"This is not fair! How can you leave me here like this? Oi, human! I am going to cause so much damage if you leave me be..."

Lyra complained despite knowing that the human could not understand her.

Actually, the human likely could understand her if he cast a spell on her, but he was pretending not to notice the signs she was sending him.

And that was how Lyra was left behind by Kael and his companions.

"Ugh, this is so annoying. I don’t want to be alone in this huge mansion. Who does he think he is, leaving me..."

Lyra complained when she suddenly realized just what she was complaining about.

This was what she had wanted since the start—to be left behind all alone so that she could find a way to break her curse.

She had finally gotten her wish, and all she was doing was complaining about being left behind.

"Tsk, this is all the human’s fault. Why did he have to ask me to become his family? Ugh, not that I want to accept...but maybe I should. It is comfortable here..."

It was so comfortable that Lyra wanted to roll over in her bed. Moreover, she wanted to wrap herself in Kael’s scent until she fell asleep—

"Snap out of it. I cannot afford to get distracted. I need to take my revenge against those fools who think they are better than me." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The thought of revenge ignited a fire inside Lyra, and she quickly escaped the room.

With no Kael around to stop her, she was able to search the whole mansion to her heart’s content. She was able to open most of the rooms and look inside.

But there was no sign of the Grand Master’s lab where he kept his secret ingredients.

Not that Lyra was going to give up. But she was getting hungry, and there was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen that was calling her name.

She unconsciously followed the smell, and her tail wagged as soon as she saw fresh food. It had been put on a plate for her by Kael’s magic, and she quickly rushed toward it to eat.

"Honestly, human food is good! I want even more. I should steal this human’s recipe book as well."

She decided this before she realized she was finished.

Lyra gave a mournful look to her plate, wanting more food. But the magic did not give her more than she needed. It was for the best as well, since overeating could affect her health.

But she still mourned the food she could not have.

After food, it was usually time to exercise. Kael usually took her out to run around and...stuff. But now that he was not here, Lyra decided she needed to take the initiative on her own.

It was not because she wanted to play or because she missed Kael, but for her own development.

That’s right! It had nothing to do with Kael!

Since these thoughts were distracting her, Lyra decided to find a way to distract herself. She ran outside and felt the calming breeze brush against her coat.

Due to the magic barrier around this property, it was always nice and cool here. This was another piece of technology she wanted to take back to the demon realm once she returned.

This way, her castle would always remain cool as well...

Speaking of the barrier...there seemed to be something wrong with it. It seemed as if it was going down.

That feeling lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough for Lyra to instantly become alert.

She took a sniff around, only to notice that there was a foreign smell in the air.

"An intruder? At such a secure location? Something smells fishy. I better go and check up on the situation."

Lyra headed toward the main gate and noticed two suspicious people. They held a card in their hands and pressed it against the main gate. It sparked before it started to open.

Seeing this, Lyra decided to get even closer so she could hear what these people were talking about.

"Hey, is this really fine? This lock is taking too much power."

"It should be fine. The Cardinal gave us this key. And we are not here to steal anything. All we need to do is grab that kid and go."

Lyra felt a growl building up in her throat. She did not know who the ’kid’ was, but her instincts were telling her that she needed to protect her home and Kael.

"Hey, do you hear that noise?"

"I do. It must be a trap. Let’s take care of it before we get caught."

The humans attacked Lyra, but she quickly jumped out of their way before she started growling.

These humans were far larger than her, but she did not feel intimidated. Instead, she was sure she could shred them into pieces if she wanted to.

"Boss, this is...a beast? But it’s so small?"

"It must be a cub brought here for an experiment. Let’s kill it as well and bring it back. The Cardinal will likely reward us extra for taking out a beast."

The pair talked about taking Lyra out, but she knew she could kill them at any time. She decided to use her powers as soon as the two lunged toward her.

Being with Kael had been advantageous for Lyra, and her curse had started to loosen up. That was how she was able to blast the pair before they could harm her.

The intruders noticed, but it was too late to do anything by that point.

"N-No way! How could we lose to a beast cub—?"

The two were knocked out by Lyra before they could register what had happened.

She happily walked toward them and immediately climbed onto their unconscious bodies before letting out her frustration.

Awwooooo

She slammed her small paw onto the backs of those unconscious bodies to get her rage out.

"How dare you attack my home? You want to harm Kael? Over my dead body! That human belongs to me, and this Demon Queen does not share."

Lyra yelled, but the only sounds that came out of her mouth were small yelps.

Once she was done, she decided to lie down on the ground and spend the rest of her day there. But she kept an eye on the intruders to make sure they would not wake up anytime soon.

And finally, Kael came back, and she rushed out with a proud look on her face and showed off her handiwork.

Kael grabbed her, and she protested, but her body soon melted against his hand.

"Darn it, human! How dare you...make me feel...like this...Ugh, a little more to the right."

Unfortunately, Kael handed her off to Seraphina, and his comforting smell was replaced by Seraphina’s familiar one.

Lyra protested and, once she was let back down, decided to head back inside.

She had a busy day today, and now she wanted to rest. As for her reward...maybe she could ask Kael for a few more belly rubs...

Not because she liked them or anything. But she could not think of any other reward she could convey to him. So this would have to do.