The last vibrant streaks of orange and purple were quickly dipping below the horizon, signaling the fast approach of twilight. I stood up from the porch steps, the folded newspaper tucked tightly under my arm, and stepped back inside the quiet sanctuary of House 132, locking the heavy oak door securely behind me.
From the second floor, the faint, melodic sound of Evelyn's voice drifted down the hallway. She was still humming happily. The girl had been in the bathroom for three hours straight, completely losing herself in the sensation of the steaming, warm water and thoroughly enjoying the first real bath of her life.
Before doing anything else, I moved deliberately through the ground floor, drawing the heavy velvet curtains tightly across every single window. I couldn't risk a single neighbor from the residential district peeking in and spotting the terrifying silhouette of the Winged Demon.
Once the house was completely sealed from the outside world, I finally relaxed my posture. Since Evelyn was the only other person in this household, and she had already seen my monstrous form back in the depths of the Caria Mines, I didn't need to hide behind my armor within these walls. I hung my leather purse on the coatrack, carefully unstrapped the Death Chant Shotgun and propped it safely against the wall, and unbuckled my heavy canvas cloak, letting it drape over a wooden hanger.
Freeing myself from the cloak immediately released my massive, bat-like blood wings, which unfurled slightly into the dim room, casting long, sharp shadows. I stood there in the quiet hallway, exposing the harsh realities of my scarred body: my left arm, which ended in a jagged, corrupted stump, and the empty socket of my gouged-out right eye. I instinctively closed the eyelids of the missing eye, reminding myself to grab the spare leather eyepatch I kept in my upstairs bedroom drawer.
But the most pressing issue was the bio-slime bodysuit I was still wearing. Now that I was out of the dark mines, the tightly fitted material… which clung to every single inch of my skin like a second layer of sleek latex… was pulsing with a vivid, bioluminescent blue-green glow. It was practically radiating light in the darkened hallway, a glaring reminder of the slime we had just fought. It felt increasingly uncomfortable against my skin, and I needed to strip it off immediately.
Moving with an urgent, quiet haste, I hurried up the wooden staircase, bypassing the steam-fogged bathroom door where Evelyn was still splashing happily. I slipped into the privacy of my master bedroom, eager to peel off the glowing bodysuit and finally change into a set of clean, comfortable clothes.
I pulled open the heavy oak doors of my wardrobe, searching for a comfortable tunic or a casual dress, only to freeze at the sight of the empty hangers. My jaw tightened. There was only one piece of clothing left in the entire closet: a highly detailed, black-and-white Victorian-style maid dress.
Evelyn must have cleaned out every single one of my regular everyday dresses to find something that fit her, leaving me with nothing but this ornate uniform. It was an old remnant from when Chief Anton first handed over the safehouse, the previous owner had likely been a high-ranking estate maid or a wealthy servant. But right now, I don't have the luxury of being picky.
Reaching down, I grabbed the edges of the pulsing blue-green bio-slime bodysuit and peeled it away. With a sharp, wet tear, the latex-like material ripped completely off my body, leaving me entirely naked in the center of the dim bedroom. As the glowing suit fell to the floor in a deflated heap, the reality of what had happened in the mines finally clicked.
The slime's highly acidic digestive fluids had completely corroded every single bit of underlying fabric I had been wearing beneath the suit. My standard-issue bra and panties had been completely melted away into nothingness during the battle, leaving the slime bodysuit directly flush against my bare flesh. No wonder I had been feeling that bizarre, intensely tight, and wet sensation against my skin the entire ride home.
Shaking off the mild embarrassment, I hurried to my dresser drawer, grabbed a fresh pair of black cotton panties and a matching bra, and quickly pulled them on. Turning back to the wardrobe, I glared at the Victorian maid dress with my single jade-green eye, let out a silent, defeated sigh, and stepped into the heavy fabric, pulling the white apron straps over my shoulders and fastening the cuffs.
Once I was fully dressed, I walked over to the full-length vanity mirror to check how ridiculous I looked in a servant's uniform.
I stared ahead, expecting to see a scarred, one-armed woman with blood wings wearing a frilly maid outfit. Instead, I saw absolutely nothing.
A wave of realization washed over me, and I mentally facepalmed. I had been a creature of the dark for so long that I completely forgot about one of my most prominent permanent mutations from my blood curse: my total lack of a physical reflection. Because my body naturally bends and absorbs the surrounding light to maintain my stealth, my active invisibility applies to anything directly touching my skin.
In the mirror, the bedroom wall behind me was perfectly visible. The Victorian maid dress, the new undergarments, my wings, and my scarred flesh were all completely blended into thin air, leaving me entirely invisible to the naked eye. I was a phantom in a maid outfit, completely hidden in the safety of my own room.
I shook my head slightly, staring at the empty space in the mirror where my reflection should have been. This invisibility was great for stalking targets in the slums, but it made checking a wardrobe change a bit of a guessing game.
Stepping away from the vanity, I consciously suppressed the active magical camouflage, allowing my physical form to slowly bleed back into reality. The stark black fabric, the crisp white apron, my single jade-green eye, and the massive dark blood wings arching over my shoulders materialized in the dim room. I looked absolutely absurd, a heavily scarred, one-armed, winged elite assassin dressed like a high-society estate servant.
I made a mental note to take care of laundry first thing in the morning. With Evelyn and me sharing the exact same wardrobe from now on, things were going to get crowded very quickly. A thorough head-count of my remaining clothes revealed there were only about ten decent dresses left in the entire house. Tomorrow, right after I visited Vladimir to buy my fire-resistant trench coat with Nautilus's seven gold coins, I would absolutely need to head into the commercial district to buy Evelyn a proper wardrobe of her own. She couldn't spend her entire career as a Luminous Knight cycling through my old tunics.
Leaving the bedroom, I descended the wooden staircase to the first floor to whip up a simple, quiet dinner.
Just as I reached the bottom of the steps, the bathroom door upstairs finally clicked open, venting a massive, thick cloud of warm, lavender-scented steam into the hallway. Evelyn stepped out, completely finished with her legendary three-hour marathon bath.
She had chosen a simple, modest commoner's dress from my closet… a soft, cream-colored cotton gown that cinched gently at her waist. As she walked down the stairs, she looked as though she had just been profoundly baptized. The steam clung to her skin, and the utter joy radiating from her made her look completely, undeniably human. There wasn't a single visible slime trait left on her, the thick fabric of the dress perfectly obscured the pulsing, exposed core inside her chest. As long as she kept her collar secure, nobody in the entire capital would ever suspect her monstrous origins. Only the faint, dimming turquoise glow at the very tips of her hair gave any hint of her true nature, and even that just looked like an exotic magical blessing.
She walked into the dining area, practically glowing with fresh energy, and immediately began gushing about her experience.
"Big sister, it was absolutely incredible! The water was so warm... it felt like all the dirt and the darkness from the past six years just melted right off my skin. I've never felt so light!"
But as her twin jade-green eyes locked onto my current attire, her ecstatic rambling cut short. She froze, taking in the sight of my frilly white apron, the laced cuffs, and the absolute contrast it made with my menacing blood wings and missing arm.
A playful, highly amused smirk spread across her face.
"Woah, is this the secret style of the winged demon that has been hunting you in the city? You know, big sister, with how clean you keep this safehouse and how nice that uniform looks on you, maybe you should consider a career change. You'd make a much better estate maid than a blood-soaked bounty hunter!"
I slowly raised my sharp eyebrow at her, crossing my single arm over my chest with a dry, unamused glare, though internally, a quiet wave of relief washed over me. Seeing her happy enough to playfully tease me meant she was finally leaving the horror of the mines behind.
Grumble...
A loud, prolonged, and incredibly hollow sound echoed from Evelyn's midsection, cutting her playful teasing short. She froze, her cheeks instantly flushing a deep, embarrassed crimson as she pressed both hands against her stomach.
I blinked my single jade-green eye in pure surprise. I honestly hadn't even considered that she would need to eat. In all my years hunting and researching beasts, I had never known a slime to have a localized appetite or a rumbling stomach; they usually just absorbed ambient mana or dissolved whatever organic matter they dissolved through their membrane. But Evelyn wasn't just a slime anymore… she was a rapidly developing, living, breathing human hybrid with a fully functioning digestive system.
Evelyn looked up at me, pouting slightly as she massaged her noisy tummy.
"Sister... I'm so tired of eating glowing fungi and damp moss down in those tunnels. I want real food. Real, cooked human food like you guys eat on the surface."
A wave of profound empathy washed over me. Her request wasn't just about hunger, it was another desperate, beautiful step toward her humanity. Because of the vast catalog of stolen memories locked inside her brain, she had spent years experiencing the idea of human food through the minds of the Capital Knights. She had inherited their vivid sensory memories of roasted meats, fresh bread, hot stews, and sweet fruits, all while her physical mouth had been forced to chew on bitter cave mushrooms just to survive. She didn't want to forage like a parasite anymore. She wanted to sit at a table and dine like a person.
Seeing her so eager to try a real meal, a genuine, fond expression broke through my scarred features. My massive dark blood wings gave a sudden, excited twitch against my back, rustling the frills of my maid outfit as my own protective instincts flared up.
I gave her a reassuring nod, turned on my heel, and hurried straight into the kitchen. My baby sister was going to have her very first human dinner, and even if I was dressed like an estate servant, I was going to make sure it was a meal she would never forget.