At the dining table, Dolosa watched the lively toasts and exchanges around her, her mood suddenly complicated.
She had originally thought that in the end, Liangcai would only adopt one child—her own.
Then she thought that after adopting Asterys and Delucia, it would be over.
But in the end… there was also Illucy and Dexilensi, and that Dexilensi even had some mental issues… For a moment, she wasn’t feeling so happy anymore, and even felt a bit of a headache coming on.
Liangcai glanced at Dolosa sitting beside her, sulking like a little adult, and pinched her cheek.
“Aww, our little Dolo, you finally have some meat on your bones. When we first picked you up, you were so skinny, just a little thing. Now you’re even cuter than before~”
Dolosa’s face flushed red, and she grabbed Liangcai’s hand tightly, whispering, “I haven’t just gotten fat, I’ve grown taller too… Liangcai, I’m even taller than you now… and I’ll keep getting taller.”
Liangcai froze for a moment at that, then laughed, thinking Dolosa was comparing heights with her.
“Tch~ Even if you’re taller than Mama, you’ll always be my little kid! Forever shorter than me!” Liangcai was in a good mood and decided to tease her a bit, tousling Dolosa’s hair with a mischievous grin.
“Hey—!”
Dolosa grabbed Liangcai’s wrist in one hand and yanked her into a hug.
Her eyes gleamed with fierce determination as she looked down at Liangcai.
“Liangcai, now I’m the one towering over you.”
Dolosa’s voice was low and magnetic, close enough to make Liangcai’s ears tingle with warmth.
Liangcai was stunned; she hadn’t expected Dolosa to be this strong.
She lost her balance and collapsed right into Dolosa’s arms.
Up close, Dolosa’s pretty face was so delicate, her long eyelashes fluttering like little fans.
At this moment, her lips were pressed into a straight line, like a pouting doll sulking.
Liangcai was momentarily mesmerized and didn’t pull away.
Silence fell over the room, all eyes turning to Liangcai and Dolosa.
The air felt as if it had frozen.
Clink!
A fork dropped onto the floor with a sharp sound.
Dexilensi smiled and apologized, “Ah, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention~” She bent down to pick it up.
“Hm~ But this fork seems dirty now; I should get a new one~”
After saying this, Dexilensi got up to grab a fresh fork.
After the commotion, Liangcai snapped back to reality, quickly pulling away and sitting up straight.
“Ahem~”
For some reason, her face was burning hot.
Looking up, she realized everyone was staring at her and felt very self-conscious, forcing a smile.
“Eat, eat! It’s not easy to make this food, so why are you staring at me like that…”
How strange.
Dolosa watched Liangcai carefully, sensing something odd about her reactions, but… she liked Liangcai’s reactions.
Slowly, a smile tugged at her lips.
It was as if she had found something very amusing—teasing Liangcai.
It could be through touch or words.
Liangcai seemed pretty easy to tease. Why hadn’t she noticed this before? Well, maybe Liangcai hadn’t blushed before? Could it be…
Dolosa lowered her head silently, weighing her own ample chest.
She suddenly understood. Oh, it was because she had “fattened up” — from that angle just now, Liangcai had been resting on her voluptuous chest… Hehe~ this Saintess liked it even more!
She already bore the marks of a mature woman, meaning… Liangcai must be attracted to mature women!
Dolosa glanced around at everyone present.
Asterys and Delucia were still their usual selves, two cute little girls sitting there looking completely undeveloped.
Illucy had grown fatter since being picked up but still hadn’t developed as much as Dolosa.
She had shape but not as big, and her height lagged behind Liangcai’s even now.
Finally, Dolosa’s gaze settled on Dexilensi.
“Tsk~”
She clicked her teeth, feeling a headache coming on.
When Dexilensi first arrived, she had been skinny but tall—almost as tall as Liangcai.
Even more troubling, though skinny, her chest was still quite prominent.
Now, two months later, she had gained weight and grown taller.
Dexilensi was now about the same height as Liangcai, and her chest was even bigger… Looking at her, it seemed she might even surpass Dolosa.
With this thought, Dolosa’s previously good mood sank.
She had now come to a conclusion: Liangcai was definitely more interested in mature women.
How to put it?
It really turned out that this guess was right.
Liangcai simply preferred mature women.
Though she said, “As long as they look good, anyone will do,” if she had to choose among several pretty women, Liangcai would always pick the mature beauty type.
The atmosphere at the dining table gradually eased back to lively chatter.
Liangcai finally relaxed, doing her best to suppress the restless feelings inside.
Phew, that feeling earlier must have been a hallucination.
With that thought, Liangcai smiled again.
Days passed slowly like this.
During this time, Dexilensi didn’t cause any more trouble, and Illucy stopped getting hurt all the time.
The reason was obvious… Dexilensi knew very well the strength gap between herself and the other children, and Illucy, having a chance to cuddle with Liangcai once every couple of weeks, stopped harming herself.
By that measure, Asterys and Delucia had done a good thing.
This stability lasted until the day Illucy’s second assessment was perfectly completed.
In the Exam Hall, Illucy displayed her best form.
That day, she stood in the center of the exam room, hands crossed over her chest.
Her gaze settled on the test puppet before her as she took a deep breath.
“Begin,” the chief examiner Alfred signaled.
Illucy stepped forward slowly, her fingertip lightly touching the puppet’s forehead.
A wisp of black mist seeped from her fingertip, gradually crystallizing into a pitch-black prism.
The prism’s surface was covered with fine patterns, resembling countless tiny blinking eyes.
“Sin Crystal…” deputy examiner Miles muttered quietly.
The black prism slowly sank into the puppet’s forehead.
Suddenly, the puppet trembled violently, strange black veins appearing beneath its skin.
Its eyes widened, mouth silently opening and closing.
“What is it looking at?” Miles asked.
Illucy answered softly, “It’s looking at its deepest sin.”
The puppet suddenly dropped to its knees, clutching its head.
Its pupils dilated, and the whites of its eyes were gradually consumed by black crystal.
Its expression shifted constantly—sometimes terrified, sometimes pained, sometimes full of remorse.
“The mental pressure has reached the critical point,” Illucy stepped back.
With a crisp “crack,” the puppet’s head began to crystallize from within.
Black crystals seeped from its seven orifices, soon covering the entire head.
In the end, the puppet remained kneeling, transformed into a jet-black crystal sculpture.
“Perfect control,” Alfred wrote on the evaluation sheet.
“To precisely control mental pressure at a lethal critical point is an exceptionally rare skill.”
Illucy lowered her head and softly murmured “hm.”
She stealthily glanced at Liangcai hiding in the corner of the exam hall, her lips curling slightly.
This time, she hadn’t let Mama down.
Of course, this had nothing to do with the trouble that was about to come, because the trouble was triggered by Dexilensi’s aggressive Crystallization Ability being understood.
Dexilensi excitedly found Liangcai, who was studying with Illucy, and threw herself into her arms, grabbing her sleeve.
“Mama! I’ve figured it out! I know what my attack form is!”
“Oh?”
Liangcai put down the book with interest.
“Xiao Xi, wait here for a moment. I’ll go take a look at Xiao De’s Crystallization Ability and then come back to watch this book with you, alright?”
“Okay.” Illucy nodded obediently.
However, after Dexilensi pulled Liangcai away, Illucy hesitated a moment but then chose to follow.
Though she hadn’t witnessed Dexilensi attacking herself or the others, Illucy trusted the other three and their telepathic senses more than Dexilensi.
Since the other three and herself all felt something was wrong, and they said Dexilensi had problems, she would go eavesdrop in the corner.
Besides bringing news to the others, she could also secretly protect Liangcai… Well, the Saintess didn’t really need protection; she was very strong.
Illucy tiptoed after them.
Dexilensi dragged Liangcai into the Practice Room. Upon entering, she excitedly told Liangcai, “Mama! My attack-type Crystallization Ability is aggressive!”
Aggressive—the most bizarre type—could be called the Bloodcrystal Plague.
It was a micro-crystal spread through the blood with staged symptoms.
Step one: vascular crystallization patterns appear.
Step two: organs gradually become transparent.
Step three: finally turning into a crystal sculpture doll.
It was the most aesthetically colorful and beautiful attack-type Crystallization Ability, but also the most cruel and most subtle.
Dexilensi opened her hands and demonstrated on the puppet in the center.
Her finger lightly touched the puppet’s arm, scratching a fine blood mark on the skin.
“Watch closely, Mama.”
Her fingertips glowed with a strange red light.
The blood mark immediately displayed web-like crystal patterns, spreading under the puppet’s skin like veins.
Liangcai noticed the crystal veins spreading along with the puppet’s blood circulation.
“First stage,” Dexilensi said softly.
The puppet’s skin began to turn transparent, clearly revealing the crystallized vascular network inside.
The crystallized vessels emitted faint “crackling” sounds, as if growing.
“Second stage is coming~” her voice was full of delight.
As Dexilensi spoke, the puppet’s organs gradually became transparent.
When its heart beat, the crystallized blood flowed visibly through the vessels.
The strangest thing was that the puppet still breathed normally, completely unaware of its crystallization.
Liangcai unconsciously took a step back.
“Last~” Dexilensi clapped her hands suddenly.
The puppet’s body emitted crisp cracking sounds, instantly turning into a perfect humanoid crystal statue.
Sunlight streamed through the window, refracting into brilliant blood-red hues on the statue.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
Dexilensi turned to Liangcai, her eyes shining with excitement.
“I can even control the crystallization speed~ The fastest is three seconds, the slowest can be dragged out to three months.”
Outside the door, Illucy covered her mouth, cold sweat soaking her back.
It wasn’t that Dexilensi’s ability was unbeatable, but the fact that she could devise such a cruel way to kill unsettled timid and kind Illucy.
After all, this child only dared to harm herself even if she acted out.
So what would Dexilensi do after understanding her attack-type Crystallization Ability? Would she try to kill them again?
Illucy didn’t dare to imagine.
She immediately stood up, no longer eavesdropping.
“I have to tell Dolosa and the others.”
Though Illucy had her own ideas, she was used to relying on others.
Telling Liangcai was useless, as without solid evidence, she’d just be seen as a child stirring up trouble.
So she hadn’t told Dolosa, Asterys, or Delucia, who were on the same side.
“Something bad’s coming!”
Illucy pushed open the Practice Room door, panting.
The three inside jumped, all eyes turning to Illucy.
“What’s going on? Ghost chasing you or something? Running like that!” Delucia teased with a smile, then glanced at Illucy before suddenly shouting, “Hey! I just saw a woman leaning on your back!”
Plop!
Illucy immediately dropped to her knees, trembling.
…
“R-Really? For real?”
Her voice cracked, too scared to look back.
She looked at the three inside with tear-filled eyes, completely forgetting why she had come in the first place.
Pfft~
Hahahahahaha~!
The room erupted with laughter, even Dolosa, who usually avoided their antics, covered her face and laughed.
“Alright, alright, just teasing you. How could there be a ghost in broad daylight? And we’re in the church… any ghosts here would have been chased away~”
Hearing this, Illucy finally breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she had been tricked.
“You guys are teasing me again…!”
Even her anger was cautious and timid, like a little frog. Her scolding had no intimidation at all.
After laughing enough, Dolosa finally got serious.
“You said you had something important to say, right? What is it?”
Hearing this, Illucy remembered why she had come, and her face turned pale again.
“Dexilensi might be coming to kill us again.”