After that, I refused to wear a pareo, a bikini, and shorts with a five-centimeter inseam, over and over again. I couldn’t decide on an outfit at all.

But it was when I was utterly exhausted that Ulysse shouted at me.

“You said you’d have to get dressed first, but the Demon Lord has been restlessly waiting for you all day at the entrance hall! Don’t you want him to think you’re so cool for being quick and decisive?!”

With that, I instantly got fired up and aggressively went through the pile of clothes. …I wanted him to think I was cool too.

“Yup. Your face is too reserved to suit flashy clothing… No, what I mean is, you’ve put them all together neatly, and you’ve even got some style here and there, so the simpler, the better.”

“I know I have a plain face that doesn’t match with clothes in primary colors, so you don’t have to attack me so directly.”

“Why! I was praising you, though?!”

Ulysse felt regretful for me as I stood in front of the mirror, fully dressed.

Was that the highest praise he could muster? He was quite different from Azel – his words hard to decipher.

Behind the mirror, I could see myself wearing a dark blue striped white shirt and tight, high-waisted brown pants.

There was a finely crafted golden button on the part where you tighten it, but other than that, it was extremely simple.

I also stored the black pants I was wearing before with summoning magic. It would be a waste to just throw it, after all.

I was now dressed in new clothes, and Ulysse, having great femininity, even did my hair.

For some reason, he even massaged my face, and the skin around my usual sleepy eyes felt refreshed.

My skin was plump. Who am I? It’s me.

“Ulysse, do I look cooler now?”

“Of course! You don’t have to worry. I’m the one who helped you, after all. Now, all you have to do is say a few cool, mature, and romantic words and hug him passionately, and he’ll be all yours. I’ll walk you to the entrance hall.”

“Oooh… Ulysse, you’re so cool…! Thanks. If you ever need something, I’m always here to help you. And this, it’s for you.”

I was so impressed that I took Ulysse’s hands and thanked him, then he averted his gaze with his cheeks flushed.

It all turned out this way since he told me he would make me worthy enough to walk next to the Demon Lord, but it gave me a bit of confidence. I felt glad.

“G-Geez! You’re exaggerating! I’m doing this as an apology to you, yet you’re giving me this as thanks… Are these cookies? You don’t see many of these in the demon realm.”

“I made it myself.”

“Oh, so confectioners make these kinds of things…”

As a token of appreciation, I handed him the berry jam cookies that I had secured before we left the demon lord’s castle.

I had really nothing much to give. They were a bit crumbled, but I hoped he would accept it.

Ulysse gave me a hmph and quickly left the room.

I hurriedly ran after him, but when I opened the door, Ulysse was silently holding out his hand with his cheeks stuffed with cookies. I offered him another bag.

It felt like we were friends with this kind of exchange, so I chuckled.

I kept on finding places where I could belong. How wonderful.

When we arrived at the entrance hall, we saw Azel restlessly wandering back and forth from one end to another of the doorway.

He wore a grim expression and had his arms crossed. Did I anger him?

I had heard so many stories about people getting fed up with their lovers that were slow to get ready, so I was a little worried.

“Oh no, he looks angry.”

“What are you talking about? He doesn’t look angry at all. The Demon Lord has no expression when he’s angry.”

“…Hm. You’re right.”

We discussed among ourselves while we peeked from the shadows of the corridor.

He certainly had this certain air as if you would die if you got too close when we fought back then.

“I’ll watch here, so just do as I said. I’m sure the Demon Lord will be very pleased!”

“O-Oh, huh? We’re really doing that…?”

“But of course! There’s no way I’ll let you do something the Demon Lord won’t like. He’ll be so happy, for sure. You’ve become his lover, so you’re supposed to devote yourself to him with all your heart and soul. You should at least be able to do this much! Otherwise, I’ll steal him.”

“I’ll go.”

That last part of his pep talk had a serious tone in it.

This is bad. I might have my lover get stolen right on the second day of our relationship.

I began to move from the shadows of the corridor, my body stiff like an unoiled tin doll.

Azel, wandering around aimlessly, noticed me as soon as I approached him with my feet clacking on the floor.

He smiled so happily I could almost see his ears and tails, but then he immediately put on a face like nothing was big of a deal. Cute.

Before the composed Azel could say anything, I resolved myself and quickly pulled his hand to mine.

“Sha–”

“S-Sorry to have kept you waiting, honey.”

“?!”

My voice cracked a little when I said those words, so I cleared my throat. I also felt the hand in my grasp flinch in a big way.

Azel was frozen like a stone statue, staring at me. I hugged his waist as is, caressed his hand, and brought his lips to mine for a kiss.

“It took me a while to repress my racing heart, thinking about how I was the luckiest person in the world to be able to walk next to you. How sinful it is of me to take up so much of your time.”

“……”

“I want you to punish this sinful one. …?”

I took a glance up at him when he didn’t respond and saw that his expression hadn’t changed from what I had seen earlier.

He probably didn’t hear me, so I let go of my grip and slightly pulled myself up while using as support his waist that I pulled towards me.

Then, I softly whispered the rest in his ears.

“But, all punishments you give me I consider a reward.”

My lips brushed against his earlobes as I said this, and I noticed that his ears were as read as a ripe tomato.

Perhaps he had a fever. He was fine until this morning. I felt worried about him.

I wondered how my director, Ulysse, felt about my acting in this sorry, I’m late! thing I had been doing. Honestly, I also had been wondering where did that dandiness of his come from. There were so many frivolous lines, I felt like my mouth was gonna fly off.

“…Azel?”

“……”

I got anxious and called his name close to his ear when he started trembling without saying anything.

—Is he really mad, after all…?

Or so I thought.

In a squeezed out voice, Azel uttered, “I-I-I’m the darliiiing…!” and just fell straight back.

—Let’s just say that what happened next was that we fell ten minutes behind schedule for our date.

Yup. My Demon Lord seems to turn into a tomato when things go unexpectedly.