“I... I don’t want to... wuwuwu, don’t do this, please don’t...”

Liang Lin couldn’t stop the tears. She was crying so hard she was a complete mess. “I’m not choosing. I don’t want to choose either one.”

“There’s no such nice deal in this world. Since you don’t want to choose, I’ll choose for you.”

Liang Di pushed her wheelchair to the door. One hand was already on the handle. “Then I’m opening it, and letting the knights outside, and the maids too, see what you look like right now~”

No!

Absolutely no one could see her like this. So pathetic. So ridiculous.

Humiliated tears streamed down Liang Lin’s face. Even her voice was trembling.

“P-please... please...”

“Your voice is so quiet. Beg me as loudly as you were yelling at me earlier. Why’d you stop? So that means you really do want me to open the door, huh?”

“Y-you... don’t push it too far!”

A trace of warning entered Liang Di’s gaze. “I only have to pull lightly, and the door will open, you know~”

“No! You can’t, I... I’m begging you, I’m begging you... please, please! Liang Di!”

“What are you begging me for? Say it out loud. If you don’t say it, how am I supposed to know how to help you?”

“I’m begging you... please don’t open the door. Please hide me. Please make this state I’m in end.”

Liang Di nodded in satisfaction, then called out toward the door, “Please wait a little longer. I’m alone in the room right now, lying on the bed. You know how my legs are, so it’s not convenient for me to get down. I had Belica lock the door from the outside. Go get the key from her and come in.”

After saying that, Liang Di stood up from the wheelchair, walked over to Liang Lin, bent down, and scooped her up sideways in one motion. She stuffed her into the inner side of the bed, covered her with a thick blanket, then climbed under the blanket herself.

Through a sliver of light, Liang Lin saw Liang Di raise a finger in a shushing gesture.

“Big Sis, they’re about to come in. Don’t make any weird sounds, okay~ It’s not that I’m not helping you. This toxin leaves the body really slowly. At the very least, it’ll take five minutes. We can’t exactly make everyone wait outside for five minutes, right~”

A devil! She really was a devil!

Liang Di was very pleased with Liang Lin’s little expression of shame and fury. The moment she heard the lock turn, she quickly pulled the blanket into place, completely hiding Liang Lin’s body. She herself sat on the bed, covering her lower half, with only her head and upper body exposed.

“Miss, we searched every room and found nothing suspicious.”

The captain of the knights stood at the front, looking deeply embarrassed, his face full of apology. “This is our failure. We weren’t able to investigate thoroughly.”

Liang Di’s face was filled with sorrow and loneliness. She shook her head. “It’s fine. I don’t blame you. If anyone is to blame, it’s the person who drugged my father. They were too vicious. So what should we do now? We’ll just have to keep investigating...”

“Miss, that night, did you see anyone entering or leaving the Duke’s room?”

Liang Di shook her head.

“That night...”

Under the blanket, Liang Lin suddenly twitched. Liang Di immediately slipped a hand beneath the blanket and grabbed her hand. She could feel Liang Lin’s breathing growing heavier, to the point that she was about to moan.

That wouldn’t do.

So a tentacle slipped out and pushed into Liang Lin’s mouth, plugging it shut. Only then was she not exposed.

“That night, my sister Liang Lin and I stayed in my room the whole time, just talking. We didn’t pay any attention at all to Father’s side. Sigh... that was our failure as daughters too.”

“Understood, Miss. Next, we’ll go question the others.”

All the knights withdrew. Head maid Belica was the last to leave. Before she went, she gave the bed a meaningful glance.

That little one is right inside the bed.

“Lady Meredith... Miss Liang Di is becoming more and more like you. It makes me so happy.”

Belica touched the pendant hanging before her ample chest.

“If only you were still alive. Then I could be your dog again. That feeling... I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.”

Once the door closed, Liang Di threw back the blanket, pulled out the tentacle, and let Liang Lin’s little head emerge.

With tender affection, she stroked Liang Lin’s forehead, already damp with sweat. “Big Sis, you should really thank me just now. If I hadn’t covered your mouth in time and pinned down your hand, your little situation... would’ve been discovered.”

“Heh. Then I really should thank you so much.”

Liang Lin sounded thoroughly annoyed.

“I was honestly scared I might suffocate you to death just now. Mm-hm~ Looks like the toxin’s almost completely gone.”

Looking at Liang Lin’s increasingly clear eyes, Liang Di lay down beside her.

“Remember what you said just now, okay~ I only helped you because you begged me. Don’t think that just because this crisis is over, your crisis is completely gone too, and start entertaining those crooked little thoughts of yours about killing me.”

Liang Di turned her head and stared at Liang Lin. “Remember this. You can’t beat me. In this life, forever, it’ll always be like this.”

Liang Lin opened her mouth, then stopped, wanting to speak but holding back. She seemed to have gotten smarter and didn’t argue again. Right now, there were only the two of them in the room. If she kept talking back, who knew what unpleasant things might happen next.

Liang Di pulled the blanket aside and lay down smoothly.

“Liang Lin-jiejie, don’t you feel even a little nostalgic for how that felt just now?”

“No.”

“Oh~”

Liang Di dragged out the sound, obviously not believing her.

“Then don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”

By now, the toxin in Liang Lin’s body had mostly cleared, and her mind had recovered its reason. She thought for a moment, then asked, “What kind of monster are you, exactly?”

“I’m a person. Can’t you tell? I’m a person of flesh and blood.”

Liang Di grabbed Liang Lin’s hand and placed it against her own face, letting her feel her warmth.

Like a startled bird, Liang Lin instantly snatched her hand back.

“A person? People don’t grow octopus arms.”

“Haha~ That’s called a tentacle.”

A tentacle?

Whatever. It was a monster, and that was that.

“I’m... going back to my room first.”

Liang Lin shakily sat up.

But Liang Di grabbed her wrist at once. “You’re not sleeping with me tonight? Didn’t you ask me to sleep with you last time?”

“It’s not raining today.”

Liang Lin didn’t have the strength to curse at her, nor the mood.

“Mmm... mm-hm~ Fine~”

It didn’t matter. No rush. Prey tasted better after being tormented and played with.

Liang Lin walked out of Liang Di’s room and returned to her own.

Click.

“Wuwuwu...”

Leaning against the door, Liang Lin slowly slid down, until she was kneeling on the floor, sobbing as tears poured out like a spring. She raised a hand and wiped at her face messily. Her lips were pressed into a curved pout, aggrieved beyond words.

So humiliating. It was really too humiliating...

“Liang Di, just you wait... just wait...! I’ll kill you. I swear I’ll kill you!”