Rain came down like overturned buckets, exploding on the street in leaping spray.
Blood ran with the rain, a thin crimson stream; before it could kiss the ground, it vanished into the torrent.
A petite red‑haired girl lay pale at the door of the Moon Post Bookstore, rain drumming her soft, small frame like cold fingers.
Her dress was stained wine-red by blood, yet her small hands still clenched something.
Yue Liuyi pushed the door open; the scene rose like a dark painting before her.
“So—so much blood!”
“Kaka, hurry, let’s get her inside!”
“Woof!”
She’d considered it could be a trap, yet Yue Liuyi and Kaka still rushed to help, hearts beating like war drums.
The cold rain soaked the girl’s little dress; it clung to skin, a sheet of ice from crown to heel.
“A plank—there!”
Yue Liuyi grabbed a plank, and with Kaka she eased the red‑haired girl onto it like lifting a fallen sparrow.
She was light, easy to lift, yet Liuyi saw then how savage the wounds were.
Her front was pierced through, a gaping, blood-dark wound exposed. Her arms and elsewhere were torn, scored, and bruised.
Her small right arm was twisted by brute force, barely holding together like a splintered branch.
How cruel must the attacker be, to do this to a child?
For Yue Liuyi, the anger was deeper, a black tide under her ribs.
Because… the wounds matched LittleSnow’s—down to the last break.
“Was it the same hand? The same monster?”
Liuyi looked at the red‑haired girl with aching eyes—the same shattered right arm, the same chest pierced, the same cold method.
Exactly what that person used back on River God Star.
“H-have I… made it…?”
As if feeling Liuyi’s gaze, the girl knit her brows and forced her eyes open.
Her irises were pale violet, like lavender in dawn light, yet now dim, the color drained by pain.
“Don’t be afraid. You’re safe here now.”
She didn’t know what had happened or who the girl was; she only knew the pain was a storm inside that small body.
“Blue‑haired girl… Yue Liuyi, right? Th-that’s… good… then…”
In her haze, the red‑haired girl smiled, dazed, like a flower trying to open in rain.
“Huh? You know me…?”
“Mm…”
As she smiled, a bamboo tube slid from her left hand and rolled across the floor like a reed on a stream.
“What’s this…?”
“The lit…tle one… can… be saved…”
Liuyi didn’t wait for an answer; the girl’s eyes eased shut, and in those pale violets lingered a fragile hope.
Her breathing smoothed, like ripples settling.
Her heartbeat slowed, each beat drifting farther apart, like oars losing rhythm.
“Woof!? Is she—dead!?”
Kaka’s mouth gaped in fright, a shiver running through his bark like winter wind.
“No, not yet! Kaka, help me—onto the sofa!”
Liuyi and Kaka hurried, lifting the wounded child onto the sofa like carrying a wounded bird.
With Kaka’s help, she settled the red‑haired girl onto the cushions.
Rain and blood mingled, a murky red that seeped into the fabric, staining the sofa a dark wine.
“Woof? What do we do, what do we do!”
Kaka’s tail thrashed like a wind‑whipped banner, yet he had no way to help.
“Leave it to me.”
Yue Liuyi pressed her right hand to the girl’s brow, like laying a leaf on still water.
“Ugh… these wounds are grave.”
As a World Tree Maiden, Liuyi held a sense for life beyond ordinary reach; one touch told the girl’s condition.
No doubt—the same pattern of injuries, and worse than Dixue’s back then.
Not just fractures; muscle torn in many places, blood pressure crashed, blood loss severe. Remaining conscious was a miracle.
Hard to imagine how she staggered to the Moon Post Bookstore, a candle in a gale.
Hard to imagine how she found the strength to knock at the door, knuckles tapping like hollow rain.
“I swear… I won’t let you die!”
In her mind flickered the girl’s struggle to live; Liuyi shut her eyes, feeling the ache like winter thorns.
She gathered every thread of magic and poured her power into the girl’s body, like spring water into parched earth.
Ordinary healing wouldn’t save her. But Liuyi’s life force was not ordinary; it was sap from the World Tree.
Even a pierced heart could wait—so long as the soul hadn’t left, the wounds would stop worsening.
Emerald light bloomed, warmth circling the thunder‑torn night.
But…
“Nngh…”
“Master! Are you okay?”
A blonde little girl rushed in to steady Liuyi; the world swayed, her strength draining like sand.
She’d only used a little life force, yet her body felt scooped hollow, limp as wet paper.
“Why… this shouldn’t… make me this tired…”
Darkness rimmed her vision; cold sweat beaded like rain on stone.
“Your clothes are still wet; you’ll catch a chill if you sweat. Kaka, go grab a change!”
“I’m f-fine… Kaka, first help me… carry her upstairs…”
“Woof?”
“She’s out of immediate danger, but she needs continued treatment… and…”
Liuyi clenched her teeth and stood, legs trembling like reeds.
If she guessed right…
she already knew who this red‑haired girl was.
