The midnight palace was unusually quiet, with fluorescent stones hanging from the eaves, emitting a faint light that added a touch of beauty to the entire sleeping chamber.
Inside the chamber, Baixi held Iris's arm tightly, her sleeping face peaceful, a smile lingering on her lips, as pure as a baby, making people feel tender-hearted.
Iris gently stroked Baixi's long hair and sighed in her heart, "Should I tell Baixi the true identity of the scarecrow? If she knows that the scarecrow is not real, she won't be so scared and won't cling to me to sleep."
But upon careful consideration, it would be better not to tell Baixi. Knowing her mischievous nature, she might help Federer improve the scarecrow, making it even more terrifying, and then go around scaring people with Federe.
At this moment, scenes of Baixi and Federer scaring people flashed through Iris's mind. It was estimated that these two would make the people of the imperial city panic.
"Oh well! Let's just keep it from Baixi for now, so as not to cause trouble." Iris sighed and shook her head.
Meanwhile, Federer had already awakened. It opened its gaping mouth and spit out the scarecrow, then jumped into the scarecrow's chest, manipulating it to move.
Essentially, Federer's stomach was a storage space that could hold many things.
The scarecrow dragged its battle scythe and steel claws, emitting an ear-piercing friction sound as it slowly walked along the corridor, seemingly tightening the nerves of its prey.
When it reached a door, it stopped in its tracks. It raised its scythe as if about to break down the door, but in the instant before the scythe swung down, it halted and stood in front of the door, pondering.
"This is... Her Majesty's... Not allowed..." Federer muttered in a low voice.
Behind the door, Baixi, who was sleeping, suddenly sat up in shock, feeling an infinite chill in her heart. She held Iris's arm tightly, trembling as she asked, "Mother... I had a nightmare! I dreamt that the scarecrow came!"
Iris patted her back gently and soothingly said, "Silly girl, the scarecrow is fake, how could it come?"
Upon hearing Iris's words, Baixi's emotions slightly stabilized, but she still felt fearful and dared not sleep. She remained in Iris's embrace, staying awake.
Just then, the door creaked open, and a gust of wind blew in, causing the white curtains to flutter. Baixi looked towards the doorway and saw a scarecrow made of yellowed straw and mechanical parts standing outside.
Baixi screamed in fright at the sight and quickly hid in Iris's embrace, clutching Iris's clothes tightly.
"Mother, it's the scarecrow, the scarecrow is here, let's run away!" Baixi panicked, her voice trembling.
This scarecrow was a gossipy one and would reveal some of its own secrets. If Mother were to know these secrets, she would surely face severe punishment. The most important thing was that when they were in the Ruined Land mainland, Baixi spent her days not training and instead followed her followers in causing mayhem.
Iris gently patted her back and said softly, "As long as I'm here, no one can harm you."
"Sob, sob, I'm scared, can't you kill it in one shot, Mother!" Baixi looked up with a worried expression, pleading softly.
Iris sensed that something was amiss in Baixi's words and asked, "Baixi, why do you want to kill this scarecrow?"
Without waiting for Baixi to answer, the scarecrow standing at the door spoke first, "Baixi..." The scarecrow suddenly made a sinister and eerie sound and slowly walked towards the bed, "The unhealthy comics are... under the bed."
"Oh no!" Baixi's heart sank to the bottom of the valley, and she collapsed in despair in Iris's arms.
"Federer's words cannot be taken lightly!" Iris's eyes narrowed, her tone becoming icy.
"Under the bed..." the scarecrow repeated its words from earlier, then turned and left, returning to the study to continue its slumber.
Baixi had provided too much power of fear to Federer. It needed to digest this energy to regain a portion of its demonic form.
Iris pushed Baixi aside, just as she was about to put on her slippers, Baixi clung tightly to her waist, not letting her go to her own room. "Mother, please don't go! I beg you!"
"Let go!" Iris reprimanded.
"Mother, please, I beg you, don't go..." Baixi cried with tears streaming down her face.
Iris activated the black flames in her body, causing her body temperature to rise rapidly. The scorching flames enveloped her, forcing Baixi to let go of her hand.
Then Iris put on her slippers and walked alone towards Baixi's bedroom. She deliberately controlled the temperature of the black flames, ensuring that she wouldn't burn Baixi's hand.
She pushed open the door to Baixi's bedroom, and the arrangement inside made her eyes narrow. She quickly approached the bed and indeed found a box under the bed.
The box was a plain cardboard box. Iris opened it to find several unhealthy comics inside, causing her heart to convulse violently.
"You, Baixi, after I confiscated one last time, went and bought a whole stack again!" Iris gritted her teeth, filled with anger.
Iris took these comics and angrily returned to her own room. When she pushed open the door, she saw Baixi kneeling on the floor, looking repentant.
"You've really got some nerve! How dare you read these unhealthy comics? I warned you last time, did you completely ignore what I said?" Iris glared at Baixi, and with a swing of her hand, she fiercely threw the "Great Orange Power" comic onto Baixi's head, saying angrily, "Look at what kind of rubbish you're reading! You have no sense of shame!"
Baixi, who was hit on the head, felt dizzy. She rubbed her sore forehead and said, "I'm sorry, mother. It won't happen again."
"No wonder you told me to go kill the scarecrow. So this is the source of your fear! Do you know that you're only nine years old this year? Yet you dare to read such unhealthy things! No wonder there was a period of time when you slept until late in the morning every day, it turns out you stayed up all night to read these unhealthy things." Iris was extremely angry about this matter.
Baixi kept her head down without uttering a word, allowing Iris to scold her. She had already been caught by her mother, and there was no use arguing.
"It's because I have been too lenient with you, that you've become so audacious as to touch my bottom line. Since being gentle with you has had no effect whatsoever, I can only discipline you strictly. Starting today, you won't get any pocket money from me, and I will confiscate the pocket money you had left. In addition, you will write me a ten-thousand-word self-reflection letter, and also copy the house rules twenty times." Iris pointed at Baixi's nose, sternly reprimanding her.
"I understand, mother," Baixi responded timidly.
"Take these pens and papers and go kneel in the courtyard to copy them," Iris pointed to the stone bench in the courtyard, then took out ten pens and a stack of manuscript paper from her storage space, "You have to copy the house rules one by one, you are not allowed to write with a few pens at once. Stand up only after you finish writing, and if you can't finish, keep kneeling. Your punishment doesn't end here."
Later, Iris burned all these unhealthy things into ashes in front of Baixi.
Baixi silently walked out of the house with a pen and paper, heading towards the stone bench in the courtyard.
Baixi's knees knelt on the cold stone bench, the white skirt was rubbed against, revealing snow-white slender legs.
She lowered her head and diligently wrote a self-criticism letter because she knew once her mother made a decision, it was difficult to change her mind. Her only hope was that this self-criticism letter could gain her mother's forgiveness.
Iris could see every move of Baixi through the window. "If you don't want others to know, don't do it. You must take responsibility for your mistakes. Repeated forgiveness will only undermine a mother's authority." Iris sighed inwardly and then took out a recording magical device to observe whether Baixi was kneeling to write self-criticism and copy the rules.
After doing all this, she lay in bed to rest, for she still had physical and spear training tomorrow.
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