Seraphina’s voice was still gentle, but there was something indescribable in her tone. “Could you move your hand somewhere else?”
Yisela snatched her hand back as if burned. Her face was as red as a boiled shrimp, and she even stammered her apology.
“I-I didn’t mean to!”
“You were the one who wanted to press my head.”
“Mm.”
Seraphina lowered her head and used clean water to rinse the foam from Yisela’s eyes. Her movements were still so soft.
She just pressed her lips together and said nothing.
The foam in Yisela’s eyes was finally washed away. She blinked, and the stinging sensation gradually faded under the gentle caress of holy light.
The first thing that came into clear view was Seraphina’s face—covered in soap bubbles—and her expression of helpless amusement.
“Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Yisela sank listlessly back into the hot water, only half her face above the surface, blowing bubbles. She didn’t dare lift her head.
Pfft.
A suppressed laugh came from the other side of the pool.
Sylvanas was leaning against the pool wall. The corners of her eyes curved as she laughed.
“What are you laughing at!”
Yisela splashed water into her face.
After finally washing her hair, Seraphina took out a soft-bristled brush. She had Yisela lean against her chest to scrub her back.
This time Yisela had learned her lesson. She stayed rigid and still, terrified that her hand might touch something it shouldn’t again.
The moment the bristles touched her back, her entire body tensed up. That dense sensation was neither pain nor itch—it was like countless extremely fine feathers sweeping across her skin at the same time.
She bit her lip and forced back the moans that almost escaped.
“There are so many old scars on your back.”
Seraphina’s voice dropped. Her fingertips gently pressed on a pale, almost invisible white mark below Yisela’s shoulder blade.
“When did this happen?”
“From getting scratched by trees in the forest after losing my strength, a long time ago. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Seraphina didn’t speak. She just switched to a lighter touch, using the softest part of the brush’s edge to gently circle along the muscle texture around the bruise.
After finishing her back, Sylvanas put down her towel and walked over to Yisela.
“Your tail hasn’t been washed yet.”
“Come here. Lie down.”
“I-I don’t need my tail washed! I can do it myself!”
“You couldn’t even keep soap out of your eyes just now.”
She wasn’t asking for Yisela’s opinion at all. She lifted her up and placed her face-down on the marble rim of the pool.
One hand pressed down on her lower back, precisely on the joint above the base of her tail, making Yisela’s entire tail go limp.
She pushed the bath sponge into the gaps between the tail scales, rubbing from the base outward, section by section.
When her thumb brushed across the most sensitive scales at the very base of the tail, Yisela jolted. Her tail thrashed uncontrollably.
“Don’t touch there!”
“A tail is a dragon’s pride!”
“You never wash this tail yourself, do you? There’s scale grime built up on the second joint from the base, you know?”
Sylvanas’s tone was still as cold as ever, but her hands didn’t stop.
When she washed the middle section of the tail, Yisela could still grit her teeth and curse.
When she reached the tip, Yisela’s curses turned into broken gasps.
When her fingers started cleaning the translucent membrane of the tail fin, Yisela was trembling all over.
Her hands clawed randomly at the marble surface of the pool edge. Her body uncontrollably arched backward. Her fingers touched something.
She suddenly realized she was touching Sylvanas’s chest.
“Yisela?”
Sylvanas’s voice came from above. Her tone was a little scary.
“Are you deliberately looking for trouble today? Looks like I’ll have to thoroughly wash your tail now!!”
Yisela yanked her hand back and buried her entire face in her arms.
“No, I didn’t mean to!”
“It’s because you were pressing my tail, so I…”
“Hmm?”
Sylvanas didn’t pursue it further. She lowered her head and continued washing Yisela’s tail, a smile in her voice.
But Yisela felt that the pressure was slightly gentler than before. And Sylvanas no longer asked her one by one, “Does this feel okay?” or “Comfortable?”
It was like she couldn’t be bothered to tease her anymore.
When it was finally done, Sylvanas rinsed the foam off the tail with clean water and wrapped the wet tail in a towel.
Seraphina also wrapped Yisela from head to toe in a huge bath towel, turning her into a silver cocoon. She gently held Yisela’s exposed tail and dried it with a separate cloth.
After the three of them finished bathing, Seraphina and Sylvanas leaned against the pool wall, resting with their eyes closed.
Yisela sat by the pool, swinging her feet, watching their flushed skin from the hot water. A mischievous thought surfaced.
She thought for a moment, then jumped down from the pool edge and circled behind Seraphina. She picked up a clean towel and soaked it in hot water.
“Yisela?”
Seraphina tilted her head slightly.
“Don’t move.”
Yisela placed the towel on Seraphina’s back, pressed her little paws onto it, and began to rub earnestly.
She used her palm, through the towel, to slowly push upward along the spine.
Seraphina’s back was very fair, her skin felt like polished jade.
Unlike the force her sister had used to scrub her back, Yisela’s strength was much smaller, but each stroke was focused.
When she passed over the shoulder blades, she pressed a little more with her fingertips. When she reached the curve of her lower back, she lightened her touch.
It was like polishing something very precious.
Seraphina’s shoulders trembled slightly. She didn’t speak.
Yisela rubbed very seriously. When she reached the nape of her neck, her fingertips accidentally touched Seraphina’s earlobe.
That small patch of skin was very hot.
Curious, she tilted her head and looked from the side. Seraphina’s face was bright red, spreading from her cheekbones down to her neck.
Those pale golden eyes, which always gazed at her so gently, were now lowered. Her eyelashes fluttered as she stared at the water’s surface, afraid to look at Yisela.
“Sister, you’re blushing.”
“It must be because the water’s too hot!”
“Liar. Your ears are red too.”
Seraphina didn’t answer. She just turned her head slightly to the side, letting her long hair cover half of her already flushed face.