In the early morning, a golden halo drifted through the gauze window and spilled onto Mo Zhi’s cheek.
She squeezed her brows together and slowly awoke.
The room was dim.
The bed’s gauzy canopy had been deliberately drawn, and even the window was tightly shut, letting only the faintest trace of golden light spill onto the bed.
Mo Zhi’s hair was messy, and the white bedsheets beneath her resembled white paper stained with ink.
The black marks were soft and delicate, like blooming black flowers, beautiful and captivating.
Her sleeping posture was somewhat wild; her fair, jade-like long legs curled up, arms flung to either side above her head, sometimes even reaching under the covers to scratch her belly.
The silk bedding was smooth and soft, yet had become a bit disordered because of the way she slept.
Both her legs poked out from the other end of the quilt, making the covers look like a white dress folded from wrinkled paper.
When the golden light fell upon the bedsheet, it lent the girl an air of sanctity.
If anyone saw her by chance, they would think she was a saint from some foreign land, who had fallen prey to the lust of an evil Demon King and been imprisoned in this sunless mansion, suffering the Demon King’s endless torment every night, falling ever deeper into hell.
And in truth, that wasn’t too far from the mark.
She let out a hoarse sound, her voice dreamy as she spoke: “Windsor, what time is it now…”
“…Windsor?”
As if remembering something, she suddenly opened her eyes.
A strange ceiling…
“No!”
She bolted upright in bed, looking around—the room was definitely not her home.
Scenes from last night flashed through her mind again, and she finally remembered her purpose.
“That bastard!!”
Lantis was nowhere to be seen, and her own clothes had been taken somewhere.
Mo Zhi was completely naked at the moment.
She must have done this to keep me from going to look for Windsor!
But just missing some clothes—could that stop her?
She wrapped herself in the quilt, got out of bed, found Lantis’s wardrobe, and opened it to find a row of purple Lolita Dresses.
Mo Zhi was stunned for a moment.
Did this person secretly wear such gaudy clothes?
Without thinking much, she grabbed one and clumsily put it on.
It took her a long while before she finally figured out how to wear the thing.
The light, floating hem of the skirt made Mo Zhi blush.
With every step, the layers of the skirt rippled like waves on a lake.
When this dazzling Lolita Dress was put on Mo Zhi, she looked as exquisite as a porcelain doll.
Surprisingly, the dress fit perfectly, as if it had been tailor-made for her.
“…Wait.”
It was tailor-made for her!
With Lantis’s bust size, there was no way she could fit into this dress!
And not even a single piece of underwear—the woman must have done it on purpose!
Mo Zhi finally understood she’d been played.
Still, having clothes was better than going without.
With this in mind, Mo Zhi tightened the dress a little more.
Next was figuring out how to get out.
She glanced at the clock. It was exactly seven thirty.
Lantis was probably in morning court right now.
She had to hurry out before morning court ended.
Mo Zhi went to the door and tried the handle.
As she expected, it wouldn’t open.
The door was locked tight, and she could faintly see magical runes at the base of the door.
Mo Zhi guessed it must be a barrier spell.
She scratched at it with her claws, but found that the runes seemed engraved—impossible to damage.
If she couldn’t go through the door, then she’d go out the window!
Places like eaves, windowsills, and walls were where cat demons like her could truly show their skills.
With this in mind, she quickly went to the window and drew back the curtain.
Outside was a bright and gentle day—the perfect weather for an escape game.
She opened the window and leaped out, landing lightly from dozens of meters up.
“You really thought you could trap me?”
She dusted off her hands and ran toward the city gates.
Once back among her kin, she ignored their greetings and rushed straight home.
The moment she entered, she began preparing supplies to head to the human realm.
Since it was the imperial princess’s grand wedding, Windsor must have gone to the royal capital.
She was so frail—whether she could even get into the human territory was a problem.
The thought that Windsor might already have been caught by the guards, even possibly in mortal danger, made Mo Zhi all the more anxious.
“Wait for me, Windsor. I’ll come save you!”
She shouldered her pack and was about to set off when a cool, clear voice rang out in her mind.
‘Idiot. Even after being tricked, you still don’t learn.’
The voice was cold and transcendent, like a long-silent snowy mountain, never showing the slightest ripple.
Clearly it was her own voice, yet somehow it had a tone she never expected.
“Can you people stop popping out all of a sudden?”
Mo Zhi grumbled, annoyed.
“You think I want to? If I hadn’t shown up, you’d have been toyed with as a fool again.”
“What do you mean?”
“…If I could control the body right now, I’d slap you awake so you could see if this world is actually real.”
“Wha, what do you mean?”
The voice in her head seemed completely exasperated by Mo Zhi’s cluelessness.
With a sigh, she spoke in a steady tone: “Of course it’s space magic, you idiot. Do I have to draw out the entire magic array for you? Idiot.”
Though her voice remained calm, Mo Zhi could tell she was truly angry.
“Space magic…”
Thud
Her pack fell to the ground.
She looked around in disbelief.
Everything in the house was so familiar—every brick, every tile, even the marks Windsor had carved with a knife at the bedside.
There was nothing out of place.
“This type of space magic is high-level. On page fifty-three of Qianwen Yilu, it’s recorded. The spell is called ‘Aspect Manifests from the Heart.’ Everything within the space develops according to what your subconscious believes is ‘correct.’ If you think there should be a brick or a tile, there will be one. If you think someone should greet you when you return, then they will appear.”
“Then—how did you figure it out?”
“The moment you subconsciously believed you could easily escape through the window, I realized it. What an idiot.”
Mo Zhi wanted to get angry at being called an idiot every other sentence since this voice appeared—so rude. But the urgent thing now was to escape, not dwell on it.
“If you know so much, do you know how to get out?”
The voice in her heart seemed to sigh, sounding like a teacher long frustrated with an unruly student: “Once you realize everything is fake, the space will soon reveal a flaw. For example, do you still think the world outside that door looks the way you remember it?”
Mo Zhi didn’t really get it, but she gently opened the door.
Outside was utter darkness.
“Jump down.”
“Jump down?!”
“Jump down!”
“Okay!”
Mo Zhi obediently did as told, hugged her knees, and jumped into the pitch-black void.
But the expected sensation of falling never came—instead, she landed on something soft.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself back in the Demon King’s bedchamber.
“Back…again?”
She rolled off the bed again, not bothering to cover her nakedness, and rushed to the wardrobe.
Still the same Lolita Dresses…
“Damn it… don’t tell me it’s all set up in advance.”
In the end, she put one on again.
So the problem returned—how to get out?
This time, the door was deadlocked, and even the window was protected by barrier magic.
“Place your palm on the window and recite after me.”
The voice in her mind sounded again. Mo Zhi obediently did as instructed.
After a long incantation, Mo Zhi found that the light of the barrier seemed to be fading.
“It’s working!”
“Focus. Don’t get distracted.”
After that reminder, Mo Zhi closed her eyes again and earnestly chanted along with the voice in her mind, reciting an unknown poem.
The glow of the barrier grew dimmer and dimmer, until at last it faded completely.
When the chanting ended, she gently pushed the window, and it opened easily.
“I did it!”
Mo Zhi shouted excitedly at the voice in her head, but there was no reply.
Silence returned to her mind.
Again…
She jumped down onto the lawn, even stamping her feet a couple of times for good measure.
“This time it has to be real…”