What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?.

Unfortunately... for quite some time, the two young and beautiful widows, along with several little girls, continued to live in his house.

This caused him to constantly worry that his reputation would be damaged as a result.

However, in the days that followed, he gradually noticed that Ilya was still frequently troubled by nightmares.

Through further investigation, he also discovered that the shadow looming over Ilya's heart did not only originate from the corrupted personality within her, but also from Irisviel's soul within the Greater Grail.

So he simply added a mental defense spell to her, and in order to counteract the mental pollution, he sealed some of her memories in batches.

There's no other way; sealing too many things at once would cause unnecessary trouble. A phased sealing removes the contamination while preserving the original memories to the greatest extent possible.

This long and meticulous process lasted for a full five years.

At the request of the new Irisviel, Ash also made an important decision—to seal Illya's magical knowledge and power.

However, out of concern for Ilya's safety and to ensure she had a plan to deal with any potential dangers, he deliberately left her a considerable amount of room to maneuver.

These five years have been peaceful and stable, without any major changes.

As the years passed, the children quietly grew up, and the little girls, once innocent and adorable, blossomed into graceful young ladies.

He originally thought that the days would continue peacefully until the tenth year, but in the fifth year... a sudden change occurred.

Chapter Thirteen: A Strange Relationship - New Moon Beauty - Jeanne, You Smell So Good!

Although the Tohsaka family had long since returned to their own mansion, they still came over to visit and play every now and then, just like Illya and the others.

So, despite Ash's desire to quietly study magic and sorcery for the past five years, a group of young girls, lolis, and even widows would frequently visit his home.

Let's not even talk about the children chattering away. Anyone who saw the visitor's background would probably suspect he wasn't a decent person.

And then there's that eccentric little nun who comes to harass him every few days, spouting strange things to slander his reputation, yet inexplicably gets along very well with Joan of Arc.

Nowadays, although the children are sensible enough not to disturb her when she is studying magic, they have become hesitant and timid when it comes to teasing Joan of Arc to relax!

He had no choice; he wanted to project an image of a virtuous and upright person in front of the children.

But these little guys seemed to have made a pact, always appearing seamlessly around him, so that he was basically always surrounded by people except when he went to the bathroom.

What's even more outrageous is that these children often appear together, and sometimes even stay overnight, making Ash sometimes feel like his home is turning into a daycare center.

..............................

On a quiet morning.

Ash was quietly reading when a loud argument suddenly broke out downstairs.

He peered over and saw Joan of Arc and Rin arguing fiercely.

This made him look disgusted and feel that it was too much trouble; he had no intention of going downstairs to mediate the fight.

"Really... why is this happening?"

After glancing downstairs, he muttered a complaint under his breath, silently closed the specially made triple-layered soundproof window, and turned to reopen the books on the table to continue his research.

However, just as he closed the window, the door to the room was suddenly pushed open.

Silver-haired Lolita Ilya slipped into the room like a nimble kitten, climbed straight onto his bed, and lay on the pillow, leisurely reading a book, her two little feet wrapped in white silk still swinging freely in the air.

Ilya was very well-behaved and wouldn't make a fuss while he was reading. She would just pass the time by herself, so he naturally had no reason to expel her.

But for some reason, in that fleeting glance, those swaying little feet made him see two moving ice cream cones.

"What a beast! I... really..." Strange thoughts made Ash slam his head against the desk.

He tried to use pain to drive away strange thoughts, and put down the book. He silently took out the consecrated Bible from the drawer, intending to study the stories in it carefully, hoping to resist the temptations of evil spirits and protect the purity of his heart.

But just then, the door was opened again.

A mature, older-looking android, who appeared to be in her early twenties, slowly walked in.

Like Illya's mother, she was created based on the Winter Saintess of the Einzbern family, "Yestesa"—she is the second generation of Irisviel.

Although five years have quietly passed, her appearance remains unchanged as a special android.

Irisviel, fully aware of Ash's intentions and her own mission, placed the cut fruit on Ash's desk, then turned to Ilya with a serious expression. In a gentle yet slightly lecturing tone, she softly said:

"Ilya, what are you doing? How can you just run around on Mr. Ash's bed like that? You've messed up the bed!"

"Ash doesn't care!" Ilya said confidently, raising her little face without any fear.

This made Irisviel turn her gaze to Ash, her serious look seemingly tinged with helplessness: "Mr. Ash...aren't you sometimes a little too indulgent with this child?"

“Ilya… While I personally don’t mind, this kind of thing is a bit inappropriate now. After all, you’re a big kid in elementary school now, so you should be mindful of the impact, shouldn’t you?” He silently looked away to avoid the gazes of the two silver-haired women, but still chose to stand on his mother’s side.

Upon hearing this, Ilya immediately sat up, puffed out her cheeks, and said with dissatisfaction, "Has Ash been corrupted by Jeanne d'Arc? He's become a tsundere too?"

"Don't ruin someone's reputation. I'm being very serious about you... This is a very serious matter."

"Ash is the least serious one... I hate Ash who acts like an adult!"

Seeing that he was about to stand on the same side as his mother, Ilya sulked and hugged her pillow, staring at him resentfully. Then, she added a loud "Hmph!" before burying her head in the pillow.

However, even with her face buried deep in the pillow, her large, wine-red eyes would occasionally steal glances at Ash, just as they had at the beginning, silently conveying: I'm angry! Come and comfort me!

His adorable appearance made Ash unconsciously toss the Bible aside and get up to comfort the child.

Before he could even sit up, the beautiful silver-haired woman beside him suddenly placed her hand on his shoulder, pressing him back into his seat. Maintaining the leaning posture and shoulder-pressing position, she said with a serious expression:

"Mr. Ash, your parenting style is not good for children, you should understand that, right?"

"That's true..." He looked slightly embarrassed and silently looked away as he spoke.

Because Irisviel was wearing overly simple pajamas at the moment, and this leaning posture directly exposed her snow-white chest to his view, making him want to look away while thinking to himself, "Now you are the most detrimental person to education, aren't you?"

That said, these two families often treated his place as their own home and would stay there from time to time.

Aoi Tohsaka was relatively well-behaved, but Irisviel, who wasn't actually a widow, always made Ash feel that she lacked basic common sense.

"Oh, I'm so sorry... I was really... so rude."

The abrupt shift in gaze made Irisviel realize something immediately, and she blushed and covered her chest, backing away with an unnatural blush on her face.

Ash couldn't help but feel a headache coming on when he saw this.

What? This girlish reaction... Even though you don't have all of Irisviel's memories, your character is Illya's mother! After all, you were completely naked when you were first created, as I've seen before. What are you being shy about now? What kind of person do you make me? He was filled with worry, afraid that this person might accidentally give herself away, but even if she didn't, his current situation could easily become strange if he wasn't careful.

His pained expression and his mother's shy demeanor, combined with the strange atmosphere, caused Ilya, who had been secretly observing him and waiting for him to comfort her, to pout unhappily.

"Ash...! What are you and Mom doing?"

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't do anything, I didn't think anything, and I'm not that kind of person."

He immediately denied it three times, then silently turned around and picked up the Bible he had just thrown on the ground.

At this moment, he couldn't help but think that he would work part-time as a priest at the church after a while in order to reshape his outward image... After all, no matter what, priests give people a preconceived impression of being serious people, right?

But Ilya wasn't about to give up. She climbed off the bed and stared at him suspiciously: "Ash, are you feeling guilty?"

"No."

"Then, let me give you a kiss~!" Ilya pursed her lips, tilting her youthful yet still exquisitely beautiful face up with a strange seriousness: "People in movies are all like this! I want one too!"

"Although I don't know what movie you watched, but..." He sighed with a look of utter despair, "...Ilya, you're thirteen years old now, not a child anymore. You can't say such willful things, and you need to remember that you're a girl!"

"Ilya doesn't know, Ilya is still a child~!"

For the past two years, Ilya had not referred to herself as Ilya. With an innocent smile, she ignored his lectures with her clear and childlike words.

Her two big eyes were blinking... At that moment, she seemed to be the embodiment of the word "innocence".

Is this child naturally cunning, or is it just a "chance" tactic? Or... do I feel like she has a dark side, and it's just my imagination? — Ash was a little confused.

But under the urging gaze of this silver-haired loli, he still reluctantly leaned down slightly and kissed her delicate face.

Although his movements were as light as a dragonfly skimming the water, they still earned Ilya's adorable smile.

She excitedly threw herself into Ash's arms, hugging him tightly in a spoiled manner: "Hehe~ Hehehe~! Ash and Ilya are definitely the best~ even better than Mom and Jeanne~!"

"...Why are Joan of Arc's and your mother's names mentioned?"

Because, well~

Ilya raised her head, her face still full of smiles, but she seemed a little awkward.

This child has indeed grown up a bit, but... isn't this growth going a little astray? — He was somewhat troubled, but had no chance to say anything.

Because he could clearly feel that Irisviel was staring intently at him.

He kissed someone's daughter in front of her mother... This strange situation was something he had never encountered before.

Even though he didn't want to look at Irisviel, her voice still reached his ears clearly: "Mr. Ash."

"....What's wrong?"

"You understand what I'm trying to say, right?" Irisviel rested her face on her hand, her expression one of utter confusion.

Although she was not Ilya's biological mother, she completely inherited all of her biological mother's feelings for Ilya.

As her creator, Ash was loyal to her just as Irisviel had been loyal to the Einzbern family. In a way, Ash was also like a father to her.

But it is precisely in this complex relationship that Ash and Ilya have such a good relationship, which naturally makes her unsure of how to handle the situation.

With just one glance, Ash roughly guessed her troubles.

But he wasn't entirely willing to do it, which is why he did what he did just now. Now he could only bury his head in Ilya's silver hair to avoid her somewhat reproachful gaze, and said without looking up, "I don't know... By the way, I don't want to know."

“Mr. Ash, she’s still a child.” Irisviel’s tone was somewhat serious.

Ash also used Illya's line to brush it off: "She's just a child, so it's okay, right?"

"...But it's not that small either."

“We don’t have any strange things or strange ideas.”

"This is what I've always hoped for, but..." Irisviel hesitated, ultimately unable to finish her sentence.

The conversation between the two was somewhat profound, and Ilya only vaguely understood it.

Ash didn't intend to explain, and he was even finding the strange atmosphere hard to bear, because to him, it was clearly a malicious speculation about him.

At least he didn't think he would lay a hand on someone else's mother, even if she was a fake mother. And Ilya was only thirteen years old; he was a man of principle.

So, he made up an excuse and hurriedly left the room.

In the room that had been taken over, Irisviel cleared her throat and began lecturing Ilya.