Rumor had it that Archmage Nicole once bathed in an ocean hurricane and spent three days and nights creating the eighth-tier spell Deep Blue Roar.
His Eminence Martin Jack studied financial statements through the night and crossed the threshold into Grandmaster Noble.
And now, in no more time than a single song, Miss Top Courtesan's Cloud Dragon Fold footwork had evolved too.
Succubus Dance Steps (Lv1)
Skill effect: increases movement speed, balance, agility, and charm; works even better paired with [High Heels] and [Tail].
Lv5 becoming Lv1 meant that Succubus Dance Steps was simply a superior movement art. At level one, it already rivaled Cloud Dragon Fold at level five. Besides the boosts to speed and agility, it also made it easier to win people's favor…
Miss Top Courtesan owed this windfall partly to the Vice Dean's power-delivery technique, which could fairly be called art, and partly to Li Fei having slipped into a kind of "enlightenment" state.
In truth, Miss Top Courtesan was no stranger to the state. She often had epiphanies in The Art of Tea. When she'd been tending to the Empress, for instance, she'd smashed through the bottleneck of Glass Cannon (Lv10) as if guided by a god, and brought her craft to the point where skill approached the Dao itself. But a proper, combat-useful skill? This was the first time Li Fei had "created" one on her own ability.
"Are me and succubi really that fated?"
Li Fei stared at the System Panel, lost in thought.
Without relying wholly on the system or on anyone else's help, the first supernatural secret art she'd learned by herself was Charm Mark Reconfiguration, and the first movement art she'd invented was Succubus Dance Steps.
Then add in the spell-like ability Full Transformation — Succubus Empress, and her Sequence 5 rank, Succubus Witch…
"Even if I get assimilated someday, I'll be the one clear stream among the succubi! I will never be a slave to beauty!"
Li Fei lectured herself in silence, then knocked on the door of her foreign language tutor.
Back there, Miss Angel had finally swallowed the urge to invite Miss Top Courtesan to produce a friendship crystallization, and had bid her a friendly farewell. Otherwise things probably wouldn't have wrapped up so easily.
"Come in."
Lady Annie's voice was different from usual, a little constrained.
The lovely lady had clearly dressed with care today. A black floral-print dress set off her delicate, fair skin, its fitted waist tracing a waist so slight it looked ready to snap in a breeze. The hem fell to her knees, and her slender calves were wrapped in nearly sheer, pale black stockings, ultra-thin fabric that looked like a light tug would tear it, drawing the lines of her legs taut and even. Most outrageous of all, through the openwork of her skirt, Li Fei could see a red stocking band two-thirds of the way up her thigh… Red! Though not a patch of skin below the neck showed except her arms, for a housewife who had always been modest and understated, this was already an extremely bold outfit.
The ends of her hair resting on her shoulders were still faintly damp and carried the scent of a recent bath. She didn't meet Li Fei's eyes, and her wandering gaze held a trace of guilt.
It had to be said: the restrained allure of a married woman packed a punch. In a single glance, it demolished at least two hours' worth of the Azure Mint's effect. Dazzled, Li Fei lost herself for a moment, then pretended nothing had happened, walked in, and headed straight for the bedroom to continue today's language study.
"Actually, um, that…"
Lady Annie brought Li Fei cookies and black tea, then hemmed and hawed for a good while without ever getting the sentence out.
—Tsk. Adults who can't be honest.
Li Fei watched the bashful wife, and ripples stirred in her heart before settling quickly.
She just wanted a cuddle, didn't she?
After class, Li Fei would give her ten minutes, that was all.
It would be good training for her willpower, and a chance to practice handling emotional matters efficiently, saving more energy for cultivation.
With that in mind, Li Fei said calmly:
"Let's start the lesson first. Whatever it is, we can talk about it tonight."
Evidently, the stepdaughter's habit of plugging her ears to steal a bell came partly from her mother. Lady Annie let out a breath of relief at Li Fei's words.
"All right."
…
Annie Teresa was a good teacher with real professional ethics. Her state this afternoon wasn't great and her mind wandered now and then, but she managed not to get so distracted that it hurt the lesson's progress.
It was just that Li Fei spent most of the time studying on her own, flipping through the materials Lady Annie had prepared and asking her a question here and there.
Before they knew it, night had fallen, and the sound of the front door brought the day's language lesson to a close.
The two diligent students had come home together after school and greeted the lady of the house politely.
"I'm back."
"Good evening."
Lilith coming home was perfectly normal, but Grace turning up surprised Li Fei.
"I-I'll go prepare dinner."
Lady Annie's cheeks flushed all at once. She stammered out the words and fled into the kitchen.
Miss Grace's face was as hard to read as ever, but when her sky-blue eyes swept over the other three women in the room, a look of unease finally surfaced in them.
—Something's fishy!
Li Fei sharply caught the whiff of something off.
Miss Grace dropping by to mooch dinner was nothing. She was close with Miss Stepdaughter, they'd fought side by side, and she got along well enough with Lady Annie too.
It was just that she looked far too good today. On top was a slightly oversized, light gray thin sweater, and the skin of her neck was snowy and flawless, almost translucent. Her slender fingertips gripped the overlong sleeves, lending this normally aloof, world-weary-faced girl a touch of clinging, little-bird charm.
The airy sweater hem covered only half her thighs, and her slim, straight legs were wrapped in beige polka-dot stockings. When she sat, a clear, snowy patch of bare skin showed at the knees.
Plainly, this outfit, simple and innocent on the surface but quietly laced with a dose of girlish allure, suited Miss Grace perfectly and showed off her slender, lively figure to the full.
Li Fei's gaze was drawn in without her noticing, and she started counting the polka dots on the stockings. A medical miracle occurred: those tiny, irregularly scattered dots turned out to neutralize the Azure Mint. For every dot Miss Top Courtesan counted, the drug's duration shrank by a minute.
Meanwhile Miss Grace sat there demurely, quietly waiting for dinner to be served.
Dinner was once again Li Fei's favorite, tomato beef brisket over rice, but this time with diced jicama added. The little white cubes were crisp and juicy, giving the dish a richer layering of textures.
Clearly, Lady Annie was trying something new, building a menu that better suited her girlfriend's tastes.
Li Fei slurped down two big bowls before setting her chopsticks down, still wanting more.
She couldn't overeat, though. Stuffed, she'd cramp up during the after-dinner exercise.
"Lilith can wash the dishes. You're all grown up now, girl, time you did some housework."
Without the slightest hesitation, the wicked stepmother dumped the household chores on Miss Stepdaughter, shot Lady Annie a rather mechanical, stiff wink, and got up and headed for the bedroom, intending to get things over with quickly and go home early to preview her textbooks.
Lilith didn't dare complain. Her little face nearly sank into her rice bowl.
Lady Annie, weighed down by her worries, set down her bowl and chopsticks, wanting to speak but holding back.
Just as Li Fei was about to reach the bedroom door, Miss Grace broke the silence first, her eyes complicated.
"Are you staying here tonight?"
"I'll head back in a bit."
Li Fei answered without thinking. "I want to get home early tonight. I'm about to finish teaching myself the third-year textbooks."
"Read them tomorrow."
Miss Grace said, "I'm staying over tonight too."
Crack!
The chopsticks in her hand snapped in two. That soft, boneless little hand of the little mage girl had erupted with strength beyond any ordinary person's.
Lilith looked at Grace, who had fought beside her only two days ago, then glanced at her mother, whose face was tinged rosy, and belatedly let out a strange sound:
"?"
"Not your room."
Grace turned to look at the blonde senior and delivered another stab, expression blank.
"?"
Lilith went blank.
Her eyes dimmed abruptly, as if her soul had been yanked out of her in an instant.
—A quick cut hurts less than a slow one… You two can never be together.
—Forgive me, Lilith…
Lilith's expression only made Lady Annie surer of her guess: her daughter had secretly fallen for Grace, who, though quiet, was kind, sensible, and ridiculously pretty, and that was why she was so low and had been quarreling with Li Fei.
To avoid a falling-out between friends, and the human tragedy of a stepdaughter and stepmother becoming love rivals, Lady Annie endured the ache in her heart, lowered her eyelids, and stopped looking at her daughter's face, letting things proceed as planned.
For a while the atmosphere in the living room turned extremely strange. Four women with four different thoughts and expressions: Miss Top Courtesan, dumbstruck; the married woman, mortified; the emotionless three-nothings girl; and the soulless losing dog. Together they made a tableau worthy of The Last Supper.
Looking at the married woman and Miss Poker Face, Li Fei felt her heart shaken to its depths, and the minty taste lingering in her skull was neutralized at an astonishing speed.
N-no! I can't!
I can't go back to the Depravity of my old life!
Alarm bells rang in Li Fei's head. In her panic she shoved her gaze onto the face of the soulless losing dog.
Then a bigger, twisted, gleeful ripple spread across the lake of her heart.
Li Fei: …
The residual Azure Mint, sensing mortal danger, began a desperate counterattack, turning into a blue hurricane that strove to suppress the waves in her heart.
Amid the silent but fierce clash within, Li Fei stood in the bedroom doorway without a word, her gaze flickering.
…
Look closely: this woman is called Li Fei, and she has been invited to stay the night by a beautiful married woman and the class belle from next door.
Faced with an unspoken understanding, Li Fei's body temperature actually dropped bit by bit, her heartbeat slowing, her reason retaking the high ground.
In the end, she shook her head and said:
"No."
Lady Annie's eyelids trembled, and her hands and feet suddenly went cold.
She had cast aside the moral code she'd always kept, even tossed away her own sense of shame, and resolved to adapt to this new life. And the one she was willing to change for had turned her down without mercy.
Humiliation, sorrow, panic, helplessness…
So many feelings surged into Lady Annie's heart that she didn't even notice the burning ache beneath her wedding ring.
She didn't know how to carry herself, or how to face her daughter, or even Grace, whom she'd dragged into this…
A wave of nausea suddenly rose in her. Lady Annie frowned and covered her mouth, tears glistening in her eyes, the very picture of fragile, pitiable beauty.
She forced down the discomfort and made her lips curve upward, though her still-furrowed lovely face made the smile look especially bitter:
"Th-that, it's fine, I…"
"You…"
Her mother's state stabbed at Lilith's heart, and it woke the Petrification-stricken Miss Stepdaughter.
It was true that the blonde stepdaughter had had her own mother snatched out from under her, but that couldn't be blamed on a daughter's lack of filial devotion. It could only be blamed on Miss Stepmother being too charming. And it didn't touch in the slightest the solid bond forged over all those years of mother and daughter living side by side and sharing hardship.
Seeing Li Fei hurt her mother, Lilith's twin tails stood on end, and she nearly shouted at Li Fei, calling her a bastard.
Just then, a slender porcelain-white hand landed on her shoulder and pressed down with a little force.
Once Lilith had calmed down, a complicated expression finally appeared on Grace's cold little face. She sighed softly, then walked up to Li Fei.
Those who embrace the abyss are bound, sooner or later, to be stained black.
Squelch, squelch, squelch…
In the sticky noise, the black cubic block of metal that could turn into a black skin-tight latex suit and cover Miss Grace at will became a puddle of fluid, writhing and leaping, spreading out Tentacles of every size and thickness and thrashing them wildly.
In Grace's clear, pale-blue eyes, a shadow had plainly gathered.
She gently brought her lips to Li Fei's ear and whispered:
"You don't want Mrs. Annie to find out about the secret between you and Lilith either, do you?"
—You! How despicable!
Li Fei stared at Grace in disbelief.
In that moment, she felt exactly what Miss Stepdaughter had felt, the sensation of being "betrayed" by the seemingly dependable three-nothings girl.
"Gh, I'll never compromise…"
Li Fei lowered her voice and declared flatly.
Grace gazed at her in silence.
In the end, Li Fei turned her head to dodge those calm eyes that seemed to see through everything, and went into the bedroom:
"Gh… sly woman… Fine. I'll stay here tonight."
"Good night, Lilith."
Grace's eyelids drooped halfway as she followed close behind Li Fei into the room.
Lady Annie, her face red as a sunset, agonized for a moment, then clenched her palms, stammered a reminder to her daughter to "get some rest early," and, head down like an ostrich, hurried to the bedroom. But at the door she suddenly stopped.
—With this, Lilith should give up on Grace…
Using such a lowly method to destroy the feelings my daughter has just begun to feel… What a despicable, terrible mother I am…
Lady Annie bit her lip, rooted before the bedroom door, her thoughts in a tangle.
At last, the mother steeled herself and left the door open a crack.
Because she knew that the more nimble a pianist's hands, the lovelier the melody. And a piece played by two pianists on the finest, most exquisite piano in the world, with a tone that plucked the heartstrings, would surely let her daughter clear out the old and welcome the new, and dispel her improper fantasies.
As a mother whose own love life had spun out of control, Lady Annie felt she could no longer set a good example, but she could at least keep her daughter from being dragged into the chaos of emotions as well.
Lady Annie was lost in guilt and self-reproach. When she turned around, she found Miss Grace had already finished her preparations and was only waiting for the other performer to take the stage, so practiced it was heartbreaking.
Moonlight poured through the window into the room and washed softly over the wedding photo, making it look especially gentle and beautiful. The two girls bathed in the moonlight seemed even more pure and unblemished.
Moonlight, girls, a wedding photo: everything was so luminous and spotless, composing a quiet, lovely picture.
The mark beneath her ring burned hotter.
A hazy, warm mist gradually rose in Lady Annie's water-blue eyes, and she rubbed her wedding ring with a sweat-damp fingertip without realizing it.
The wedding photo at the bedside looked especially glaring now. In silent repentance and prayer, the married woman took step after step toward the two girls, who were about her daughter's age.
The silver-haired bride smiled, watching it all.
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