Her fingertip hooked the shoulder strap of the white dress, and with a gentle flick, it slid down her sickly pale shoulder. The other side followed suit. Once both straps had slipped down, the white dress fell softly to the floor.
Underneath that white dress was no underwear, but rather circles upon circles of white bandages wrapped around her body. They covered the modest, barely budding curve of her chest, and also wrapped around her slender, willowy waist, so thin it seemed a single hand could encircle it.
From her navel down to her lower abdomen, the bandages split, wrapping separately down each smooth, straight leg.
Compared to Zhao Mingyue, Bai Yu’s figure was indeed “barren.” However, her legs could rival Mingyue’s. They weren’t quite as long, but they were perfectly straight and well-proportioned. A fraction more would make them seem plump; a fraction less, and they would look too thin.
Neither too much nor too little—they were just right. In proportion to her entire body, her legs were the most perfect feature.
Her slightly wavy black hair cascaded loosely behind her, giving off a languid feeling.
Standing behind Bai Yu, Zhao Mingyue stared, her eyes fixed.
Even she couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. Bai Yu’s body was truly perfect, aside from her chest being a little small.
However, its modest size was quite normal. It was stylish enough as it was. Her figure was already very girlish, leaning slightly towards a lolita-like feel. If it were too large, it would ruin that youthful, unripe aesthetic.
Of course, to some people, that wouldn’t matter at all.
Proportions were unimportant; an excessively large size was an advantage in their eyes.
Bai Yu glanced back, silent.
Yes, Zhao Mingyue had dragged her into the bath again.
In Mingyue’s words: ‘I have to cover up the color of your skin later, so you at least look like a living person. If you don’t bathe first, it won’t work.’
Bai Yu wanted to argue, but for a moment, she didn’t know where to begin.
With a soft sigh in her heart, the bandages wrapped around her body—her last line of defense—dissolved into countless tiny threads of blood, hiding themselves within her flesh.
A moment later.
“Hmm… let me think, where should I start?”
In front of the dressing table, fresh from her bath, Bai Yu sat quietly on a small stool. She wore a dress Zhao Mingyue had dug out from the wardrobe, a size too big.
Bai Yu wasn’t incapable of wearing clothes; she just found them somewhat uncomfortable. The key issue was that once she was dressed, she couldn’t hide inside Zhao Mingyue’s shadow, nor could she possess the rabbit doll.
Small things like hair clips didn’t affect anything, but large items like clothes were a no-go.
The dress she wore was slightly heavy, a Lolita-maid hybrid style. Layer upon layer, its main colors were white and light blue. The hems were trimmed with white floral lace, making it look incredibly cute, like the clothes on a cloth doll.
Indeed, the design of this outfit was quite beautiful, though the fabric was a bit poor.
Seeing this dress, Bai Yu was initially surprised, thinking Zhao Mingyue’s personality wouldn’t lead her to buy such a thing. Then it clicked—this was probably part of a set with that solid magic staff of hers, bought for a past anime convention.
In other words, wasn’t this outfit just cosplay?!
Even with her personality, which didn’t care much about appearances, thinking about going out shopping in this outfit tomorrow made her feel somewhat strange inside.
There were other clothes available, but she couldn’t fit into them. For her smaller frame, Zhao Mingyue’s clothes were clearly a size too big.
“Just handle the hands and neck for now. We’ll get to the face later,” Zhao Mingyue murmured to herself, formulating her “transformation” plan for Bai Yu.
This dress had long sleeves; the cuffs were slightly large, but they would be securely tied with butterfly-ribbon laces, so that was no problem.
Then for the legs. Originally, Mingyue planned to use short white lace stockings paired with leather shoes, since the dress fell just below the knees, leaving only the calves bare. But after thinking it over, she decided against it, because then she’d have to color-correct the calves too.
So she decided to just use white stockings, eliminating the need to treat the legs. Once Bai Yu put them on, no one would be able to tell anything was amiss anyway.
Bai Yu had also mentioned that those black, vein-like patterns on her body could be appropriately faded. Once faded, white stockings would completely hide them.
To confirm this, Zhao Mingyue turned Bai Yu around. Without even asking for permission, she used both hands to lift Bai Yu’s small feet, already clad in white stockings. Like a pervert with a fetish for white-stockinged lolis, she scrutinized them closely. She even set them in her palms, gently squeezing and stroking them, nodding thoughtfully all the while.
If Bai Yu hadn’t coughed, Zhao Mingyue herself wouldn’t have noticed that her smile had become increasingly bizarre, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the Big Bad Wolf tempting Little Red Riding Hood.
She looked up and met Bai Yu’s eyes.
“Cough, cough, cough.” She felt a little embarrassed under that gaze. Zhao Mingyue’s face flushed red. Coughing lightly, she put Bai Yu’s small feet down. “I was just confirming that no one could spot any issues from close range.”
Hearing this, Bai Yu narrowed her eyes. “I think no one would want to closely inspect my feet.”
“That’s true.”
An awkward atmosphere descended. Zhao Mingyue turned Bai Yu back around, then retrieved her cosmetics from the cabinet.
She just didn’t like wearing makeup, not that she didn’t own any. The biggest reason she disliked makeup was, of course, that she was poor.
“A boy at school gave these to me. Hmm… I still don’t know his name. He just ran off as soon as he handed them over, without saying a word.” Zhao Mingyue took out the makeup set, piece by piece, and arranged them on the dressing table.
Seeing this set always reminded her of that day. That boy had been really strange, giving her a gift without saying his name or which class he was from.
That said, of all the many gifts she’d received, this makeup set was definitely among the most memorable.
First, she applied some flesh-toned color to Bai Yu’s wrists and hands. Even if it still looked somewhat pale, at least it lost that sickly pallor. It wouldn’t give off a sense of wrongness; people would just think the girl’s skin was so fair and tender.
“Let’s do the nails too. Do you like red?”
Zhao Mingyue looked at Bai Yu’s fingers. Her nails were a normal color, completely lacking the appearance a fierce ghost should have. Weren’t other fierce ghosts supposed to have red nails, at least?
After painting the nails red and touching up the color around her neck and collarbone, only the makeup on her face remained.
When it came time to apply makeup to Bai Yu’s face, Zhao Mingyue focused with twelve times her normal concentration.
Bai Yu was already so beautiful. If her own makeup skills weren’t up to par, she’d only end up making her look uglier.
So in the end, she kept it simple. After making her complexion look less pale, she defined her eyeliner, brushed on some rouge, and tinted her cherry lips.
“Her eyes are a problem. Who ever heard of someone without any white in their eyes?”
