Abyssal Chronicles

Chapter 742 - 743: Changing Paths

As a special family among humans, the Black Rose has a unique connection with the Abyssal Demons. The Demon kings of the Abyss, who are like the Grim Reaper in the eyes of ordinary people, can also get along well with them, except for the Higanbana...

In fact,

Sebastian had never had direct contact with Higanbana.

After all, when Sebastian came to the Winter Forest, Higanbana had already run away from home and betrayed Yumo. His understanding of Higanbana, or rather the understanding of the members of the Black Rose now, all comes from Yumo’s other children and their elders.

That Abyssal Demon is even more ancient and powerful than the Sword Demon Pierre.

While powerful, it also possesses madness and brutality far beyond other Demon kings, to the extent that even Yumo could not control it. In the end, after severely injuring Pierre, who was her brother, Higanbana left the Winter Forest. Then, this strongest Demon king defied Yumo’s orders and wreaked havoc on the continent, initiating a bloody storm, becoming the only being completely out of Yumo’s control.

Lady Yumo was quite helpless and disappointed about this, and every time Higanbana was mentioned, -Yumo’s mood would become depressed and gloomy.

For such a crazed, murderous, and ruthless monster that betrayed their own family, including Sebastian within the Black Rose, naturally, there was no good feeling. Even if Higanbana’s rampage on the continent helped their plan to weaken human forces...

Even the Duke had planned to eliminate Higanbana, to solve a huge problem for lady Yumo, but since they could never find Higanbana’s whereabouts, this plan was shelved.

But no matter what,

When seeing that fierce and cruel, traitorous Demon king, sleeping in the form of a little girl in Lady Yumo’s arms, Sebastian’s brain crashed. After all, this image of Higanbana was too far from the brutal Demon king he had imagined, like a chasm, making Sebastian feel an extreme sense of unreality.

The bewildered old Sebastian, forgetting Yumo’s instructions, couldn’t help but exclaim.

"Is, is this little girl Higanbana?!!"

The voice of exclamation was somewhat loud, directly breaking the quietness here.

Seeing this, Yumo frowned slightly, and scolded displeasedly,

"Quiet! You will wake her!"

Saying this, with a flick of her finger, a vibration of the air, even from meters away, gave Sebastian a loud knock on the head.

*Thump~*

"Ah!"

Feeling the pain, Sebastian immediately realized his mistake, hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand, and repeatedly bowed his head to the black-haired girl to apologize:

"I am deeply sorry milady, I was out of line."

However,

Obviously, the apology now was too late, because the little girl sleeping in Yumo’s arms slowly raised her hand to rub her eyes, opening those sleepy, misty blue pupils, and a layer of tears seemed to form in her eyes. She seemed very unhappy about being woken up.

"Ah, you’re awake? Sorry, did we distribute my little cutie sleep~?"

Noticing the look of grievance on the little girl’s face, Yumo quickly diverted her attention from Sebastian and softly soothed the little girl.

Perhaps because of a special talent in comforting children, the little girl, who was looking pitiful just now, gradually calmed down and began to look around curiously. Her misty blue eyes were full of innocence and ignorance...

"Ah, this..."

Seeing this harmless and innocent little girl, Sebastian was stunned.

He really couldn’t understand why the infamous Higanbana had turned into such a cute and innocent little girl?

’During my unconsciousness’

’What in the world happened?’

Since the little girl did not release the shadow force, nor did she have any hostility towards him, Sebastian took a deep breath and quickly stabilized his emotions.

"Milady, is she, really… Lady Yulan...?"

Although the old butler’s heart was filled with disgust for Higanbana, noticing the unusual affection on Yumo’s face, Sebastian, who was adept at reading people, put away his hostility towards Yulan and respectfully looked towards the honey-haired little girl in Yumo’s arms.

"Yes~"

Soon after,

The old butler received a positive response from Yumo.

"Although you might find it hard to believe, this child is undoubtedly Yulan"

"How did….?"

Shaking his lips, Sebastian was still somewhat unwilling to believe his eyes:

"Milady, may I ask why did Lady Yulan… why did she become like this?"

"About… this well... sigh..."

Yumo sighed a little melancholy at the same time.

"In a previous battle with the Church, she was severely injured, her body was destroyed, and her soul was also devastatingly damaged. Afterward, with the Elven race’s treasures, the Dragon Crystal extract from the Dragons, and a series of precious medicines, we barely managed to save her. She was reborn in the form of a seed. However..."

Rubbing the little one’s head, a complex emotion spilled out of the girl’s crimson eyes.

"However, after being reborn, Yulan seems to have lost all her previous memories. She remembers nothing and can barely speak."

"Lost her memories?"

"Yes. Fortunately, because of the innate guidance of the shadow power, this child does not reject me. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t know how to get along with her."

"Ah, how could this happen?"

"It’s quite unexpected, yeah. Or maybe it’s that syndrome you mentioned before. But perhaps this is for the best. I’ll have the chance to properly educate her, to prevent her from going astray again."

Yumo balled her fists tightly and her eyes lit up with a ferocious determination.

...

Watching his lady interact closely with the honey-haired little girl, Sebastian was momentarily at a loss for words. After all, the amount of information was overwhelming, and he was struggling to digest it all.

’Although the disappearance of that troublesome Higanbana, who gave Lady Yumo such a headache, seemed like a good thing’

Narrowing his eyes and staring intently at the little one in Yumo’s arms, the old butler couldn’t help but show a grave look in his eyes. No matter how Sebastian observed or sensed, the current Youlan seemed to be nothing but an innocent and naive child, with no trace of the once strongest Demon king

But for some reason,

Sebastian felt something was amiss.

As a master of acting, he vaguely sensed a familiar aura from Youlan.

In an instant, a bold guess flashed through the butler’s mind.

’Could it be?’

’Was Higanbana pretending all along?!’

’Thinking it through, it wasn’t impossible?! Higanbana had injured Pierre, terrified Shuoyue, and acted against Lady Yumo’s wishes on the continent. She had even tried to capture Miss Yuan’er to ’threaten’ Lady Yumo before?! Higanbana’s crimes were countless...’

’Even if she had a change of heart and returned to Lady Yumo, she couldn’t escape a punishment, at least a few metaphorical feather dusters were inevitable. So? Could it be possible? That she pretending to have lost her memory, even going so far as to become a little child, just to erase her past misdeeds?!’

’Indeed, It is very possible!’

...

However, even with this speculation, Sebastian dared not voice it at the moment. After all, these were just guesses without solid evidence.

What the old butler could do now was merely to watch the intimate interaction between the little girl and her mother, attempting to observe closely and find clues to validate his guess.

Just as Sebastian was deep in thought, Yumo’s words suddenly interrupted his string of thoughts:

"By the way, Sebastian, don’t worry about the mission. Encountering a level 8 was completely unexpected. You don’t have to feel guilty; I wasn’t planning to blame you anyway"

"Thank you for your leniency, Milady"

"There’s one more thing."

"Yes Milady?"

"I’m planning to change the plan. You won’t be going to Sabelius anymore. Take little Youlan with you, head directly to the Winter Forest. Don’t worry about encountering any enemies along the way; I’ve already found a brat to act as a bodyguard to escort you there."

"A brat?"

"Mm~"

Yumo nodded lightly, then glanced helplessly at the distant waterfall with a resigned look:

"And now, that brat has already arrived."

In the next moment,

Under Sebastian’s astonished gaze, a terrifying burst of white-purple Abyssal Shadow Power mixed with lightning suddenly exploded in the distance! As the wind of Shadow energy rushed towards them, a familiar voice full of mischief came from afar.

——"Mom!! I’m here to help!!"——