Inside the door, the air was sweetly cloying and dangerous.
Dolosa’s fingertips, as light as feathers, carefully slid down Liang Lai’s burning cheek, brushed past her slender neck, and finally paused at the slightly open neckline of her Saintess Robe.
Beneath that, gentle curves rose and fell with her breathing, and the shadows of her collarbone flickered faintly in and out of view.
Dolosa’s breath grew heavy and scorching, waves of near-obsession surging in her ice-blue eyes.
All the usual cold restraint burned away, leaving only a devouring longing.
She leaned down, golden hair falling and mingling with Liang Lai’s white strands scattered across the pillow.
Her nose nearly touched Liang Lai’s, letting her feel the other’s wine-laced, warm breath clearly.
In her sleep, Liang Lai seemed to sense the oppressive closeness, her brows furrowing unconsciously.
A faint, muddled whimper slipped out—yet it sounded more like an unintentional invitation.
Dolosa no longer hesitated. She closed her eyes, trembling, and with a posture almost reverent yet full of possessive hunger, pressed her lips slowly onto Liang Lai’s.
Soft, warm, carrying the sweet fragrance of Light Honey Wine… and the unique scent belonging to Liang Lai alone.
At that moment, Dolosa felt as if struck by lightning, her whole soul trembling.
Greedily, she wanted to take in more, to deepen this stolen—
Her hand, too, became uncontrollable, reaching straight for Liang Lai’s swan-like neck, slowly tightening around it.
As expected, she still loved this feeling of conquest—gripping Liang Lai’s neck tightly… This sensation was just too wonderful!
It felt as if… Liang Lai belonged entirely to her, not to anyone else, only to her, only to her!
Her fingers pressed harder and harder.
Dolosa squeezed with increasing force, as if wanting to strangle Liang Lai completely… The feeling of absolute control over the Saintess.
However.
“Click.”
A barely audible but startlingly abrupt sound rang from outside the door in the utter silence—it was the accidental turn of a doorknob.
Immediately after—
“BANG!!!”
A thunderous crash exploded at her ear. Dolosa jerked in fright, letting go of both her hand and lips at once.
The door hadn’t been fully locked.
The massive push came from outside, where three bodies stacked atop each other, eavesdropping, lost their balance in shock at what they’d heard.
Morgana was in front; thinking she’d heard the room go silent, she grew anxious for a better angle and, with a slip, pressed her hand on the doorknob, tipping her weight forward…
Asterys and Delucia were pressed right behind her.
The three, in a heartbeat, tumbled like dominoes, cries of alarm and tangled limbs sending the door flying open as they rolled into the room.
The scene froze instantly.
Dolosa, as if doused in ice water, sprang from Liang Lai’s body, the blood draining from her face, only to be replaced in a flash by rage and an intensely embarrassed flush.
Her ice-blue eyes stared in disbelief at the three invaders sprawled on the floor, disheveled and tangled together—her murderous shame and anger almost manifesting as real blades ready to impale them.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! She’d finally made a move, and they just had to discover her! How could her luck be this bad?!
Liang Lai seemed disturbed by the ruckus, shifting uneasily, but in the end, couldn’t overcome the alcohol’s hold.
She only muttered something indistinctly, turned over, and fell right back into a deep, oblivious sleep—completely unaware of what she’d just been through or the embarrassing scene that was about to unfold.
On the floor, Morgana was pinned at the bottom, yelping in pain.
Asterys and Delucia scrambled to get up, two pairs of light green eyes filled with the panic of “We’re done for, we’ve been caught,” but deep within, a strange excitement of “Just as expected” and “So thrilling!” flickered.
“You, you, you all…”
Dolosa’s hands trembled with fury as she pointed at the three troublemakers who’d ruined everything, so angry she couldn’t even string a full sentence together.
All the atmosphere she’d painstakingly built, her stolen moment of intimacy, had been utterly destroyed by these damn people!
Asterys recovered first. Pulling her sister up while dusting off her skirt, she somehow managed an innocent yet sly little smile.
“Aiya, Dolosa sis, the door wasn’t closed properly and we accidentally tumbled in. If you two want… should we let you continue?”
Continue?
Ha?
How could she possibly continue now?!
Dolosa shot Asterys a deadly glare.
Delucia, seeing this, hurriedly nodded, her gaze, however, kept darting toward the soundly sleeping Liang Lai on the bed. She added in a small voice,
“We, we can pretend we didn’t see anything, or—” She paused, exchanging a knowing look with her sister, then, with uncanny unity, both blurted out in shocking harmony:
“Why don’t we do it together? After all, we all like Mama Liang Lai~”
“Just like last time~”
Those words struck Dolosa like thunder, frying her nerves all over again.
Together?! Did these two devils even realize what they were saying?!
She was used to their talk of “together,” but she absolutely could not accept these twins saying such things out loud in front of others… Didn’t that mean adding yet another person to the mix?
Dolosa glanced at the still-whimpering Morgana.
Morgana, just getting up from the floor and rubbing her bruised arm, looked blankly at the twins and then at the ashen-faced Dolosa, having no idea what was happening. When she realized the other three were all staring at her, she only felt even more baffled.
“Together? Together to do what? Take care of drunk Mama Liang Lai? I can help! Let me help too!”
Oh, this truly pitiful, innocent child had completely misunderstood.
Seeing the clear, clueless look in Morgana’s eyes, Dolosa, Asterys, and Delucia all had a flicker of doubt.
Could she be faking? Wasn’t she always close to Liang Lai? Why act like she had no idea what they were talking about now? Was she really this oblivious, or just pretending?
All eyes of suspicion fell on Morgana.
Morgana glanced left, then right, only feeling these kids before her were even more baffling.
She honestly hadn’t considered anything beyond that.
Her feelings for Liang Lai were simply dependency, closeness, and the sense of having found a “home”—at most, a little fledgling’s attachment… A young girl adoring a big sister, that was perfectly normal.
Besides, even she hadn’t noticed those slightly awkward feelings herself…
Of course! She absolutely did not have Dolosa or the twins’ kind of twisted, possessive love.
The twins, hearing her naïve and silly question, froze for a second, then simultaneously covered their mouths, snickering, their shoulders shaking with barely suppressed laughter.
Asterys: “Pff. Morgana, you really are adorable~”
Delucia: “Yeah, yeah, exactly… ‘Take care’ of Mama together~ Don’t you know which ‘take care’ we mean?”
Her tone was layered with ambiguous meaning.
Dolosa, hearing Morgana’s words and seeing the twins’ reactions, felt most of her tension drain away.
So she really was an airhead, completely clueless! Excellent—one less competitor!
She’d thought, as a Witch, Morgana would have all sorts of tricks to snatch Liang Lai away. But it turned out she didn’t even harbor any special feelings for her… This was just too great!
However, this fool Morgana had thrown off her plan to “take care” of Liang Lai… That really pissed her off.
Dolosa immediately forced down her anger, her mind whirling for a way to use this lifeline to get rid of the two more troublesome nuisances.
“Yes, exactly—take care of her!”
Dolosa quickly followed Morgana’s words, keeping her tone as natural as possible.
“But it’s already late, Mama needs quiet rest. Too many people will just disturb her. Morgana, you came just in time—why don’t you take Asterys and Delucia back to bed? I’ll handle things here.”
She tried to pull Morgana onto her side, hoping she’d take the twins away so Dolosa could have Liang Lai all to herself.
She absolutely didn’t want to share with Asterys and Delucia again—it was just too inconvenient…
She couldn’t do anything with someone—no, two people—watching.
She couldn’t possibly expose all her thoughts and actions.
Tonight was a rare opportunity: Liang Lai was drunk, asleep, she could do as she pleased. Even Elusi was drunk and asleep, so she wouldn’t barge in saying “I want to join you guys.” Now it was just these troublesome twins standing in her way.
However, after hearing this, Morgana frowned, looking at the peacefully sleeping Liang Lai on the bed, then at the three with their strange expressions, sensing something odd.
“But, but, Dolosa sis, can you really take care of her by yourself?” she asked doubtfully.
“Besides, didn’t Asterys and the others just say we could all help? More hands make light work~ I can wipe Mama’s face, or sing her a lullaby? I know a Witch’s Lullaby—they say it works wonders… I’ve never tried it before, let me try it tonight~”
Dolosa: “…Who wants to hear your Witch’s Lullaby?!”
The twins laughed even harder. Looks like this newly arrived, foolish Witch wasn’t going anywhere for now—and might even be a thorn in Dolosa’s side? Now this was interesting~
Dolosa just felt her headache double; the hope she’d just found evaporated again.
This Morgana—was she truly stupid or just pretending?
Why was she so stubborn?!
The situation fell into a bizarre stalemate again.
Dolosa wanted Liang Lai to herself, the twins wanted in, and Morgana wanted to help but was completely off track.
And at the center of it all, our Saintess still slept on in utter oblivion—her lips even smacking a little in her dreams, utterly unaware of anything that had happened;
Or of the awkward “divvying up” about to befall her.
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