Catching sight of her own improper, embarrassing pose in the mirror, she flushed like a shy schoolgirl and switched into a W-sit on the spot.

To become a proper girl, she had to understand her own shape first.

She had to accept she couldn’t plop down or squat anywhere like before.

She had to make sure Ouyang knew the era of that boy was over.

She steadied herself on the flat mirror and looked around. Mirrors, everywhere.

Left hand on the mirror, right hand feeling ahead, Ouyang took halting steps through the maze.

Without the bandages binding her chest, her focus drifted from her feet. Her breasts felt like two gummy candies, bouncing slightly with each step. The first-time sensation made her deeply uncomfortable.

The mirror right beside her showed her shy, nervous face in brutal clarity. She looked bullied, pitiful, almost heartbreakingly soft.

She’d never seen that expression on herself. It scared her.

Watching herself stumble so miserably, Ouyang kept telling herself this was the price for living freer later. It wouldn’t be for nothing.

After circling again and again only to end up back where she started, she bent over in pain. Two deep red marks marred her heels. The new heels had rubbed her raw.

Enduring the sting, she snapped through clenched teeth:

“Didn’t you say these wouldn’t rub? I’m bleeding. It hurts like hell!”

“New heels always rub the first time. And you’re not walking in them right. Of course it’ll hurt.”

“Aren’t you a boy? If you’re a man, you can handle a little pain, right?”

Claudia’s bullying tone kept droning from the loudspeaker. It grated on Ouyang’s nerves.

She was the one who put Ouyang in heels like a girl. Now she wanted her to tough it out like a man.

Not a single kind word. Ouyang glared up at the ceiling and muttered, seething:

“Damn it… you freak, I’ll remember this.”

“What were you mumbling? Cursing me again? Want out or not? Believe it or not, I’ll leave you here to rot!”

Even with the Blood Clan body that healed her heels, the repeated sting and long hours standing in heels broke her down. Ouyang leaned her cheek to the mirror and slid down, helpless and sad.

She really couldn’t walk anymore.

She stared weakly at her slender, cold legs. She only wanted to curl up and let them rest. She had no wish to take another step.

She honestly admired the girls who could wear heels until night. She’d never heard them complain of pain or fatigue.

Forget becoming a girl—right now, Ouyang felt she couldn’t even touch the threshold.

“That’s it for today.”

Claudia’s voice came through the loudspeaker, stern. She sounded completely dissatisfied.

“Fail. You’ll practice again tomorrow. No next module until you learn to leave the maze in heels.”

“What the—again?!”

“Cut the swearing. Cute girls don’t cuss, got it?”

A faint sadness crossed Ouyang’s face. She stared at the ceiling, crushed at the thought of doing this again tomorrow.

“How do I get out?”

The words had barely left her when sharp clicks sounded all around. The vast mirror maze was one big mechanism.

A straight path to the exit opened up, simple as that.

“Why are you still sitting there? Move!”

“But I…”

She wanted to say she couldn’t walk. She bit her lip and forced herself up.

She yanked off the heels she never wanted to wear again and tossed them aside with disgust. Bracing on the mirrors, she hobbled out of the maze.

In her heart’s little notebook, Ouyang drew a line. Every grievance from these days would be paid back double to that hateful Bloodkin Prince. She’d rip him to shreds.

Back in the safety of familiar men’s clothes, she sprawled on a cool bench. She stared up at the gray-green shade. Tired. Heartsore. Silent.

She couldn’t shake Claudia’s cold, helpless eyes. As she left, Claudia had snapped, “You’re the worst student I’ve ever had!” Then she walked out of Xiaomo on her own.

Brother Long told Ouyang not to take it to heart. Still, sitting on the bench, life felt even more hopeless.

“First time I’ve seen you look half-dead.”

The familiar, annoying voice made her refuse to even open her eyes. Sulky, Ouyang grumbled:

“Before I die, I’m killing your Bloodkin Prince.”

“Killing him won’t help you.”

The young bartender patted her shoulder, gentle but firm. “Don’t make life so hard. Just give in. Our Bloodkin Prince will take care of you for life.”

“I’m not letting some man keep me.”

“Don’t forget, you’re not who you were.”

Black shades hid the bartender’s odd eyes. He shot out a hand and clamped her jaw, holding her like a frail little pet he could crush at any time.

His gaze was deadly serious. No joke in it.

“I. Don’t. Need. The reminder. Hands off. You’re annoying.”

She shoved his hand away. Even resting quietly, she had to be bothered. It pissed her off.

“I don’t even go to your café, and you buzz around me like a loud mosquito…”

Wait…

Something in his eyes wasn’t the same. She remembered him mentioning a special scent on her.

She pushed him back on reflex and stared, tense. He wore an expression she’d never seen, an intense hunger driving him toward her.

“Hold on, don’t tell me you’re—”