She’s… saying what…?

“The moment you recognized Octavial’s fairy tale book, I knew who you were.” Liang Di raised her hands and gently caressed Liang Lin’s cheek. “I haven’t changed at all. I still look exactly like I did as a child. So… why didn’t you react at all when you first saw me?”

“Have you forgotten me?”

Who?

Who is she?

Liang Di cupped Liang Lin’s chin and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her lips.

“I don’t want our first kiss to feel rushed. I wanted it… romantic.”

Liang Lin saw the tears glistening in Liang Di’s eyes.

In her memory, there really was such a little girl—always with tears in her eyes, pupils like a sea of sorrow. A little crybaby.

“Liang Di! What are you doing?!”

Following the voice, a cascade of vivid crimson hair whipped through the air, wild and untamed.

Light returned to Liang Lin’s gaze.

“Octavial…”

Octavial Wells—the lover of her elder sister, Siralili.

“Spire Lord…”

A flicker of clarity returned to Liang Di’s eyes. She released Liang Lin’s chin.

“Spire Lord… I don’t want her to hate me. This pain… it hurts so much.” Liang Di clutched the front of her dress, feeling a dull ache pulse in her chest.

Octavial stepped closer, tapped Liang Lin’s forehead lightly, and murmured, “Rest now… bro—no, little sister.”

No… I can’t… I mustn’t sleep.

But… why are my eyelids so heavy? Why is my vision fading? I can’t… I can’t sleep. I finally saw… a hint of hope.

Yet… my eyelids grew heavier still.

Sister… Siralili…

Liang Lin’s eyes slowly closed. Liang Di opened her arms and caught her as she went limp.

“Liang Di, you figured it out—why didn’t you tell us?” Octavial’s tone turned stern. Arms crossed, she fixed a steady gaze on Liang Di.

Liang Di didn’t turn. She simply stroked Liang Lin’s hair, cradling her gently.

“And you? When I returned to Lanvendi Manor, didn’t you also hide who Liang Lin really was? So… I guessed right, didn’t I?”

Octavial crouched with a groan, ruffling her crimson hair in frustration. She let out a heavy sigh, as if surrendering. “Liang Di… you know I was the one who found you. Fine—you wouldn’t call me ‘Mom.’ But now? Repaying kindness with this? You’ll get me scolded by my wife.”

“Isn’t that your own doing?”

“Back then… I wasn’t Spire Lord yet. I was protecting them.”

Liang Di stood, lifting Liang Lin princess-style. “She’s asleep. It’s drafty here—she’ll catch cold. I’m taking her to my room. Don’t follow. Take that vampire girl and sneak in through the window. Stay unseen.”

Octavial: “….”

*Bravo. Just great.* This little brat… treating her foster mother like this.

Inside the room.

Belica sat outside the door, tending her wounds and watching for eavesdroppers. Within, Liang Di and Octavial sat beside the bed where Liang Lin lay curled into a small, trembling ball—fragile, insecure.

“So… you suspected something the moment Liang Lin recognized that fairy tale book?”

“Mm. At first, I didn’t think much. But when she described your appearance perfectly… that’s when I knew.”

Liang Di gazed at Liang Lin’s sleeping face, lashes cast low. “I knew Siralili would never let her little brother die. And you… you’d never let Siralili suffer.”

Octavial fell silent for a long moment.

“Liang Di… are you in love with her?”

Confusion flickered in Liang Di’s eyes.

Love.

That word… felt utterly foreign.

“Love? I don’t know. I just know… I don’t want her to hate me.”

Octavial sighed again, brows furrowed tight enough to pinch a fly.

“Fine. I’ll help you. One last time. Don’t erase her memories—I’ll make the excuse.”

“But, Liang Di.” Octavial gripped her shoulders, forcing eye contact. Her voice turned grave. “You must—absolutely must—not hurt Liang Lin.”

“Huh?”

Liang Di blinked, stunned.

“Do you really need to be told that?”

Octavial clicked her tongue. “Tch… You wouldn’t get it. The kind of hurt I mean… is what I did to Siralili.”

“Oh. I’m not a player.”

Octavial: “….”

*Perfect.*

“You little brat,” Octavial pinched Liang Di’s ear, a vein throbbing on her temple. “Spending a few days with Liang Lin turned you this sharp-tongued?”

Wincing, Liang Di swatted her hand away and pointed at the two unconscious girls on the floor—the vampire and the nun.

“Don’t forget to take them when you leave.”

“What’s their story?”

Rubbing her neck, Octavial bent to examine them. “Gratice carries House Langwendi blood. Likely a descendant—granddaughter, great-granddaughter, who knows—of some former head’s secret child.”

“And this nun?” Octavial gestured to Laura, smirking. “Oh ho… her figure’s quite… *ahem*… prominent.”

“Say anything lewder, and I’ll tell Siralili.”

“You’re dead to me!”

Liang Di chuckled. “You saw it too—that nun has real mage potential. Fewer new mages join the Demon Spire lately. All thanks to your… leadership.”

Octavial scratched her head sheepishly. “Alright, alright. Appreciate you worrying about me.”

“Got the excuse ready?”

“Yep.”

“Then I’ll wake her…”

Liang Di gently shook Liang Lin’s shoulder.

“Liang Lin… Liang Lin…”

“Liang Lin…”

Liang Lin drifted through a dream—soft, golden, beautiful.

In it, she was still a little boy, hand-in-hand with a tiny girl, racing through a field of sunlit wheat.

“…I wanna go there… pretty flowers~” The girl’s voice crackled faintly with static.

Liang Lin couldn’t see her face clearly—but she felt how sweet the child was.

“But… Elder Sister said bees hide in flowers. If they sting you, your hand swells up big…” The girl shrank back.

Then Liang Lin puffed her chest, raised her wooden toy sword—tiny hands, tender voice.

“Don’t be scared! One day, I’ll become the greatest swordsman of the Sotran Empire! Then I’ll protect you… and Elder Sister too! Just little bees—I’ve got you!”