After Aer left, silence pooled like dusk water, and Alicia and Ling finally had the room to themselves. Alicia let the caged animal in her chest snap its leash. Before Ling could blink, Alicia swept her down like a warm storm, hands circling her back, squeezing tight—a fierce, bone-deep hug.

Seriously, do you know how worried I was—my heart a drum in a storm? Why do you always make your sister worry, you little menace?!

Ling’s mind went blank, heat and chill tangling like wind and fire; she froze for two beats, eyes wide as moonlight.

Uh… yeah… I know I messed up… but look, I came back in one piece, didn’t I?

Mhm. You’re safe… that’s enough.

Um… Alicia-sis, about before… I’m sorry…

Alicia didn’t take the apology at once; the air cooled like shade under bamboo, and Ling’s nerves tightened like strings on a zither.

After a long silence long as a held breath, Alicia finally spoke, voice soft as falling ash. Then as compensation, can I make one request?

Mm…

Just one request felt light as a feathered punishment, and Ling didn’t think to refuse.

Then… just call me sister. No need to add Alicia, okay?

Ling blinked, surprise rippling like rings in a pond. Only a change of address?

…Sister.

Wish granted, Alicia’s arms tightened, warmth flowing between them like shared sunlight through paper screens.

Mm. Welcome home.

Ling wrapped her arms around Alicia’s back in return, and savored the heat like winter hands around hot tea.

Mm. I’m back.

No one knew how long they stayed like that, time drifting like petals on a stream. When Remi and Flan finally returned, they found the two still locked in a hug. In the end, Flan padded forward and patted their backs, light as a sparrow’s tap, and they parted.

So where did you two go?

Alicia eyed the heap of wild fruit cradled in Remi and Flan’s arms, confusion rising like mist over a field.

Remi scratched the back of her head, eyes sliding aside like fish in a brook, not daring to meet Alicia’s gaze.

N-nothing. Flan and I saw… uh… a sneaky guy on the road. We thought we should bring him back, so we chased him!

Flan jumped in at once, words tumbling like marbles on a floor.

Yeah yeah! Sis is right. That guy was slippery! He ditched us, so hateful! If we’d caught him, we’d make his backside bloom red like a chrysanthemum!

Remi bobbed her head hard, forcing fury onto her face like paint on a mask. Credit where it’s due; their acting was solid as stage lacquer.

Alicia combed her memory like fingers through reeds. As Remi said, they had vanished; her attention had drifted like smoke, so she missed their exit. But…

Then what’s with all the fruit in your arms?

The two little culprits froze, the shine draining from their eyes like lanterns snuffed. Flan moved first. She crammed her fruit into her mouth, then shoved Remi’s fruit in too. Her cheeks bulged half a head wide, a balloon that somehow didn’t pop, and she still tried to talk.

Whah ar yoh even shayin’?

Ling couldn’t bear the farce. She slipped to Remi’s side like a shadow, gripped her shoulder, and leaned in with a warm breath like spring wind. Remi trembled; sweat beaded on her cheek like morning dew.

Don’t move. Let me taste it—does it taste like lying?

A small pink tongue flicked out, quivering in the air like a curious snake. It drifted toward the glistening beads on Remi’s face. In the corner of her eye, Remi watched it draw near, and regret burst open like a cracked seed.

—Mom… I’m about to be defiled by a pervert…

That was Remi’s last coherent thought.

But the dreaded touch never came; no wet trail skated across her cheek. Instead, the light behind her lids dimmed, as if a cloud crossed the sun.

She opened her eyes, hesitant. Flame-red hair streamed like fire in wind—Alicia stood before her. Also familiar: Ling, whose tongue Alicia pinched between two fingers. No—Remi decided she didn’t know this person.

Shish… shishter… legoh… (Sister, let go.)

Having your tongue pinched is misery; Alicia’s fingers held like iron chopsticks, a touch of pressure blooming pain, tears welling like glass rain, real or not.

Alicia’s eyes had gone winter-cold, frost over a lake. At times like this, even Ling’s cutest tricks melted like snow on iron—useless.

So. Explain. Why did you go straight to teasing Remi the moment you got back? Don’t you know she already has a household?

Hearing that, Remi’s ears flushed red like maple leaves. She stumbled to explain, words flapping like startled sparrows.

It’s not a household! She’s my sister! A sister being nice to her sister—how’s that a wife?!

Then came a stream—A sister is a sister! Flan is just my sister!—nonsense like wind-chimes in a gale. Sadly, while Remi bristled like a cat, Alicia and Ling ignored her; the trial marched on like a drumline.

Alicia pulled Ling in close, lifting the hand that pinched her tongue a little higher. For Alicia, it was a small raise; for Ling, it was a mountain. She rose on tiptoe, chin tilted to the ceiling like a flower seeking light. Sweat slid from her brow in thin streams, rain she couldn’t wipe away.

Cold-blooded villain Alicia showed no mercy, no soft petal in sight. She propped Ling’s chin with one hand. Fire-red pupils locked onto Ling’s scattered gaze, big-sister authority ringing like a temple bell.

Little Ling-chan. What kind of punishment do you want to accept?

Daemon. A pure Daemon.

That soul-hooking voice snapped through Ling’s mind like a silk whip. Not those flimsy fiends of the Underworld, but the real thing, coiled behind a smile.

Cold sweat streamed from her forehead like a cracked spring. Her heart sank like a stone into deep water. Hope stepped out of her body like a departing guest. What waited ahead was simple—and it was terror.