Chapter 33: The Little Cat Succubus

“Huff huff huff.”

A chill slipped through the crack of the door, sneaking quietly into the room.

Rias slowly opened her eyes.

An unfamiliar ceiling came into view.

She glanced down at the blanket covering her, then looked toward the corner of the room—only to find it empty.

The little succubus froze.

Where was that human?

She was alone in the empty room.

The fire in the stove flickered weakly, and the howling wind pressed constantly against her ears.

Rias sat up on the bed, and a sudden wave of loneliness swelled in her heart.

Just as she was about to get down, a “click” sounded from the doorway.

The door opened.

“Hm? You’re awake?”

Leon stepped inside, wrapped in a thick coat and carrying a bundle of firewood in his arms.

Rias, about to get off the bed, paused instantly.

She quietly withdrew her feet, rested her chin on her knees, and watched Leon add the firewood to the stove.

The warm orange flames immediately roared to life, sweeping away every trace of the cold in the room.

“Where did you go?”

Rias hugged her legs, sitting on the bed as she suddenly asked.

“I went to gather some firewood and herbs. Why?”

Leon’s cheeks were flushed red as he rubbed his hands near the fire for warmth.

Then he glanced at Rias and suddenly realized, “Oh, right. You’re hungry. I’ll go prepare breakfast for you.”

The little succubus watched silently as the boy, who had just sat down, got up again and left the room. Her gaze grew even more vacant.

She didn’t understand why this human was so kind to her.

She was a demon after all—didn’t humans usually hate demons?

Rias furrowed her brows, thinking for a moment, and came to a conclusion: this human boy must be a fool among humans.

That was why she wasn’t afraid of him.

After a moment, Leon returned, pushing the door open with two bowls of porridge in hand.

“Here, this is for you.”

Rias took the bowl.

The porridge looked just like yesterday’s.

She instinctively glanced at the bowl in Leon’s hand and froze.

It was because the porridge in the boy’s bowl contained barely one-fifth the amount of rice in hers—so diluted it was almost like water.

Rias didn’t know why, but a strange feeling welled up in her chest.

“Hurry and eat. If it’s not enough, I have more. Your injuries aren’t healed yet, so eat more.”

Seeing her hesitate to eat, Leon grew a bit anxious inside.

Could it be she noticed the healing medicine he secretly mixed into the porridge?

What if she misunderstood his intentions?

Rias glanced at the boy’s clear eyes, then lowered her head and took small sips of the plain porridge.

This human really was a fool…

But aside from her mother, this was the first time someone had ever given her food.

Leon sighed in relief to see the little cat succubus finish the porridge normally.

With her usual wariness, it was difficult to get her to consume any medicine he made on the spot.

He could only resort to this sneaky method.

“By the way, this is ointment. You can apply it yourself, right?”

Leon then took out a bowl of pale green ointment and first applied some to his own body in front of the succubus.

“Also, it helps repair scars.”

He added.

This was something he had read about last night in the manual his grandfather left behind.

The materials and recipe were simple—only a beginner-level magical potion—but his old man considered it a useless failure.

However, Leon knew very well how attractive this ointment would be to a girl.

Sure enough, Rias’ eyes immediately brightened as she reached for the bowl.

But instead of applying the ointment right away, she looked at Leon first.

Leon took the hint and left the room, giving Rias space to change her dressing alone, thoughtfully drawing the curtains shut behind him.

Inside the room, Rias carefully untied the bandages from her body.

Beneath, her fair skin was covered with scars.

The sight brought tears to the girl’s eyes.

No girl could accept being covered in scars, let alone one who was a succubus.

She wasn’t afraid of Leon seeing her body—she just couldn’t bear to let him see how ugly it was.

But now, all she could do was hope the ointment Leon gave her would work.

In the following days, Leon brought her porridge and ointment every day.

However, Rias noticed that the porridge grew thinner and thinner each day, and Leon’s bowl had almost no rice at all.

She wasn’t stupid. Just from the look of this old, shabby house, she could tell Leon’s family wasn’t well-off.

The food he gave her was probably from his own scarce supplies.

This human really was a fool, which was why he treated a demon succubus so kindly.

But her mother had taught her once that humans had a saying—“Know gratitude and repay it.”

She had eaten so much of his food, and if she just left now, wouldn’t he starve to death?

The more Rias thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

She lowered her head, looking at her body that had nearly healed, then silently made a decision in her heart.

She would go out and find some food to bring back!

And when that time came, this foolish human would definitely worship the great succubus!

When Leon returned, he keenly noticed that the little cat succubus seemed to be in a good mood.

Her long, whip-like tail flicked in the air.

He really felt this succubus was becoming more and more like Hakimi.

The nickname “little cat succubus” was definitely well deserved.

“Human.”

Rias suddenly spoke to Leon while sitting on the bed.

“Hm?”

“I won’t let you starve to death.”

The little succubus looked seriously at Leon.

Though he found it a bit strange, seeing her so earnest, Leon smiled and replied, “Okay.”

But recently, their rice supply had indeed dwindled.

With the fierce snowstorm outside, fewer people came to buy potions, and even food was hard to come by.

Leon felt a headache coming on.

He got up to check the nearly empty rice bin, calculating how long it would last—if it could last through the blizzard.

Rias’ injuries weren’t healed yet; she couldn’t be allowed to starve.

If needed, he would just eat less himself.

In fact, in these days, he had barely eaten at all. His face was visibly growing thinner.

Back in the room, Rias was curiously examining Leon’s potion-making tools.

“You want to learn?”

Startled by the voice behind her, the little succubus tensed, jumped aside, and eyed Leon warily.

When she saw it was Leon, she relaxed slowly and pouted, “I’m not learning. It’s useless.”

After all, if it were useful, this fool wouldn’t be short on food.

Leon was a bit helpless at her words.

Then, noticing the bandage on her face, he asked with curiosity, “By the way, is the injury on your eye not healed yet?”

Since he had found Rias, the bandage on her right eye hadn’t been removed.

According to the time that had passed, it should have healed by now.

But when the topic was brought up, Rias instantly flared up.

“That’s… none of your business!”

She covered her eye and curled back into bed.

“I’m going to sleep!”

Leon had roughly figured out the little cat succubus’s tsundere temperament.

He smiled and leaned in to ask,

“Really can’t tell me?”

“Human! You’re so annoying!”

“Then can I at least touch your tail?”

“Then I’ll kill you!”

“But you just said you won’t let me starve.”

Rias fell silent, suddenly thinking it might be better if this human starved after all.

Leon, meanwhile, was quite amused.

He felt as if he were playing with a cat.