Chapel.
The flickering candlelight danced on the nun’s habit the girl had taken off and placed on the edge of the bed.
Seated on a slightly deformed ergonomic chair, the girl’s pupils shimmered as she stared intently at the mirror directly opposite her delicate face.
The mirror, adjusted by her, reflected a scene from another room—someone’s high, straight nose, clean and slender fingers, and the gentle rise and fall of his flat stomach as he slept…
Every little detail, every inch and fraction of him, was clearly visible.
As usual, after finishing her activities, the girl quietly watched him sleeping in the mirror.
This time, however, she was too lazy to wipe the chair, so a faint water stain—almost dried—remained just below the seat.
“This young master’s irresistible body… just a touch makes it hard to resist…”
“Eh~? Oops, I might have pressed too hard. The chair’s deformation looks a bit extreme…”
“But I’m too lazy to fix it now.”
“Who told him to be such a fool? He never notices even when he comes over.”
XÄ« murmured softly to herself, setting her legs down to rest on the chair’s armrests.
With slender fingers, she lifted a feather quill from an ink bottle and, letting it naturally float down onto the paper crane spread across her desk, slowly began to write.
The night was deep and quiet.
The girl carefully drew, outlining stroke by stroke the image of Lin Nuo, unconscious and asleep just moments ago in the bathroom.
As the sketch took shape, she instinctively slid a finger into her soft lips and gently sucked on it…
Oh, right~
That was the very finger she had deliberately slipped into the young master’s mouth while feeding him grapes, a finger that tasted different.
“I remember the bad woman who stalked the young master before can now openly give him gifts and even wash his clothes…”
“How many cheating cats is this now?”
“Why are there always so many people trying to get close to you…? I’ve only not watched you for two days…”
By her side, in the trash bin, among some discarded papers, lay the pastries and honey-glutinous rice balls that the young master had awkwardly given her just now…
Now completely cold.
XÄ« threw them all away as soon as she entered.
How could she possibly eat what other girls made for the young master?
Even if it was something he made specially for her, the food carried memories of the Princess, which was unacceptable.
Not even the slightest trace could be allowed.
She truly wished to erase this food from his memories…
The act of pretending before Lin Nuo—the way he pouted just from sucking on her finger—had long been swept away.
XÄ«’s expression was like a tranquil lake; under the candlelight, she continued to draw lightly, her focused demeanor both pure and elegant.
“The young master’s always been wary of the female servants around him…”
“I saw it the first time I met him eight years ago…”
XÄ« spoke with a hint of fondness: “Pretending to dislike him on purpose, he fell for it immediately… such a cute, obedient young master. But I really don’t understand why he lets his guard down around Amidina and her sister.”
“So, is his refusal to accept other girls a deliberate defense against someone inside the manor…”
“No matter what…”
XÄ«’s gaze swept again over the face in the mirror:
“It’s really unsettling to see him not reject a second girl besides me…”
But soon, sniffing through the mirror at the sleeping figure, XÄ«’s expression softened again.
“The young master must have been tricked by a bad girl. He didn’t notice even after I fooled him for eight years; he’s just too gullible…”
“Silly, just like when he was a child.”
“The only pity is that they made him forget…”
A trace of wistfulness flashed through XÄ«’s eyes—a sorrow for what beautiful things had been lost.
“But, that doesn’t stop you from becoming completely mine very soon~”
She lifted the finished drawing in her hand to admire it.
The lifelike sketch depicted Lin Nuo’s unconscious state from earlier today.
A faint smile curved her lips.
To make the drawing more realistic, she had even included the arm she had secretly used to do certain things to him while he was unconscious…
“The young master will probably have a warm nose when he wakes up. Hmph.” XÄ« smiled, though her young master never knew what had happened.
The Mirror Gazing Technique had allowed her to secretly observe him since he was ten years old.
The Paper Crane Technique had long measured every inch of his body late into the night.
When the young master was injured and unconscious for years, she could already do whatever she wanted to him—strip him naked… slip under his covers… press close to smell and taste him… even bind his hands with a belt while he slept…
Hmph~
“How could someone new compare to me who has been by his side for eight years? I know every one of the young master’s preferences.”
“I’m intimately familiar with his entire body…”
“I even stabbed the guy who hurt the young master five hundred times before letting him die…”
Recalling this, XÄ« pulled out a blank sheet of paper for a final inspection.
It was the paper she had used to test the young master’s body while he was unconscious, and it still looked clean and white—free of the dark aura of the Blood Leech Curse.
“The poison he tried to give me must have been pure Blood Leech Curse, so there shouldn’t be any signs of it activating yet…”
“Hm, I almost forgot—the Sublimation Ability has a stripping effect.”
“So, the toxin’s infinite growth trait was actually transferred from the young master’s body to her own using purification. She’s willing to bear this for me… Hmph.”
“Squeak—”
XÄ« slid her chair back and held her drawing carefully with both hands, her gaze growing even more obsessed.
“But, something that doesn’t belong to her will never belong to her.”
“Even the slightest glance… no, even the slightest thought of looking is too much for her to hope for.”
Holding the drawing, she climbed directly onto the bed.
Remembering the feel of the young master’s skin in the bathroom, XÄ«, still unclothed, crawled under the covers, her breath growing tight.
Closing her eyes, her mind filled with the image of his lips—so inviting a kiss—the unique, endlessly intoxicating cedar scent on his body, the warmth radiating from him, and that face, soft and comfortable to touch…
She couldn’t help but want to tie him up and watch him be ruthlessly tormented by her…
Under the covers, XÄ«’s smooth legs instinctively squeezed the quilt and rubbed it.
“I really want…”
“Has the cheating cat even touched you…? It’s so hard to guess, my young master.”
Her gaze burned hotter as she stroked the face of the man in her drawing.
“You’d better not let her touch you anywhere, or even after you’ve become mine, I’d still… be angry.”