The accident site was a small hillside.
From the midpoint upward, the mountain was bright and picturesque, bathed in dappled sunlight; from the midpoint downward, a dark-green miasma coiled like a silent beast waiting to devour the unwary, cleaving the slope into two starkly separate halves.
A string of sharp cries shattered the silence. A broomstick plummeted down and crashed into the miasma zone at the mountainside.
Thud.
With a muffled impact, the two women clinging tightly to each other gouged a pit into the soft earth — Li Fei had wrapped herself around Grace trying to shield her with her own body, while Grace had done the same for Li Fei, and the end result was that they landed sideways.
Predictably, the taller Li Fei had more surface area in contact with the pit and took the worse of it.
"Up — get up!"
Li Fei let out a low cry. With Grace's support, she limped and hobbled her way up toward the summit.
Where they had fallen was below the midpoint, but not far from the safe zone free of toxic mist.
A moment later, the green haze surged and churned as two breathtakingly beautiful girls burst out of the poisonous fog, stumbling and tripping for several dozen more paces before collapsing together onto the soft grass.
"Hah… hah… still…"
Li Fei lay sprawled out like a starfish, covered in dirt, gasping: "That was a close call."
"Mm."
Grace's eyes still held the look of someone who hadn't quite recovered from the shock.
In the final moments of the crash, Li Fei had cut the broomstick's speed to its absolute minimum and chosen what looked like the softest patch of earth to land on. So despite looking like they'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, neither of them was seriously hurt.
"My luck is terrible."
Li Fei let out a long, melodramatic sigh. "This is the second flying accident I've had… when you're clearly the one who used up all your fortune points first."
"Mmm…"
Grace was about to offer some consoling words — then heard Li Fei laugh.
"Although… it was kind of fun."
The face that had gone pale from blood loss turned toward Grace, and Li Fei reached out to lightly tap her fingertip against Grace's nose, her voice dropping into a languid, ambiguous purr: "Holding each other close, screaming, heart hammering out of control… it reminds me of falling in love."
Her fingertip traced slowly downward and came to rest on Grace's lips:
"Do you like a little danger, Grace?"
Grace's gaze went slightly unfocused. She was just reaching up to catch Li Fei's hand when the warm, soft touch vanished.
Having coaxed Grace's emotions right to the edge, Li Fei withdrew her hand at precisely the right moment and muttered: "Ugh, I'm absolutely filthy."
As Li Fei cast a quick Cleanse to rid herself of the grime, Grace, equally wistful, produced a Transcendent item of her own and activated its cleansing effect. The mud clinging to her fair skin dissolved away, revealing finely sculpted features — pure and lovely, with just a hint of an exotic flair.
"That was my fault. Sorry about that."
Li Fei pressed her palms together and stuck out her tongue in playful apology, then strained to push herself upright with a sharp hiss of breath through her teeth. "Let's deal with the injuries first… I inhaled a bit of that miasma on the way down, so just to be safe, let's take the antidote potions too."
"Mm."
Grace cast a worried glance at Li Fei's pale lips and produced the last two antidote potions she had left.
"Give me that one."
Li Fei pointed to the substandard potion. "I traded for this from the half-orc… in theory he'd have no reason to poison me, but just to be safe…"
Before she could finish, Grace had already drawn her Transcendent silver needle and tested the potion — which indicated, apparently, that a case of heart-fluttering arousal did not qualify as a harmful substance.
Li Fei pouted. "I actually have an Appraisal Talent for detecting items… but with my soul injured, it's been glitching out on me. Otherwise I wouldn't need to make such a fuss."
Done complaining, Li Fei extended her hand. "Give it here."
Grace simply yanked out the cork and downed the substandard potion in one go — and before she'd even swallowed it, she was puffing out her cheeks to pass the other antidote potion, the one she'd personally carried here, to Li Fei.
"Grace. Miss. Grace."
Li Fei stared at her with hands on her hips, enunciating each syllable with exaggerated weight. "It was my impulsiveness that got us down to our last two potions in the first place; falling into the miasma was entirely my fault too… you're making me feel terrible."
Grace blinked at her with wide, innocent eyes and swallowed the potion with an audible gulp.
"Very ladylike, though. Keep it up."
The corners of Li Fei's lips curved upward despite herself. "Thank you."
As Li Fei tipped her head back and drank the second antidote potion down in three gulps, Grace hesitated for a moment, then said in a voice barely above a whisper:
"Reward."
"Hm?"
Li Fei licked the last traces of medicine from her lips and laughed awkwardly. "Too quiet — I didn't catch that."
"Never mind."
Amid the thudding of her own heartbeat, Grace schooled her expression back into its usual cool poker face.
"Help me apply the medicine."
Li Fei produced a porcelain vial and held it out. "Use mine — it works better for external injuries than any standard healing potion… only downside is it has to be applied topically. A bit of a hassle."
As she spoke, Li Fei had already slipped off her mage robes and stretched out sideways with her head in Grace's lap. "My shoulder and ribs are sore, legs and ankle too, oh, and my hip…"
Her voice was lazy and languorous, her body curled up like a cat napping in a sunbeam on her favorite human's lap on a drowsy afternoon.
Thump. Thump.
For no apparent reason, a heartbeat was accelerating.
Her eager heart knocked against her sternum. Grace sat upright, looking down at the cascade of dark hair spread across her thighs, her face going pink.
"Hurry it up~"
Li Fei nuzzled her head against Grace's leg, eyes crinkled with amusement. "Serve this young mistress well and you'll be handsomely rewarded."
Grace pressed her lips together. Her pale, delicate fingers undid the buttons of the chiffon blouse one by one, then parted the fabric aside with a trembling hand.
The shoulder it revealed was translucent-white and beautifully shaped, soft as white jade — and mottled with a small patch of bruising.
The short-haired girl poured the cool medicinal liquid from the vial into her palm, then pressed it to Li Fei's shoulder.
Soft.
Smooth.
With each stroke of the medicine, Grace could feel Li Fei's body shiver faintly as her injuries were touched — but it quickly settled as she grew accustomed to the pressure, and she began letting out small, contented sounds of pleasure.
Which made Grace's mouth go very dry.
Then came the ribs.
"That tickles, that tickles—"
Li Fei squirmed and wriggled, her voice caught somewhere between laughter and a whimper.
With every twist of Li Fei's body, Grace's temperature climbed higher, her palm and her gaze both burning.
…Something was wrong.
When she tipped the vial again and watched the clear, viscous liquid pool in her palm, Grace finally became aware of what was happening to her.
…She had to stop.
That thought formed in her mind — and then her fingers, completely ignoring her, pressed themselves against the slender, shapely waist and sank in slightly.
Slender. Taut. Elastic in a way that defied belief.
A misty film had crept over Grace's eyes without her noticing. Her breath came out in hot, ragged puffs. She wanted desperately to stop — and couldn't bring herself to lift her hand from that waist.
In a daze, her trembling pinky grazed the waistband of Li Fei's trousers. Li Fei batted her hand away and shot her a reproachful look:
"I'll take those off myself. It would feel weird otherwise."
In the soft rustling that followed, a sight of breathtaking, heart-stopping beauty entered Grace's field of vision.
Long legs like white silk, slender yet shapely, carrying not an ounce of fragility despite their fineness. The smooth, taut lines sang with vitality and strength, and the luminously pale skin reflected back the image of wide, stunned celadon-blue eyes.
"Hurry up."
Li Fei's voice had taken on a faint edge of shyness.
Hot. Feverishly hot.
Sweat dampened the fine wisps of her fringe, dripped from her chin, and mingled with the medicine where it fell.
Li Fei seemed to be enduring something. Her half-lidded eyes were hazy with a rising heat. She bit her lower lip, muffling small sounds through her nose, her left hand clutching the hem of Grace's shirt and twisting it, pulling it, over and over.
Gradually, the strokes of the medicine drifted away from the injuries.
Li Fei seemed to sense something. She suddenly sat up, turning her face away. "I'll do it myself."
Grace didn't move.
Li Fei turned to look at her — and couldn't help but let out a startled gasp. She leaned in with concern, cupped Grace's face in her hands, and frowned:
"Your face is so red… are you hurt? Or is something wrong with the potion?"
"I'm fine."
Grace's voice came out hoarse, her eyelashes fluttering.
"Liar — if you were fine, why are you sweating this much?"
Li Fei drew her fingertip across the beads of sweat on Grace's forehead, her tone sharpening with genuine concern.
"…Really, it's nothing."
Grace's eyes darted away, refusing to look at that face — right there within reach, ruinously beautiful — for fear of losing control.
Stubborn little thing, aren't you.
Li Fei curved her lips.
The girls back at the tavern used that kind of potion for fun from time to time, so Li Fei knew perfectly well — unless it was something extraordinarily potent, willpower alone was entirely sufficient to keep one's head.
Which meant a little external encouragement was in order.
"And you're still trying to hide it from me."
Li Fei's voice carried a note of reproach. She cupped Grace's burning face in her hands and turned her gaze back toward her. "You know I'm a Witch. You know my Innate Talent. I've trusted you with everything, without reservation."
"Why can't you trust me the same way?"
"Tell me what's wrong."
"The potion… does have a slight side effect. But it's nothing serious. If we just head back soon, it'll be fine."
Grace clenched her jaw and summoned every last scrap of willpower to drag her gaze away from Li Fei's face, lest she commit some unforgivable act that would betray the trust Li Fei had placed in her.
— Hah. If I just head back with my tail between my legs, what kind of fixer am I? I might as well go haul rocks at a mine somewhere.
Li Fei scoffed inwardly, then rushed forward and threw an arm around Grace, her voice laced with self-reproach: "It's all my fault… oh, that's right — let's hurry back to find Zhihua-jie. She knows pharmacology inside and out, she'll sort this out in no time."
At the mention of Qin Zhihua's name, Grace's eyes went wide, and an inexplicable restlessness surged up in her chest.
What's so great about Qin Zhihua?
She just got here before me. That's all.
Grace's breath quickened as she turned to stare at Li Fei.
"What's wrong? Is something else hurting?"
Li Fei's face still wore its expression of guilt and worry. She used the pad of her thumb to wipe the sweat from Grace's forehead, her voice soft and gentle.
Why does Qin Zhihua get to? Why can't I?
As that thought surfaced, something inside her snapped.
If Qin Zhihua can, then so can I!
"What's the matter? Grace—"
A startled cry — and Li Fei was tackled to the ground.
"Stop — you can't!"
With the tearing of fabric, Li Fei snapped back to reality as though waking from a dream and shoved her away, her face pale with panic and disbelief: "You — you can't do this, I can't betray Zhihua-jie."
Reason had burned away entirely.
Flushed red bloomed across milk-white skin; the blue of Grace's eyes swam with a rising mist. She said nothing. She just moved closer, one step at a time.
"Don't — don't come any closer—"
Li Fei scrambled backward in genuine alarm.
Grace quickened her pace. Li Fei turned and ran.
But what chance did a frail little mage — soul-damaged, encumbered — have against a [Chaos Archer] who trained in both magic and martial arts?
The panicked Li Fei was quickly cornered, and with an "oh no" she tumbled onto the soft grass.
"You — what are you going to do."
Li Fei crossed both arms over her chest and pleaded: "I have a girlfriend…"
All the color had drained from her face. She looked frail and pitifully lovely.
With each step Grace took closer, the shadow cast by the sunlight crept from toe to ankle, up along Li Fei's limbs.
"We… really shouldn't."
Li Fei was crying now, shaking her head over and over, until the shadow swallowed her completely.
…
On the scenic hillside, two people were fighting in the nude.
More precisely, the tall dark-haired woman was unilaterally beating the short-haired girl — punching and kicking her from every direction.
"You absolute bastard! How could you! After everything I trusted you with!"
Li Fei was crying as she unleashed a torrent of obscenities: "How am I supposed to face Zhihua-jie now?!"
Grace said nothing. She let Li Fei grab her by the hair and take out every ounce of fury on her without resistance.
Guilt and remorse filled her to the brim.
Yes, it was the potion's fault.
But to have done something so unforgivable to someone who had trusted her so completely — someone so kind and good — Grace could not shake the self-reproach no matter how she tried.
"Is this your revenge on me?"
Li Fei seemed to have exhausted herself. She shoved Grace away, tears still streaking her face, and laughed coldly: "Congratulations. You succeeded."
Tears blurred Grace's vision. She shook her head desperately:
"It was because—"
"Oh, so there's an excuse?"
Li Fei cut her off with a cold laugh. "I really misjudged you."
Then Li Fei bent down and fished out her phone. In front of Grace, she deleted the photos the two of them had taken together — click, click — snapped a series of new pictures, and waved the screen in her face:
"These are my evidence. When we get back, I'll be filing a report with the magistrate… you can spend the rest of your life behind bars."
Li Fei paused, then leaned in close, her voice dropping to a quiet, haunting murmur: "Of course, you could also choose to silence me right here. Then report me as a Witch… that would cover up what you did, and you might even earn yourself a commendation."
"I imagine Kenneth would give you a very generous reward, at the very least. Heh."
"Want to try it?"
The cold, flat words landed like a blade in Grace's chest. She pressed a hand over her mouth, sobbing silently, and shook her head again and again:
"No — no…"
— My, the way Poker-Face cries really is something else.
Li Fei stared at Grace's tear-reddened eyes — and quietly realized she was getting a little swept up herself.
— Though, I have to say: the potion's supposed to last half an hour. How did it turn into over two hours on you? Taking advantage of my inexperience, are we? As punishment, allow me to torment you just a tiny bit more.
— Because you're so adorably cute when you cry, Grace-woof.
Li Fei thought this with deep satisfaction, then let out a dismissive snort:
"Looks like you haven't completely rotted away yet."
She seemed to have found her composure again. Unhurriedly, she got dressed, then kicked Grace's clothes toward her. "Put those on. Stop making me sick."
…Why is she being so gentle.
…Why doesn't she just kill me.
…I don't deserve this.
Grace stared at the clothes that had landed at her feet, drowning in self-recrimination with no way out.
At that very moment, Li Fei's voice drifted over, flat and disinterested:
"Don't contact me after we get back."
"That's that."
"No…"
Grace's heart felt like it was being wrung apart. She let out a broken cry and reached out to grab hold of Li Fei.
"Don't touch me."
Li Fei tore her hand free — and shing — drew the longsword she'd apparently been holding this whole time, leveling the tip at Grace's throat. Her voice was ice-cold: "Remember: if Zhihua-jie ever finds out about this, I will kill you."
The moment the words left her lips, she got exactly what she'd been hoping for — the exquisite spectacle of Grace's tears falling like rain.
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