The person surrounded, cursed at, and brutally bullied by the mob was a frail-looking young girl.
Her tea-colored short hair, matted with snowflakes, was extremely disheveled. She was still wearing the light pink coat one would wear during the Empire’s spring and autumn seasons.
Not far away, a pair of round-framed glasses lay crushed on the ground, the lenses shattered into pieces.
Amidst the punches, kicks, and verbal abuse, her slender frame trembled, curled up like a shrimp against the wall. Her right hand clutched tightly over her left, as if protecting something vitally important…
The foreign, biting cold air had already frostbitten her originally soft, delicate hands. But more so than the unfamiliar climate, due to the “Imperial Luotendo declaring war on the Snow Kingdom,” she was now facing extreme hatred and an imminent… waking nightmare.
To be raped to death.
This was the final fate determined for her by a few perverted thugs exploiting the Imperial connection.
But what could she do…?
The bubble of her dreams had burst in the Empire. Brought to Illusory Snow City by a Luotendo scout and abandoned here, she was powerless against everything to come, forced to accept it. Just like the dark injustice she’d faced in the Empire, exactly the same…
She no longer cared about the manner of her death.
“How boring. We’ve gone this far, and she still hasn’t made a sound… Hey! She seems to be holding something in her hand. Could it be treasure? Let’s pry it open and see!”
The girl, who had become utterly indifferent even to a humiliating death, suddenly paled drastically at these words. She made a more conscious effort to hide her left hand…
“Yo! So you can move! I thought you were a rotten piece of wood. Let go!… Eh? Where’s my fucking leg… UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH——!!”
The thug, his face twisted with cruelty, raised his foot, clad in a knee-high leather boot, preparing to stomp down viciously on her frail body…
A flame seemed to flash rapidly past his thigh. With a sizzle, the entire leg he was about to bring down was instantly severed clean off, sent flying away with scattering embers. The man froze for a full second, seeing a geyser of blood erupt from the charred wound on his thigh, before letting out a delayed, hysterical scream…
Everyone was stunned silly.
They only caught a glimpse of a fierce wind carrying a lithe shadow flashing past them.
Simultaneously, a burning sensation from passing flames brushed their skin. Coming to their senses, they saw a black-haired girl, holding a molten flame sword as dazzling as the sun, shielding the Imperial girl behind her.
The flame of an amplified Illumination Spell—its length and flame density could be freely adjusted.
…The black-haired girl’s figure was equally slight, unable to completely hide the girl behind her. But the terrifying aura of Mana emanating from her, and the sharpness of her hateful gaze, prevented anyone from approaching.
“No! Brother—!!”
A man rushed to the side of his companion, whose leg had been severed, already unconscious from the pain. Turning his furious gaze over, he questioned venomously:
“…Are you insane?! Or are you trying to protect a damned Imperial?!”
“I don’t know if Imperials deserve to die…” The suddenly elongated flame blade pointed directly at the tip of the man’s nose. Weilin’s eyes were incredibly cold. “But those who use such a reason to unleash the cruelty in their hearts on an unarmed and defenseless person… absolutely deserve to die!”
The terrifying heat instantly roasted his nose, charring it. The man shrieked, clutching his nose, and retreated in panic.
No one dared approach, even less dared meet the girl’s gaze.
Only then did Weilin dismiss the Illumination Spell. She turned, knelt down, and faced the Imperial girl gently: “It’s alright now… Don’t try to speak yet. It’s not safe here. Are you willing to come with me first?”
She didn’t raise her head but shivered her frozen, purple-blue lips. Containing what seemed like profound gratitude, she heavily uttered a single “Mm…”
At that moment, one of the lingering thugs suddenly aimed a compact flintlock pistol at Weilin, who had her back turned, a vicious grin on his face.
…The gun was something they’d taken from the unconscious Imperial girl.
“Die…!!” The thug sneered and pulled the trigger.
In the next instant, the thug holding the gun found his fingers suddenly losing all strength, unable to even pull the trigger. Then, his vision began to spin wildly, finally settling on the vast, desolate sky…
A rain of blood erupting from his neck sent his excellent head flying off into the air. The pristine white snow was stained with a horrifying pool of crimson.
Actually, at the very moment he fired, even Airi couldn’t react in time, so…
Airi watched Huan Xuezhi nonchalantly vanish her Illusory Snow Sword, hiding her merit and fame, and finally sighed in relief.
Yet, this was all redundant. How could Weilin possibly not have noticed the other thugs’ movements? Still, the fact that Huan Xuezhi personally intervened this time was quite unexpected…
“Murder! Someone was killed—! Call the guards! Call the guards, ahhh!!”
Assuming it was Weilin’s doing, the thugs were utterly terrified by the ghostly, unfathomable power. They fled in utter panic amidst screams of terror, leaving behind only the two corpses with blood still flowing like streams…
?
Yesterday, the Illusory Snow Queen had arranged Weilin’s residence—
Flowing Firefly Palace, located less than two miles from Cold Dove Hall.
Five hundred square meters, royal-grade interior design, icy elegant and tasteful, open and bright on both sides. A long view offered the sight of Snow Jade Branch Garden, amidst the flowers, one could only hear the chirping of turtledoves.
Weilin had said yesterday that living alone in such a large house was a little creepy. Thanks to that silver tongue of hers, the very next day, a girl was delivered right to her doorstep…
The rescued Imperial girl was, naturally, brought to Flowing Firefly Palace, where Weilin lived.
After a bath, changed into fresh clothes, and forcibly put to bed to recuperate, soon enough, a medicinal soup brewed from premium spirit herbs and an exquisite, steaming hot meal were brought out and placed before her eyes…
Weilin handed her the medicinal soup first and asked with a smile, “You don’t need me to feed you, right?”
She shook her head, then carefully accepted the perfectly tempered, brightly colored medicinal soup.
“What’s your name?”
“…Sunai.”
“Sunai? Such a strange name.”
“…Mm.” Sunai kept her head down, responding quietly and very timidly.
“Then who is Nainai, and why did you come here?”
“…Why are you calling me… Nainai?” Suddenly, Sunai looked up somewhat bewildered and asked.
“Because Sunai is a bit hard to say, and Nainai sounds nice. [T/N: Chinese slang for breasts]” Weilin gave a sincere smile. “If you mind, calling you Sunai is fine too.”
“It’s not my place to mind anything…”
“You’re quite self-aware. No rush, have some soup to warm up, and tell me slowly.”
Sunai slowly reached out for the spoon, but… as if there were a discrepancy in spatial perception between her vision and reality, she failed to grasp the spoon on the first try.
Seeing this, Weilin suddenly remembered something. She quickly retrieved the previously crushed round glasses from her Space. “I fixed your glasses for you.”
“Give them… to me.”
On the matter of her glasses, even the reclusive and quiet Sunai’s voice couldn’t help but carry a hint of urgency.
“Don’t fidget!” Weilin glared at her. “You’re still holding the soup. How can you take them? Let me put them on for you.”
Saying this, the girl leaned forward and gently put the glasses on Sunai.
With the glasses on, Sunai now possessed an extra layer of indescribably bright cuteness and looked much wiser as well.
She was unaware that when the girl’s delicate fingertips brushed her hair while putting on the glasses, the fleeting, electric warmth that came with it, on top of her existing feelings of gratitude, caused an increasingly deep haziness to surface in Sunai’s eyes.
But, with Sunai’s composure, she actually managed to suppress this stirring.
“Hm? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing!… Thank you… Big Sister, for fixing my glasses…”
Weilin gave a soft, gentle smile. “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet… My name is Lega Weilin. You can call me Lega or Weilin. So… can Nainai tell me now?”
“Okay…” Sunai nodded her head lightly, then suddenly raised her eyes and asked a seemingly unrelated question. “Weilin, have you heard of Imperial Mist?”
