Demi-human Girls Completion Manual Chapter 1697 - 129: Elizabeth’s Banquet (5k)_3

His back rested against the soft sofa, but in the next second, a pleasant fragrance brushed past the tip of his nose.

He was slightly stunned, quickly realized something and hurriedly opened his eyes, but the next moment, a pair of hands like iron clamps locked down his arms, pinning him firmly against the back cushion of the sofa, forcing him to maintain his original posture.

Fisher swallowed a mouthful of saliva, tilting his head back to look at Elizabeth, who had been lying in wait in the dark for who knew how long, her eyes bright like night pearls.

Her gaze on Fisher burned, a dangerous smile fixed on her face as she asked, all skin and no real warmth,

"Where did you just go, my Fisher?"

"..."

Elizabeth stretched out a finger, sliding lightly up his neck like a strand of hair, passing over his Adam’s apple and his chin, finally resting on his lips, as if about to gently pry them open,

"Be good, listen, tell me. There’ll be a reward~"

"...Elizabeth, when did you come back?"

"Oh, you want to know when I came back so you can judge whether I’ve been looking for evidence of your escape, and then fabricate a suitable excuse to fool me?"

"How could I, I’m just worried you worked all day and might be feeling tired, that’s all."

The smile on Elizabeth’s face slowly faded until it turned into complete blankness. Her fingertip gently caressed Fisher’s lips, and her tone shifted bit by bit from questioning to absolute certainty,

"Fisher, you definitely left the Golden Palace this afternoon. Don’t tell me... it was with another woman?"

"..."

At a time like this, the usual Fisher would absolutely panic, but for some reason, after spending time with Renie, or perhaps because he’d just been using his full brainpower on the Doomsday Prophecy, he was now frighteningly calm—calm enough to easily pick out the key information from Elizabeth’s words.

First, she hadn’t caught any evidence of him leaving the Golden Palace; second, she hadn’t caught any evidence of him going out with Renie.

Thinking about it, the reason was simple: because of the Hidden Blessing, only she herself could see Fisher, which also meant that the Cardinals she’d originally dispatched to monitor him couldn’t see Fisher at all.

And when Renie came, she disrupted the Cardinals above the Golden Palace. Fisher had only just arrived in the bedchamber; Elizabeth hadn’t had time to install Cardinals for round-the-clock surveillance yet, which resulted in a single oversight among her countless precautions, actually letting him slip out for a while without getting caught.

But Elizabeth would definitely still be suspicious. Their hearts had always been in sync; in matters like this she rarely missed. Sure enough, with just a few sentences, Elizabeth had already dissected the real situation down to the bone.

So how to handle this?

Of course, take the middle route.

If Fisher claimed he hadn’t gone out and had stayed in the Golden Palace the whole time, Elizabeth would definitely not believe him and only grow more suspicious; directly admitting that he’d gone out with another woman, watched a play, and given her a ring—oh, and then cheerfully accepted a "three-piece basement set"—was obviously out of the question.

So the key was: Fisher had to admit he’d left the Golden Palace, but absolutely not with another woman, and his leaving needed a reason that sounded plausible.

In the next second, Fisher sighed and honestly admitted,

"Sorry, I did leave the Golden Palace once this afternoon."

Elizabeth kept smiling; seeing her suspicions confirmed only made the agitation inside her surge higher.

Looks like this won’t do. Then she’d just have to consider locking Fisher up completely.

"But I wasn’t going out with any woman... If that were really the case, then back when I had the chance I should’ve left Nali with Valentina, shouldn’t I?"

Elizabeth paused, the storm in her heart seemingly easing a tiny bit, but she still raised her hand to tap his lips and said,

"...Don’t say other women’s names."

Fisher blinked and had no choice but to go on explaining,

"This time I went out only because I wanted to see how Lady Martha is doing. When I first came to Nali, I was afraid I’d miss Mr. Helsen’s funeral, so I never had the time to check on Lady Martha."

Elizabeth looked at Fisher before her, and the emotion in her heart unwittingly softened by another large notch, though her mouth still refused to yield,

"Something like this..."

"Something like this, it should be enough just to tell you, right? But then I’d have to wait until god knows when to go, and it’d have to be with you, and I still have to come back to the Golden Palace. She’d probably guess I can’t freely come and go from the Golden Palace. At her age... forget it. I just took a secret look from afar, that’s all."

Hearing this, Elizabeth of course understood that it was she who had restricted his freedom. While it couldn’t be helped—if she didn’t, how could he remain hers forever? What if he left again someday?

Still, that didn’t stop a faint flicker of guilt from rising in her.

Her originally dangerous expression softened further, and the hand that had been lightly tapping Fisher’s lips shifted to stroking his cheek. After a brief pause, she comforted him,

"It’s okay. Once everything stabilizes, I’ll set you free, Fisher, I mean it. But before that, you still snuck out of the Golden Palace behind my back, so I have to punish you..."

"Punish me?"

"Mm, punish you..."

Elizabeth chuckled. Beneath those Golden eyes that stood out so starkly in the dark, her smile seemed to fall under a faint shadow.

She glanced at the clock in the room, sounding a bit troubled as she said,

"What should I do... It’s almost dinnertime. Skipping dinner won’t do, but I’m urgently wanting to eat you first, Fisher..."

"Ah, I’ve got it!"

She clapped her hands, suddenly as if inspiration had burst forth, and looked at Fisher with a beaming smile, as though anticipating a lavish feast,

"Your punishment is: I’ll put the food on your body, and that way, whether it’s you or dinner, I can eat it all up, right?"

"..."

Wait, what did you just say?