"Ahem…" Li Xuan's old face flushed as he looked at the little loli lying on the hospital bed, panting slightly. He tried hard to maintain a serious expression so as not to pay attention to the gazes behind him.
"…(Stare—)" Maid Liv, standing behind Li Xuan, watched him silently with a resentful look, making Li Xuan feel as if there were thorns on his back. He stealthily cast a sideways glance at Yae Sakura, who was sitting on the bed holding the loli, but she also turned her head away in embarrassment.
"…" Li Xuan was speechless. In his attempt to comfort Sakura just now, he had forgotten that his own maid was standing behind him… This was awkward.
"Let me take a look at this child…" Li Xuan could only laugh it off, reaching out to pull open the loli's clothes to check her wound. He had no special fetish for little girls… none of that 'three years to start, death penalty at most' or 'three years is a bargain, life in prison is no loss…'
One must know that his own sister was raised by him… a mere loli… Li Xuan, with a calm heart and unwavering gaze, pulled open the little loli's torn clothes at her abdomen, revealing the still-not-fully-healed piercing wound.
"This…" Li Xuan was shocked as he watched the wound, which had almost pierced through the loli's abdomen, squirming minutely. Pink, tender flesh was constantly regenerating, filling the wound.
"What kind of constitution is this?!…" Li Xuan was so surprised his jaw dropped. Such a piercing wound could actually heal on its own, and so quickly too. Is she a monster?!
"Wait…" Li Xuan saw a hidden little pocket on the skirt of the loli's nun habit. A silver card was reflecting the sunlight. "What's this?…" Li Xuan reached out and pulled out the silver card that was sticking out of the pocket.
"Theresa Apocalypse—Supreme Commander of Schicksal's Far East Branch." Li Xuan read the words on the card out loud, one by one.
"Theresa…" Li Xuan looked carefully at the card in his hand. The exquisitely made card seemed to be made of some kind of metal. On the front was a simple introduction of her identity and a headshot. On the back was a strange symbol, two marks like metal wings forming a semi-oval.
"'Schicksal'?" Yae Sakura leaned over, looked at the card in Li Xuan's hand, and repeated in a murmur.
"Sakura, do you know about this 'Schicksal'?" Li Xuan asked curiously when he saw Yae Sakura muttering, his attention shifting from the card to her.
"No… I just feel like it's a bit familiar, but I can't remember… Ugh…" Yae Sakura said with a frown, clutching her head as if the memories were giving her a headache again.
"Alright~ If you can't remember, then don't try to think about it anymore," Li Xuan said comfortingly, reaching out to stroke Yae Sakura's soft long hair.
"Haha~ Liv, this child was poisoned, right?" Li Xuan said, scratching the back of his head and laughing it off to the pouting, unhappy Liv.
"Yes, that's right~" As Li Xuan's maid, Liv, though unhappy, still answered truthfully. She reached out her small hand and pinched the soft flesh at Li Xuan's waist.
"Oof!… Hiss!~" Li Xuan's expression instantly contorted. The feeling from the soft flesh at his waist was simply excruciatingly sour…
"Ahem… Um… I have some medicine here that can treat wounds, it should be able to cure it…" Li Xuan took out a disposable three-star item that he had stored in his ring and hadn't used before, the 'HECO Healing Spray'.
"…" Higokumaru, lying on the side of the bed, quietly watched as Li Xuan took a spray bottle with a red cross on it and sprayed a pink mist onto the injured abdomen of Theresa, who was lying on the bed.
"The wound has started to heal faster…" Liv said in surprise as she watched the pink mist land on the still-unhealed piercing wound. The tender flesh at the wound began to squirm continuously, and the wound started to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Hmph… how miraculous…" Higokumaru watched this scene and also murmured in some surprise. "But…"
"It looks like there shouldn't be any problem now…" Li Xuan casually threw the used-up healing spray onto the ground and closed Theresa's clothes again. The wound that had been pierced through was now covered with pink, tender flesh again. It seemed that the injury had healed.
"…Let her sleep quietly for a while…" Li Xuan said, touching Theresa's still somewhat hot forehead. This was probably a normal fever after blood loss.
"Liv, let's prepare lunch… I'm so hungry~" Li Xuan said, rubbing his empty stomach.
"Yes, of course…" Liv nodded and walked out of the ward. As a professional maid, even without a kitchen, she could still make delicious meals… After all… Liv's skirt led to another dimension.
"Sakura… you must be tired too, right? Come out and rest for a bit." Li Xuan waved to Yae Sakura, who was still holding Theresa behind him.
"…" Yae Sakura gently shook her head and said in refusal, "No, Li Xuan-kun… I still want to take care of this child."
"Uh… alright then, I'll bring you some rice balls later~" Li Xuan said with a smile. Isn't the current Yae Sakura just that kind? So what if she's a 'Pseudo-Herrscher'?
"Ahhh~ So tired. By the way, Liv, where did you put Yaoye?" Li Xuan said, stretching as he ran out to Liv.
"…" Only Yae Sakura, Theresa, and… Higokumaru were left in the ward.
"…" Higokumaru was silent for a moment, then raised its head to look at Yae Sakura and said, "You know, right… Sakura."
"…" Yae Sakura's hand couldn't help but tighten its grip.
"Poisoned by a Herrscher is not so easily cured… this little brat has only healed from her external wounds," Higokumaru said faintly, its blood-red eyes gazing at its partner, Yae Sakura.
"…It seems… you've remembered some things."
(End of this chapter)