Qin Zhihua kept her eyes demurely downcast as she carefully straightened Li Fei's clothes, the very picture of a virtuous wife and devoted mother straight out of a feudal period drama.
Beside them, Sofia — who had dropped by for her customary morning greeting — let out a quiet breath of relief, though a faint wistfulness lingered in her expression.
There had been a time when Li Fei felt vaguely uncomfortable being waited on, but now, as Qin Zhihua caught her slender ankle and drew a knee-high stocking up her leg, Li Fei simply raised her other foot without a second thought.
Because Li Fei understood, deep down, that both the one doing the caring and the one being cared for were enjoying every moment of it.
"Zhihua-jie, when is the apothecary opening?"
Li Fei tilted her head to ask, wriggling her delicate, pearlescent toes with impish delight.
"Once the stock of medicines is ready — a few more days and we can open the doors."
Qin Zhihua gave the foot a gentle pat where faint red marks still lingered, then pinched it still and finished pulling on the stocking.
Miss Qin had a private nest egg tucked away, so start-up costs were no concern; as for staffing, supply channels, and the like — none of that posed any difficulty for her either. She didn't even need to handle it personally. Simply invoking the name of her master — that worthless vixen Margaret — was more than enough "face" to go around. Through that connection, Su Ling'er had effortlessly hired a team of highly skilled apothecaries and secured bulk orders of raw materials at exceptionally favorable prices.
"Zhihua-jie, when you're restocking, can you keep an eye out for Whitebone Blossoms, Honeyhum Grass, and also..."
Li Fei rattled off every ingredient still missing from the Witch of Depravity's secret elixir in one breath. She already had serpent-woman scales and orange juice in hand.
"I'll have them for you tonight."
Qin Zhihua considered briefly, then gave a confident nod.
Aside from the Whitebone Blossoms, all the other ingredients were fairly common — and with Qin Zhihua's connections, even Whitebone Blossoms could be obtained the same day, so long as one was willing to pay a premium or call in a favor.
In just a few exchanges, Li Fei found herself a single step away from Sequence 8 — a perfect illustration of the saying that an older woman is a golden brick in one's arms. Except everyone else only had one golden brick; Miss Courtesan was sitting on a mountain of gold and silver. At least at the lower Sequences, her path as a Transcendent would face no obstacles whatsoever.
"Mua~"
Li Fei beamed with unrestrained delight, blew Qin Zhihua a kiss, and spun in a happy little circle on the spot, gleeful as a fully grown succubus.
The elegant and well-bred Miss Qin watched the person she loved with a warm, smiling gaze for a long moment — but she couldn't neglect their guest forever. She took Sofia's hand and began asking, in a gentle, unhurried tone, questions like "How old are you, dear? Have you been to school?"
The golden-haired vampire constable — with her supermodel figure — looked for all the world like a timid new bride in Qin Zhihua's presence, visibly stiff and flustered.
"What are you so nervous about? We're all informal here — just call her Zhihua-jie."
Li Fei laughed and tucked her arm through Sofia's. "Oh, and — I really loved that gift you brought me last time."
Sandwiched between the breathtakingly beautiful mother-in-law and soon-to-be-mother-in-law duo, Sofia's tongue nearly tied itself in a knot. If she weren't a vampire, her heart rate would probably have rocketed past two hundred.
Li Fei savored her daughter-in-law's flustered expression with great amusement for another moment, then tugged at her arm.
"Alright, come walk me to school."
"Huh?"
Sofia blinked in surprise — then felt an unexpected surge of pure, giddy joy bloom in her chest. She didn't dare examine where that joy was coming from; on instinct, she dropped her gaze, deliberately avoiding the sight of Eva's ever-more-visible baby bump and Qin Zhihua's serene, gracious smile.
"What, you'd rather not?"
Li Fei said cheerfully, "Zhihua-jie isn't going the same way, and besides, she's devoted entirely to cultivating her True Qi — it's not like Officer Constable here, who trains in both magic and martial arts and can actually steer a flying broomstick."
— Actually, I'm not going the same way either...
The wayward thought flickered through her mind and vanished. Sofia shook her head.
"Then let's go."
Li Fei looped her arm through Sofia's and headed for the door, turning back to wave a fond farewell to Qin Zhihua, Su Ling'er, and the fairies one by one, her smile bright and guileless.
One of the great advantages of a yuri lifestyle was this: even if you hung all over another girl right in front of your girlfriend, it was nearly impossible to tell where friendship ended and romance began...
Qin Zhihua watched the two figures until they disappeared from sight. Her eyelids slowly lowered. The smile faded from her face.
After the initial ache of loneliness passed, she thought for a long time.
The upbringing she'd received since childhood, and the yielding, gentle nature she'd been born with, made it easier for her to accept a lover who kept a wandering heart — and most importantly, that lover's name was Li Fei: the same wild and radiant Li Fei who had shaken her to the core from the very first moment they met.
Even if she still felt a quiet, unresolved pang, Qin Zhihua had ultimately made her peace with certain things — tacitly accepting them. And she, who had crossed the finish line first in the opening race, already had far longer plans in mind.
The thousand tangled thoughts condensed at last into a single, fleeting resolve:
The rest of you are merely consorts.
And so Qin Zhihua once again wore her composed, graceful, and dignified smile. She took Ram and Eva by the hand and began asking warmly after how they'd been.
The baton passed from the vampire constable to the Magic Academy's twin stars.
Irena's waist wasn't quite as straight-lined and long as Sofia's, but it was softer — her silver-gray hair brushing past the tip of Li Fei's nose and carrying with it an enchanting, delicate fragrance, one that held a particular pull for certain people.
Li Fei's eyes glinted. The mischief impulse struck without warning.
She pushed aside the ends of Irena's hair and pressed her lips close to her ear, cooing in the most syrupy voice she could manage:
"Sis, sis if I hold onto you like this, Saya-jie won't get jealous, will she?"
"Sis, you're riding the broomstick together with me — if Saya-jie finds out, she won't beat me up, right~?"
Li Fei gave an exaggerated shudder, performing her best expression of abject terror:
"Saya-jie is so scary~"
"Not like me — I only ever want to spoil you, Irena-jie~"
Irena sank into a deep, profound silence.
After a long, hesitant pause, she offered a diplomatic reply: "My dear little sister... that was... a bit revolting."
Pfft.
Li Fei doubled over, clutching her stomach, dissolving into helpless laughter.
Not long after, the two arrived at the Dean's office. Lady Nicole looked exactly as she always did — timeless and untroubled — and the rich, heady fragrance of her red tea was the kind that could fuel a person's energy for an entire day.
"How are your preparations coming along?"
Nicole set red tea and chocolate-chip cookies in front of the two of them.
They'd already had breakfast, of course — but with a witch's constitution, eating five, six, seven, eight meals a day was absolutely no problem.
Li Fei pinched a still-faintly-warm cookie between her fingertips, savoring the satisfying crunch — crunch, crunch — while squaring her shoulders to display her overflowing confidence, and mumbled through her mouthful:
"Absolutely no problem."
If Li Fei had been even a beat slower the day before, and Irena had been sent out for the exhibition match instead, the faculty and students of both academies would have been treated to a glorious bout of sisters tearing each other apart — or more precisely, an older sister thoroughly disciplining her younger one. Irena, that wretched little sister, was cut from exactly the same cloth as Lady Nicole: once in the ring, she would show absolutely no mercy, lest Nicole use it against her later.
Fortunately, Miss Courtesan's spine was flexible enough to bend whichever way she needed to. After a prolonged campaign of sweet-talking and pleading, she had managed to soften the Dean's equally soft heart and get her opponent switched to Poker-face — making today's bout a genuine exhibition match in every sense of the word.
"Good."
Nicole patted Li Fei on the shoulder, her smile warm and gentle. "I trust you'll put on an excellent performance."
Which could also be read as: if your performance is underwhelming, the Dean will be very disappointed — and the consequences will be severe.
Li Fei felt an inexplicable prickle of guilt, but held firm and gave a composed nod, then ran her fingers over the brand-new short wand — a housewarming gift from her daughter-in-law.
[Soft Sound]
Equipment Rating: Crescent
Attributes: Casting Speed +30%, Casting Range +10%, Spell Penetration +10%, Intelligence +20
Enchantment Effect: Soft Sound (Lv1)
Soft Sound (Lv1): Casting Speed +10%, reduces mana fluctuation during casting.
One had to admit — Miss Sofia was a straightforward, generous soul. Her gift-giving was extravagant in the truest sense.
The other guests had brought dresses, perfumes, ornaments, and expensive confections — thoughtful gifts, all of them, and practical too. They saved Li Fei the trouble of buying new clothes now that her figure had grown "larger," and meant she wouldn't have to scramble to borrow accessories when attending semi-formal occasions... but compared to a Crescent-grade wand this powerful, the gap was vast.
A forty-percent increase to casting speed! Even for a short wand — celebrated for its agility and lightness — that was considered top-tier at the Crescent level.
Perhaps Sofia had reasoned that the Blade of Joy, given as a first-meeting gift, might not see much use from a spell-casting mother-in-law — so she'd thoughtfully followed it up with something eminently practical...
Equally generous was Lady Gneia, who had sent over a higher-grade pair of full-length stockings — purple, with a faint air of "matching couple" energy. Miss Courtesan had been deeply moved, and had changed into them the very next evening to play hide-and-seek with the fairies. Worth mentioning: Miss Courtesan's Morality stat had been holding impressively firm lately — it hadn't dropped a single point from this incident!
Naturally, the most lavish gift of all had come from Lady Kalida, who had claimed the top spot on the leaderboard for the evening without contest. Miss Courtesan had asked a knowledgeable sister to appraise that necklace — to say it was a priceless treasure would be an understatement. The thing was worth a small fortune. It was actually more expensive than the grand new mansion Li Fei had just purchased. If not for the matter of appearances, Li Fei would have been sorely tempted to sell it for cash.
On a separate note — a word of pointed criticism for Miss Bai Mengtian: not only did she eat and drink without paying her share, she also freeloaded in other ways. Absolutely shameless.
The golden-haired, regal Teacher Melodia had deliberately changed into a more proper long-length mage robe today, its hem covering her shapely, statuesque legs. She stood outside the Academy gates, neck craned, waiting for the delegation from the sister school to arrive.
The draw ceremony was held alternately between the Magic Academy and the War Academy each year; this year happened to be the Magic Academy's turn to host, which meant the War Academy would be marching all of its junior students over to the rival campus.
The War Academy was punctual. They didn't keep the already-posted Melodia waiting long — two long columns of students came thundering toward the Magic Academy, their footsteps dense and heavy.
"Mm?"
When a pair of pristine, sacred white wings came into view, Melodia blinked — and a look of puzzled suspicion crossed her face.
The exchange event happened every year; it wasn't a particularly grand or prestigious competition — and this was merely the draw ceremony, at that. By convention, any teacher could be sent to go through the motions. There was no need for the Vice Dean herself to make a personal appearance, surely?
Unless... this year's intake at the War Academy included a prodigy as exceptional as Li Fei, making them unusually invested in the event?
While these thoughts were still turning in her mind, the War Academy's delegation arrived at the gates.
Melodia stepped forward with a welcoming smile and clasped the Vice Dean's hand.
The tall, imperious woman in front of her — one Melodia herself was not short — was looking up to meet her eyes:
"It's been a long time, Chloe."
In the waiting room, Li Fei sat on a bench with her eyes closed and not a word on her lips, as though conserving her energy for the upcoming "warm-up match."
Grace bit her lip, watching Li Fei from the corner of her eye, her expression hesitant and uneasy.
The time she spent alone with Li Fei felt precious and beautiful — and yet Li Fei's cold demeanor filled Grace with guilt and a creeping, restless dread.
"What did I do wrong to make you think so little of me?"
Li Fei slowly opened her eyes, gaze fixed straight ahead on the wall, her voice perfectly flat. "We're about to fight. You're letting your mind wander?"
"In a moment, I won't be holding back. I hope you won't insult me by going easy on me either."
"I..."
Grace looked at her. "I won't hurt you."
"Haven't you already hurt me enough?"
It was as though those words had struck a nerve — Li Fei looked genuinely furious, and beneath the fury, something that looked almost like pain. She dropped her voice to a hiss:
"Do you have any idea how much I trusted you?"
"Zhihua-jie came out of seclusion yesterday. Because of what you did, I can't even look her in the eye."
"And the most laughable part — I still have to cover up your crimes, so she doesn't split you in half with her sword..."
Is it fear of Qin Zhihua being judged — or is it that she can't bear to let me be...
A bittersweet ache surged through Grace's chest, tangled with self-recrimination — and something else, something she couldn't name, that felt uncomfortably like hope.
She thought of the milk tea Li Fei had once given her. She thought of Li Fei's silhouette as she had charged out of the forest without hesitation in Viranean. She thought of Li Fei's warmth and tenderness toward her inside the Folded Space. She even thought of the flustered, aggrieved look on Li Fei's face when she had come to visit yesterday — Grace gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, and her gaze did not waver:
"I'm sorry. I will do everything in my power to atone for what I've done."
"Ha."
At that, Li Fei let out a short, broken laugh. She looked at Grace for a long moment — then suddenly beckoned her closer.
When Grace stepped near, Li Fei seized her by the collar and pulled her in, speaking into her ear in a voice ground out through clenched teeth — low, and venomous as a wound:
"I hate you, Grace. I hate you."
"You know what I am — a witch. I've been fighting with everything I have against the corruption my witch bloodline forces on my will. Fighting to keep myself from falling into Depravity..."
"It hurts, Grace. The incantations never stop echoing in my head — tempting me, coaxing me into doing... terrible things."
"But I never regretted it. Because at that moment when we were hanging on by a thread, even one extra sliver of power was worth having. As long as I could buy you a little more time — even if it meant becoming a witch, it was worth it. And besides, as far as I was concerned, that bloodline corruption was something that could be used to temper my will."
"But what about you, Miss Grace?"
"The person I was willing to become a witch for. The person I trusted without reservation... shoved me with both hands when I was fighting for my life, and sent me plunging into the depths of the forbidden abyss."
"A potion? What a perfectly lovely excuse. I genuinely do not understand — how could the side effects of one measly little potion be harder to endure than the corrosion of witch bloodline taint? Well?!"
Li Fei's voice cut like a blade as she laid out her accusations, shedding every trace of the model-student image she usually wore — cursing freely, her words punctuated by the occasional drop of spit that landed on Grace's face.
She grabbed and yanked at Grace's collar over and over, her expression half-twisted with fury; Grace's slender frame swayed like a marionette with every rough motion.
And yet not a single flicker of anger rose in Grace's heart. Only an endless, bottomless remorse.
She stared into those red-rimmed eyes with their shimmer of unshed tears, and the ache in her chest nearly stopped her breath — the reputation of witches on the Continent of Enlos had long been demonized beyond recognition, and given the peculiarities of Li Fei's constitution and soul, even if Li Fei exaggerated the corrupting effects of the witch path ever so slightly, no one would ever be able to call her on it.
Having screamed her lines to the last syllable, Li Fei's emotion visibly ebbed. She released her grip, and said coldly:
"So — don't go entertaining any naive notions about atonement. I've already... gone too far to come back. I've become a shameless, wicked woman."
"Give me everything you have and beat me — or be beaten by me. Nothing more."
With that, Li Fei turned and walked out of the waiting room, shutting the door with a resounding bang.
In the echo of that slam, Grace stood alone.
She turned over and over in her mind the image of Li Fei's radiant smile inside the Folded Space — and at last, she tasted the shadow that had lain hidden beneath that brilliance. Yet no matter how hard she tried, Grace could not begin to imagine what despair and grief must have lived inside Li Fei's heart in the moment she discovered that the person she was closest to had been the final straw that broke her.
And so —
How much goodness would it take, to willingly become a witch for someone who had approached her with ulterior motives?
How much strength would it take, to keep smiling as though nothing were wrong while a witch bloodline ate at you from the inside?
How much tenderness would it take, to still hold warmth for the contemptible wretch who betrayed and shattered you in the most unforgivable of ways?
Grace bowed her head deeply, gripping the front of her own chest with white knuckles, shaking all over with the pain of it.
She finally understood why Li Fei had suddenly said something as unfathomable as "be my dog."
That was not revenge. That was an angel who had fallen alone into the abyss — desolate and despairing — trembling as she reached out toward the person her heart still clung to.
After that quiet moment of understanding, Grace wiped her tears away and whispered to herself:
"I know what I have to do now."
If I cannot pull you back up —
Then please, let me fall with you, all the way to the very bottom of the abyss.
____
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