The Hero Who Became a Monster Girl Will Never Fall to Evil

“Did you come to see me for something?”

Vieya looked at the purple-haired girl standing by the riverbank, a faint thought stirring in her mind.

Today, Rania wasn’t wearing her usual standard Hero armor, but a white dress instead—just like that morning. From her appearance and attire, she didn’t look much different from an ordinary girl next door.

How strange. How had she never noticed before that her student seemed to change her entire aura along with her clothes?

Still, today’s Rania looked far easier to approach than during those few days when she had been prickly and shrouded in a low-pressure atmosphere that practically screamed “keep away.”

Had she finally figured things out?

Or had she at last come to terms with her teacher’s death?

Vieya ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) thought wryly to herself, a quiet breath of relief slipping out beneath her amusement.

Given what she knew of Rania, if something serious were really happening, she absolutely wouldn’t be wearing such a light, fluttery outfit.

“If you have something to say, we can talk at my place... You’re welcome anytime.” Vieya spoke softly. Toward this only student of hers, she still carried a bit of guilt deep down.

Back then, she hadn’t fulfilled the responsibilities of a proper teacher at all. When her student showed little interest in swordsmanship or in slaying monsters to level up, she hadn’t forced her—she had simply let her do as she pleased.

Thinking about it now, that really was a case of ruining a student’s future.

Vieya wanted to cover her face in shame. As a teacher, not only had she wasted her student’s most precious, fastest-learning loli and adolescent periods... she had even been the one to teach her how to sneak storybooks into class without the lecturer noticing...

Wait, no.

Why did she feel more and more like a terrible person the longer she thought about it?

No, I have to think positively! For example—at least I let my student, who had lost her family, feel warmth and affection not inferior to family.

I also gave Rania a happy childhood.

For an orphan, the value of companionship isn’t low...

See?

How could this teacher possibly be that awful? Vieya silently shook her head, one hand on her hip as she raised her gaze toward Rania.

If she could, she wanted to treat the girl with a better attitude too.

“I actually... still have some questions about my teacher I want to ask you,” Rania said quietly. “That day my emotions got out of control. Please forgive me.”

Wow.

Even her tone had become formal now.

“I can tell you anything, but let’s talk at my house.” Vieya glanced around and lifted an eyebrow. “And judging by the look of you, you haven’t even had dinner, have you? Perfect timing.”

“Well...” Rania hadn’t even begun to hesitate before Vieya cut her off, flashing an expression that clearly said, ‘If you want to hear your teacher’s story, you’ll do as I say.’

No matter how strong a student was, she was still just a young adult kid. Easy to handle.

Vieya’s face showed no emotion as she cast Rania a light glance, then turned and walked away, leaving the purple-haired girl staring at her back.

The words of protest caught in Rania’s throat and couldn’t come out. She could only swallow them down, sulking.

“...Hah!”

After a moment’s pause, she bit her lip, then stepped forward and followed the white-haired woman’s retreating figure.

...

Now this is what it means to be a teacher.

With one round of baiting and teasing, Vieya had lured that stubborn student straight into her home.

In the courtyard, the sky was darkening. Jasmine paced back and forth, idly kicking at pebbles on the ground.

“Hey, Little Demon King, can you stop walking around? Come sit and have some cake with me.”

Helcat Red pinched a slice of triangular cake and took a big bite. Her eyes squinted in bliss.

“This stuff is so good... must’ve been expensive, huh... This kind of rich cream—so high-class! If I can’t eat it again later, that’d be such a tragedy. How about we team up next time to steal your mom’s money and sneak off to eat some more?”

“You—don’t you dare!”

Jasmine stopped dead, her cheeks puffing up like an angry pufferfish. Her mismatched eyes glared straight at Helcat.

“Cat-sis, how can you even think of something so bad?! Mom works so hard to raise us! Just a few days ago when she finished her commission, she came back starved and skinny—”

“As long as her chest didn’t shrink, that’s fine. Eat more and it’ll fill back up anyway.”

Helcat blinked, then suddenly looked behind Jasmine and cleared her throat. “Ahem. Little Demon King, your mom’s back...”

“What, nothing happened while I was gone, right?”

Vieya stepped through the open courtyard gate without thinking much of it.

“Mom, we’re fine.”

“That’s good.” Vieya patted her daughter’s head, then turned toward her student standing at the entrance. “Come in. I already gave that stupid cat a lesson.”

“How can you say that in front of guests?” Helcat protested pitifully.

She bared her sharp fangs and looked aggrieved, biting into another small cream cake as if what she was chewing wasn’t dessert but some detestable person.

“Do you have a problem with me, stupid cat?” Vieya frowned. “Also, didn’t I give you two boxes of cake? The other one’s still there, right? Bring it out.”

“Ate it already, meow! Gone!”

Helcat stuffed the last two pieces of cake into her mouth at once, then wiped the cream off her lips, licked her claws, and looked up innocently at the faint anger brewing in those emerald-green eyes.

“Gone, meow!”

“...Incurable.”

Vieya raised her hand and gave Helcat a sharp chop to the head. You damn cat!

Thump!

Ignoring the tearful catgirl behind her rubbing her head, Vieya turned toward Rania standing in the doorway and sighed.

“I’ll make you some noodles later... sausage, egg, whatever toppings you want. Come to the kitchen and pick what you can eat.”

Even though she knew this student wasn’t picky, she still asked out of courtesy.

“...Anything’s fine.” Rania blinked, noticing suddenly that the cat’s household rank was clearly the lowest. She couldn’t help feeling a little schadenfreude.

Good hit! Serves you right for telling me Vieya didn’t want to see me and to get lost!

If she could, she’d have loved to sneak over and kick her a few times while at it.

“Jasmine, do you want some noodles too?” Vieya asked.

“Yes!” Jasmine’s big eyes curved like crescents. “I’ll eat anything, I’m not picky!”

Inside, in the kitchen.

Vieya lit the fire, washed and cut the vegetables, preparing the usual seasonings in advance.

Maybe from practice, her knife movements this time made the purple-haired girl pause in surprise.

“So you actually cook often...” Rania murmured, helping peel and rinse the garlic, while sighing inwardly.

As expected, Vieya looked less like her teacher herself... and more like her teacher’s daughter.

But she had never heard, never even seen, that her teacher had a daughter. Could it be her teacher had cheated and secretly left behind an illegitimate child somewhere?

Heh, makes sense.

Rania recalled the Demon King’s appearance—it didn’t differ much from her teacher’s wife’s looks, only the aura had changed slightly.

Later, she’d gone to Lilian to demand answers about what really happened back then.

At first, Lilian kept her mouth shut. Until Rania asked directly: Was it my teacher’s wife who harmed him? Was she the Demon King?

Then, for the first time in a long while, Lilian had fallen silent, turning her back like a statue.

Even when Rania left the convent, she hadn’t answered.

But Rania already knew the truth. She wasn’t stupid. If she had been, even with her teacher’s connections, she never would’ve survived for years inside the Tower of Knowledge.

After learning her teacher’s wife was the Demon King, all the pieces had fallen into place.

Heh. So that’s why someone as strong as her teacher had fallen in that operation, paying with his life.

It had all been planned—the closest person to him had wanted him dead.

Heh... damn Demon King.

“Rania, what’s wrong? Don’t like garlic?” Vieya asked, puzzled.

“No.” Rania paused. “My teacher said crushed garlic tastes better...”

“...”

It’s smashed garlic, not hand-squeezed!

Vieya’s mouth twitched. “Then bring it here, wash your hands, and go play with Jasmine for a bit.”

“I’m not good at playing with kids...” Rania lowered her eyes, not meeting Vieya’s.

“...”

Vieya didn’t reply. She just focused on the noodles, methodically adding the seasonings.

She had no intention of letting her daughter and student end up eating a clump of gluey, inedible noodles.

“You know about my teacher and that Demon King’s relationship, don’t you?” Rania asked from the side.

Sizzle!

Vieya poured a plate of green vegetables into the boiling pot and stirred slowly.

“I know.”

“Then are you really my senior?” Rania pressed on.

“Sorry, I lied to you back then.”

Vieya’s hand paused for a moment. “But the sword techniques I use really did come from your teacher. There might not have been any formal bond of master and disciple, but if you want to call me Senior Sister, I won’t refuse.”