Mild NSFW.
She had remembered something outrageous.
"Isn't there an 18+ version?"
"Of what?"
"This world...!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
She had remembered that the game, originally released for general audiences, had been ported to PC with an 18+ edition.
Beside the housekeeper who was despairing as she cut meat into bite-sized pieces in the kitchen, Lumina was stirring a pot. The vegetables were softening, and a delicious aroma was beginning to fill the air.
Eleanor had been told that two guests were coming today, so she was cooking more than usual.
"Anything 18+ is still too early for our son, right."
"Onii-chan is eighteen though?"
"I won't accept it... I will not accept it...!"
She slid the meat from the cutting board into the pot.
The lines coming out of her mouth were as nonsensical as ever.
True to Eleanor's memory, the Demon King in the game is a yandere.
When it came to the 18+ version, he went in for all sorts of rather brutal and yandere acts such as tying up her arms, verbal torment, and aphrodisiacs.
The manner of forming a "magic contract" had also contained lewd acts befitting the adult market. Which was why a flood of BL doujinshi had circulated for the pairing that skipped the protagonist entirely: Yandere Demon King × Fairy, with content that verged on torture.
The contents of those doujinshi went something like this:
"Eren. I'm thinking of trying this medicine on you."
"What is that... what else do you want to do to me?"
"A medicine that will turn you into a woman. I've always felt it such a waste, every time I held you as you sobbed."
"W-what are..."
"For me to keep playing with you while spreading my mana throughout your body, you need a womb."
"No, please, stop!"
"If you don't want your wings at my mercy again, be quiet. Why are you struggling so much? What are you worried about... ah, I see, with a womb, there's a chance you'll get pregnant."
"—! N-no, stop..."
"Don't worry. I would never tell you to abort our child."
"No! No, no, no... let me go!"
--- The above, excerpted from a certain major circle's doujinshi.
Incidentally, even in the "normal" pairing of female protagonist and Demon King, conversations very much like those in the doujinshi unfold depending on the ending. There's a hopeless scenario where a still image shows the Demon King embracing the protagonist as her clothes are in disarray and her eyes are vacant, followed by the title BAD END Lust in the Darkness.
As Eleanor recalled these future scenes one by one and grew flustered, she began shredding lettuce for the salad.
"No... that cannot be allowed... don't go down that path..."
She arranged cucumbers and tomatoes on top of the lettuce base.
"Oh, Louis... young Louis... my son..."
Finally, she scattered cheese on top and drizzled homemade dressing over it.
Lumina watched while holding her breath.
"Oh... the boy... my adorable boy is going to be defiled..."
Moaning like a dead soul crawling through the underworld, Eleanor's hand drifted towards the kettle, and she placed it on the second stove and turned on the heat. With an elegant motion she put tea leaves into the pot and prepared the cups.
"Uuugh..."
Then she drifted out of the kitchen like a wraith.
Having watched Eleanor's strange performance from start to end, Lumina came to the conclusion, "Ah, Onii-chan must be home, then." That fairy was probably welcoming her brother back in that same surreal, gloomy state.
"This is a matter worth reporting to Onii-chan."
She had no idea what was going on, but she decided that she would at least report this to her brother.
"I'm home."
"... Welcome home... my beloved young Louis..."
"Tea for three, please."
As she took his robe as usual, she noticed two unfamiliar figures standing behind Louis. One was a small girl with red hair, clinging to Louis's waist. The other was a young man with rather long black hair tied in a ponytail and draped over his left shoulder.
She had known guests were coming.
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I serve as the housekeeper of the Stillus household; my name is Eleanor."
Claire was startled by Eleanor's voice and let go of Louis's waist.
Group travel by teleportation magic requires being in contact with the caster.
"I am Claire Weavy. Captain of the Second Knight Corps. We probably won't see each other often, but I look forward to getting to know you."
"Vice-Captain Gil... Nice to meet you."
Captain and Vice-Captain. They were the highest-ranked guests she had ever received.
This cute little girl...? When Eleanor looked to Louis without hiding her confusion, he gave a single nod. If he was vouching for her, then it must be true.
"If I'd known VIPs were coming, I'd have put more effort into cooking."
"I'm a VIP too."
She showed them to the living room, took their coats and hung them up.
"By the way, boy, you aren't making some kind of sex-change potion, are you?"
"Are you an idiot."
Louis decided he'd ask his sister about this hopeless female fairy's behaviour.
Once she had brewed the tea and offered it to the guests, Eleanor started to leave the room. She'd figured she'd be in the way if there was important business to discuss, but Louis said "You may stay," so she did. Which was another way of saying stay here.
It was uncomfortable. The pair, who ought to have had nothing to do with her, were watching her intently.
Noticing Eleanor's condition, Claire gave a mischievous grin.
"Don't worry about him. Gil is just like this."
No, you are quite scary enough yourself, Eleanor wanted to say but couldn't.
There seemed to be some kind of emotion in the Vice-Captain's gaze, or was it her imagination, no, she definitely felt like there was something there.
"Sir Vice-Captain, have we met somewhere before?"
"Why do you ask."
"No, for a first meeting, it's just, how to put it."
She felt disliked. Ever since they'd met, the two high-ranking knights' gazes had been painful to bear. If she'd been rude without realising, she would have to apologise; and if she had forgotten something, she wanted to remember.
Beside the apologetic Eleanor, who was murmuring, the silent Louis pointed out, "Gil is concerned about his family name."
Eleanor questioned him with her eyes, what on earth do you mean?
Across from them, Gil took a sip of his tea with a sour expression on his face, and then a dull thump sounded from under the table and he choked violently. It was fortunate that he'd already swallowed the tea.
Next to him, Claire tilted her cup calmly.
"Let me re-introduce myself. I am the eldest son of the Fanaria family, Gilrem Fanaria. My father and younger brother have caused you trouble."
"Fanaria?"
"That's right."
She'd thought she'd heard it somewhere. It was probably the name of the man who, ten years back, had been the reason she'd blurted out that she was becoming the household's housekeeper.
"If you hadn't been there back then, I might have become Gil's adopted younger brother."
"Did you want to?"
"No. I think it's turned out well this way... Gil's younger brother is a Court Mage, and he happens to be the one with the glasses of the three id... I mean, the trio who bothered you."
"Eh, ehhhh..."
That was unacceptable. The bespectacled one of the trio was still fresh in Eleanor's memory; a man high on her do-not-want-to-meet list.
The Stillus family and the Fanaria family might just be incompatible.
Still, if he was invited as a guest, Gil had to be a person Louis himself approved of. Eleanor found herself imagining the eldest son being bossed around by his selfish father and younger brother, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
The moment Eleanor stood up with "I should start on the dinner preparations," the atmosphere shifted.
Claire's gaze, which had been fixed on Eleanor, now fixed on the tea rippling in her cup; the tea hadn't been touched at all.
"So that's the woman."
"Probably."
Gil agreed with Claire. Louis innocently tilted his head and asked, "What do you mean?"
"I've heard some unsettling rumours surrounding you. That you're being deceived by a female monster."
"A female monster? I don't recall anything of the sort."
"It's supposedly a woman with silver hair who has been picking you up and dropping you off at the Institute for ten years now."
Around him. Ten years. Picking him up and dropping me off. Silver hair. Female monster?
"... Pfft."
He didn't need to think about who that description was referring to.
A fairy who does her work with a carefree attitude, and gets lured in by delicious mana. Why on earth would he be deceived by someone who doesn't even know the first thing about conspiracies?
"Oi."
"—! My bad. How do I put this? So... it looks like she's the one deceiving me to the outside world."
It was so off the mark that Louis laughed unusually from the bottom of his stomach.
She is a fragile being who can't even use magic on her own, but apparently the world doesn't see her that way.
A woman of unknown age, unknown origin and an unusual hair colour, who had at some point begun living in the Stillus house. And on top of being more than lovely enough, it was understandable for people to suspect that she was a demon.
But even so, a lie is a lie. Utter nonsense.
"Rumours really can't be trusted."
"... Yes, you're right. From what I can see, she doesn't seem like she's a bad person. Though that doesn't mean my suspicion has been cleared."
Louis continued laughing as he said,
"I'm the one deceiving her."
After all, I was the one who captured her and locked her up. If anyone is demonic, it would be me. He thought but couldn't bring himself to say it.