“Mommy~” Dolosa’s sweet, syrupy voice abruptly cut through the warmth in the room.
She stood at the doorway, golden hair draped over her shoulders, her face sporting a carefully practiced sweet smile that couldn’t quite hide the gloom in her eyes.
Liang Lai turned around in surprise.
“小多? You…”
She never would have expected Dolosa to suddenly call her “Mommy.”
Before this, no matter how much she teased her about it, Dolosa would always get shy and flustered—she absolutely refused to say it. Why was she suddenly willing now?
Dolosa quickly strode over, forcefully wedging herself between Liang Lai and the twins.
“I want a hug too~”
She deliberately used a coquettish tone, but her arm secretly pressed hard, pushing Delucia out of Liang Lai’s embrace.
Delucia staggered back two steps, her six-pointed star pupils instantly narrowing into dangerous slits.
But she quickly composed her expression, pouting in grievance.
“Dolosa-jie, you hurt me…”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry~” Dolosa apologized with exaggerated sincerity, but took the chance to throw herself into Liang Lai’s arms, burying her face in her chest.
She took a deep breath, greedily absorbing Liang Lai’s scent. It had been days since she’d been this close to Liang Lai.
Asterys quietly retreated to the side, a flash of coldness passing through the pentagram in her eyes.
She gently tugged her sister’s sleeve, and the two exchanged a knowing glance.
“Mommy,” Dolosa looked up, tears welling in her blue eyes, “I’ve missed you so much these past few days. You haven’t come to see me at all…”
Her fingers clutched Liang Lai’s robe tightly, her knuckles turning white.
Liang Lai stroked Dolosa’s golden hair, heart aching.
“I’m sorry, it was my oversight.”
Yes, these children all lacked a sense of security—she hadn’t done enough.
She didn’t notice at all that, as she spoke, the twins behind her tensed up at the same time.
Suddenly, Delucia clutched her chest and let out a pained groan.
“Ah, it hurts…”
She staggered to her knees, her six-pointed star pupils flickering erratically.
“Delucia!”
Liang Lai immediately let go of Dolosa and turned to help her youngest daughter.
A flash of ruthlessness crossed Dolosa’s eyes, but she quickly put on a worried expression.
“What’s wrong? Are you still not recovered from your previous injuries?”
She crouched down, feigning concern as she reached to feel Delucia’s forehead, but her fingernails secretly dug hard into Delucia’s shoulder.
Delucia shuddered in pain, but used the moment to throw herself into Liang Lai’s arms.
“Mommy, my chest hurts… It’s like something is grabbing me!” As she spoke, she shot Dolosa a provocative glance out of the corner of her eye.
Asterys joined in at just the right moment.
“Maybe it’s aftereffects from last night’s Ritual,” she leaned weakly against Liang Lai’s back, “Mommy, I feel dizzy too…”
Liang Lai was suddenly flustered, hugging all three children at once, trying to comfort them.
Dolosa watched the twins’ clumsy performance, shaking with rage.
She suddenly grabbed Liang Lai’s wrist.
“Mommy! They’re faking it! I saw with my own eyes—”
Before she could finish, Delucia broke into a violent coughing fit, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
Asterys, meanwhile, “fainted” right into Liang Lai’s arms.
Liang Lai panicked, immediately letting go of Dolosa and rushing outside to call for a Nun, completely missing the fleeting, smug smile at the corner of Delucia’s lips.
Dolosa stood rooted to the spot, fists clenched tight. She stared at Liang Lai’s anxious back, her gaze growing colder and colder.
“All you two know is how to fake being sick.”
She gave a cold laugh, her eyes turning venomous as she lifted her chin at the pair.
“Fine, keep pretending to be weak, Asterys, Delucia. I’m telling you, only I can help Liang Lai achieve her dreams. As for the two of you… heh, one’s a complete Shadowborn, the other a Variant, and you want to be the Pope Successor? Dream on!”
“If I help Liang Lai fulfill her dreams, I’ll be the child she’s most proud of, and the one she loves most…”
After saying this, she sneered again and turned to leave the room.
At that moment, the “sick” Asterys and Delucia exchanged a glance and suddenly spoke up:
“So in the end, all you want is to be Mommy’s child?” Asterys said, her tone teasing.
Dolosa jolted at those words.
What did they mean by that?
If she didn’t want to be Mommy’s child, then what else…? Her feelings for Liang Lai… weren’t they just like this?
“Hehehe…”
Delucia chuckled softly, but said nothing more.
A strange feeling welled up in Dolosa’s heart.
She didn’t want to linger here a moment longer, so she slammed the door shut and left without looking back.
Inside the room, Asterys and Delucia only woke up faintly after the Nun finished her examination.
“Mommy, will you stay with us tonight?” Tears glittered in the corners of Asterys’s eyes. “We… we’re really scared…”
Liang Lai hesitated, and Dolosa’s pitiful face flashed through her mind.
She’d wanted to refuse the twins in front of her, but seeing them trembling with fear, the words twisted on her tongue and she swallowed them back.
“Sigh…”
She let out a sigh.
“All right, just for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll have to go stay with your Dolosa-jie. She seems to be in a bad mood lately, so I need to talk to her.”
Asterys and Delucia exchanged another glance and nodded obediently.
“Mm-hmm~ Okay, Mommy~”
That night, when Liang Lai was telling stories to Asterys and Delucia, her plan was to wait until they fell asleep before going to the kitchen to check on that Parchment.
But for some reason, she was exceptionally drowsy tonight; as she told her stories, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
No way…
Was it just exhaustion from these past days?
Liang Lai tried to fight it, but her speech slowed, her thoughts muddled.
She really couldn’t take it anymore, so she decided to rest well tonight. In the end, she closed her eyes.
Once she was asleep, Asterys and Delucia sat up at the same time.
“She’s just as enchanting when she sleeps~”
Delucia caressed Liang Lai’s cheek obsessively. Her body was changing at a speed visible to the naked eye, ready to merge into Asterys’s shadow.
“But it’s a pity—she’s a Saintess. Without her permission, I can’t slip into her shadow,” Delucia said to Asterys.
Asterys was already straddling Liang Lai’s waist, licking her own dry lips.
“Let’s get really close tonight~”
“Saintess~”