“Mmm... what a rare patch of good weather!”
At first light, sunshine sifted through the leaves like gold lace, sprinkling the girl’s bedroom.
The teddy bear Ailuna had given her lay on the nightstand like a dozing cub.
The once-plain room bloomed with a girlish air, a frilly little dress hanging like a pennant of spring.
Half-eaten cookies lined up on a mat like neat little soldiers.
Dixue and Kaka were still snoring softly, like waves lapping a quiet shore.
Woof...
Kaka had curled into a tight ball like a cinnamon roll and let out a tiny bark; happy drool slid down her arm to the mat, glinting like dew.
The other silver-haired girl was worse— even in sleep, she was teasing Yue Liuyi like a mischievous breeze tugging a curtain.
“Ah~ Little Yue, you’re so H... Don’t rush, big sis will satisfy you~”
“And you call me H? You’re just as lewd, LittleSnow!”
She stretched like a waking cat, then sprang off the bed with light feet.
“I didn’t think just growing trees would change everything around us this much~”
The air at her nose carried a cool wetness, like a fresh stream; it was morning dew, long lost to the arid barrens of Linelor City.
In that clean breath of green, her mood loosened like a knot untying.
She slipped into a cute dress and walked to the sickbed, checking on Little Rose like a nurse tending a sapling.
Her breathing was steady, the fever had mostly gone, and the blood had clotted like frost sealing a crack; the little witch already looked much better.
“Ugh...”
As if feeling Yue Liuyi’s palm on her forehead, the red-haired loli murmured and blinked awake—lavender eyes unfurling like a sprig of lavender.
“W-where am I... is this... heaven?”
“Heaven wouldn’t be this bare. This is my place~ Welcome, Little Rose!”
“Eh?”
Seeing Yue Liuyi, the red-haired loli froze, then her eyes widened like lanterns. “I-it’s the angel big sis who saved me!!!!!!!!!”
“Um... I’m not an angel. I’m Yue Liuyi...”
“Mm... right. Someone like me wouldn’t get saved by an angel. I’d already accepted that...”
Little Rose said something bleak, her face falling like a cloud shadow.
“No, no, that’s not it. Little Rose works the hardest! If there were an angel, she’d save you too!”
Yue Liuyi reached out and ruffled the red hair; it was soft and springy, like petting a small woodland creature.
“So comfy... You really are an angel, I didn’t mistake it! You’re so pretty... oof!”
She tried to sit up like a spark leaping, but tugged a wound and winced, pain like a thorn catching skin.
“Don’t rush! Your body’s not healed...”
“Wounds... huh? Why am I hurt?”
“Huh? Little Rose, weren’t you attacked?”
“Oh! Right! That creep! He tricked me with ‘free coffee,’ then slipped me something! Damn!”
She clenched her fists like two stones, and of course tugged the wound again.
“Don’t move! Lie back...”
“Uuugh, that hurts!”
Under Yue Liuyi’s care, one stubborn tear slid from the corner of her eye like a bead of rain.
“Remember this: don’t eat food from strangers...”
Yue brought over some cookies, tucked a small blanket over Little Rose, and patted her hand as light as a moth’s wing.
“Remember this: don’t eat food from strangers...”
“Uh... I’m not scared of ordinary people. I, Rose the Great Witch, never feared anyone! But... that person...”
As she spoke, the red-haired loli’s face pinched with fear, like a candle guttering in a draft.
“Mm...”
Yue Liuyi had seen that person too, and dread ran cold as a shadow; even LittleSnow had fallen to that one’s hand.
No wonder Little Rose shook like a leaf.
Thinking so, Yue Liuyi leaned closer, warm as a hearth, trying to chase away her loneliness. After a shiver, Little Rose whispered like a pen scratching paper:
“Uu... I guess I can’t do black-eat-black anymore. It’s too easy to provoke a thorny beast.”
“Black-eat-black? I thought you were an intern ranger with the Rangers Lodge...?”
“Eep! I slipped up... Angel big sis, please don’t kick me out just ’cause I’m a bad girl! I’ll share part of my treasure map!”
“I won’t kick you out! And I don’t need any treasure map.”
“R-really...?”
“Of course! Mm... the Butterfly Snow President is here too. When she wakes, you can say hi~”
Following the point of Yue Liuyi’s finger, Little Rose spotted a silver-haired girl sawing logs on the bed like a snow fox curled in winter.
“Ah! C-could this be No. 233, Winter Leaf Road, Dreamwood Star?”
Little Rose blinked, puzzled, then the memory fell into place like a puzzle piece.
“Mm, of course! It’s my home. You can rest here till you’re healed.”
“Then... the letter. Did I deliver it?”
“Mm, it’s already been received.”
“Wow! Great, great! I did better than Little Dessert this time, and I’ll have money to buy a new broom! Huh... where’s my broom?”
“B-broom?”
“Yeah! I’ve used it for years, and it’s perfect. It even has pass-through-walls magic... Without it, I couldn’t have slipped onto the Galaxy Train to dodge the hit.”
“Oh! The kind you sit on and whoosh into the sky?”
Her words made Yue Liuyi recall how, in the western inner-ring civilizations, magic brooms once trended like wildflowers after rain.
A magical girl invented them, so they looked gorgeous, and girls loved them like shiny shells.
“Yup! Mine’s red, with rose patterns carved on it...”
“Oh, the one outside! I thought it was scrap. I’ll fetch it right now!”
