"Quiet. I'm in surgery."
The commotion from the others seemed to displease Syl; she turned and swept a cold, annoyed glance over them.
Despite being a glance from someone without a trace of potion aura, it sent a chill deep into the hearts of everyone present, a surge of tension rising from their spines straight to their brains.
Barro's expression looked hesitant. He looked at the cold glint of the scalpel in Syl's hand, then at his daughter's weeping face beneath the illusory spell, and finally chose to trust Syl.
"I... Bonsandi will take them out now... Your Highness, and you as well, let's step outside for a moment..."
Barro ushered the Princess and the Transcendent to the door. In the end, the old father turned back and whispered uneasily,
"Lord Silver Crow... please be gentle... don't hurt Per too much."
"Mm." Syl waved her hand impatiently, signaling them to close the door and leave, then she took off her gloves.
Syl had almost forgotten that the young girl before her was still conscious; she had nearly started cutting while the girl was still awake.
Opening her tool kit, Syl took out another brand-new scalpel, slightly nicked her own finger to squeeze out less than half a drop of blood, and then held her finger above Per's cheek, near the nose that was almost embedded into the cheekbone.
Syl's blood, which carried a potent hallucinogenic effect, evaporated instantly. The patient lost consciousness immediately, her eyes half-closing as she seemed to fall into some kind of vision.
Raising the scalpel, Syl cut into Per's face once more. As the blade sliced through the skin, the illusion on Per's face vanished instantly, revealing that grotesque and bizarre face.
Seeing this face, Syl frowned slightly with a look of disgust, muttering to herself,
"A novice, an absolute novice. If it were me, I would never have handled this part like this..."
"Too low-class. This aesthetic... a face like this is just disgusting. How could anyone sculpt such a bizarre, terrifying... layered and artistic combination of flesh and blood?"
The physician precisely partitioned Per's face into pieces, arranging them on a tray to the side while grumbling and expressing dissatisfaction with the face's original creator.
Blood gushed out, staining the silk pillow Per was resting on a dark red. Watching this, Syl wasn't worried at all that the patient would bleed to death. Or rather, the fact that she could stay alive with her face removed was already a miracle.
After removing all the twisted organs and facial muscles from Per's face, the physician nodded with satisfaction at the sight of the broken, bloody skull that remained.
"Next, it just needs some simple artistic processing..."
Her tone was light, and she even seemed to be humming some unknown tune, but just as the physician was about to seal the first piece of flesh, her body suddenly froze.
The physician frowned, seemingly fighting something in her mind. She stood there like a statue for about ten seconds before curling her lip.
"Tch... fine. Restoring a piece of trash back into raw materials is a decent way to decompress..."
It seemed she had reached some kind of agreement with herself.
However, after reaching this agreement, the physician didn't seem to have the same drive as before, only wanting to finish the job quickly.
Because she had to ensure the restoration was as accurate as possible, the surgical process was particularly tedious. The physician performed delicate sculpting on Per's face as if she were doing a boring practice run.
After nearly three hours, the surgery was finally complete. Midway through, to keep Per alive, Syl had to use Calamitous Fate to give her three blood transfusions.
Finally, Syl covered Per's face with blood infused with Calamitous Fate. Only after the blood had completely seeped into Per's pores was the work considered finished.
Syl pulled a small glass vial of wine from inside her trench coat, unscrewed the cap, and poured it over Per's face; this served as a makeshift post-operative cleaning.
"I'm tired. Let them clean up the rest..." The physician's voice sounded a bit weary. Even she couldn't handle losing so much blood; she would need a good rest to replenish it.
She carefully wiped each of her tools clean before putting them back into her tool kit and fastening it inside her trench coat. Only then did she walk toward the door... Outside Per's room, a small argument was taking place.
The man who claimed to be the Imitator had already made an excuse to leave early. Now, only Barro and the Princess stood outside.
"Uncle Bonsandi... are you sure this woman is really reliable?" The Princess's hand tightly gripped the lace ribbons at her chest. Her trembling hands betrayed her inner anxiety.
"Well... it's hard to explain to you, Princess Samantha..." Although Bonsandi was also nervous enough to pluck the feathers from his cloak, he still offered comfort, "But I still have faith."
"But listen to the sounds inside..." Princess Samantha tilted her head slightly toward the door. Immediately, she could hear the hair-raising sounds of bones being chopped and flesh being shredded.
Barro also pursed his lips and swallowed hard.
These sounds weren't particularly terrifying in themselves; what worried him most was that his daughter hadn't let out a single cry of pain... The two of them waited silently outside for nearly three hours amidst those agonizing sounds.
Samantha tried to go in several times, but Barro talked her out of it each time.
Finally, just as even Barro was about to lose his resolve and go in, the door was opened from the inside.
Syl walked out, her face already covered in splattered blood, with droplets trickling down her cheeks. Her silver-gray hair was also inevitably stained with patches of blood.
She looked like a bloody Ripper, causing Barro's heart to tremble.
"The surgery is complete," Syl said calmly.
Upon hearing this, Barro couldn't stop himself from looking into the room. He saw his daughter lying in a pool of red filth, her face also covered in dark red blood, her life or death unknown.
"Per!"
Seeing this state, Barro didn't even stop to talk to Syl; he burst through the door and rushed toward the bed.
Beside him, Samantha saw the bloody scene in the room and opened her mouth slightly, her face full of disbelief.
No one could survive such a massive amount of blood loss.
"Hey... quick question, where's the washroom?" Syl raised her blood-stained hand and gave Samantha a greeting.
But her wrist was immediately grabbed by Samantha.
Through the veil, Syl could see the anger in the girl's eyes. Samantha gritted her teeth and squeezed out a sentence from her throat: "If anything happens to Per... I won't forgive you!"
Although the threat she voiced was very forceful, her still-shaking hands and frail strength made it impossible for Syl to feel even a hint of being threatened.
"Instead of holding onto me, you should find a maid to get some water and wash your friend's face clean," Syl sighed and continued, "I used intradermal sutures this time, so don't worry about scarring."
Especially with the boost from her own blood, it would be difficult for a scar to even form.
"Fa... Father..."
"Samantha..."
A weak voice reached Samantha's ears, causing her hand to stiffen.
Samantha slowly turned her head toward the large bed. She saw Per sitting up against the headboard, looking at her.
Although Per's face had some bloodstains and traces of subcutaneous sutures, she looked no different from an ordinary girl with delicate features.
"Pe... Per?"
Samantha let go of Syl's hand.