As everyone knows, the Sorester family was destroyed overnight a few years ago.

Only Felyn and one of his relatives survived. Oh, and now there was also Felyn's distant relative, Miss Daiyi.

And that relative was said to have been attacked by cultists of an evil god, becoming tainted and hospitalized for treatment ever since.

Olivia, that must be the name of Felyn's relative, right?

Adeline saw Felyn hang up the sigil, saw him staring blankly into the night.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Felyn didn't plan to say more. He patted his pant leg and stood up.

"We should head back. We've been out for so long, no one's going to say we're slacking off, are they?"

"Slacking off? Where are the fish?"

Adeline also stood up with Felyn, holding her bag in one hand and following behind him.

Two shadows appeared on the campus. One's pace was steady, the other's was hesitant, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

"Felyn, I..."

"Adeline, no."

"I haven't said anything yet!" Adeline huffed.

"You're so smart, you must know who the person in my sigil call was."

"Am, am I smart?" Adeline pointed to her own face, somewhat surprised.

Felyn felt like he had seen Adeline's current expression somewhere before.

Oh right, he'd seen it on Zervanie's face. It was a bit silly.

Had Adeline been infected by Zervanie?

"Going to the hospital is my private matter, so you shouldn't go. And don't go under the pretext of being the student council president, it won't work either."

Adeline bit her lower lip, a complex mix of emotions flashing in her grayish-blue eyes.

"Felyn, do you keep your word?"

"Not necessarily. I'm not the kind of person who has to do what they say," Felyn waved his hand, wondering what Adeline was up to now.

"La-last time, during the contract service, you said that if I guessed one of your preferences correctly, you would grant me one request. Do you remember? I said you like mai—"

"I remember!"

Felyn quickly cut Adeline off. Having his liking for maids spoken out loud by Adeline was a bit too embarrassing.

Of course, he remembered that day, when he had been so confident that Adeline knew nothing about him.

He had brazenly said, "Adeline, if you can name just one of my private preferences, I'll grant you one request."

He hadn't expected Adeline to say "maids" without any hesitation.

To this day, Felyn still didn't know who had leaked this information. After thinking it over, he felt that only Daiyi was a possibility.

But when did Daiyi get in touch with Adeline?

"I want to use it now, is that okay? Let me go with you."

"No, I'm going back on my word. I'm a bad person."

"Felyn... you!"

Adeline reached out and lightly punched Felyn's arm.

Felyn subconsciously covered the arm he had just cut, thinking the wound was still there.

But the expected pain didn't come. He looked down and saw Adeline's hand brush past his sleeve, trembling slightly.

"It really hurt back then, didn't it?"

Adeline frowned, her expression full of distress.

Her fist slowly unclenched, and she reached out to gently stroke Felyn's arm.

It had long been healed by the healing sigil, but the scar in his heart had not been repaired.

Adeline thought of the shocking bloodstains from just now, imagining Felyn's expression when he was injured.

"For a client, you'd even disregard your own body?" Her tone was gentle, her voice a little choked.

"Not a client," Felyn was still being stubborn.

Adeline carefully rolled up his sleeve, checking it over and over.

"You've had a hard time, haven't you?"

The streetlight intertwined their shadows on the path covered with fallen leaves.

The evening wind blew past, and a few maple leaves gently brushed against Adeline's skirt.

Her long hair was lifted by the wind, sweeping across her cheek and hiding her slightly reddened eyes.

"Making money, it's not hard."

The night wind scattered Adeline's hair between them, sometimes brushing against Felyn's arm, sometimes winding around his cufflink, like living threads weaving the silence of the moment into a net.

Adeline suddenly took a step forward, lightly standing on her tiptoes and leaning close to Felyn's ear.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us," her voice was very soft, her warm breath brushing past Felyn's ear, "Not just for me, but for Viloti too..."

The night wind gently wrapped around Felyn, carrying the distant scent of flowers and the nearby scent of the girl.

"Viloti? How did you know..."

"I guessed. Don't worry, she doesn't know yet, and I won't tell her," Adeline gently rested her head near Felyn's ear, her hands clutching his clothes tightly.

"Viloti got better because of you too, right? Because of you, she was able to walk out of her psychological shadow. Me too. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would have never been able to let go of the obsession in my heart. I might have turned into a crazy old woman."

"Although I don't know the relationship between you and the princess, my intuition tells me that she, like us, is enjoying the salvation you bring."

"You've worked so hard for so long. You're really amazing, Felyn."

Felyn could feel Adeline's heartbeat through their clothes, and the fingers clutching his shirt relaxed slightly, but she still maintained this dependent posture.

Am I really as amazing as Adeline says?

"Adeline, thank you."

Felyn reached out and moved Adeline's hands from his body.

"I've always thought you were a good girl."

Compared to his other clients, Adeline had a more wifely and gentle personality.

During the contract service, she would take care of his clothes, buy him many daily necessities, and later on, she cared more about his feelings.

Felyn sometimes felt as if he and Adeline were playing a role-playing game, where he was the husband and Adeline was the virtuous wife.

"So don't put your heart on me. Go find someone better."

Felyn gently patted Adeline's shoulder and gave her a sincere smile.

Her grayish-blue eyes looked beautiful in the night sky, like stars that had descended from the heavens for the world to generously admire.

Felyn could read the emotions in those eyes.

Reluctance, regret, disappointment.

"When I go to the hospital tomorrow, I'll ask you to come with me."

After this wish of Adeline's was fulfilled, he would no longer have any promises to her. Then they would end the contract peacefully, and the relationship would end there.

---

The wind tonight was warm, unlike the usual bleakness of autumn.

It was most likely a final burst of warmth; the temperature would get colder day by day.

When it gets cold, close the windows, light the fireplace, and the house will still be warm.

Dorothy lay on the bed in her palace bedroom, watching the dancing flames on the wall.

The doctor stood by the bed, a worried look on his face.

"Your Highness, do you know what you just did?!"

The doctor was no longer concerned with status and hierarchy; the situation was indeed critical.

Dorothy was now wearing a loose, white-and-blue striped garment. Her once rosy lips had started to turn pale.

Her pinkish-purple hair lay limply on the bed, as if it had been cut.

"If all the magical power in your body disappears, your body, which has become accustomed to it, won't be able to handle it. This will be very dangerous! This time was a close call; almost all the magical power in your body was gone."

Veronica, standing guard at the door, also looked at Dorothy with a worried expression.

Lying on the pillow, Dorothy just smiled faintly. She seemed to feel no pain, looking very happy.

"In any case, Your Highness. In the future, be careful not to use all your magical power at once. As long as you don't use too much, your body will slowly replenish it. You must remember this."

The doctor shook his head. After giving Veronica the instructions, he let Dorothy rest.

The back of the doctor's shirt was soaked with cold sweat. When Dorothy got out of the car, her face was deathly pale, and she was on the brink of life and death. Fortunately, she was saved in the end.

The doctor didn't know what Dorothy had done, and he didn't dare to ask.

It must have been something very important, he thought.

Veronica stepped forward to tuck Dorothy in and filled the cup on her bedside table with warm water.

"Your Highness, does your body still hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt."

Dorothy squeezed out a smile. Her hand struggled a few times and came to rest on her lips.

I kissed Brother Felyn...

Hehe.

(End of Chapter)