“Ah!”
Lorin yelped and dove back under the covers, poking her head out just far enough to eye Phyllis suspiciously.
But seeing a grown man behave like that was nothing short of a visual assault for Phyllis.
Lorin glared at her, full of doubt and wariness, and snapped, “What do you want?!”
Her voice bristled with vigilance.
Phyllis’s lips curled into a faint, knowing smile. Her eyes gleamed with mischief.
She didn’t answer Lorin directly.
Instead, she leaned forward, her face drawing closer as she asked in return, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
At the same time, she began to advance, one step at a time.
Her pace was slow but radiated pressure.
With each step, Lorin could feel her heartbeat accelerate against her will.
This version of her niece was not cute.
Not at all.
She didn’t like it.
“I… I… None of your business!”
Lorin stammered, unable to come up with a proper excuse.
What was she supposed to say—that she was searching for her divine dragon?
Phyllis folded her arms, her gaze sharp and commanding as she looked down at Lorin from above.
Her voice boomed with authority: “Change back. Now.”
Her tone left no room for argument.
“Huh?!”
Lorin’s eyes flew open wide in disbelief, staring at her like she’d gone mad.
Furrowing her brow, she shouted, “You’re controlling this too?!”
Then, she shook her head violently, her messy hair flailing around.
Her face turned red with frustration as she cried out, “No way!”
She had finally transformed back—what was the point of being stuck in a 1.4-meter-tall body?
Even when she was angry, people treated her tantrums like childish pouting.
She couldn’t take it anymore…
What drove her over the edge was that the balding old man at the beginner’s magic academy even mistook her for a child!
She was not a child…
Though the room was quite large and the air-conditioning array hadn’t even been activated, Lorin still found it oddly cool.
Just then, Phyllis’s expression hardened.
The aura of a seventh-tier mage flared around her and locked directly onto Lorin.
“I’ll say it one more time… change. Back.”
“Okay, okay!”
…
A silver-haired vampire girl wandered aimlessly through the palace halls.
Naturally, this little girl was none other than Lorin—after being “corrected” by Phyllis.
“Damn that Phyllis. She’s like the police of the entire Pacific Ocean. I can’t even use my own body without her meddling.”
Lorin muttered gloomily, her mind spinning with frustration.
She was increasingly baffled—why did her transformation magic have such a ridiculous flaw?
She’d have to revise the spell’s design.
Still, she was surprised that Phyllis had approached her today to ask whether she wanted to participate in a joint exchange event between the Holy City’s Magic Academy and the Blood Domain’s Advanced Magic Academy.
She vaguely remembered Claire had told her to keep an eye on the Holy City’s Academy as well.
Normally, as a grand archmage, Lorin didn’t care for such trivial schoolyard matters.
But since Claire had spoken up, it wouldn’t hurt to pay the place a visit…
That was for a few days later, though.
For now, she needed to stop by the alchemy workshop and make a few upgrades to her Rubik’s cube device.
She also had a dignity-stakes duel coming up with Phyllis.
She’d also heard that Mr. Hode was an alchemist of considerable rank—someone who had long stepped into the higher realms of the craft.
Maybe he could answer a few of her questions.
In the dim and quiet hallway, Lorin walked briskly, not paying attention to her surroundings.
That was when a little girl suddenly bounced out from around the corner.
She had her silver hair tied into two adorable pigtails, each adorned with butterfly bows that danced cheerfully with her every skip.
She was humming a tuneless melody and holding a brightly colored balloon, completely oblivious to the oncoming Lorin.
“Thump!”
They collided head-on.
“Oww!”
The little girl’s clear voice rang through the corridor.
She clutched her head with both hands, her bright eyes instantly filling with tears.
Teary-eyed, she looked up at Lorin.
But instead of focusing on the pain, she blinked her large eyes and asked in a soft, milky voice, “Big sister, are you okay?”
Lorin, finally coming back to her senses, shook her head.
“I’m fine. But… you might want to stop saying that to people.”
“Huh?”
The little girl looked utterly confused.
Was there some kind of curse attached to that sentence?
Still, she nodded obediently, then asked, “Big sister, do you know where my second grandpa is?”
At that, Lorin took a better look and suddenly realized why the girl seemed so familiar…
Ina?!
Just last night, Phyllis had taken her to see a mysterious symbol connected to that organization—and had happened to mention this little girl.
Phyllis’s tone hadn’t been too kind.
From the sound of it, she’d already had to clean up after this kid at least ten times.
“Hm? Big sister?”
Seeing Lorin frozen in place, Ina waved a hand in front of her face.
Lorin finally snapped out of her daze.
“You mean Mr. Hode?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Ina nodded earnestly.
Lorin was puzzled.
Ina seemed perfectly sweet and well-behaved.
Where was the demon-child personality that Selina and the bald geezer had described?
“Well, come with me then…”
Lorin said, figuring she might as well take the kid along.
She was heading that way anyway and could check in on that future alchemy prodigy Blanche while she was at it.
After all, last night when Ina had been found, the Wilson family had only whispered a few words into the Duke’s ear.
And the Duke had immediately opened his eyes—nearly giving the doctors a heart attack in the process.
Upon hearing the news, Hode had rushed overnight from the family estate back to the palace’s alchemy workshop.
The man hadn’t been able to sit still for even a minute.
…
“Gold-rimmed trash can… take this academic garbage and get out!”
Hode’s voice thundered from behind the door, full of raw fury.
“So I rushed back in the middle of the night just to eat this, huh?!”
Lorin gulped and quickly stepped aside, letting Ina approach the door.
Knock knock knock!
Ina knocked gently and called out sweetly, “Second Grandpa!”
“Get lo—Oh! Hahaha, Ina, you’re here!”
The door flew open to reveal a rosy-cheeked Hode, who immediately scooped Ina up into his arms.
“What brings you to Grandpa’s lab today?”
“Hm? Princess?”
Just then, Hode spotted Lorin and blinked in surprise.
“It’s nothing,” Lorin replied.
“I just came to check on Blanche, and maybe ask you a few questions.”
Hode’s eyes lit up in understanding.
“So you’re the one who fixed that rebellious disciple of mine’s alchemy report, aren’t you?”
Lorin scratched her cheek and nodded sheepishly.