Leticia didn't know how long she had been sitting on that dusty ground.
Not until a voice suddenly drifted down from above.
“What are you doing sitting on the ground?”
“Come on, get up.”
Leticia looked up blankly.
A hand was stretched out in front of her.
It was small.
The fingers were slender, the palm was clean, and the fingertips felt a slight chill.
Leticia followed the hand and looked upward.
Sunlight filtered down.
The girl's platinum blonde hair glowed with a soft brilliance in the light.
She stood before her, leaning over slightly, watching her intently.
For a moment, Leticia couldn't react.
She had been kneeling on the ground for a long time.
People had been coming and going around her.
Some found her to be in the way.
Some walked around her.
Others muttered “bad luck” under their breath.
Until now.
This strange little girl had stopped in front of her and reached out her hand.
The little girl blinked.
“Whoa.”
“Were you just crying?”
“Your eyes are all red.”
Leticia instinctively wanted to pull back.
But before she could move, the little girl had already crouched down and was using her sleeve to gently wipe the dust from her face.
The movement wasn't very practiced.
It was even a bit clumsy.
But the wiping motion was very light.
As if she were handling a precious treasure.
Leticia froze.
“You...”
She wanted to say “Don't touch me.”
She wanted to say “Who gave you permission to touch the Saintess's face?”
But when the words reached her lips, not a single one came out.
Because the way this girl looked at her didn't hold the disgust she saw in the eyes of those around her.
There was no mockery.
There was none of that cold indifference reserved for trash.
She had simply seen someone who had fallen.
So she stopped.
“What's your name?”
The little girl asked.
After asking, she seemed to suddenly remember something and slapped her own forehead.
“Oh, right.”
“When you ask for someone's name, you're supposed to introduce yourself first.”
She looked up and smiled at Leticia.
“My name is Lin Ling!”
“Can I know your name?”
She paused, her gaze sweeping from Leticia's tattered clothes to her hollow eyes, and she added cautiously:
“Um... big sister?”
Leticia's throat felt as if something were stuck in it.
Lin Ling.
She had heard that name before.
Among the demons.
From Niya's mouth.
But now, that little girl named Lin Ling was standing right in front of her.
Her hand was still extended.
Her smile was so clean it was almost blinding.
Leticia opened her mouth.
“Le...”
The moment the sound left her mouth, she suddenly stopped.
Leticia.
Saintess Leticia.
The Saintess of the White Tower.
The one favored by God.
That name was like a magnificent yet heavy holy vestment.
She had once worn it and believed it was who she was.
But now, she suddenly didn't dare to say it.
Leticia lowered her eyes.
“My name is Sia.”
Her voice was very soft.
“Just Sia.”
Lin Ling's eyes lit up.
“Sia.”
“That's a lovely name.”
Leticia was stunned.
She looked at Lin Ling's brilliant smile, and her fingers twitched.
Then, she unconsciously reached out her hand.
Like someone who had been groping in the dark for a long time, finally grasping a beam of light that she didn't know would vanish.
Lin Ling gripped her hand and pulled hard.
“Heave-ho!”
In the next second, Lin Ling was nearly pulled forward by the counter-force.
“Whoa!”
Leticia instinctively grabbed her back.
Only then did the tiny Lin Ling manage to stand steady.
Both of them were stunned for a moment.
Lin Ling looked down at herself, then back at Leticia.
“Wow.”
“Sia, you're so light.”
She had originally thought her shrunken body wouldn't be able to pull anyone up.
As it turned out, she actually could.
And she had nearly sent herself flying in the process.
Lin Ling scratched the back of her head and gave an embarrassed smile.
“Thanks, Sia.”
“I was hoping to pull off a cool move there.”
Leticia watched her.
Why?
The question suddenly popped into her mind.
Why did she care?
Why would she reach out to a dirty, ragged stranger sitting on the ground crying?
How long had she been crying here?
She didn't know.
Maybe a long time.
Maybe not long at all.
But the people around her had only seen her as an obstacle.
A piece of filth blocking the way.
Only this girl had stopped.
Leticia stared at Lin Ling and asked in a raspy voice:
“Why?”
Lin Ling tilted her head.
“Huh?”
“What did you say, Sia?”
Leticia asked again.
“Why do you care about me?”
Lin Ling blinked.
It was as if she had never expected such a question.
“If you see someone sitting on the ground crying, you can't just ignore them, right?”
She said it so naturally.
So naturally that Leticia didn't even know how to respond.
Lin Ling added earnestly:
“Besides, you were crying so sadly, Sia.”
Leticia's fingers tightened slightly.
Crying so sadly.
The words were light.
But they seemed to pierce through something instantly.
She suddenly turned her head away.
“I wasn't...”
Her voice was tiny.
It wasn't very convincing.
Lin Ling didn't call her out on it.
She simply looked around.
The gazes of the passersby on the street were starting to drift toward them.
Noble ladies were covering their noses.
Shop assistants were frowning.
A few soldiers were slowly walking past the street corner.
Lin Ling immediately became alert.
“Hmm... it looks like this is the noble district.”
She looked down at herself and Sia.
A little girl clutching a large shopping bag.
A big sister in rags with a face covered in dust.
No matter how you looked at it, they didn't seem like a duo that should be wandering around the noble district.
Lin Ling immediately lowered her voice.
“Everyone looks like they'll be disgusted since we're all dirty.”
“We should go.”
Leticia was taken aback.
“Go?”
“Yeah.”
Lin Ling nodded.
“If we stay here, those anime-style villainous guards will probably show up.”
Leticia: “...Anime?”
Lin Ling had already taken her hand.
“Anyway, they're just troublesome people.”
“Let's run first.”
With that, she led Leticia toward the exit of the commercial street.
Leticia was pulled along by her.
Her steps were a bit stiff at first.
But Lin Ling's hand was warm.
It was small, yet she held on tight.
...
Inside the meeting room.
The air had tightened to its absolute limit.
Baroque stared at the magic screen, the veins on his forehead throbbing.
“Damn it!”
He suddenly looked at Cecil.
“Cecil, can you take back control of the magic?”
Cecil's hands were pressed against the magic circles in mid-air.
The lavender-colored formulas unfolded layer by layer, only to be bounced back by an invisible force.
His tail was ramrod straight, and there wasn't a trace of his usual playful smile on his face.
“Baroque.”
“I'm trying.”
“I'm really trying.”
He gritted his teeth, his fingertips constantly plucking at the dream core.
“But this thing is strange.”
“It's like...”
Cecil paused, his expression grim.
“It's like it's taking my magic and performing its own play.”
Aliviel's Succubus Dream Dust magic circle was spinning rapidly in front of her.
Points of light like fine purple sand constantly flowed from her fingertips, attempting to seep into the magic screen.
But as soon as those specks of dream dust neared the screen, they were gently pushed away, circling back to where they started.
Aliviel's expression was equally grim.
“The foundation of the dream is still my Dream Dust.”
“But the content of the dream has been completely rewritten.”
Phelan raised his hand, and detection crystals floated around the magic screen.
The light inside the crystals flashed rapidly.
He glanced at the results, his speaking speed faster than usual.
“Mana analysis shows the following.”
“The source of mana belongs entirely to Cecil.”
“The dream structure is still composed of Aliviel's Dream Dust.”
“Traces of external interference are extremely low.”
“Almost impossible to capture.”
Baroque couldn't help but curse under his breath.
“Meaning you've found nothing? And you can't do anything!”
Phelan calmly adjusted his glasses.
“That is a correct understanding of the current situation.”
“Don't be so honest at a time like this!”
Baroque turned and headed for the door.
“I'm going to wake Lin Ling up.”
Aliviel suddenly looked up.
“Stop!”
Baroque paused in his tracks.
For the first time, Aliviel's voice carried a clear tone of anger.
“If you want Lin Ling to die, then go ahead and try!”
Baroque whipped his head around.
“What did you say?”
Aliviel pressed her palm against her forehead, forcing her voice down.
“I used Dream Dust.”
“A deep dream.”
“You understand, Baroque.”
“What the consequences are for forcibly waking someone who is being guided within a deep dream.”
Baroque's fists slowly tightened.
Of course he understood.
It wasn't as if no one among the demons had ever been caught in Dream Dust.
If a deep dream was forcibly torn open, at best, the person would suffer mental trauma, unable to distinguish reality from illusion for days after waking.
At worst, their soul would be shattered.
Moreover, Lin Ling only had 1 Health Point.
Even if it were just the 'best case' scenario, for her, it could turn into the worst possible outcome.
They couldn't gamble, and no one dared to.
Baroque stood where he was, his chest heaving heavily.
He looked at the magic screen.
On the screen, the tiny Lin Ling was leading Leticia out of the commercial street.
She was still clutching that shopping bag in her arms.
Niya sat in her chair, watching Lin Ling without blinking.
Her voice was so soft it was barely audible.
“It's just a dream, it's just a dream...”
“Miss Saintess will be fine, she'll be fine...”
Her magical abilities weren't high; she could only comfort herself like this.
Just then.
A calm voice suddenly came from the doorway of the meeting room.
“It's quite lively in here.”
Everyone froze simultaneously.
The voice was very soft.
It didn't even carry much emotion.
But a majestic, suffocating pressure had already flooded into the meeting room ahead of it.
The air felt as if it were being pressed down by an invisible hand.
Even the edges of the magic screen shook slightly.
“I wonder what the situation is?”
Everyone turned their heads mechanically.
At the door.
Ivelia stood there.
Her expression was dark.
There wasn't a hint of a smile in her dark red eyes.
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