“Mm~”
Liang Lai let out a soft hum once again from her lips, a sound like a feather gently brushing across Dolosa’s heart. It made her want to delve even deeper…
“Dolosa, what are your hands doing?”
Asterys’s voice suddenly rang out beside them, interrupting Dolosa’s restless little hands. Dolosa immediately snapped back to reality and pulled her hands away sharply.
“Cough!”
She coughed heavily, using it to cover her embarrassment.
“It’s nothing, just an unconscious reflex… I didn’t mean to.” She turned her face away awkwardly.
Asterys didn’t take it seriously.
“Then it’s my turn…”
If Liang Lai were still awake, she would probably think these kids were like leeches, always clinging to her lips, greedily drawing nourishment from her.
Delucia also wound her black, tentacle-like appendages around Liang Lai’s waist, feeling the warmth of her body.
The clothes were completely open, leaving only a little untouched.
Dolosa actually wanted to continue, but thinking that the others would also be feeding alongside her made her feel quite displeased, so she gave up.
She had already indulged enough today—she would wait for next time~
“That’s enough for now, Asterys. If you keep going… if you keep going, we’ll be crossing the line.”
Asterys slowly wiped the moisture from the corner of her mouth, looking meaningfully at Dolosa and pointed out bluntly,
“You actually want to keep her all to yourself, don’t you~”
Dolosa was stunned for a moment, then flushed with embarrassment and anger as she stood up straight.
“Don’t always guess what I’m thinking! Sometimes you take things way too far. Don’t you realize you’re the one who’s the worst?”
Asterys and Delucia were both taken aback by Dolosa’s sudden outburst.
Delucia, who had already slithered out from the shadows, did not have her sister’s patience.
Hearing that, she immediately got angry and was about to confront Dolosa’s hypocrisy, but Asterys grabbed her wrist.
“Alright, let’s leave it at that for today. I’m not planning to continue anyway.”
After saying that, Asterys pulled Delucia down to the bed, lying down next to Liang Lai.
“If you want to stay, you can lie on the inside,” Asterys said to Dolosa, her back turned as she lay on the outer edge.
Dolosa stood by the bed, silent for a long time.
Her pride told her it was inappropriate to get into bed right after arguing with someone, but another voice in her ear told her that if she got into bed, she could sleep beside the Saintess.
In the end, her pride lost out.
Dolosa awkwardly climbed over Asterys, Delucia, and Liang Lai, lying on the innermost side.
Though the space was small, she felt comforted because the scent of the Saintess was beside her.
“Liang Lai smells so nice…” Dolosa murmured.
Indeed, lying beside the person you like brought a sense of peace and happiness. Dolosa quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Liang Lai was awakened in the morning by being squeezed awake, then from heat.
She turned her head and saw Dolosa curled up behind her.
“Huh? When did this kid come over to sleep?” she muttered.
Since she still had to clock in, Liang Lai was used to waking up at this time every day.
She quietly helped cover Dolosa, Asterys, and Delucia with blankets, sighing at another fresh and clear morning.
Days seemed to pass so uneventfully, except that Illucy still occasionally got hurt, which puzzled Liang Lai.
How did this kid keep getting injured? She didn’t seem careless at all.
Illucy’s thoughts were simple: as long as she kept getting hurt over and over, the Saintess would always stay by her side, caring for her and protecting her.
“Someone who keeps getting hurt like that, not studying properly, and with their Crystallization Ability, they definitely won’t pass the Examination,” Dolosa said from upstairs, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“We don’t even need to intervene—Liang Lai will be disappointed in her anyway. In my opinion, she poses no threat.”
Asterys shook her head.
“You’re still thinking too shallowly. Liang Lai isn’t the kind of person to give up on a child so easily. If you think that, just wait and see—you’ll be proven wrong in half a month.”
Illucy’s first Examination was just two weeks away, and the other kids were eyeing her warily.
What they didn’t realize was that they shouldn’t be worried about whether Illucy would pass, but whether Liang Lai would keep picking up more kids to bring home.
After two peaceful months, two days before Illucy’s Examination, Dolosa saw Liang Lai return from work cradling a child who looked about her age.
“Ha—?”
Dolosa was stunned, trembling as she pointed at the child in Liang Lai’s arms.
“W-Where did you find this one?”
Liang Lai lowered her head guiltily. “She… got lost. She wandered to the church gate, and I happened to be sent on a round there, so I saw her… and I just… I…”
“…”
It was an unforeseeable situation.
Liang Lai was telling the truth; she hadn’t lied.
When she went out, she saw a pale, thin little girl leaning against the wall, eyes tightly shut, looking starved to death.
How could our kind Saintess just ignore that? She immediately picked up the child and hurried back to the Court of Purity.
Dolosa: “…”
“That’s all there is to it?”
“Yes, it’s really that simple.” Liang Lai nodded sincerely twice.
Dolosa: “…”
Heh.
She hadn’t looked after them for just one day, and yet she brought home another child.
What could she do? Dolosa had already adopted a laissez-faire attitude—if she was going to bring home kids, fine, sooner or later it would happen anyway…
Dolosa was now completely at peace.
Seeing her eldest daughter silent, Liang Lai immediately hugged the child tighter and headed to find a nun.
This time, the nun didn’t examine her for long and quickly determined the child was simply faint from hunger.
She fed her some water, then some millet porridge, and the child would recover.
Compared to Asterys, Delucia, and Illucy—who had been bullied—and Dolosa, who had suffered in the Underground Sanctuary, this newcomer’s situation was much better.
Liang Lai finally breathed a sigh of relief, poured a cup of warm water, cooked some porridge, and helped the girl in bed eat spoonful by spoonful.
After the warm water was finished, the girl finally opened her eyes.