After a night’s sleep, the morning sunlight streamed through the window, gently falling across the faces of the two girls sleeping in each other’s embrace.
The modest room felt just a little warmer.
The white-haired girl woke first.
She rubbed her eyes, propped herself up with one hand, and sat quietly for a moment before smiling at the black-haired girl still fast asleep beside her.
‘Xiaoyao must be exhausted too.’
‘She went through so many battles the day before yesterday, rushed off to save her little sister yesterday, and still spent the entire evening keeping up with my unreasonable behavior.’
‘I’d better let her sleep a little longer.’
Of course, she didn’t regret what she herself had called “unreasonable behavior.”
If she didn’t take the initiative, how else could she win Xiaoyao’s heart?
Even Ye Xingyao herself hadn’t realized that, among all the girls around her, everyone except her little Star Spirit sister posed quite a considerable threat.
Society had already progressed to this point.
Same-sex relationships had long since become commonplace, and quite a few people even showed remarkable tolerance toward relationships that went beyond lovers.
It was thanks to such an open-minded era that she had accepted Xiaoyao becoming a girl so naturally.
Even so, there would only ever be one person in her heart.
As an elf, once they acknowledged someone, they would never let go.
That unwavering devotion was part of the culture engraved into every elf’s bloodline.
Perhaps it was also one of the reasons the pure-blooded elf population had continued to decline over the years.
As for whether that was true, Yishi Yue had no way of knowing.
Looking at her lover’s peaceful sleeping face, Yishi Yue lightly licked her lips.
She leaned down and gently placed a kiss on her forehead.
The kiss lasted only an instant.
Just as she was about to change out of her pajamas and prepare breakfast for the two sisters still asleep, the girl on the bed slowly opened her eyes.
“Mm…”
“Did I wake you?”
Yishi Yue froze for a moment.
To hide the faint blush on her face, she kept her back turned and continued changing her clothes.
‘Xiaoyao probably didn’t notice… right?’
She secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Even if she had been caught, she was confident she could remain perfectly calm.
Still, it was her first time secretly doing something like this.
To accidentally wake the other girl because of it made her heart itch with embarrassment.
“It’s okay…”
Ye Xingyao mumbled sleepily.
Still half-asleep, she hugged the blanket, rolled over, buried her face in the soft fabric, and rubbed against it before slowly opening her eyes.
‘Mm… Xiaoyue smells so nice.’
‘Just like she did last night.’
‘I want to sleep a little longer…’
‘No, no! What am I even thinking?!’
Ye Xingyao instantly became fully awake.
Hidden from Yishi Yue’s sight, her face turned bright red in an instant.
Panicking, she buried her face even deeper into the blanket and sincerely prayed to the all-powerful Star Spirit from the prophecy that her lover wouldn’t notice her embarrassment.
Seeing the black-haired girl lazily staying in bed, Yishi Yue quietly let out a sigh of relief.
After changing into her underclothes, she gently reached over and softly ruffled the girl’s hair.
“All right, Xiaoyao. Sleep a little longer. I’ll take care of breakfast.”
“Okay~”
Seeing that Xiaoyue hadn’t started teasing her, Ye Xingyao secretly rejoiced.
‘This is exactly what it means to have a lover who truly understands me.’
‘Thank you, Miss Star Spirit, for your blessing!’
Listening to her lover’s slippers gradually fade away as sounds of cooking drifted from the kitchen, Ye Xingyao reluctantly lifted her head from the blanket.
She flopped onto the pillow and lightly patted her cheeks.
‘What classes do we have today again?’
‘Oh, right. None.’
‘After everything that happened in Satellite City, there’s no way anyone would still expect students to attend class.’
‘Even if the Human Alliance works efficiently, it’ll still take several days just to investigate and deal with all those so-called hidden dangers.’
So today, she, Yishi Yue, and her younger sister Ye Xingling probably didn’t have any classes.
It felt wonderful not having anything to worry about.
All they needed to do this morning was draw a little blood from Xiaoyue, head to the safe house to feed the little Blood Elf, and chat with Sister Hongye about everything that had happened over the past few days.
Having suddenly escaped such a tense and hectic routine, she still wasn’t quite used to it.
‘Once the morning’s over… what should I do this afternoon?’
Ye Xingyao recalled yesterday’s events.
The blush that had only just faded from her cheeks returned immediately.
‘N-No, no, no, no, no… that’s a terrible idea.’
She vigorously shook her head, forcing herself to stop remembering those unbearably embarrassing moments.
Instead, she lowered her gaze toward her hands.
After a night’s rest, they had returned to their original crystal-clear fairness.
She gently pressed one fingertip.
Aside from feeling pleasantly soft, there wasn’t anything unusual.
She wiggled her toes and kicked the blanket away.
The bruises around her ankles had mostly disappeared.
The places that had still been aching yesterday now seemed completely healed.
‘Is a Star Spirit’s body really this resilient?’
‘By all rights, someone at the Han Guang rank shouldn’t recover this quickly.’
Her instincts told her everything was somehow connected to the stars above and the way her body’s magic recovered.
A magical girl’s magic came from herself.
An elf’s magic came from nature.
Moon Elves drew power from moonlight.
Blood Elves drew power from blood.
Star Spirits naturally drew power from the starlight of the night sky.
But that raised another question.
The stars still existed during the daytime.
So why couldn’t she obtain the same power during the day?
Ye Xingyao gazed out the window toward the distant sky.
After thinking about it for a long time without finding an answer, she simply gave up.
She should wash up first.
Then she’d wake her little sister.
As soon as she made up her mind, she acted.
While climbing out of bed, she accidentally noticed the marks Xiaoyue had left on her body the previous night.
Suppressing her embarrassment, she quickly put on her underclothes before choosing one of the shirts she had originally prepared for her male identity.
Only after carefully covering those marks did she finally leave the bed.
She washed her face.
Brushed her teeth.
Washed her hair.
Without Xiaoyue watching over her, she moved through everything quickly and efficiently.
Although Xiaoyue always insisted it was because she refused to use skincare products.
“Even if you naturally have great skin, you still can’t treat it like this! Be more serious!”
Xiaoyue’s reminder echoed vividly in her mind.
Ye Xingyao immediately pushed the memory aside and redirected her attention to waking her younger sister.
“Hey, little sis. Time to get up!”
Ye Xingyao walked to her sister’s bedroom door and knocked several times.
There was no response from inside.
‘Hmph. Do you think I’m still your big brother?’
‘I’ve improved along with my change in gender!’
‘Don’t think I’m still that stubborn blockhead who doesn’t know how to adapt!’
Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Xingyao pushed open the door.
She reached over and firmly pinched her little sister’s adorably clueless-looking cheek.
“Mmgh?!”
‘That feels surprisingly nice.’
Ye Xingyao crossed her arms and proudly declared victory as the older sister.