Chapter 8: A Wild Beelzebub Appeared!

“Phew… finally cleaned it all up…”

Mindlessly cleaning, I soon found the vegetable garden was spotless.
Looking at the kitchen, now fully stocked with ingredients I had organized at the same time, brought a sense of peace to my heart.

“Mm! They say a full pantry makes for a generous heart.
Even though I didn’t buy them myself, I feel so much more at ease!”

It was about time to start preparing dinner.
Since the Demon King wanted dessert, I would have to start a little early to have enough time to prepare everything!

“Sniff, sniff. What’s that smell…? It’s a rich, milky scent… but I don’t think it’s milk…
Oh, whatever! Shall I start with the dessert first?”

-Clatter! Clatter!-

“Hmm~ Since there’s no cauldron, I’ll first cook rice in a pot to prepare the meal and dessert at the same time…”

I took out the cooking utensils to prepare both dessert and the main meal.

“Yay!! Dessert, dessert!! I wanted to eat dessert!
Uncle Teo! Are you going to make dessert now?”

“Yes! The Demon King asked me to, so I’ll prepare something delicious…”

“….????”

A wild Beelzebub has appeared in the cottage kitchen where I was supposed to be alone!

“Be-Beelzebub…? Why… no, how are you here??”

Until now, Beelzebub had always come to the cottage with the Demon King through a portal he summoned.
My internal Demon-King-sensor wasn’t going off, so it was clear she came here alone, not with him. How did she get here…

“I came thwough a powtal!”

Beelzebub declared proudly, hands on her hips and her little belly sticking out.

“R-Right, but how did you use a portal…”

Just then! Beelzebub answered my question not with words, but with an adorable action.
Agh. She’s ridiculously cute.

-Vzzzt.-

“See! I can make powtals now! Am I not gweat? Uncle Teo?”

When Beelzebub drew a line in the air with her tiny index finger—a finger I wanted to bite (at the risk of my limbs)—a red portal, different from the Demon King’s, appeared.
Was portal magic this easy?
No way… I heard portal users are so incredibly rare that they’re worth a fortune…

“D-Does… does the Demon King know that you can use portals?”

“Nope! Daddy and evewyone at the castle don’t know yet!
It’s a secwet just between you and me, Uncle Teo!”

A secret with Beelzebub that would get my limbs torn off if the Demon King found out…
Ah… what do I do? This is a disaster.

“And! Uncle Teo! I know you have to use fowmal speech with me when Daddy’s awound because you’we cautious of him,
but when it’s just the two of us, you’we my fwiend, so speak infowmally! I’ll allow it!”

And in the midst of all this, Beelzebub considers this untouchable half-breed a friend…
Ah…! Demon King! I don’t know about anything else, but her character education is a perfect score!

“Ahem… W-Well then, I’ll speak informally, Beelzebub?”

“Yay!! Uncle Teo spoke infowmally to me!! Yay!!”

Beelzebub raised both arms and let out a strange cry… Cute!

“Hehe! Anyway! Uncle Teo! If you’we making dessewt, I’ll help you!
Let’s cook togethew! Let’s do it togethew!!”

Beelzebub jumped up and down, incredibly excited by the mention of dessert.
It would be rude to refuse when she’s this happy! Alright, let’s get some child labor going~

“Okay! Well… there’s nothing for you to do right now, so just sit here!
And… you seem to be in a good mood today. Did something good happen?”

“Yep! I-I! I got a ‘Pass!’ on my monthly evaluation today! So, so Daddy pwaised me a lot!”

I had a rough guess seeing Beelzebub fidgeting more than usual (though I’ve known her for less than a day), but I was spot on!
As expected! My knack for reading situations, honed by years of this goddamn f*cking life in this world! (Non-existent)

“Oh! Of course, Beelzebub! I knew you’d pass the monthly evaluation!”

“Hehe! I like Uncle Teo!! But, what are you doing?”

-Swish! Swish!-

“I’m preparing dessert and dinner at the same time.
Just wait a little bit. We’ll have fun making it together.”

I demonstrated the skill of washing rice vigorously in cold water while conversing with Beelzebub.
Hah. I learned this kind of multitasking while looking after my nephew! It’s nothing special.
Alright~ Shall we begin!

“First, wash the rice thoroughly to remove as much starch as possible, then put equal amounts of rice and water in the pot.”

-Pour!-

“Boil on high for 5 minutes, then simmer on low for 15 minutes.”

-Bubble… bubble…-

“Turn off the heat and let it steam for 5 minutes… and done! Pot rice!”

-Fwoosh!-

“Just a little longer. I’ll teach you in a moment.”

After enduring the 25-minute wait, I calmed down Beelzebub, who was going wild at the smell of the perfectly fluffy cooked rice.
I seasoned the well-made rice with salt and sugar, then transferred it to a mortar coated with sesame oil and began to mash it with a pestle.

-Squish! Thump! Squish! Thump!-

“Eww… it looked delicious, but now it’s all squished and smashed like slime…”

“Just wait a little bit, Beelzebub. It’s almost done.”

When the rice I’d been kneading until my arms felt like they’d fall off had completely lost its shape and become a soft mass!
I quickly placed it on a tray dusted with starch powder and put it on the table where Beelzebub was sitting, along with a pair of chopsticks and a cup of water.
As you might have guessed, today’s dessert is tteok!
Specifically, Jireum Tteok, my favorite snack from my hometown when I was a kid!
(TL Note: Tteok is a general term for Korean rice cakes. Jireum Tteok is a type of pan-fried sweet rice cake. ‘Jireum’ is a dialect for ‘gireum,’ which means oil.)

It was a representative snack from my hometown that I still think about from time to time, even though it’s made with simple ingredients.
The moment Beelzebub suddenly appeared in the cottage, memories of playing with the dough next to my grandmother as she made Jireum Tteok came flooding back, so I chose it instead of glutinous rice cakes.
How could I not make it when we could have fun kneading the dough together and it tastes great too?

“Here! Beelzebub! Rub this powder on your hands. That way, the tteok won’t stick.”

“Hmph…? Tteok? Tteok-tteok! The name sounds funny! What do we do next, Uncle Teo?”

“Wait, Beelzebub, let me touch it first to see if it’s cool enough, then I’ll teach you.”

After dusting my hands with starch powder just like Beelzebub, I tore off a piece of the chewy tteok dough, which had cooled just enough to be pleasant to the touch! Mmm~ so chewy.

-Chewy~! Chewy~!-

“W-Whoa!! Amazing!! It looks like fun!! I wanna do it too!!”

Beelzebub’s eyes sparkled and her body wiggled as she watched the dough stretch in my hands.
Yes! This delicious reaction that no kid can resist! This is why I chose Jireum Tteok!

“Alright, the tteok has cooled down enough to touch, and it doesn’t seem like you’ll get hurt.
From now on, tear off a fistful of this chewy tteok and pass it to me, Beelzebub! You can do it, right? It’ll be fun, right?”

“Yep! It looks weally fun! Whoa~ Chewy-chewy~”

Beelzebub had fun playing with the dough, a sensory game.
In the midst of it all, the diligent young Beelzebub didn’t forget her job of handing the dough to me.

“Now~ we roll out each piece of dough with a rolling pin to make it thin.
Then, if we use the water cup I brought with the tray to press down on it?”

“Hyaa!! Uncle Teo! The tteok is wound! Like a full moon! It’s so pwetty!”

Beelzebub was surprised and delighted to see the full-moon-like tteok dough that came out after being pressed with the cup like cookie dough.
But… it’s not over yet! If I use the chopsticks I brought with the cup to pinch the edges into points…?

“Done! Star-shaped tteok dough! What do you think, Beelzebub? Doesn’t it look like a real star?”

“Kyaaak!!! So pwetty!! It’s weally pwetty, Uncle Teo!!”

Ha! Fortissimo! Such a perfect reaction! The pure reaction only a child can give!
Seeing Beelzebub’s pure response, I knew I made the right choice with Jireum Tteok!

“Hehe. Chewy, chewy, hehe… so fun!”

As Beelzebub’s sensory play session was wrapping up, I finished all the preparations for the Jireum Tteok and was laying the dough out by the window to dry.

“Uncle Teo! That was weally fun! Playing with you is the most fun, mowe fun than the castle!”

“Really? I’m glad you had fun.
By the way… shouldn’t you be heading back to the castle soon?
The Demon King still doesn’t know you can use portal magic, right?”

“!!”

Beelzebub’s eyes went wide.
Ah… you forgot, didn’t you? Well… it’s understandable after having so much fun with the dough.

“Wight! I have to go now!”

-Vzzzt.-

“I’ll be back with Daddy in a little bit!! Bye-bye, Uncle Teo!”

“Yep~ Bye-bye~”

And just like that, Beelzebub disappeared along with the red portal.
Ah… I’m drained… To all the parents in the world! I respect you! Except for the parents who abandoned this transmigrated body, of course!

Back at the Old Castle, Masmas… no, Mastema, the captain of Setas, the princess’s dedicated guard unit, thought something was strange about the princess, who had just come out of her room and was toddling towards the Demon King’s office.

“Hmm… Strange… Very strange…”

“What do you mean, strange? Captain?”

Kion, a new knight of Setas undergoing his training period next to Masmas… no, Mastema, asked his superior who was muttering to himself inexplicably.

“The princess. Usually, after the monthly evaluation, she roams around the castle, asking the servants and knights to play with her…
But today, as soon as the evaluation was over, she went to her room and stayed cooped up for hours.
It’s strange… No matter how I think about it, it’s too strange…”

“Hmm… Is that really so strange, Captain?
Maybe she just wanted to be alone today…”

Just then, Masmas’s roaring shout hit Kion’s ears directly!

“(Rebuking) SILENCE!!!”

“Hieeek!!”

“It’s been five years since I transferred from the Demon King’s direct special operations unit to Setas, the princess’s dedicated guard!
Are you saying my intuition about the princess, honed over five years of guarding her, is wrong!”

This guy… the look in his eyes says he’s half-mad!

“I-I’m sorry… Captain…”

“As long as you understand.”

Masmas returned to his usual calm expression.
Whoa, sh*t… what’s with the face change? Is he a face-changing master?

“What do you mean by that, Mastema?”

Just then! A slender voice came from behind Masmas… no, Mastema.

“Oh. Yumira. It’s been a while.”

“Hello, Head Maid.”

Standing behind the two with a serious expression was Yumira.

“Yes. It’s been a while for both of you as well… but what were you just saying, Mastema?”

“The princess is acting strange today. Yumira? Have you not noticed anything strange today either?”

An exchange of opinions between the two highly intuitive individuals began.

“Actually. The princess skipped her meal this morning.
But… for someone who did, she came out of the Demon King’s office patting her tummy before her morning training.”

In the midst of this, the impudent Kion dared to voice his opinion to the two seniors!

“W-Well… maybe she just had a snack with the Demon King and was patting her full stomach…”

Once again, a roaring shout was directed at Kion.

“(Rebuking) SILENCE!!!”

“Hieeek!!”

“It has been five years since I moved from being the Demon King’s personal maid to the princess’s personal maid right after she was born… Are you daring to doubt me? How unpleasant, Kion.”

Tsk, tsk. Kion ended up getting an earful from Yumira too.

“I-I’m sorry…”

And Masmas… no, Mastema, acting as if Yumira’s shout was nothing, voiced his own curiosity.

“Hmmmm…? That is indeed strange.
When I was supervising her training, she was so full of energy that you couldn’t tell she had skipped breakfast…
But to say she had a snack with the Demon King, she was patting her stomach, not rubbing it…
That’s news to me… She rarely ate until she was full during meals…”

Yumira asked Masmas, who was pondering with a hand on his bushy chin.

“That aside. What did you find strange about the princess, Mastema?
You must have been with her all day, roaming around the castle after the monthly evaluation.”

“No. The princess was in her room all day, Yumira.”

Yumira’s mouth fell open and her eyes popped out, a rare sight showing she was very surprised.

“What???? No, what… what are you talking about??
I’m sure the monthly evaluation ended today… Why?? Why was the princess in her room the whole time??”

“That, I do not know, Yumira. After entering her room, she ordered that no one be allowed in, and then she stayed inside for hours. That’s all. That’s why I’m saying it’s strange, Yumira.”

“Hoo… I have a feeling we can’t let this matter slide, Mastema.”

“I agree, Yumira.”

Two people with sharp intuition. Beelzebub! Another crisis awaits