“Not going, not going.” Aphrodite hurriedly promised, taking the chance to stretch her sore neck.
Lia gradually calmed down from her excitement.
However, she still pressed close to Aphrodite, though she no longer clung to her as tightly as before.
After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly acted like a small animal, gently sniffing the side of Aphrodite’s neck and her hair. With a hint of curiosity in her voice, she said, “Mama… you smell… really nice.”
Aphrodite was stunned by this sudden action and remark, and instinctively lowered her head to sniff herself as well.
A nice smell?
This body shouldn’t have any particularly special scent. She didn’t use any perfume or special bath products…
Hmm… well, Bella did sometimes put some scented things like flower petals in the bath, but that kind of fragrance shouldn’t linger on the skin.
“What kind of smell is it?” Aphrodite followed up, partly to steer away from a dangerous topic, and partly because she was indeed a bit curious herself.
At her words, Lia closed her eyes slightly and sniffed more carefully, then opened her eyes, searching for the right words.
“Sweet! Fragrant! Like… like a freshly baked little cake, still warm! It smells so comfortable. Lia likes it!”
As she spoke, she unconsciously opened her mouth slightly, showing a hint of her white teeth and muttered, “…It smells so good, Lia… really wants to take a bite.”
Hearing Lia describe the scent on her as if she were a cake, Aphrodite didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for a moment. So in Lia’s eyes, she’d become something edible.
But she quickly realized—elven bloodlines naturally have a better affinity with Holy Radiance.
Her current body itself possessed pure Holy Radiance, so for a Half-Elf like Lia, maybe she really was like a walking “cake.”
Thinking this, Aphrodite looked at Lia’s innocent yet slightly greedy expression and couldn’t help but feel a little mischievous, saying half-jokingly,
“Oh? Want to try? Then… I’ll let you have a bite?”
She had only spoken casually, with a hint of teasing, thinking it might lighten the mood. After all, even if Lia was affected by aftereffects, she should still have some basic rationality left and wouldn’t actually bite.
However, she clearly underestimated how much the aftereffects of Corrosion had affected Lia’s cognition and self-control.
Hearing Aphrodite’s words, Lia’s purple eyes instantly lit up, as if she’d just gotten some incredible permission! Her face broke into a bright smile and she said joyfully, “Really? Thank you, Mama!”
Before the words had even left her mouth, before Aphrodite could react, Lia had already lowered her head, opened her mouth, and bit down solidly on the patch of skin just below Aphrodite’s collarbone, right on her chest.
“Hiss—”
A sharp, absolutely clear stinging pain and a feeling of being ** instantly shot through her. Aphrodite couldn’t help but gasp in pain!
She had never expected Lia to actually bite her!
Fortunately, Lia seemed to retain a last shred of restraint and didn’t bite down hard. It was more like a child’s playful nibble and **, with a bit of force.
Even so, it was enough to leave a clear, reddish Scar on Aphrodite’s fair skin, along with a small patch of dampness.
Talk about trouble coming from the mouth—this was exactly that!
With this lesson, Aphrodite swore she’d never talk nonsense again.
At the same time, she thought of Bella. There had been several times before when, just to comfort Bella, she’d unthinkingly gone along with whatever Bella said, only to fall into one of her little traps.
“S-sorry! Mama! Lia didn’t mean to! Lia hurt Mama! Sorry! Wuwu…” Lia looked helplessly at the Scar, wanting to touch it but too afraid.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, it doesn’t hurt. But next time, you can’t really bite, okay?” Aphrodite endured the pain as she comforted her.
After all, she had been the one to offer in the first place, and with Lia’s cognition affected by the aftereffects, this kind of thing wasn’t impossible.
Besides, Aphrodite was already struggling to soothe Lia, so how could she bring herself to blame her?
After being reassured, Lia looked cautiously at the Scar and quietly promised, “Mm… Lia remembers, won’t do it again…”
Seeing Lia so sincerely apologetic, Aphrodite kept comforting her while thinking to herself.
The difference between her personality as a child and after she grew up is really huge.
As a child, she was clearly innocent, a bit silly, even a little airheaded—she’d want to bite something just because it smelled nice, and if she did something wrong, she’d panic and apologize immediately.
So how did she turn into someone so cold and detached as an adult, someone who’d erase others’ memories at the drop of a hat?
Just what had happened in between for her personality to change so much?
A strong sense of curiosity rose in Aphrodite’s heart.
Maybe… she could try probing for some information?
Taking advantage of Lia’s current simple-mindedness and low defenses, maybe she could ask a bit about her past. That way she could be better prepared for getting along in the future and avoid stepping on landmines.
“Lia… these years must have been hard for you, right?”
“…Not hard. Lia… was very obedient, so everything went smoothly.”
Lia’s answer was strange, but Aphrodite still caught the key word: “obedient.” Her heart skipped a beat.
She continued to gently guide her, “Did someone… tell Lia she must always be ‘obedient’ and can’t be herself?”
This question seemed to touch something at her core.
Lia suddenly raised her head, a flash of near-panic in her purple eyes, but it was quickly replaced by stubborn defiance.
She shook her head hard, her words coming faster, as if reciting a creed: “No! Obedient… only by being obedient is it safe! Obedient… Mama won’t… won’t…”
Her voice stopped abruptly, as if something had gripped her throat. Her eyes instantly went blank, and she couldn’t finish the sentence.
It was as if a powerful consciousness had cut her off, her heart refusing to touch a certain painful truth.
Aphrodite immediately realized she couldn’t push further, or it might have the opposite effect, even agitate Lia’s already unstable state.
She stopped just in time, speaking softly, “Alright, alright, don’t think about it. It’s enough for Lia to know that right now, you’re safe.”
Only then did Lia’s tense body slowly relax. Both her hands clung tightly to Aphrodite’s clothes, but her eyes were still a little unfocused and confused, as if she was still caught in some kind of emotional quagmire she couldn’t describe.
Aphrodite sighed to herself.
Not only had she failed to find anything out, she’d almost stirred up a hornet’s nest.
Yet, just as she was thinking about what to do next,
Lia suddenly changed again.
This time, the change was completely different from the previous emotional outbursts.
Without warning, Lia let go of Aphrodite, propped herself up with her hands, and crawled off Aphrodite’s body.
She didn’t look at Aphrodite again. With her head lowered, she quickly walked to the corner of the wall, then silently turned around, facing the wall with her back to Aphrodite.
This bizarre action instantly made Aphrodite’s nerves, which had just relaxed a little, tense up again!
No way, what’s going on this time?
Could it be that her words had triggered another attack of Lia’s Corrosion?
Thinking this was possible, Aphrodite quickly took advantage of Lia’s focus on the wall to quietly start inching herself, little by little, towards the door with the strength she’d just regained.
After all, she really couldn’t handle a second episode of Lia’s Corrosion right now.