of me in my fourth dream... In the end, I could only depend on what I’d seen in my dreams. Sigh. Someone save this five-year-old, please.

Splish, splash.

A small rubber duck was floating in the fully drawn bath. My head felt like it was going to explode from worry. Without really thinking about it, I picked up the duck to fidget with it.

“Is it to your liking?”

“Mmhm, iss cyoot.” (Mmhm, it’s cute.)

“It’s yours, my lady.”

While I played with the rubber duck, Tina scrubbed my back. I thought it would be better to think of something else for now, so as I was making the baby duck float around beside the mother duck, I asked, “Um, Tina.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Umm... Ah you a gull? Or a boy...?” (Um… Are you a girl? Or a boy…?)

I’d heard just a while ago that Tina was “nonbinary,” but I didn’t know what that meant. I lifted my head to look at Tina in case it was a rude question, ready to take it back in a heartbeat. But Tina just covered their smile with a hand.

“Low-ranking devils like me are born sexless in order to comfortably serve the honored high-ranking devils.”

“Debil...?”

“It is our vocation to serve. But I never thought I would ever get the chance to serve a high-ranking female devil. It is truly the greatest honor of my life.”

Splash.

There wasn’t a trace of a lie on Tina’s face as they poured water over my shoulders, but my mind was only filled with more questions. A real devil? Tina had said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. It hadn’t sounded like a lie at all.

Considering God and the neraphim, maybe it wasn’t strange that devils existed as well, but it was still a bit of a shock all the same. So all the times my uncle called me a demon spawn, that was just the truth? If Daddy and Tina are demons, and probably the man who healed me too, then... I must be a demon as well.

It was strange, though. I’d been taught demons were bad, and that they only did evil things. They told me that this was why it was important to grow the ranks of El-Halla’s followers, and that was one of the duties of House Evelan. But Tina just said that they were a devil, and they didn’t seem bad like the butler told me. Tina’s hands were really careful from start to finish. At least, they were good to me.

They were scrubbing my front when they stared hard at the scarlet birthmark in the middle of my chest. Then as if overcome with emotion, they let out a deep breath. “I’ve never seen such a vivid and beautiful mark before. It’s a sure sign that you will awaken into an extremely powerful devil, my lady.”

“Huh? But dis is jus’ a spop...” (Huh? But this is just a spot...)

“No, it isn’t.” Tina shook their head firmly. “That is a symbol. It only looks like a spot because you can’t wield your powers yet, my lady. It looks different in my eyes.”

“Like what...?”

“A butterfly.”

Now that was a strange thing to hear. A butterfly? How could such a pretty thing be on me?

“I see a butterfly, my lady.”

Well, the big spot on my chest did kind of look like a butterfly if I tilted my head sideways. But if I just looked at it as it was, it looked like a sauce stain from a sloppy eater. Still, it felt nice that Tina thought it was pretty. I splashed my feet around and gave a big grin.

They were probably just being nice to me on my Daddy’s orders, but even so, it seemed like Tina didn’t hate me. I knew what unfriendly eyes looked like very well, but Tina’s were round and kind. It made me feel like it would be all right to ask more questions. “Daddy... I mean, da gwan’ dook. He’s not mawwied?” (Daddy... I mean, the grand duke. He’s not married?)

“I beg your pardon? Married?”

“Yeah, I huhd he has two sons.” (Yeah, I heard he has two sons.)

And my mother hadn’t given birth to them. I was sure of that. So he must’ve married someone else, right? Uh oh.

I was a bastard, so if Daddy had a wife right now, there was no way she would be happy about me. She wouldn’t like me at all. I didn’t mind if she hated me, but I couldn’t help worrying that my plans to take my child support money and run away somewhere safe were about to go down the drain, that I might get locked up again, or... Or that she might hurt me like my aunt did.

“Ahh, marriage... It’s an unfamiliar concept. It might be common for humans, but it isn’t a part of devil culture.”

I blinked as I looked up at Tina, who carefully lifted me up and transferred me into another wooden drum so that the grimy bathwater could be changed. “Female devils like you, my lady, are treated with the utmost respect. There aren’t many, you see.”

“Mmhm.”

“After female devils have done their part by graciously dating the males and birthing children for them, there’s no need for them to be tied down and burdened with childcare as well,” Tina explained.

“Ah...?”

“Raising the children is the responsibility of the male devils. That is generally always the case. You must remember this, my lady.”

I-is that so?

“Biologically, pregnancy is a right that belongs to devils of female form, and something that only they can do. However, childcare is something that male devils can do as well. So the responsibilities have been divided up according to what each can do.”

“Aha.”

Devils dated without marrying, and had children if any came along. But female devils didn’t raise the children—that responsibility was mostly taken on by the male devils. I understood that much.

“I’m not familiar with human culture, but this is how it is for devils. If you ever happen to meet a scumbag who refuses to care for his children, you have to beat that swine to a pulp— I mean, you have to make him see sense.”

Did Tina just say “beat that swine to a pulp”?